First Day of 6 Eggs!!

This is the first day that all six hens lay their eggs! In the picture above, starting with the white egg and going clockwise, the eggs were laid by: Hawk, Doily, Minerva, Buffy, Ginger, and Louise. It has been a month and a half since Hawk has laid an egg, so it was quite a surprise to find her egg out there this morning. Then this afternoon, the other 5 hens had laid their eggs. Such a proud hen Mama I am!

What Do Holly Oak Hens Eat?

Perhaps you're wondering just what do chickens eat?

The kids and I made a list of all the foods we feed to our hens. They also roam free in our backyard and eat whatever they please like my entire asparagus fern, the lower leaves of my potted Japanese maple tree (photo above), insects, and worms. Fortunately, the vegetable garden is in the front yard, in an area the hens don't go. Here is our comprehensive list as of January 1, 2010.

lettuce
watermelon/melon
bread
tortillas
corn on the cob
carrot greens
swiss chard
cucumber
zucchini
yogurt
beet greens
collard greens
bok choy
cabbage
oats/oatmeal
avocado
crushed egg shells (calcium supplement)
oyster shells (calcium supplement)
quinoa
scrambled eggs
millet
flax seeds
mealworms
crickets
kale
banana
bamboo leaves
tomatoes
persimmons
apple cores
sunflower seeds
"scratch" (cracked corn, barley, cracked wheat)
laying crumbles chicken food (corn, soy, wheat, vitamins, and minerals)

Usually, the hens just eat their chicken food and whatever they find in the yard, but we feed them scratch, black sunflower seeds, and flax seeds when we put them in their coop in the evenings. They get other treats/scraps when it is on sale, when we have excess in our refrigerator, or when they need to spend more time in their coop.

Finally, Fluffy/Buffy started laying!

Let me tell you a bit about Buffy (officially named "Fluffy", but I like Buffy better). After debating whether she's worth keeping... we have decided to put up with her longer. She's got the biggest personality in the flock, despite being the lowest in the pecking order. She's a bit of a loudmouth-busybody! We used to distinguish her from her twin Buff Orpington flock-mate named Ginger, by her shorter comb. Now that it has grown, we can only distinguish her by the egg she lays, if we happen to notice her lay it, or by her squawky personality. She squawks in the morning, to announce that another hen is in the nesting box (even if the hen is just fixing her nest and not actually laying) and she squawks again when the egg has been laid. If two hens are in the two nesting boxes at the same time, she really makes an announcement. She also is the "hens jumped the 4-ft gate to the side yard" alarm. She was the last hen to finally start laying and within the 3 weeks she's been laying, she's laid 5 eggs, though she and the other hens ate 2 of them. Given that she's only laid 5 eggs total, she's been squawking on the other hens' behalves for months now! For some reason, she likes to lay on the ground, but when an egg is on the ground, the hens can't help themselves but to eat it up, shell and all, at that moment. In fact, Doily has been known to purposely knock her eggs out of the nesting box onto the ground so that she can eat it. Weird!









From left to right, these eggs were laid on Dec. 29 and 30 by: Doily, Minerva, Louise, Ginger, and Buffy.

Each hen lays a distinctive color/shape/size so we are able to tell which hen is laying which egg. Doily's eggs are a medium brown and they are the most slender egg. Minerva lays a small, dark brown egg. Louise lays a fat medium brown egg that usually has some white calcium spots on the outside. Ginger lays the lightest colored egg, but with a shape very much like Minerva's. The darkest brown egg is Buffy's and they are also larger and more torpedo shaped than Minerva's. Hawk's egg, not pictured above because she hasn't been laying for a few weeks, is white. Below, is a photo taken in October when Hawk laid her first white egg.

We're Learning So Much from These Hens!

Yesterday, I left the hens in the coop until mid-day. Minerva ran straight to her nest in the bamboo to go lay her egg! I guess she was saving it to lay when she got out.















Today, Minerva's egg was full sized! This picture shows her small egg laid yesterday and her large egg layed today. Coby wonders if it will have two yolks like Hawk's giant egg had.





















Not only did Minerva lay her egg in the bamboo nest, Hawk did as well. In fact, both of them decided to lay their eggs at the same time, so they were crammed in there together. Maybe Minerva is getting broody because she continued to sit on her egg after laying it. Coby said he lifted Minerva up and took her egg. Poor hen!

Doily also layed an egg today-- in Minerva's nest! Both Doily and Hawk were seen a couple times in the actual nesting box this morning, getting the nest ready, but for some reason, they both ended up laying in Minerva's nest. There were lots of noises coming from the hens this morning, but I wasn't sure who it came from. Maybe Minerva called Hawk and Doily to come lay eggs in her nest?

Oh Where Oh Where Could Those Little Eggs Be?

Minerva has been laying an egg virtually every day for the last three weeks. However, since Thursday, we have not found any eggs from her. Today, we decided to keep all the hens in the coop to see if they would lay eggs in their nesting box. Minerva, Doily, and Hawk all laid eggs by lunch time, so they could go free range for the rest of the day.
















After searching for a nest in the backyard for several days, we finally found the nest-- with 5 eggs in it-- nestled in the bamboo! Upon quick inspection, Coby was able to determine that 4 of the eggs were Minerva's and one was laid by Doily. Hawk has always laid her eggs in the nesting box (good chicken!). Doily's egg is the lighter colored one on the bottom right in the photo above.

We needed to decide if the eggs were still fresh or if they had spoiled. We decided to do the floating test to find out. If they float, they are spoiled and if they sink, they are fresh. If they sink, but tip, they are getting old, but could still be used in baking or to hard boil.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EggsFloat.htm

All five eggs sank, without tipping, so I scrambled them for lunch. Yum yum!

Double Yolks

The first egg I cracked open this evening while making a frittata was Hawk's giant white egg. What a surprise to find two yolks in that one egg!
















Here is the first frittata made from our eggs-- 1 giant egg from Hawk, 4 Minerva eggs, 2 eggs from Coby's school farm (Ohlone School), and 2 of Doily's eggs. It also had swiss chard from our garden, parsley, onion, and New Zealand sharp cheddar. It was pretty yummy!

Hawk

When we were picking chicks at the pet store in May, we were told that Hawk is a "red sex link", which meant her color was linked to her sex chromosome and was bred to be a good egg layer. However, as she developed, she did not look like any pictures of the red sex links (also called Red Stars), but we could never quite figure out her breed. Now that we know she lays white eggs, instead of brown, we discovered she's a Mediterranean breed known as a Leghorn. White Leghorns are among the best egg layers and are therefore the most common for industrial chicken farming, producing cartons and cartons of white eggs sold in grocery stores. However, we have a Brown Leghorn, and while still a fabulous egg producer, she is not as productive as the white variety. We are still impressed by her egg size-- JUMBO!