Easter Eggs

YAY!!! I guess Pouf laid her first egg today because when I went out to check this morning there was a pretty blue egg in the nest! I haven't gotten a second green egg yet but I'm wondering if I might get a second one today. It has been pretty hot here which slows down laying so I'm not sure when Amelia will lay again but I would guess today or tomorrow.

Its fun to look at the carton and see all the pretty colors! Can't wait to see what color Milkshake will lay - if she lays pink (very unlikely) that would be a perfect easter basket!

Green eggs and ham!

Amelia finally came through and laid her first egg this afternoon! The kids were checking pretty much every hour and came running in the house yelling "Amelia laid a green egg! Amelia laid a green egg!" It is very exciting. So since I just bought a freezer full of pasture raised pork - now I can really have green eggs (or egg) and ham. ;) Now we have two more Easter Eggers to start laying and we could get more fun colors from them. Green or light brown are most likely - but I am still hoping for a blue or maybe pinkish egg. If everyone lays a different color egg then I can tell who has laid and who hasn't each day. I think Pouf (picture below)will be next - she started the egg squat today and has been checking out the nest boxes, so I hope in the next week she will start. I think Milkshake is still a few weeks behind the others, but we will see.

In gardening news I have seeds sprouting in my living room - the bok choy, broccoli and Brussel sprouts are all starting to come up so in a few weeks (hopefully the first week of September) I will have seedlings to transplant into the garden. I am hoping to also start some mache and lettuce soon. I'm wondering if maybe I can just grown those under the light year round - so when it is hot in the summer I can still have freshly grown lettuces. I have to decide if I want to give up that part of my living room permanently I guess :)

So with luck by this time next week I will be getting three eggs a day on average! The waiting is the hardest part!

Still waiting

Amelia has been singing the "egg song" and doing the "egg squat" for over a week now and still no eggs! Every morning we go check hoping for two eggs but so far there is only one egg each day from Cadbury. With luck we will get a blue or green egg soon!

The good news is that the girls were all able to free range today so the little girls were able to come out of their kennel. They still are too nervous to venture far out of the coop and mostly stay inside, but at least everyone can peacefully co-exist (for the most part) when the big girls can get out into the yard. So - at least on weekends everyone is "integrated" - although I admit it is certainly tenuous at times. I am hoping that with a few more days of everyone being in and out of the coop that they will all start to be more used to each other and not fight on the days they have to share the coop.

Other than some yard work to clean some worn out dill and tomatillos out of the garden today I decided that I should probably start a few veggies inside to move out to the garden in a month when it starts to cool off. So today I set the grow lights up and started seeds for broccoli, brussel sprouts and some baby bok choy. I have seeds for cauliflower too - so hopefully I can start some of that when these get going. If not I will just buy transplants for those this year. I also need to get some cabbage, onions, garlic and hopefully shallots. I tried some shallots this spring but I guess it was too late in the spring and they didn't produce anything, so hopefully fall planted shallots will do better. It seems strange to talk about "fall planting" when it is nearly 100 degrees here and the coming week is probably going to be our hottest of the year so far. But I guess starting a few things inside - with a transplant date in September seems reasonable.

One other accomplishment of the day - but it seems a little silly to even mention it - I canned one pint of spicy dilly green beans. Yes - that's right - only 1 pint. My beans are producing but not very well (my mom thinks its too much nitrogen in the soil) - lots of green leaves but very few beans. So since there were not enough to actually make a side dish for dinner, I stuffed 'em in a jar and pickled them. I have not made pickled beans before, but I had amazing ones at Jazz Fest in New Orleans a few years ago so I wanted to try to make some myself. Ok - I grant you that they were in a Bloody Mary and it was at the end of the day - but honestly - they were really, really good. I can only hope mine will be as good!

So another weekend is over - and I head back to work tomorrow. I wish I could just garden, can and bake every day - but considering my garden has not produced much this year I guess I'm going to need to keep the day job a little (ok - a lot) longer! :)

Birthday time

For my son's birthday we are going to head down to the coast to hopefully catch a sea turtle hatchling release at Padre Island National Seashore - so today he had some friends over to go roller skating and then come back to play for the afternoon. So this morning I had to rush to get a cake made for the party. I baked the cake last night and froze it (makes it less crumbly to frost) and this morning there was a flurry of activity to make the Swiss meringue buttercream frosting and my daughter helped me make a sea turtle and eggs out of rolled fondant. The kids like helping with fondant decorations because it is like ply-dough except you can eat it. We don't really like the taste of it though - so we just use it for decorations.

I have lots of yard work I need to do tonight and I need to figure out how to build a separate area for the bantams - but it will have to wait until tomorrow or later tonight, but I wanted to post the picture of the cake since I think it turned out pretty well.

We are still getting eggs from Cadbury - I was out of town last week for work so they couldn't be out in the yard at all, so she only laid 3 eggs the 4 days I was gone. I think she is happier when she can get out in the yard during the day so we got more eggs the week before when she was able to free range each day. Being gone has one advantage though - I came home to a carton with enough eggs to make up a meal :) Now if I can just get the Easter Eggers to start laying eggs I might actually be able to fill up a whole egg carton!

So much for the truce

Well things were fine and peaceful all day when the big girls could be in and out of the coop and the yard. But this afternoon there was a rainstorm and we put everyone back inside and the big girls managed to get between the mesh and the run wall and totally attacked the little girls. My son ran in and rescued the little girls and we got everyone separated again. I took the kids to a friends for the night and when I got back they were all in the little girls section again and were chasing them around like crazy. So I guess its back to the kennel for the little girls for a little while longer until they are a little bigger, or until I can build a full wall to keep them separate - which I guess will end up on my chore list for next weekend :(

At least I had good news in the nesting box and a surprise snack from the fig tree. Hopefully the commotion of catching everyone and rescuing the little girls from the attack won't throw off Cadbury's laying - she is the only one who hasn't attacked the little girls and she is the only one laying - so right now she is my absolute favorite. In the last 7 days she has laid 6 eggs and they are delicious. I have to say the Easter Eggers all seem to have a mean streak - so if there aren't some blue and green eggs soon and they continue to be so aggressive to the little girls - they may be headed for new homes before too long.

New home for the little girls

The little girls now have their own little house and a divider to give them some run space without subjecting them to the pecking and attacks from the big chickens. I am hoping to get them all integrated by the end of August so the little girls can start free ranging too,but they need to be a little bigger first. Their house has a little perch for them - only about 4 inches off the floor so that it is "hopping" height since Silkies aren't fliers.

I continue to get an egg a day from Cadbury and I think Amelia isn't far behind her. She has started checking out the nest boxes and cackling more like Cadbury does - so I think the time is near. I can't wait to see if I get blue or green eggs - I hope so!!

Lilly - the Silkie - is so cute - she is a little fluff ball! The only problem is that yesterday - when working on the house and dividing wall I swear I heard her trying to crow! I really, really hope Lilly does not turn out to be a rooster because I don't want a rooster but I really wanted a Silkie. I am hoping that maybe it was just a unique call that was due to her being frightened by the sounds of the drill and tools, but I guess time will tell.

Nesting box time

Another egg today! I put it next to one from the store for comparison. You can see how small my little eggs are - but I like how dark they are. I hope they will be very dark brown once she reaches her prime. I was able to confirm they are from Cadbury - she went into the hen house today as soon as I moved the little girls down into the run. She scratched around and was very talkative and went in and out several times. About an hour later I wen to check and there was the new little egg :)

I didn't get one yesterday but I think it may be because the little girls were in the hen house all day in their kennel. So I need a new plan. I think I am going to have to temporarily separate the section of the run that is under the house and give the little girls their own little house in there until they are big enough to all be together. I tried letting them together today, but Pouf and Amelia immediately went on the attack. Lilly (the silkie) actually got one good peck in right on Pouf's head, but Athena (the Barred Plymouth Rock) basically was getting beaten up so I separated them all again.

I did move the nesting box into the hen house - I am hoping that having it there doesn't disrupt Cadbury's laying and that she will like the coziness of the nest boxes. I guess I will find out soon enough :)


Just one more picture today - the sunflower below was in my garden but the rain bent it over so I cut it and brought it in to enjoy a little sun in my kitchen!