Nesting Boxes and The Heat

Mister finally finished our nesting boxes earlier this week. The girls don’t really seem to be using them very much. I do keep finding one egg, a day, in one of the boxes. But that’s it, still just one egg a day. 

 I keep wondering if it’s the heat or maybe they still aren’t settled yet. I’m really just not sure. Some people are saying I need to keep a frozen jug in their water but others are saying that will do more harm that good. We have been throwing grass out for them too but they are playing with that more than they are eating it. 
I’m just so ready for the girls to be laying regularly but nothing I do is making it any better. 

All I can do now is wait! 

New Pets = New Adventures

After losing an oilfield job and going from $30/hr to a small town concrete job making only $13/hr and lucky to work 40 hours a week, we decided to get some chickens. We started out only wanting hens for the eggs, but after someone offered us a beautiful rooster for free, I couldn’t pass it up. After all, he said he was going to eat the rooster if we didn’t bring him to the Farm. 

So we left just a few hours before dark to make the nearly two hour drive there and back with chickens to put in our not even finished pen. Ended up taking nearly two hours just to get back home thanks to a gasket on the water pump needing to be replaced. But we finally made it just before dark. 

Day One.  The critters seem to be settling in okay so far. One of the hens laid a soft shell egg today but before I could get the door open she ate it. My sweet red hen laid one today too though so that’s good, right! 

  
Day Two.  Only one egg again today but the red hen, Thelma, let’s me pet her and pick her up. My 2 1/2 year old daught got to collect the egg. She didn’t want to bring it in because “it’s the chickens egg”. Mr Honeysuckle swears he taught Johnny, the rooster, to sit on his should but I’ll believe it when I see it. He’s only spent maybe 10 minutes with them.

Day Three.  Only one egg again today. Not sure if Louise, the white hen, is still laying and eating soft shell eggs. June, Dominique hen, acts like she wants to lay but hasn’t. I figured out Johnny is blind in one eye. Looks like he was pecked as a baby or young rooster and almost lost the eye completely. We finally had time to start on nesting boxes and “toys”. Hopefully those will be finished within the week. 

I look forward to go back out tomorrow and spending time with these sassy critters. They are way more fun that I thought they would be.