I must admit that despite this post's title, Miss Chicken has laid eggs before. Just not with us. You see, she's an adopted hen who comes from a neighbor's house. She used to fly up into the loft of their barn to stay out of the way of an overzealous family dog until it burned down this summer. Without a place to hide, the dog came after her one too many times. Now she's been moved a few houses down to our place to mingle with our flock of twelve.The photo is blurry because Miss Chicken doesn't sit still much, and unlike the chickens we've had from babies, she's flat-out against being picked up at all. She's a different coloring than the dominiques and the reds; I'm venturing a guess that she's a Delaware Blue Hen. She has the black head with gold stripes that I've seen of that breed in photos.
It was a trick getting her introduced to the existing flock of pullets (non-laying hens). She stayed in a cage in the yard while the other birds got a good look, but every time one ventured near the bars, she'd give them a swift hard peck. One tenacious dominique got herself a bloody beak from a particularly bad attack. And once, I saw a smug Miss Chicken with a mouthful of feathers as another pullet ran away squawking and flapping.
Miss Chicken (her name from before we adopted her) was out of sorts and hostile for the last week, but she was finally docile enough to be let out with the other birds a couple of days ago. She found the highest nest box and made herself comfortable. Clearly, the spot meets with her approval because she's begun to lay eggs again.
They're tiny compared to supermarket jumbo eggs. The yolks are bright and thick, and the shells are a pretty tan/salmon color. Just a couple more months and the dominiques will start laying as well, then the reds after that. With a baker's dozen eggs coming in a day, we'll be looking for people to take them off our hands. I'm going to need that extra fridge I keep putting off.
Anyone remember when I originally said I wanted two chickens?
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment