Wednesday, October 27, 2010

3 (more) Musketeers

When a neighbor asks if you want some laying hens in October, you don't even THINK about the added mouths to feed this winter - you grab 'em! We have a dozen or so "little" ladies that won't be old enough to lay until Spring, and I was kicking myself for not ordering more...

We always have a waiting list for eggs, and the current flock is a bit "aged"... so Spring was going to be tough - until Jordan decided to downsize...

She had 5 nice, big Delaware ladies - so we took three, and another neighbor farmgirl took two.

We've installed them in the (recently vacated) chicken tractor until everyone gets used to the new digs.
And the added bonus - we had no idea what the "unidentified chick" that came from the hatchery might be, until we saw the markings on the Delawares...

Speckles has an identity - she's a Delaware!

9 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Lucky you to be the recipient of three of Jordan's hens this time of year.

Our girls have just started to molt and I'm getting worried about our egg supply. Last year they didn't snap out of it until the first of the year (most everyone around here had the same experience for some crazy reason) and we almost expired ourselves for lack of decent eggs.

Hope your new girls like their new home so much they'll each give you an egg a day!

Jordan said...

Glad to see them scratching away! Who got the other two?

melanie said...

Marianne, of course!

LindaCO said...

Yea!

I'll pick up my last dozen of CSA eggs tonight *sniff*. Time to make some baked goods to mark the occasion.

Susan said...

Nice tractor, Melanie! Mine are moulting, too. Got 3 whole eggs from my 24 hens...waiting now for the magical dark brown eggs...

DayPhoto said...

I have 4 hens and that's about right for me.

Enjoy your new girls!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Kayten said...

I would love to have chickens, but since I killed a mink yesterday, it's probably just as well that I have none.
I don't understand why I can comment on your blog, but not on Susan's.

melanie said...

Kay - killed a mink???!?? Do tell! Did you stab it with a DPN???

Crosswinds Farm said...

How lucky are you to get some nice pullets that are ready to lay in the spring? We have feathers everywhere here-I hate it when they all moult at once. With my flock of 70(ish) I got ONE dozen eggs yesterday....probably my fault, since we don't butcher anyone I have some girls that are 5 years old or better and hardly lay anymore.