Zuul is gone. She had collapsed in the run at some point before we got home from work, she was still warm. We buried her in the corner of the backyard. She was fine and gave us an egg the day before. We don’t think it was anything communicable.
new year new camera new post! January 24, 2011
The ladies made it through freezes, a torn comb, torrential rain and an emergency plumbing repair!
Posts will still be a little light, as we’re still hibernating until this winter ends, but we are still alive!
molt & brood November 7, 2010
Autumn is coming!
On nights when the temperature drops below 50, we’ve been turning on the heat lamp in the coop. It casts an eerie red glow in the run at night. demon chickens!
Zuul just finished a 3 week molt where she didn’t produce any eggs. Molting this time of year is normal; her system was devoted to growing new feathers and couldn’t produce any eggs until they were finished growing in.
Barbarella is our first broody hen… she spent the last half of the day in the nesting box. Concerned she may be egg-bound, we checked her cloaca but didn’t see anything. Then Jenn felt under her chest and found her egg, which we promptly removed.
We should have another month or so of regular egging, but then the days will be too short. Chickens require 14-16 hours of sunlight to “egg their best”, so I won’t be surprised if they just stop in late December for a bit.
Projects for, well, SOON; heated waterer (to prevent freezing) and an automatic door opener.
easter egg September 19, 2010
Barbarella laid her first egg today!
From left to right: Cthulhu, Barbarella, Zuul. Penny for size/colour comparison.
Its blue-green! We woke up at 9:30ish this morning (very late for us) and I noticed that all the girls were still in the coop. I checked again 30 minutes later and Cthulhu was out but Zuul & Barb were still hiding. I peeked inside and saw Barbarella in the nesting box that Zuul favours, and grabbed the fresh Cthulhu egg. About an hour later we saw Barb was out, and pooked inside. Zuul was now in the box, so I looked in from the side door and saw a fresh Zuul egg and a mysterious NEW egg. Zuul sauntered out of the coop and we gathered the eggs. We are both VERY pleased with the colour range our girls have given us. Yay eggs!
We’re getting about one a day from Zuul, and about 5-6 a week from Cthulhu. On average we should be getting about one a day from each, although that will drop as the days become shorter as we enter the fall & winter months.
The winter should be exciting, we will need to figure out how to automate the coop door. We’ve been leaving it open as it doesn’t get much colder than 55 degrees at night during spring & summer. The girls get up at dawn, and we usually get up at 7-7:30am, but the last thing we’ll want to do first thing on a winter morning is go outside to raise the door. We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it.
During the photoshoot Sake (our other kitteh) decided he needed to inspect the eggs.
Sake approved.
an egg that may contain either unspeakable horror or deliciousness. September 5, 2010
Got another egg from Zuul, and Cthulhu laid her first egg!
Cthulhu’s egg on the left, Zuul’s on the right. Penny for size/colour comparison.
She disappeared into the coop for about an hour. She first chose the nesting box closest to the door, but then decided on the middle one (the furthest from the door has been Zuul’s box of choice). Both Barbarella and Zuul kept entering the coop to check up on her/bug her, and we weren’t sure if she was going to be successful. I noticed she returned to the run, so I checked her box and there it was, a nice-shelled, small pinkish egg, still warm! So now we’re waiting on Barbarella… which should be the most exciting since we have no idea what colour her eggs will be!
Mojo, our 10 year old kitteh, decided he needed to smell the eggs during their photoshoot (I think thats part of his job description).
EGGS! September 4, 2010
We’re back, we’re married, and Zuul is egging!
She laid her first egg the day after we got married… it was huge, deformed and open at the top (!). My brother-in-law took a picture, I’ll post it soon. The next day there were two sandy-coloured eggs; one of normal size but with an extremely thin shell, and one tiny one with a normal shell. We cooked the tiny one with some store-bought free range eggs… Zuul’s egg tasted better and was fluffier than the store-bought ones. Zuul laid two more tiny ones, then started producing normal-sized eggs. We’ve been getting just about an egg a day from Zuul, in a beautiful copper colour. None yet from Barb or Cthulhu… technically none of them should’ve started egging until next month, so we’re not concerned.
chicken before egg July 30, 2010
Yeah we’re still here. We’re getting married in two weeks so all our time is consumed with that , so no time for bloggin’! Anyway, tiny update…
The girls personalities have really come out.
Cthulhu is the Time Keeper, when it’s time to go to bed she starts peeping loudly at her sisters that it’s time for go to bed. She spends most of her day sitting under the ladder in the shade, like some kind of chicken troll. We think she will the the champion layer.
Zuul is the Chief of Security. After they’ve all gone in the coop for the night, she will come out and spend about 10-15 minutes hanging out either just outside the coop or in the coop entrance, watching for intruders.
Barbarella really really wants to be Mother Hen, but so far it seems she shares those duties with Zuul. They often do a flying chestbump and chase each other around, trying to assert dominance. I’m sure when they start laying they’ll have the pecking order sorted out.
The Chicken of Tomorrow 