Our First Egg!

[HKr1]

They siad it would happed around 6 months.. It's only been 4!
Pretty cool, the Leghorn gave us our first egg

[CynicalC]

Awesome.

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

Awesome.

It is

She laid another yesterday.. All of a sudden she's an egg laying machine.
Going to have allot of breakfast burritos

[CynicalC]

I'd love to have chickens. I'm from the burbs and don't know the first thing about farming, but it's this weird dream of mine. My girlfriend makes fun of me for it.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

My girlfriend makes fun of me for it.

I dub thee "eggboy"!

[userjh160]

A friend of mine gave me a dozen of fresh eggs, can't beat that with Jimmy Dean and Grand Biscuits - - I can feel my arteries hardening again

[xSean13]

We used to have chickens, when I lived in the boonies. Also, and my aunt has some weird easter chickens that lay blue and green eggs so she'd give us some of those as well.

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by xSean13

We used to have chickens, when I lived in the boonies. Also, and my aunt has some weird easter chickens that lay blue and green eggs so she'd give us some of those as well.

LOL. I heard of those..........

I scrambled up some of her eggs Saturday. Taste great, look real nice inside, cook up nice and fluffy
Wife made an egg sandwhich

Chickens are pretty funny, kinda like dogs. They follow you around the yard, sit on your lap, wanna help with whatever your working on. Keep looking like they want to go in the house... thats not happening! They do have chicken diapers

[HKr1]

No more eggs...... A dam Hawk killed her

[Alex]

That's too bad! I didn't realize hawks would go for something as large as a full-grown chicken.

[edxmon]

Originally Posted by HKr1

No more eggs...... A dam Hawk killed her

holy crap, you serious? Equip your next chicken with some of these, so she can defend herself

[alex.s]

was the leghorn named foghorn?

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by HKr1

Chickens are pretty funny, kinda like dogs. They follow you around the yard, sit on your lap, wanna help with whatever your working on.

I had to read meters for the utility in NY very briefly while waiting for my job to post. I was in someones yard one day crouched between bushes reading a gas meter when a chicken ran up and tried to hop up on my lap. Scared the hell out of me and knocked me flat on my ass. But it was the friendliest animal I'd ever encountered. I've wanted chickens ever since.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by Alex

That's too bad! I didn't realize hawks would go for something as large as a full-grown chicken.

Might have been a raccoon or some other ground animal?

[Apex]

Chickens are cool. Just need to keep them protected. Foxes, coyotes, and several other animals are notorious for getting into chickens.

[cuong-nutz]

Sorry to hear about your leghorn. Did you see the hawk get to it? We didn't have any issues with hawks only cats.

Do you know if the egg is fertilize? Maybe you can hatch it in an incubator.

Kinda OT but I was giving some balut to eat a while back. Somehow I forgot to put them in the fridge before I left for a camping trip. I came home and opened up my storage to hear some rustling in a paper bag. Sure enough 4 ducklings had hatched maybe an hour earlier. Ended up giving them away.

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

I had to read meters for the utility in NY very briefly while waiting for my job to post. I was in someones yard one day crouched between bushes reading a gas meter when a chicken ran up and tried to hop up on my lap. Scared the hell out of me and knocked me flat on my ass. But it was the friendliest animal I'd ever encountered. I've wanted chickens ever since.

Thats pretty cool, chickens are like dogs. They come up and talk to ya, see what your working on, and want to help. Jump on your lap/shoulder..... Little scared about shoulder thou, think there going to peck my eye out.

Foggy was one of our roosters, we had rehomed them. Granduaghter named this leghorn Funshine, I called her FS. Named after some cartoon?

Anyway, just gave her and the other big bird some peanuts. Went inside for a few minutes, come back out and No birds. I call for them over and over, the little ones come running from the other side of house. But, Where are the big birds??
Keep calling and looking around, one comes out from under this board I have covering a car rearend. I look between the shed and fence, White feathers everywhere... my heart sinks
So I look around the back side of the shed, theres a Hawk munching on her He jumps up on the fence, looks at us, and flys off.

Going to get here a concrete rooster for a head stone Saturday.

I never thought they would attack them when they got big. Allthou, I worried about them all the time. Only letting them free range when we were there, sometimes letting them go thru dinner and such.
Also thought they would carry them away, and not chase them into a small space/under cover??

Really sucks! She was a cool bird...........

[cuong-nutz]

Never seen or heard of a hawk doing that. Maybe a cat got to it before the hawk did?

[ahenthus]

Try and raise a few guineas. They make a lot less mess than chickens and can fly. We started out with six about five years ago and are down to one now. Owls, cars, dogs, coyotes, foxes, etc. took a toll. We're going to get another six when Lyman dies. We're afraid he'd pick on the little ones now if we got them. It's best that they grow up together. Guineas' eggs are supposed to be better but we never got any because the three females were the first to go.

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by ahenthus

Try and raise a few guineas. They make a lot less mess than chickens and can fly. We started out with six about five years ago and are down to one now. Owls, cars, dogs, coyotes, foxes, etc. took a toll. We're going to get another six when Lyman dies. We're afraid he'd pick on the little ones now if we got them. It's best that they grow up together. Guineas' eggs are supposed to be better but we never got any because the three females were the first to go.

Noticed a couple people on BYC talking about guineas to help protect the chickens, guess early warning system??
Sad to see them drop one by one

Will have to google them, cause I was thinking they were talking guinea pigs

[HKr1]

OK, So our first brown egg today from Myrtle

Some pics of FS & Myrtle, and the White eggs from FS next to the first Brown one.

She was acting whacky today, then I heard a clunk. She doesnt make a nest like the other bird use too

[userjh160]

So sorry to hear about your chicken We were thinking about getting some chickens -- I wanted them b/c I heard their poo makes great fertilizer for plants, I wanted to use it for my veggie garden. I also read that you can just let them run around in your garden and they will eat the bugs for you and you wont have to worry about any pesticides and you get a constant fertilizing. I just need to learn how to take care of them and make a nice little housing area for them to stay in. We do have foxes here, I have seen them at night eating the pears that fall on the ground.

[Heed]

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by userjh160

So sorry to hear about your chicken We were thinking about getting some chickens -- I wanted them b/c I heard their poo makes great fertilizer for plants, I wanted to use it for my veggie garden. I also read that you can just let them run around in your garden and they will eat the bugs for you and you wont have to worry about any pesticides and you get a constant fertilizing. I just need to learn how to take care of them and make a nice little housing area for them to stay in. We do have foxes here, I have seen them at night eating the pears that fall on the ground.

Thanks!

Thats just why my wife wanted them. Gardens here really suck, being sand everywhere.<whole other story...
You build them a little coop and run. That way you only let them free range when your home.(I know, it didnt work for us)... The chickens head off to the coop when it starts to get dark to pearch and sleep, then you close them up till morning.
Check out BYC, Back Yard Chickens. < Web site has everything you need to know.
Another hawk flying over today... We also have foxes and coyotes.. Maybe owls at night?

This is our little coop

[geeker]

Are you sure it wasn't an osprey? I've seen those around Big Lagoon and Fort Pickens every time I've been to Pensacola. They are definitely big enough to take off with a chicken. Here in Arkansas, at least near the river, signs are posted that warn of bald eagles flying off with miniature dachshunds and other small dogs that are unattended.

[userjh160]

Originally Posted by HKr1

Thanks!
Check out BYC, Back Yard Chickens. < Web site has everything you need to know.
Another hawk flying over today... We also have foxes and coyotes.. Maybe owls at night?

This is our little coop

Oh I love your coop, that is so cute. I forgot about owls, we see one coming out at night and lands in one of our oak trees -- it has a big wing span. I will have to check out the website, thanks for the info.