As you can see that is not my picture. I borrowed it from feathersite.com. Even though I am currently without camera (borrowing my daughters) I wouldn't have pictures anyways because the main reason I am putting up pictures of chicken eggs is that:
My chickens come next Monday (or Tuesday) YEAH!
They called me to confirm my credit card # (small glitch easily handled) and we discussed that they would soon be shipping. My second order from another poultry company should come the same day(s) but I haven't heard from them yet. So, in about a week or two at the most----I will have 55 chirping, pecking, eating, drinking, stinky baby birds in my garage. No electricity out near their new house----and no roof on it anyways yet. So, in the garage they get to stay. They'll smell great in about 3 weeks or so as they get bigger and bigger. No matter how many times you clean up newspaper in their pens --- they smell. Bad!
So, this time, we are going to use sawdust from a local wood mill to put down. The first couple of weeks we will use newspaper so they don't ingest any sawdust. When they become food pros and can tell the difference between their food and their litter and they start to smell a lot----we will switch. We get the sawdust a couple miles from us for $5 a truck load (we have to load it ourselves though) and use it in our barn also. Supposedly sawdust ties up the most nitrogen of any commonly used mulching material with a carbon ratio of 400 to 1. Chicken poop---the hottest of all manures---is very very high in nitrogen which is why it can smell so strongly. Since sawdust from mills doesn't compact easily and chickens scratch so much---the chickens should easily incorporate their "by products" into the sawdust which I will then scoop up periodically and put into my garden or compost pile.
I don't know how well it will work out with chickens in the garage for so long--the only downside to trying to get eggs earlier in the season---but I think it will be worth it. Especially when we can start eating our own eggs again. You never realize how much you miss them until you don't have them any longer!
P.S---Yesterday's post all had pics---if you can't see them blame blogger! They were there last night ---I promise!
Monday, February 5, 2007
Peep Peep--here come the chicks
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2 comments:
Oooh, love the picture of the dark eggs! I have two Cuckoo Maran hens (med-brown eggs, most of the time - that is, I can tell their eggs from my regular brown egg-layers) and I have two Welsummer pullets who are not yet laying. The Welsummers are supposed to have *very* dark brown eggs. What kind of chicks did you order?
Hi Caroline
We have purchased Marans (both with and without leg feathers) Delawares and Silver laced wyandottes. You can see some pictures here if you would like: smallmeadowfarm.blogspot.com/2006/12/chicken-order.html
We have had Welsummers before also---they do lay very dark eggs. I heard that the Maran/Welsummer/Barnvelder egg color is effected by breeding/genetics and also what they eat. I hope genetically---mine will lay good dark dark eggs :-) I have my fingers crossed since I think they look FABULOUS dark like that.
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