I’m sorry, I’m terrible. I haven’t updated you in 3 months. For a while there, I was just waiting for things to start taking off with the egg production, and then a couple weekends ago, I planned a fun update and then something terrible happened. And then I didn’t want to post at all.

Two weekends ago, we had the chickens out in the yard letting them free-range. They love it. When we open the coop doors, they are eager to run around in the grass and weeds (mostly weeds), and hunt for bugs. We were enjoying a fun afternoon. I sat in the grass on a sunny afternoon and fed the girls some bread and grapes, which they enjoyed and then got back to hunting bugs. All seemed well. Hubs and I stay out there with them when they’re outside of the coop because we do have a fair bit of hawks in the area. They’re not left alone at all, and I keep an eye on them all. I noticed one of the Leghorns, Scary Spice, acting a little strange, so I went to check her out. She was just sitting and not doing anything while the other girls were all hunting bugs. I picked her up and she seemed “off”. Really tired. I took her to the bench and she fell asleep in my arms. Which is weird for a Leghorn. They’re skittish and don’t like to be picked up. She was exhausted to the point of not caring. She was in and out of sleep. Then I noticed her comb and wattles looking a little bluish. I started to worry, then panic. She was going downhill. And fast.

I called an emergency vet, I called our friend Phoenix who knows a lot about chickens, but it all happened so fast. She was not choking, and had no visible injury, but she was turning more and more blue. Sadly, she passed away in our arms. We don’t know what caused it, but I suspect it was a heart condition, in which case it was inevitable and there was nothing we could have done. We were both hit really hard. It was even more difficult because we witnessed it from start to finish and were helpless to do anything. Not that we didn’t try. I gave a chicken mouth-to-beak in a futile attempt to save that little life. But in the end, she fell asleep and never woke up. We buried her in the backyard in our little pet cemetery. She was a pet and we loved her. I kept her little green leg band. She didn’t care for us much, and wasn’t even nice to me, but we loved her anyway, and tried to give her the best life possible in her short time. She was 5 months old.

Her first photo, the day I brought her and her sisters home. Sweet little chickadees.

She’s there at the top of the photo. This is the last photo I have of her. She appeared to be ok, but things were very much not ok. :(

RIP Scary Spice 10/18/2020.

In other news, we are in full egg production. Our first egg was discovered on September 7th. I had been eagerly checking the egg boxes every day, like the longest easter egg hunt ever. On Sept 7th, I opened the egg box to find Ripley sitting in there. I left her alone and came back a while later to find this.

Boom! It has begun! Yes, that is a pretty small egg. First eggs are usually small, but increase in size as the hen matures. At first we were collecting 1 or 2 eggs every day.

Now we are collecting 3-4 every day, and sometimes 5. Most of them are now medium to large size. With 9 hens, I think we are probably close to or at top production.

The egg skelter looks like this almost all the time. And we use those eggs frequently. Hubs loves hard boiled eggs, so every week or so I cook a dozen at a time. Eggs for breakfast, I cook with eggs, I use eggs all the time, and the skelter still looks like this. It is a magical refilling egg dispenser. So many eggs.

BTW, what is an egg skelter? Not only does it look neat, but it has a great function. New eggs are put in at the top, the oldest eggs are at the bottom. So you’re always using the oldest eggs first… which are only like a week old. Unpasteurized eggs do not have to be refrigerated, if you use them within a month or so. I mean, they’re fine outside in the heat, under a warm chicken’s butt for weeks, so on my kitchen counter is fine too. Excess eggs can of course be refrigerated and they do last even longer if kept cold.

Before our chicken experience, I had never knowingly had farm-fresh eggs. Just regular ol’ grocery store eggs. So what’s so great about fresh eggs?? Everything. They are richer and creamier and more flavorful. Not only do my chickens get more exercise and a more rounded diet than those in mass production egg farms, but the eggs are super fresh. Your typical grocery store eggs are probably already 2 months old when you buy them. These eggs are so much better. Even hard boiled, they peel perfectly every time. We did a taste test with the first egg, and our last store-bought egg…

Store bought on the left, farm fresh on the right. Notice the clearer white, and darker yolk.

They’re just better. I would say they’re also free, but haha, no they’re not. We’ve put a lot of money into the coop, the chickens, and their feed and treats. Plus the manual labor of maintaining a chicken coop. But they are super fun and quite an experience, so there’s that. Plus cleaning out the fridge is super easy and a recycling process. They get our leftovers, and turn them into incredible edible eggs. Magic. Thank you, thank you to my little feathered friends.

I don’t think the chickens mind us taking their eggs, but then again, what do you read from this look?? She is definitely plotting something right?

Nah probably not. Ripley is a sweetheart and my friend. But I think I’ll keep my guard up, just in case.

It's been three months...