Egg Count for February

In the 28 days of Feb. the chickens laid 155 eggs.  That is an average of 5.5 eggs a day!  That's SO MANY eggs!  I believe the fermented feed is working! 
It has been colder than cold this month again, only going above freezing one day.  We still have feet of snow, and no relief in the forecast.  March is my favorite month, so it better shape up soon. 

Feed changes and additions

I read a pinterest post about fermenting chicken feed in mason jars.  It looked easy, so I thought I would try it.  It has worked so well, I am very happy I tried it because it really is SO EASY.  Fermented chicken feed has been rumored to increase egg production, and I can say I used it for a week, and got 6 eggs 5 out of 7 days, and 5 the other two.  I took a week off, because I wanted to see if that made a difference and because the feed was freezing before they could eat it all.  That week I only got 6 eggs one day, which may have been leftover benefits from the week prior. The other days I got 4 or 5.  So, Scientifically I can't prove it, but I believe Fermented feed does increase egg production.  The chickens seem to enjoy it, and I can add warm water to make it a warm breakfast for them in the morning. 

The main reason I like it is because I feel like I'm increasing my food by just adding water.  I start with a half full jar of food, and end up with a full jar of eatable food that looks and smells better than the dry feed.  So, here is how I do it:
In a quart size mason jar, (I have used spaghetti and leftover jars without problem,)  fill half way with dry chicken feed.  Add filtered water to the top and kind of poke it down with the handle of a spoon.  It should be fairly easy to get the water to the bottom.  You want all the feed wet.  It looks like a lot of water, but I have found that more water is better than less.  After 3 days, your jars should be full with the feed fluffy and still moist.  You can see all the components of the feed that absorbed the water, corn, wheat, oats, and there's still calcium in there.  I use Organic Layer, which I like better because I can actually see what's in it as opposed to the grower feed I was using that had everything ground way down.  I feed half the jar in the morning and the other half at lunch when I change their water. 

I have also started raising mealworms for extra treats for the hens.  It's actually been pretty interesting seeing the lifecycle of a mealworm.  I have just had them for a month and already have seen three stages of development.  I am supposed to wait three generations before I start harvesting them for feed, but I think I am going to just get another package of 100 to speed things up a little.  They are really easy, and I have to believe if I am feeding them organic fruit and food scrapes (along with the organic substrate) they will be organic mealworms?  Maybe that's not so important.  

Egg Count for January.

The 31 days of January are over, which means spring is so much closer.  It also means my first full month of collecting eggs is over!  My awesome chickens gave me 142 eggs over the month! That's an average of 4.5 a day.  There were 4 days where I got 6 eggs, that's 100% (I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT MULTIPLE D'S IN MATH! I'm so good at this now!)

We have also just finished the worst winter month I can remember.  We got SO MUCH SNOW. The temperatures were never above freezing.  But those chickens, they were awesome.  Laying the eggs,  eating all the time, staying alive. 

Coconut did get frostbite on her comb, but a couple days in the basement with some ointment and she's all healed up.  Well, not completely healed but good enough to be back with her friends.  She did not like being in that carrier.  And the basement started smelling like a fair.  It wasn't cool. 

winter is overrated.

We are waiting for another big storm tonight/tomorrow/the next three months/forever/this winter will never end.  So far this has been the worst winter I can remember as far as snow accumulation and ongoing negative temperatures.  Yesterday felt like bliss and the high was only 33.  Tomorrow the high is going to be 2 with sustained winds and a wind chill of -50. We will be in a "POLAR VORTEX."  Doesn't that sound fun?  What a winter to start having chickens.  My garden is so full of snow I can't even see the boxes, and the fence I didn't have time to take down is slowly coming down on its own accord. 

I'm preparing the chickens by adding lots of shavings to the coop, and I got a cool thermometer I put in there to see how cold they are staying.  So far, pretty cold.  I added some straw to the run to stall their boredom today and get them outside, seeing as they will be locked in the next two days. 

Yesterday I got 4 eggs for the first time!  Two Isa Brown and Two Barred Rock eggs.  The barred rocks are much smaller and lighter color.  Except this one, which is XLarge on the egg scale.  All the other of this breed have measured small so I'm curious as to what's in there! 

This morning I found a soft-shell egg in the boxes, well the yolk, whites, and a thin shell membrane.  I couldn't tell what breed it was but I read that it's common at the beginning or end of a laying cycle.  It can also be a Vitamin D deficiency, which is not surprising because the sun hasn't shone in weeks.  I added some Vitamin D gel to the inside waterer, but I'm not sure how much of that they drink since it freezes so quickly. 

Seeds of the Month Club

Another awesome gift I received from Santa was a membership to the Seeds of the Month Club.  Every month I receive Organic or Non-GMO seeds that are sent at random.  I got two months of seeds today:

Endive (Never had)
Cubanelle Pepper (Haven't had much luck with Peppers, maybe these are the winners!)
Buttercup Squash (LOVE growing Squash)
Turnips, White Egg (Never Had)
Spinach, Bloomsdale
Rutabaga (Never had, super fun to say.)
Arugula
Kale, Blue Cured Scotch
Collards (Never had)
Onion
Tomato, Delicious
Dill
Cabbage, Charleston

I got this cool photo album at the dollar tree to put them in for easy storage.  I don't feel like getting off the sofa to take a picture of it though.  I'll update whenever I get new seeds, and also how the new variates work. 

White Christmas

Whoever has been dreaming of a white christmas can stop now.  It's enough.  I have never in my life seen so much snow.  Apparently on the 23rd a snow cell got stuck over our city and dumped 18 + inches over a 6 hour period.  It is about a 10 mile radius that was affected.  We are the middle.  This is what I woke up to Yesterday morning. 

I had to shovel a path to the coop, shovel open the door, knock the snow off the fence on the roof, and shovel a path to the water.  I also put down shavings, since I am so nice. 
The cluckers did not know what to think. 

They enjoyed their oatmeal, and still laid me two eggs!  I have been getting two eggs a day everyday since the 13th, except today, when I got THREE!! It's a christmas miracle, 3 EGGS!  I have 4 squatting, all three Isa Browns, and Patty the Barred Rock squat whenever I come near them.  We got about 4 more inches of snow today, but the shoveling wasn't so hard this time.

Overall, it was a great day, I got an Ecobrooder for the upcoming spring, and the incredible Egg Scale, which we weighed all our eggs on today.  (They were mostly medium, one large) 
Merry Christmas!

7 months later....

I GOT TWO EGGS TODAY!

The chickens are 22 1/2 weeks old today and this morning I found an egg lying in the shavings, I squealed so loudly the neighborhood dogs were all barking.  I initiated the Twilight Bark, except it was more like the Daybreak Bark.  When I got home from lunch I went to change the water and found ANOTHER egg lying in the run, covered in mud and poo.  I'm sure it was two of the Isa Browns, since for the last week they have been squatting everytime I came into the run.  The eggs are perfect.  Big, brown, even and have a beautiful smooth hard shell. 

The weather has been frightful, without getting above 20 for over a week, and no break in the cold in the 10 day forecast.   I really figured I wouldn't see an egg since spring, it has been frigid, but Isa Browns are apparently AWESOME at lying eggs.  Even in the cold.  I'm excited to see if there's anymore in the coop tomorrow and also to eat them for breakfast.  I considered bronzing them, but that seems a little excessive. 

I've decided to decorate a little, they seem to enjoy the run being festive.