Chickenfolk: 2 Dogs now has Egg #2!!!!!

[2DogsFarm]

:D And I am doing the Happy Dance!

One of my 18wk old Black Stars has been showing all the signs of reaching Point of Lay (per the wisdom on Backyard Chickens BB) for the last 2 weeks:
*Grew a huge red comb & wattles - seemingly overnight
*Squatting whenever I look at her
*Inspecting the nestboxes (which I have "salted" with fake wooden eggs)

Tonight when I let the girls out for their evening freetime outside the coop, I checked the nestboxes out of (hopeful) habit....

AND FOUND AN EGG!!!!!!!

It's small, it's perfect & I can't decide how I'll cook it for myself
It will make perhaps 2 tablespoons of egg salad :cool:

If the rest of my mini-flock follows her example I will be up to my eyeballs in eggs very soon.

Do I need to get a Life or is this standard for newbie chicken owners?

UPDATE: collected #2 last evening & it is bigger than the first.
I think this girl has got the machinery running.
Now she needs to hold a tutorial for the her sisters

[ReSomething]

Still waiting here. We have about a week to go if I remember right. No you don't need to get a life, but if I get a double yolker before you do I expect some ooh and aah-ing too. Congrats!

[sk_pacer]

No no no!!! Don't make it into egg salad - ya gotta FRY pullet eggs!!! They gotta be fried in butter and they have to have a 'frill' around them. Actually, anyone with layers goes nuts for pullet eggs :)

[2DogsFarm]

ReSomething - if you want many pats on the back try Backyard Chickens
I'll WooHoo for ya, they will go nuts!

OK, sk pacer - I gotta know why?

What is the deal with pullet eggs?
I've decided to wait and see if I get more from her before doing anything "rash" with this one :cool:
Black Stars are referred to as Egg-laying machines and I'm curious to see if her {ahem} machinery will live up to that.

So Sunday breakfast may get festive here at 2 Dogs Farm :D

[RiverBendPol]

Wahoo!! If you've never had home-laid-eggs before, you will FLIP over the beauty of the thing sitting up so tall in the frying pan, the yolk a color you've never seen in an egg before, its little white skirt ruffling around at the edges, getting crispy in the butter. Oh my, it is sublime. Don't make salad or scrambles till you are no longer SO EXCITED to reach into the nesting box hoping for a prize! Poachers are good too but the first fried egg is just too wonderful. Have fun! Oh, have you seen the flick Chicken Run? You must rent it, it is a riot. :)

[Frank B]

Mebbe you should have it bronzed?

[MistyBlue]

Yay!!!! You have every right to be proud of your first homegrown chicken egg! :yes: And no, you don't need a life. Because if you need a life, so do I. :winkgrin: I get excited over the oddest things, hubby despairs of ever having a normal conversation with me, LOL!

And hey, last winter I found my first egg on my farm too. Sitting cozily in some loose hay in my feed room. Except as mentioned, I don't have chickens. And as far as I know, my neighbor only has the one rooster. So....go figure where the hell the egg came from. :confused:

Maybe it's time to change your name to 2Dogs&1EggFarm? ;)

[angie j]

If you think thats exciting waiting for chicks to be born is twice as wonder inspiring. I'll have to get some pics of the 'freaky' looking 'mutt' chickens we have sauntering around here.

[harveyhorses]

Woo HOO!! Please don't get a life, otherwise I won't be able to have my vicarious chicken fix.
Was driving with a friend this week, chitter chatter catching up... until we drove by a sign Chickens For Sale. "OHH Chickens" She just kept driving.... :(
I do get to have real eggs from another friend once in a while and they are so not like the store bought ones. I want to get a picture of the egg frying with its lacy skirt...now I'm hungry again. :winkgrin:

[JSwan]

Congratulations!

I remember my first eggs - I was walking around saying geez - these pullets should be laying by now and I looked over and.... Ta Da!

Eggs!

We ate them but in retrospect maybe I should have had one framed. You know, like a business frames the first 20$ it makes.

:)

[RiverBendPol]

...And hey, last winter I found my first egg on my farm too. Sitting cozily in some loose hay in my feed room. Except as mentioned, I don't have chickens. And as far as I know, my neighbor only has the one rooster. So....go figure where the hell the egg came from. :confused:...


Hahaha, I guess the egg really DID come first.....

[RacetrackReject]

Grats!!

I still have no eggs, but one of my "pullets" started crowing this morning, so I'm hoping that means they are hitting pubert and I will start getting some eggs. I'm also glad to know that I have at least one rooster too. He's kind of pretty black and white speckley with some rust flecks.

[2DogsFarm]

:DSee?
I knew I could count on COTH for some gratifying kudos
(I mean...it's not like I laid the thing myself...)

RiverBendPol - I've had the blissful exeprience of freerange eggs when I chickensat my girlfriend's hens and got to raid their nest.
Nothing compares to that dayglow orange yolk and high & mighty white!

MistyBlue - now that is eeeeeerie!
Did you cook the Mystery Egg? Hatch it?

angie j: my intent was to get eggs, so I purposely got started (9wks old) pullets. But now that I have them, I do find my mind wandering to thoughts of fuzzy chicklets..... Lord help me...

harveyhorses:
Please list here one valid reason you cannot have chickens
Gotcha!
I am a former BigCityGal & I never would have thought poultry could be so much fun AND feed you!

FrankB & JSwan - I admit I did consider blowing the egg and saving the shell :o

RacetrackReject: If you have hens the eggs will come - I am now a Believer, spreading the gospel of Wait & Check the Nestbox

I have decided to wait and see if I get another egg today, and perhaps a 3rd Saturday.
Then I can make myself a teeny breakfast - Over Easy - on Sunday :yes:

[JSwan]

:DSee?
I knew I could count on COTH for some gratifying kudos
(I mean...it's not like I laid the thing myself...)



I admit that when I read the title of your thread I though to myself - Ouch. That must have hurt!:lol:

When I lived in Germany I collected eggs decorated in the Scandinavian style - I think you can see an image of the style here: http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/annualeventstraditions/a/easterhub.htm

It was quite difficult to create, and many artisans used bits of straw to create complex patterns on the eggs. Straw and red thread was used to create lovely Christmas decorations, too.

Anyway - the custom was to bring branches of forsythia or pussy willow into the house and hang these lovely eggs from the budding branches.

Unfortunately, few of my possessions survived the move back to the US and all I have left are memories of all the wonderful cultural traditions of that part of Europe (near the North Sea).

No point to the story except when the notion of saving that first egg was brought up it brought me to mind of my beautiful easter eggs dangling from delicate spring branches in a vase in my little home in Germany. :sadsmile:

[2DogsFarm]

Those eggs are gorgeous!
Have you ever seen the Polish ones - very similar!

http://z.about.com/d/goeasteurope/1/5/J/2/-/-/PolandPisanki.jpg (http://z.about.com/d/goeasteurope/1/0/J/2/-/-/PolandPisanki.jpg)

[JSwan]

Yes, I purchased one. I went to many art shows in the northern part of the country and there were lots of artisans there who sold their creations.

One of my favorite places was Gut Sandbeck - here is a photo. This was used for many shows and exhibits. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_Sandbeck

I used to sing in the local choir and this is where we met.

Not bad, huh? :D

One of my favorite haunts was this (in Bremen) http://www.derschnoor.de/

That whole area of Germany is really incredible and I was grateful for the opportunity to live in what was then a little sleepy town. Completely immersed myself in the culture and local life and had an absolute blast.

When I think of easter eggs I always picture the little collection I had and how pretty it was.

eta - to keep this horse and chicken related - Bremen is famous for the story of the Bremen Town Musicians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Musicians_of_Bremen

[harveyhorses]

:( Because. I get too attached and when I found the body (headless) of my favorite bantam I was upset for days. Blackie was the sweetest thing, when I picked her up, she made this sort of clucky purry noise and nestled in the crook of my arm. Then my pet turkeys (red bourbon??) were murdered in front of me by a nasty paint pony we were selling for a friend. yes, MURDERED. They would follow me from stall to stall while I was cleaning, and Delila went under the stall guard to his stall, nasty pony looked at me over the 1/2 wall, looked at her looked back at me and stomped her flat. DH cam home to find the pitchfork broken, and me sobbing hysterically while digging a grave. Sampson did find another home. Pony was unharmed. just a sore spot on his but. :mad:
Where I live now, too many preditors, neighbors and not enough space. Well I could convert the old dog pen, but it is in the woods, not very sunny. We have foxes hawks owls and cats. There is a HUGE orange beast that hangs around. I don't think it would be good for them to spend all their time in a pen. We are grandfathered in so if the neighbors bug me too much maybe I'll get peackocks. :eek:

[2DogsFarm]

JSwan - No Fair! The wiki link is in German
No sprechen zie deutsche :no:
(unless you count a wee bit of Low German aka Yiddish)

Bremen Town Musicians was one of my favorite fairy tales!

harveyhorses - I get entirely too attached to all my pets, I dread losing them and cried a river for a barnkitten I had just 3 months before he became roadkill. I still miss him.
But it is part of the contract for having species not as long-lived as homo sapiens. Maybe I should get a parrot?

Are you sure you don't have room for even a couple hens?
My girlfriend bought her last 2 from the neighbor's kids who housed them in a teeny coop the size of a (really)large dollhouse. They freeranged all day and got locked in the coop in the barn at night but sadly through attrition predators got them both.
She will be reusing the coop for 2 new hens soon and had DH build her a run about 10X20, floored and roofed with poultry wire.

[foggybok]

It's not fair!

I have to wait at least another month for an egg....

Funny how we get so excited about things....

I remember once, we borrowed a chickens from somebody for part of a trail obstacle (yes back in the days when that sort of thing was allowed and even encouraged....no chickens were hurt in the process...they just had to sit there and cluck like chickens) I remember looking into the cage in the morning and seeing an egg. For a second I wondered "where did that come from", which of course was followed by a big "Duh!"

I'm a little mad at my chickens now, as they have discovered the strawberry patch...No, the are not eating the berries, they are digging up all the roots looking for worms..... I guess I need a fence...

[JSwan]

foggybok -

I have a large garden but don't want it fully fenced because I like to use the tractor to dump compost and till and whatnot.

What I did was to use plastic step in posts and deer netting. The netting attaches to the step in posts perfectly.

At the end of the growing season I just roll it all up and store it in the old barn. Then roll it back out, stand it up and step the posts back into the ground. Takes maybe 5 minutes.

It may not be the prettiest fence but it is inexpensive and functional - and it has lasted several years with no sign of needing repair or replacement.

[foggybok]

foggybok -

I have a large garden but don't want it fully fenced because I like to use the tractor to dump compost and till and whatnot.

What I did was to use plastic step in posts and deer netting. The netting attaches to the step in posts perfectly.

At the end of the growing season I just roll it all up and store it in the old barn. Then roll it back out, stand it up and step the posts back into the ground. Takes maybe 5 minutes.

It may not be the prettiest fence but it is inexpensive and functional - and it has lasted several years with no sign of needing repair or replacement.


Thanks for the suggestion!

I was looking at my extra step in posts and bird netting the other day....glad to know it works!

I nixed the idea because my garden is sort of visible from the neighbor's house and I was hoping the chickens would give up... And, as you, I didn't want a permanent fence for access reasons. The dog has been assigned the task of keeping them out of the garden... But alas, the dog has fallen down on the job and it doesn't appear they will give up, and well, the neighbors are far enough away........

Out I go to set up the new fence!

[2DogsFarm]

JSwan, I think we must be sisters...
I used the same post/netting fencing, and it was great garden fencing.
But when I rolled it up at the end of the season, somehow over the Winter it morphed into a tangle that took me forever to unroll, tearing most of the netting in the process.
What's your secret?

foggybok - since I was too lazy to fence my garden this year (see above) rabbits ate every last one of my 25 new strawberry plants - ripped the crowns right out of the ground! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

And now I must go through my basket collection and find one suitable for holding eggs <2Dogs says smugly> :D

[foggybok]

foggybok - since I was too lazy to fence my garden this year (see above) rabbits ate every last one of my 25 new strawberry plants - ripped the crowns right out of the ground! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr



Well, the dog is useless with the chickens, but not one rabbit dares set foot in this yard!

deer either... I casually remarked at a neighborhood picnic that we used to have half a dozen deer in our orchard and now we don't have any due to the dog. Another neighbor said, he used to have 5, now he has a dozen... ooops:D

[JSwan]

I never have a problem with rabbits, either.

I have a beagle. :winkgrin:

No deer trouble at all - She Who Must Be Obeyed and Homer the "special" dog make sure of that.

Neither bother the chickens.


2Dogs - I'm a slob so I don't know how I don't tangle up that fence. I just pull one post out at a time and twirl it like cotton candy - except I just make sure none of the netting gets caught on a spike at the bottom.

In the spring I just stomp one post in and then unroll then stomp in another, unroll some more (standing the fence up not laying it on the ground and unrolling)

Does that make sense?

Hey - yesterday evening I sat with Sophie for a few minutes (she's a Buff Orpington that likes to be carried around and my niece named her Sophie). Anyway - I was sitting there with Sophie on my lap and a Salmon Favorelle cockerel snuck up behind me and beat the crap out of me! Then he started dancing around with his neck feathers sticking out daring me to strike back!:lol:

Chucky II, perhaps?

[2DogsFarm]

I forget...was the Chucky roo yours?
Mr Salmon Fav caught you messing with one of his girls - can't blame him for getting PO'd...can't blame him, but CAN kick his feathery butt & I hope you did!

Sigh - I don't know how I managed, but my rolled up posts & netting were one huge tangle. Good thing the netting is cheap.
The posts I used have little hooky things all up their length - great for sticking netting to as you create a fence, but not so easy to avoid when un-fencing for storage.
Um...that's my story & I'm sticking with it!

I now have 3 little pullet eggs waiting in the fridge for 2Dogs 3 Over Easy Brunch tomorrow :D

[JSwan]

I forget...was the Chucky roo yours?

I now have 3 little pullet eggs waiting in the fridge for 2Dogs 3 Over Easy Brunch tomorrow :D

Yup. He was mine. A mixup in the chick order.

I bet you're going to have the Best Breakfast Ever tomorrow! Bon appetit! :)

[foggybok]

I never have a problem with rabbits, either.

I have a beagle. :winkgrin:

No deer trouble at all - She Who Must Be Obeyed and Homer the "special" dog make sure of that.

Neither bother the chickens.


2Dogs - I'm a slob so I don't know how I don't tangle up that fence. I just pull one post out at a time and twirl it like cotton candy - except I just make sure none of the netting gets caught on a spike at the bottom.

In the spring I just stomp one post in and then unroll then stomp in another, unroll some more (standing the fence up not laying it on the ground and unrolling)

Does that make sense?

Hey - yesterday evening I sat with Sophie for a few minutes (she's a Buff Orpington that likes to be carried around and my niece named her Sophie). Anyway - I was sitting there with Sophie on my lap and a Salmon Favorelle cockerel snuck up behind me and beat the crap out of me! Then he started dancing around with his neck feathers sticking out daring me to strike back!:lol:

Chucky II, perhaps?

I love beagles!

My dog was trained from day one of the chickens that he was not to harrass them, his job is to protect them. He does that well, but that means he doesn't care if they are in the garden.... Tell him to check his chickens and he's out there in a flash making sure they are all OK....

He likes them in a neat little group (border collie) and once that's done, it doesn't matter to him where they are.....

The visual of Chucky II is hilarious! I miss my roo!