Its a New Year’s Miracle! We have chicken eggs! Our chickens have FINALLY started laying again!
Like I mentioned before, we adopted our flock as 1 year-olds last June. They matured the previous fall into egg-layers, and probably laid all through last winter. They were finishing up some kind of mini-molt when we picked them up at the beginning of summer, because they were looking a little rough (bare-backs from the rooster aside). The three Araucana’s began laying pretty much right away, and continued consistently through the summer. “Raspberry”, the the Rhode Island Red, didn’t start laying again until mid-summer.
Then, BAM! Labor Day comes and they stop laying completely. They all went through a full molt and looked just terrible for about 2 months. Their feathers finally came in nice and full by the beginning of November, but by then the days were getting very short. I assumed they wouldn’t start up egg production until spring. I didn’t want to put a light in their house because… everybody deserves a rest. We were starting to joke about them being free-loaders, though. The organic, non-GMO food is expensive!
On our way home from Southern California yesterday, my step-mom found an egg! I got the text and showed my family the picture while we were driving up the 5, “No Way!” It was pale green, but we couldn’t tell from which Araucana.
This morning I let the chickens out in the yard to scratch around, and I found another green egg. Two days in a row is a little crazy when its been 4 months since we’ve had an egg. Then, I noticed “Raspberry” anxiously running around trying to get back into the house ASAP, acting kinda like she’d had a few cups of coffee. I peered through the heart-window and saw her in the nesting box. It took about 45 minutes, but she squeezed out a beautiful brown egg.
It looks like it ON now! Hopefully we can keep getting the steady flow of wheat-grass flats and scraps from my parent’s juice shop. The bugs they gobble up from the compost pile will give us eggs rich in omegas, too. Happy Chickens!
