Our Urban Chickens

Greetings. The ladies are starting to feel spring coming. Looks like Ginger or Pearl made an attempt at an egg - a first for either of them all winter. It was a soft shell and didn’t survive in the coop but a positive sign anyway.

Rosie never ceases to amaze. Her two eggs from yesterday. The large egg weighs 70 grams and the small one is 5 grams.

Well winter is here and the ladies are doing their best with the wet weather. Stay posted for updates if they develop webbed feet. :)

4 hens dead next door and now the the beautiful but deadly, mean as all get the hell out wild Mink is after our ladies! If I don’t kill it first there is someone coming to try and trap it for us.

Mink - Chicken Predators - How To Protect Your Chickens From Mink General Information & Description Minks belong to the Mustela family, which also includes stoats and weasels. Minks come in different names like Ermine, Sable, Minque Nordique, and Sable Nordique. The mink has a hairy and large tail that...

Tuesday morning drama. Capryce let the chickens out early and then we had a "visitor". The chickens went crazy when a raccoon showed up and started to chase them around the yard. We both ran out and chased it off. It came back and Capryce gave it a good send off with the business end of the charged garden hose. Everyone safe and sound locked up in the run for a bit.

As a side note Capryce is still laughing about me running around the chicken run in my bare feet at 7am.

Update on Rosie the amazing Rhode Island Red. Every 8-10 days she goes all out and lays what can only be described as a “double egg”. This goes beyond a double yolk. The eggs are averaging 100+ grams and contain 2 full size yolks and an abundance of egg white.

Ginger playing peekaboo.

Philosophical Chickens.

connect the dots in a completely random way to find a pattern in the chaos but don't despair when there is none.

Sisters....sorta.

Right now, because of brooding behaviour and the disruption to nesting space it causes, we have only dependable Rhode Island Rosie giving us eggs. :-( If you're thinking about getting chickens you should do some research on breeds to see which are least susceptible to brooding. We've never had an issue with Barred Rocks or Rhode Island Reds.

This is an awesome idea!

You Can Buy Arms For Your Chicken looks badass!

Hello from Pearl.

Pearl has started eating the “Hens and Chicks” plants. Cannibalism?

Well Rosie had another first. Making breakfast this morning I cracked open one of her monster sized eggs and it was her first double-yoke egg.I know you aren't supposed to have favourites but she makes it hard to stick to that.

Thank you Alison M👍🏼

So, Rosie is back at it again. Her current record is now 109 grams for a single egg. She really does out do herself.

Early this morning one of the ladies has been crowing. In looking for possible explanations I found this, which to me is more interesting! "The earliest recorded version of this Scottish proverb was in 1721. “A crooning cow, a crowing hen and a whistling maid boded never luck to a home.” It means the three things mentioned are traditionally considered unnatural and improper for females. The ones that perform them are abnormal and ill-omened." 😉

Seems we have been well trained by the chickens. When we go out to the yard they expect us to harvest something from the garden for them. WOW do they love the spinach that has already bolted to seed! We enjoy feeding them by hand until the little darlings start pecking at our hands.

I know it’s not a competition but here is Rosie’s egg next to the other three. Again, wow.

A Youtube'r that Capryce came across yesterday. A little classical music with a chicken theme. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HW67QzTpU

J. Strauss - The Blue Danube Waltz (Chicken Version) thanks for watching, please like and subscribe :) Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=twosetviolin ______________________________...

So Rosie has been hiding her eggs under the side of the coop. For quite a while it seems.

Well it looks like we have managed to break Gilda and Ginger of their brooding habit. Now hopefully we will start seeing some eggs from these adorable freeloaders.

Well, like other things being "broody" can be contagious. Could be hormones or empathy. Gilda has decided she needs to hatch chicks as well. So, Ginger and Gilda are insisting that solidarity and stubbornness make the impossible happen. For their continued good health we have to take action. Insisting something doesn't necessarily make it so. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/6-ways-to-break-a-broody-hen/?fbclid=IwAR2PhfUjiX5Ylv3yitzhOBdBUCUsKsBOs64kQqoVsztzCLtnrQqxmAn0crQ

We decided to have lunch outback while we were working on deck yesterday. Pearl was intrigued and came to investigate. Quick as a flash she snatched a piece of steak from my salad! And that's when the fight started!

Rosie is going to hurt herself I think. New record today- 89 grams. By contrast Pearl produces 50 gram eggs and Gilda rings in at 58 grams. Gilda eggs are typically the size one would expect in a grocery store dozen of Extra Large eggs.

If you are thinking of getting some hens they are wonderful pets as well as giving you eggs. But, there are lots of things to consider. Will they be allowed to roam your yard area and/or have a run that is a thoughtful, healthy environment? Hens will decimate any food you plant for yourself except pungent herbs! Our personal planting beds are raised and netted to keep the little buggers out. For their run we planted Boxwood, a Holly tree, and a Camellia. There is also an apple tree (they do eat any of the dropped fruit). You could say they're the Piranha of the poultry world. We found out the hard way. Also, sadly they don't like Morning-glory
We have gone out of our way to make their environment interesting, secure and safe from predators. Yes, I'm proud of it 😁 We have Pineapple Sage, Rosemary, chives, outside the run and planting beds. Important: we protected the base of all plants outside the run because hens love to dig around them. Hope I haven't talked out of the whole idea!