We’ve had so much rain and Buttercup hasn’t been enjoying it.

We have a family of deer that live in the woods that surround us. I’ve been trying to get a better picture but this girl spooks so easily I haven’t been able.

The chickens really seem to like her though. As she walks along the back of the fence the chickens follow. If some of them have escaped the pen they’ll zip around her feet like cats do so often to us. A noticable difference though is I don’t think the deer cares if it steps on a chicken - its just concerned with going where ever it goes.

These deer are beautiful. Too bad they insist on eating my tomato plants.

When we got our chickens so long ago Buttercup here was supposed to be a Buff Laced Polish. But she was the wrong color. Off white, with no lacing. Our Laced Wyandotte’s started to show closer to adult colors pretty early. But not Buttercup. Until recently I was wondering if her lacing would ever really look right.

Now she looks nice though. The lacing is really nice on her tan feathers. Even the afro is laced.

Meg has started laying.

We now have 4 chickens laying. Teresa, Julian, Jessie, and Meg. Julian is actually the most reliable so far. Everyday since she started. Teresa is pretty good, 3 out of 4 days or so we find one. And Jessie, well, she’s a little unreliable. In the last 2 weeks we’ve only gotten 3 eggs from her. Maybe 4. Meg just started so I don’t know what kind of layer she’ll be.

This is really the only picture I have of Leda, and I suppose there will be no others. Last Thursday she died. She was being a little aloof on Wednesday and by Thursday she was obviously very sick. We did what we could to help but by Thursday afternoon she had died.

It was kidney failure or something similar. Poor girl. We never got to see her reach her full beauty and we never got enjoy a single colored egg.

We bought Rory here at about 3 weeks old in May. We thought he was a she, but he started showing some very roo-ish signs after a couple of weeks. Now it’s very clear that he’s, well a he. This is our first experience with such a young cockerel. We’re hoping we don’t run into any agressive problems. So far, he’s very friendly although a little skittish.

He’s gorgeous though. His feathers have a fantastic sheen to them and his tail can look like a myriad of colors as the light changes. Rory doesn’t want to act like a roo yet though. He steals food from his girls and doesn’t crow.  But he’s still young, approximately 16 weeks old.

What does an afro chicken look like when they have a bad hair day? Well these photos should answer this age old question.

We have several Black Walnut trees. These trees are interesting in that they lose leaves year round. They fall, bright yellow on the green grass and Fred gets very excited. He’s sqwaks and clucks calling the girls over for a delicious treat, only it’s a leaf. And they are all over the ground. The chickens don’t actually seem to like how they taste as they never actually eat them.

That doesn’t stop Fred from getting very exicted and letting them know everytime he finds one. It also doesn’t stop the hens from running over very excited to see his find only to wander away disappointed when they see it’s just another leaf.

We had heard many stories about the difference between store bought eggs and freshly laid. I generally trusted them because it seemed to be unanimous. Then Teresa laid her first egg, we hard boiled it and I couldn’t tell the difference.

Having said that understand I hadn’t had a hardboiled egg in a very long time so no real comparison. This weekend though my lovely wife decided to make a couple of quiche. The one in the front of the picture was made from store bought eggs. The one in the rear from freshly laid eggs.

The differences were astounding to be perfectly honest. The one from fresh laid eggs is fluffier, as you can see, the texture is different. The store bought egg made a drier, more flaky sort of quiche, while the one made from our eggs was almost creamy.

I was completely amazed but as of right now,

Fresh Eggs: 1
Store Bought: 0

As you all know last week we got our first egg. Teresa got the process started, but Julian made it infinitely more interesting. For one, she decided to use the nest boxes on the second story, which is a lot harder to get to but I’m pleased to see she likes it better. Second, she loves to make noise and brag about laying.

Teresa is a fairly low key chicken. She doesn’t make a lot of noise, ever. She seems happy enough just not the bragging type. Julian though, this past Saturday, decided it was time to lay an egg. So she starts sqwaking. Fred realizes what’s happening and runs over to be there with her in this fine hour.

They both jump up to the second level, and Julian starts digging around in the nest box. Fred stands directly in front of the nest box, as if on guard. After 10 minutes or so, they both jump triumphantly out of the nest box and start making quite the racket. Fred is loud and bragging for Julian. Julian is loud and brags for herself. After, a good 5 minutes of this Fred jumps down and takes his place out with the girls again.

Julian though doesn’t leave. But instead she jumps back into the nest box and starts scratching around again. Fred catches on and comes to join her again. Diligently on guard. After a good 30 minutes of this I’m about to leave and I’m super curious about what’s going on in there so I go to take a look.

When I pull up the egg door, Fred and Julian notice me and FREAK out. Justified I suppose, Julian is trying to “give birth” and here I am snooping. She hadn’t laid the egg. She spent the next 10 minutes making a whole lot of noise about being interrupted before finally going in to finish the deed for real this time. And there was once again, much rejoicing.