Transitions

The day after we installed the new nesting boxes we found eggs in them. Our chickens have adjusted! To get ready for the chicks hatching we also built a new perch for the chickens and finished building our new outdoor run. That night we didn't let the chickens into their house, so they are now sleeping outside. We are hoping the chicks will hatch in a few hours!

Getting ready for chicks

Work continues on the chick coop and run. Yesterday, Ronit, Miriam and I installed a huge door to the outside run that will allow us access to the area on rare occasions, and in particular, a way to dump leaves into the run in the fall. We now just have two 2'x2' squares in the roof to cover with chick wire -- and we'll be done with the run.

Angel, our broody hen, spent what seemed like a huge amount of time yesterday standing on the ladder in the outdoor run. She seemed to be somewhat agitated, and we all started getting nervous that the eggs were getting cold. Finally, after approximately 30 minutes she returned to the eggs. We are still nervous, but hoping for the best. While she was out of the nest box Miriam found an unfertilized egg - though we threw it out because we do not know how long she had been sitting on it. Meanwhile, Pecky Becky, seems to be broody too. Starting on Saturday afternoon she too is spending all her time in a nest box. That means both our two nest boxes are occupied by setting hens. It leaves the other two hens with no place to lay their eggs, and it means that we are back to buying eggs at Star Market.

Today, Miriam and turned an unused kitchen drawer into three new nesting boxes, and mounted them on the garage wall, under the deck. This should give our two non-broody chicks a place to lay eggs -- and it will also serve the big hens when we separate them from the chicks we are expecting on Thursday.