A chicken Coup! Yep, there's a new queen of the roost -- a shake-up in the pecking order.
My friend and CSA provider found a source of chickens out in her neck of the woods and she brought me 3 laying hens to the Germantown farmers' market this morning where I pick up my CSA share. They are a black Austrolorp, a Buff Orpington, and a Rhode Island Red (which I have named Chickamauga, Chickahominy, and Chicken Noodle). We put them in the coop and they immediately took over the prime real estate -- exercising dominion over the food, water and nesting boxes.
My 3 old girls are hanging out downstairs and defending their turf -- they get the cool dirt and dust bath area.
This afternoon Gwynno and Pomegranate made their way upstairs to the nesting area and huddled together and laid 2 eggs, while Chickamauga camped out on the other side of the nesting area and gave me the first egg from the new bunch. After the egg laying they all glowered at one another and G and P decamped back downstairs. There's no fussing as long as everyone keeps their distance.
My poor coop is so decrepit -- bits and pieces falling off, doors rotting. It has served well for 14 years for our rabbit and for the past 6 years, the chickens. I've ordered a new coop from Amazon and it should arrive sometime next week, when I can take some time to paint and assemble it.
linking to Sunny Simple Sunday; Tuesday Garden Party
7 comments:
lol. I wish I knew what its like to have chicks laying eggs? I think its only something rural homes can do....but I keep hearing stories from them and they sound so like fun, and I their poo is sooo good as fertilizer yes?
Oh as soon as I saw chickens I had to come see. I love the two story job of it. I ordered mine from Amazon too. I want to extend the run down below for more room but we do let ours out and they go the old run for most of the day. We are always working on something for them.
I would love to have chickens since our city recently authorized them. Especially for the eggs and poop. However, we have cats. Probably not a very good mix.
How funny--those chickens have personality to spare! Love fresh eggs--we don't have any hens, but have a friend down the road from us who does and we buy from her. There's no comparison with homegrown to store-bought eggs in my opinion--they're wonderful. Looking forward to seeing the new coop.
Sounds like the "new folks" will fit in after a bit or so. Good news that they are laying already. I'll bet they will be 'sitting pretty' in your new coop.
I would love to have some chickens to hang out in my backyard. Unfortunately it's against regulations for the area we live in so I have to wait. My mother-n-law has chickens though and shares her eggs with us. YUM!
Take care,
Dee
How exciting that you're getting a new coop! I look forward to seeing it. :-)
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