It wasn't a triple but it sure was a complete double yoker!

My girls are very happy and lay on a consistent basis now. I know that I have a faithful double yoker and that is always a "good thing". Each day I pluck an arm full of grass and weeds to feed the hens and they love it.
The hen and rooster Australorp's I have with the hens now get along great. They are as big as the full grown hens and able to defend themselves. When the cage of pure Austraorps start laying eggs I will allow the brooder hens to go ahead and brood on some eggs and keep them apart from the others.
I cannot tell you what a difference a metal container made for automatic watering and feeding has made in the cost of food and time it takes to upkeep the flock! Well worth the cost.

By Golly I believe we have a triple yoker!

I was doing the general, everyday routine of checking eggs, of which have been abundant in the "other" chicken house, and I picked up an egg today that has to be a triple yoke. It dwarfs the other eggs in the carton ad the hen that laid it normally lays doubles but she squeezed very hard today and I sure could see why!
With eggs like this we won't need a whole bunch more chickens!
We did add some oyster shell to their diets this week too and they all love it...

Upgrading the food supply helps!

We took the advice from the Chicken Forum about going back to the starter and then we wondered after the chickens all grew healthy and strong, "Why no eggs?", when we spoke to the humble beloved man at the feed store. His advice..start them on crumbles because they are too old to be on the starter. Since we followed this friendly advice we have some chickens going crazy laying and developing.
I know they needed to get back to the starter though, to get back to health so I am not ungrateful for that advice but I will be happy when they all lay steadily.
One bad thing did happen the other day, we lost Henny Penny to one of our dogs. She was free ranging and when we had our back's turned the dog nailed her. Not only do I miss her, so does the rest of the flock who thought she was their mother.

Vacation time at the falls!

Went on a family reunion and spent time with my daughter in town. The chickens grew rapidly and are now iridescent. Some of the other chickens are laying on a regular basis and I believe it is almost time for the Australorps to start producing.
The kids are having a good time dueling over who gets the eggs. Some, of course, don't make it to the house because they "drop" or something. I think some turn out to be weapons. LOL
I am looking forward to buying several different kinds and some of the same next year. I am also looking forward to ducks and turkey's next year.
The garden has been a hit and miss situation but we are still eating good from it. The chickens share it by eating the bugs and the bugs share it by eating anything that grows.

Growing rapidly & Missy Boo the chicken herder!

It has been a while since I posted here after my computer has crashed so I am posting my latest chicken update from one of my daughters computers. The chickens are growing rapidly and the hens should be producing eggs in a couple of months.
The feathers are just beautiful. Henny Penny, the Arucana, and Hippie Chick, the White Crested Black Polish, both think they are of the same family. No separating them because they will have a fit.
Hippie Chick likes to roost outside on the fence at night so she is the last one to go in and that is with force. LOL
We will be adding to the flock of Australorp's at a future date and have all this experience behind us.

Egg Production

After a bout of starving the eggs right out of our chickens they are now laying again. The poor things were struggling to get enough nutrition from the scratch and also being moved from one pen to another while we were isolating those we thought were sick.
Back and forth we went until we got the news about what we were NOT feeding our chickens. I missed the eggs they laid, it was almost a sense of pride for the daily production, and then it had ceased. No, I thought, how can this be? Our chickens were almost right on reschedule.
I got a phone call yesterday, because I am in town for a little while, from Mary, that the chickens are back in order and laying just fine. Thank you, God, I am very pleased. I love those eggs!

What to feed, how long, and why!

Our chickens have been slowly passing and now I have the answer thanks to a nice lady on the BYC (Back Yard Chickens forum) I am on. My chickens are only two months old so this will be great advice because we switched food to 5 grain scratch too fast.
Thank you again BYC you may have saved a whole bunch of chickens...and guilt from killing them from starvation..


What I would do is get them back on Start and Grow until 12-16 weeks of age. Don't feed them anything else until they seem good and strong. You can switch them to Flockraiser after that, or keep them on Starter until you get your first eggs, switch them to Layena.
(from dangerouschicken)