Fall Egg Hunting

 While egg hunts are normally associated with Spring and the blessed Easter holiday, we will be scouring the back paddock hunting our own eggs this fall as it is about that time for our lovely ladies to start laying their very first eggs!
Yes, this is what we’ve been waiting for – up until now the ladies have gotten by on their good looks alone ;). The first eggs will be rather small, but as time goes on we expect our flock to produce anywhere from 6 to 10 good sized eggs a day. Chickens lay during the day and because ours free range it will take a little bit of hunting to uncover the first eggs and a bit of monitoring to understand their laying patterns.
 Apparently the recent egg recall is prompting many folks to consider their own backyard chickens. We are very lucky to have farm-fresh eggs from our neighbor as we wait for our own flock to produce. Honestly, I don’t think I could go back to store bought eggs – not just because farm eggs taste sooooo much better, but because of the heart-breaking way in which chickens are treated in most of the facilities that produce most of the eggs you see in the store. Did you know that most of these chickens never get to feel grass under their feet or even spread their wings? When something like this Salmonella outbreak occurs, you can't help but think that we are just reaping what we sow... Just the other morning I was on a run and I noticed a truck go by carrying a load of chickens all penned up and squished together. After the truck passed I continued to find little white feather strewn along the roadside and while it may sound silly, it made me kind of sad… After getting to know these creatures a bit better myself, I really can’t imagine it.
 I guess no update on our flock would be complete without a mention of Joe. He is doing beautifully and crowing a bit more these days. There doesn’t seem to be much “hanky panky” going on back there so I guess you could say that Joe is still getting by on his good looks alone :).