Day Eight....Egg Number Six!

When I came home before lunch, I checked the Chicken Palace to see what was happening. Amber was planted in her nest and Honey and Molly were strutting about. I knew that I wanted to get the broody Amber on film in her nesting box, so I took several shots. Still no egg.

Stephen arrived for lunch and immediately headed for the hen house. He opened the door and found a warm egg, which he left until the guys across the street could officially DISCOVER it.

The doorbell rang as soon as Jacob and Joseph got in from school. DING, DING, DING, DING! I knew what was in store. Boy was I surprised as I opened the door to find the lone Jacob on our doorstep. "Can we see if there is an egg?" he asked. Jake and I went out in the backyard and opened to door to the Chicken Palace. He walked into the Chicken Palace and glanced downward. The screaming and yelling commenced, "There's an egg, an egg, an egg," with such commotion that Joseph and his friends came from across the street.

The egg was gathered and the count was taken. This was egg number six...and the seventh will belong to the guys across the street! Stay tuned!

Laid today, Eaten tonight...Eggs don't come any fresher than this!

Amber has maintained quite a record! In the past 6 days, she has laid 5 eggs. According to head mathematician, Stephen Atkinson, Amber's production rate is .833 eggs per day! You go, girl!!!!

Egg number 5 was discovered with grand fanfare. Jake and Joseph, the two children who live across the street, pulled in the drive on their bikes as I parked the car. As I opened the car door, they called, "Any more eggs yet?" We walked to the Chicken Palace in great anticipation. As I opened the door, I spied a fresh egg, but didn't let on. I told the boys to go in and look. The both walked in and immediately started jumping up and down yelling, "An egg, an egg, an egg!"

The guys were so excited that I was fearful that the egg might get scrambled before it was gathered, so I told the boys that we needed to go into the house to get the egg basket. In doing so, they called Stephen at work and yelled into the phone that they had found another egg. Their excitement was priceless.

After we took more pictures of the egg, we brought it inside and put it into the refrigerator. Our plans for cooking the eggs had been "hatched" earlier in the afternoon. Melissa would arrive at 6pm and she, Stephen, and I, fully dressed to eat breakfast for dinner, would greet trick-or-treaters and cook Amber's first 5 eggs.
Bacon fried, coffee brewed, mimosas mixed, the Best Drop Biscuits baked (from this month's Cook's Illustrated), and Amber's eggs scrambled ...now we were ready to sit down and enjoy. Divine biscuits, extremely crisp bacon, and everything else outstanding...nothing could top the taste of fresh eggs from Amber's nest. All that we can say is, "Well done, girl. Keep up the great work. While you are at it, clue Molly and Honey into your secrets!"

I BEEN IN TIME OUT, BUT I'M BACK...AMBER FINALLY DID IT!

Yes, I lost the faith. I've been in time out, and now I'm back (in the words of the famous Hannah Kate Davis). The three Buff Orpington sisters, Amber, Honey, and Molly, have been so busy enjoying themselves in the lavish Atkinson Chicken Palace that they have not seen fit to lay ONE EGG since we picked them up! I have been so disgusted with them that I have not posted an entry on this blog in a month and a half. Well, I certainly should have been sent to time out for having so little faith in these fine ladies.

As reported to many of you already, the first egg appeared on Friday, October 26. Stephen went out to feed "the ladies" (as he calls them) and made such a commotion on the way into the house that I didn't know WHAT had happened. When Stephen had opened the door on the hen house to get the feed, the nest box was empty, but a medium-sized brown egg was right in the middle of the floor nestled in the cedar shavings!

Although we couldn't prove that Amber laid the egg, we were relatively sure. Her wattle and comb are dark red and much larger than those sported by Molly and Honey. According to everything that we have read about Buff Orpingtons, no egg laying occurs in this breed until the wattle and comb are well developed and dark red. Never knew that these wattles and combs were so important to chickens (this link tells more about this)! Our recent trip to the North Carolina State Fair confirmed that our buff ladies were certainly not full grown hens as we had feared. The pullets on display at the fair looked just like our chickens! We knew after our fair visit that we simply needed to be more patient. Only two weeks later, we "hit pay dirt." This last picture shows Amber looking rather proud of her accomplishment!

Moving Day AT LAST!

John Alexander and I worked on finishing the chicken pen all day on Thursday and quit at dark. Stretching chicken wire tautly was not as easy as it looked. Up at 6 AM the next morning, we finished adding the final wire to the side of the cage, built a ramp, spread cedar bedding in the coop, and added a latch to the pen. A roosting stick was added inside the house, but nesting boxes and the front steps would have to wait until later.

We wanted the girls to get acclimated to their new surroundings during the day since we had to leave our house at 1AM to drive the RDU Airport for a 6AM departure to Denver. So as soon as the pen and Chicken Palace interior were ready, we prepared for the big move. The tin roof still had to be screwed in place, but that could take place AFTER Amber, Honey, and Molly moved in.

Temporary pen in transport, the girls clucked happily outside their new home. Stephen suggested that we wait to feed them until they had been moved, which proved to be a brilliant idea. Net in hand, Amber was the first to be scooped up and put in the pen to check out the new digs. Honey and Molly followed with little reluctance until Stephen attempted to soothe Molly before she joined her sisters. OOPS! Too bad about those black pants, Stephen. JA and I hooted, Molly officially joined the girls and the gate was shut. A celebratory repast of chicken feed and fresh corn was enjoyed by all.

Soon after chowing down, the REAL CELEBRATING began. Because the pen area enclosed a shaded area under the pine tree (formerly full of Jerusalem artichokes), a loose dirt floor was the perfect venue for a spa adventure of unending dust baths. Clouds of dust rose from the pen as the girls nuzzled into the cool soil, scratching and throwing dirt with wild abandon.

Most of the day was spent exploring the pen, dust bathing, and exploring again. Their one exposure to the coop’s interior occurred in the late afternoon as a thunderstorm erupted, JA scooped each girl into the side door of the coop where they stayed until the rain subsided. But as soon as the storm ended, they were back in the pen exploring again As we packed inside, we worried about what the hens would do as night fell. Would they willingly scale their ramp and head into the Chicken Palace for the evening? We all took ringside seats on the back deck to watch their antics as the roosting urge struck. As we expected, Amber was the first one inside. One sister followed and we all breathed a sigh of relief. But our lack of anxiety was short lived as the two emerged again. The next fifteen minutes yielded a hilarious shell game of one in, two in, one out, two out, etc. FINALLY, all three girls were in for the night and Stephen crept out to the palace to peek in the window. His eyes left the empty roosting bar and scanned the length of the house to the other end where the large plastic buckets of chicken feed and scratch were stacked. True to form, chickens always seek the highest place they can locate to roost. There they piled, on top of the buckets where they slept.


Before we departed for the airport at 2AM, Stephen stole into the backyard, flashlight in hand, to leave feed and scratch for the girls so they would have fresh food when they “awoke with the chickens” in the morning. Our official “chicken sitters,” our fine neighbors Pam and Tony have kept the girls well fed and watered while we have been gone and as of 7PM this evening, the girls were all doing well. Yes, anxious as we were, we had to phone home to see how Amber, Molly, and Honey were doing. As you must have surmised, there were no eggs sited before we left to take John Alexander back to Colorado State. Now we have fingers and toes crossed that the girls wait until we return home so that we can record the laying of the first egg on film!