We got our first eggs!

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August 11th, 2009, 11:21 AM
Jennifer13

We got our first eggs!

We have two chickens, adopted from DD's egg hatching program in March.

Yesterday afternoon, I went out to give them some food with DD and she very excitedly discovered that there was our first egg in the hatching box!!!

We had to take a photo and call Daddy and Nana and let them know! The egg was safely stored inside.

She was similarly delighted when she went out this morning as we were leaving for preschool to find a still-warm egg sitting in the nesting box!

We're very impressed, we weren't expecting any eggs for a few more weeks.

Checking the box daily is now DD's job.
August 11th, 2009, 11:23 AM
nanananny

Exciting! I would love chickens
August 11th, 2009, 11:37 AM
kawazuki

how cool
i cant wiat to get some more chickens DS loved checking for eggs lol
and i think DD will enjoy it aswell

its a great thing having animals that produce food. it was the only way we could get DS to eat eggs lol
August 11th, 2009, 01:11 PM
Astrid

That is great! My eldest loves going and checking for eggs.
August 13th, 2009, 12:19 PM
Ninah

How great is that!!! I can just imagine their excitement over it all..
August 13th, 2009, 12:29 PM
Jennifer13

*Update* We got two more eggs over the last two days - so one of our little hens has really figured out what she's doing! Hopefully there's another when we get home tonight and we can have them for breakfast on Saturday.
August 27th, 2009, 06:26 PM
nanananny

Are you still getting eggies?
August 27th, 2009, 06:32 PM
dusty

Hey that is great! Little kids just love collecting eggs and feeding chooks IME. There is nothing better than eating home grown food including eggs.

BTW you are sure to get some LTers in this thread ;) I at first thought you meant a different kind of egg LOL.
xx
August 27th, 2009, 07:05 PM
onthefly

:

BTW you are sure to get some LTers in this thread ;) I at first thought you meant a different kind of egg LOL.
xx

LOL - that was my first thought too! Then I realised it was in the pet section...

How cool about the eggs though
August 27th, 2009, 08:18 PM
Floweryfields

It's very exciting isn't it! I have two new girls who are already laying and it's just as exciting finding eggs a few weeks on!
August 27th, 2009, 08:28 PM
Phteven

I still love finding eggs and we've had our girls for a while now. There's something really special about a warm egg.
Now that you're growing your own eggs the ones you buy in the shops will never measure up again especially for poaching. Fresh eggs poach so beautifully.
August 27th, 2009, 08:41 PM
Astrid

Totally agree on the poaching of fresh eggs, nothing better.

The girls both love getting the eggs. Bubs will scream till she gets to hold one, she will cuddle it and say "nummy nummy".
August 27th, 2009, 10:09 PM
Floweryfields

And how yellow they are, store boughts don't compare at all with that colour. Not to mention the fact that you know that they are living humane lives and not caged in horrible conditions.
August 28th, 2009, 08:45 AM
nanananny

When I was a kid the next door neighbour had bantams, I would love to go collect the eggs when they were on holidays. I want chickens!
August 28th, 2009, 10:23 AM
Phteven

FM, they don't take much room. If every house in Australia had chooks we could get rid of the caged chook industry.
I think that lots more people are getting them now because when I got mine it was hard to find chook pellets, I had to go to the produce store, now the supermarket sells three types.
August 28th, 2009, 11:02 AM
nanananny

Hi brontide, we've thought about it before, we were worried about the foxes so we will need a good hen house, we have the room. I will bring it up with my husband again and he will go not more animals :lol:
August 28th, 2009, 02:32 PM
Floweryfields

Brontide - Absolutely! My local produce store had point of layers for $15ea yesterday. I was thinking about it this morning - currently I am getting 2 eggs a day, soon I will be getting 4. The chooks get all of my scraps, a few treats (cheap canned cat food) once or twice a week free range all day and also have proper layer mash. The mash costs $18 for a 20kg bag which lasts around 2-3 months. Factor in a few dollars here and there for worming and other stuff - shellgrit, etc.
Comparing with how much it costs to buy a dozen free range eggs, because I just can't justify cage eggs if possible - $5-6/dozen. I am getting over a dozen a week currently, soon over 2 dozen - at a couple of $ per week for food! Not to mention the joy of having them - they are such characters.

I am a member of an Aussie backyard chook forum too - bit passionate about getting others into keeping chookies!
August 28th, 2009, 02:43 PM
nanananny

People who have chickens do you let them out around the garden?
August 28th, 2009, 04:24 PM
Phteven

I don't let mine free-range full time because they are a bit too friendly. They come into the house and hang around on the patio which can be a bit messy. The dogs thinks she is a chook so she digs into their pen and shares their food and then they go out through her tunnel and free range for a few hours until I move their coop again. The theory is that they are allowed to free range for a while each day and whenever the grass under their coop is scratched out the coop is moved. Thanks to the dog's efforts the coop is moved a bit most days.
They're very keen on mulch so I spend lots of time putting my mulch back where it belongs. Chickens and perfectly manicured gardnens don't really mix so if you want them to free range you will need to set part of your garden aside that you're ok with having some mess and poo.
August 28th, 2009, 05:25 PM
Jennifer13

:

Are you still getting eggies?

Yep, she's only missed one day a week since! And I actually 'caught' her in the act of laying today, so I know which hen to thank now. ;)
August 28th, 2009, 05:37 PM
nanananny

Well I'm a bit inspired to get chooks again now, we have the room, we've got two poodle type dogs that think they're farm dogs :rolleyes: and I was worried they'd chase the chooks and that's one thing that put me off getting chooks years ago. But I think I can keep them under control, I'd have to be sure to get them locked up at night because of the foxes so that might be a pain.

I'll talk to the husband, I've always wanted chooks.
August 28th, 2009, 05:57 PM
Jennifer13

:

People who have chickens do you let them out around the garden?

I let mine out every day when I'm home (so they miss out on most of the three days per week that I work). I usually wait until after we've picked up the morning egg.

We only have the two and a fairly big front yard, so there's really no mess. Although they do kick all of the leaves I've raked onto the garden beds back onto the lawn/path. They are also very friendly and will follow me around or sit on my feet/lap if I go outside to read a book and have a cup of tea. It drives the dogs insane when they wander past the front screen door ever so casually. Our dogs are not so friendly with chickens, so they're strictly in the back yard!

We got a swish hen house I screwed together myself new on eBay. It was half the price of the same type in the shops. And the local pet shop makes up a few different varieties of chook feed (which is in high demand atm, so bron, it looks like the revolution might have come!).
August 28th, 2009, 09:15 PM
Astrid

We have one dog, for now he seems ok with the chickens. We do keep them in an encloser and the dog is only in there when we are as we are training him to not touch them. So far so good. The chooks now have him worked out and will gang up on him if he gets too close. So once we get some fencing back around the veggie patch we will let the girls out.
August 28th, 2009, 09:15 PM
aimz78

Wow jennifer,
That is so cool! We have 2 chooks, too. We love them. They are on egg strike at the moment LOL! Enjoy those beautiful eggs :) Great fun for DD too.
Our dog is scared of them hehe!
August 28th, 2009, 10:35 PM
Floweryfields

:

People who have chickens do you let them out around the garden?

Mine have a very large area that they free range in, fenced off from the garden because they will scratch everything! So no, not in the garden part I don't.
August 29th, 2009, 09:53 AM
nanananny

Well I know my neighbour if she puts the lambs up near the house the foxes don't come near. My husband says we would have to put the chicken wire under the ground a fair bit so the foxes can't burrow under. I want to go look at chicken coops today!
August 29th, 2009, 03:41 PM
Jennifer13

Update: Chicken number two gave us her first egg today! So now we're expecting two eggs most days.
August 30th, 2009, 08:57 AM
nanananny

Woo Hoo how many chickens do you have? I'm thinking of getting only 2 or 3.

Oopse sorry just read the OP - you have 2 :)
September 15th, 2009, 02:43 PM
Jennifer13

http://forums.bellybelly.com.au/foru...90&postcount=4

Hens are doing well - still laying regularly! Had my ABA group meeting come to my place last week and the hens were a big hit with the kids. The girls didn't mind it at all when four noisy toddlers stood at the coop window shoving in grass/dirt/straw - they kept poking their heads out hoping someone would open the door.