# Got my first eggs today!



## lily cd re

Salome gave me the gift of two eggs today. I know it was her since they are both brown. I wonder who will be next.


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## patk

what if you find out reb's crowing is the inspiration? :aetsch:


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## MollyMuiMa

YUM! Fresh eggs at last!! Good stuff!


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## Suddenly

That's just great. Keep up posted if anymore eggs appear.


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## poodlecrazy#1

Yay!!! I knew it would be Salome they are such great layers! Congrats! I hope you enjoy them


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## nifty

Very cool!


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## Charmed

Oh, you are in for a treat. Fresh eggs are so much tastier than store bought eggs. The yolks are so golden and high. Oh, and wait until you get the occasional double yolker... Yum. Keep those chickens warm and well fed so they will be good layers, and give Salome a scritch behind her ear for her wonderful gift. Did she do the excited and proud egg song?


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## lily cd re

I am trying to fend off a cold and have been in bed most of the day, but at some point in the afternoon is did hear some noises that didn't sound familiar. I couldn't make out well what they were saying since my bedroom is in the front of the house. When I went out later in the afternoon I was quite surprised to find a third brown egg. She must have been ready to explode to have popped out three in one day!


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## Suddenly

Yipee another one. Feel better.?


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## kayfabulous6

That is just wonderful!! Congrats! I hope you feel better as well.


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## sparkyjoe

Yay for fresh eggs!

I ran out to get some supplies before the *next* snow storm hits and made a trip into the pet store to get some live crickets and mealworms for the chicken flock my sister's family is raising. 

Hope you feel better soon!


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## Streetcar

Wow, and in the dead of winter, too. I had no idea, but Salome has surely schooled me in the ways of young chickens . Congrats! And hope you head off that cold before it really hits. Trying to do the same here.

Enjoy the eggs!


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## Tiny Poodles

Aww, I hope that you win the fight with that cold!


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## ericwd9

Fresh frozen eggs with snow. YUM!!!
Eric


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## lily cd re

ericwd9 said:


> Fresh frozen eggs with snow. YUM!!!
> Eric


Is that sort of like green eggs and ham?

Tiny Poodles and Streetcar, I feel much better this morning. Streetcar I hope you do too when you get up this morning.


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## Mfmst

Yummy! Fresh eggs look and taste SO much better. Enjoy


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## twyla

There isn't anything like fresh eggs, I spent a couple months in a home where the raised chickens, ducks and geese


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## ArreauStandardPoodle

Congratulations!


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## lily cd re

Here is a picture of my first eggs. What a great gift to know that I have gotten my birds all grown up successfully. Still no more eggs as of this morning.

I cleaned the coop yesterday since I knew I might not have the easiest access to everything once the current storm did its thing. I let the birds loose while I worked. They were very funny. Sarah and Salome were especially interested in trying to "help." Salome got in the nest boxes and kicked most of the bedding out along the way. I told the silly girl that she needed to leave it in the box so she would have a nice soft, warm place to leave the next egg. Sarah wanted to supervise by sitting on me. I kept telling her she was slowing me down because it was hard to work with a bird perched on my arm. She said she just needed to hang with me because she's been missing being able to do it while the weather was stinky. I gave her a good cuddle and sent her back to hang with her family.


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## sweetheartsrodeo

Yay for fresh eggs and super yay that you feel better. I think it is so cool that your chickens are so affectionate. I just love reading about them! Stay warm!


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## Shamrockmommy

Yay! Eggs! Typically hens lay one egg per day, so I bet you had another one in there laying before her  

I do miss my hens. Stupid Hawks


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## ChantersMom

There is no egg tastier than a fesh one! You are so lucky! I miss my egg lady...


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## LEUllman

Don't forget to post a pic of the beautiful, perfect omelette you're going to make out of those yummy eggs! :smile:


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## lily cd re

Shamrockmommy said:


> Yay! Eggs! Typically hens lay one egg per day, so I bet you had another one in there laying before her
> 
> I do miss my hens. Stupid Hawks


I only have one brown egg layer, Salome my buff orpington. The other three girls are blue ameraucanas and they lay blue/green eggs. 

The update is that one of them did lay today since I got a brown and a green egg today! I think maybe it was from Sarah since she was acting so funny yesterday.

I have aviary netting over their run, so hopefully no predators.


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## lily cd re

I am planning on fried eggs this morning! I'll let you know how they were later on. The egg I collected from Salome was still warm when I found it.


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## lily cd re

They were delicious!


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## Tiny Poodles

lily cd re said:


> They were delicious!
> 
> View attachment 225714



Oh my those yolks really are dark!


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## poodlecrazy#1

Gorgeous healthy eggs! I bet they tasted amazing! 

TP, the darker the yolk the healthier the egg and the hen. I have seen yolks the color of blood oranges. It all depends on what they are eating.


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## lily cd re

The other great thing about a really fresh egg is how much body they have even when raw. The yolks remain shaped liked balls rather than flattening out and the whites don't spread all over the pan.

So far Salome has laid five eggs and somebody else (Sarah I think) laid one. I will be really interested to see if I can really tell the ameraucana eggs apart by who laid them and which eggs go with which bird. The egg I took this morning from Salome was still warm when I picked it up and she was nearby and watched me take it away, but didn't seem at all bothered that I did so. The first couple froze since I wasn't looking for them and it was really cold, but I think now that I will probably have at least one egg most days. I am looking forward to having eggs with BF over the weekend. He already put in a request that I get some bacon.


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## patk

i was secretly hoping for green eggs (and ham), but those look delicious.


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## Luce

I would love a hen or 2 for fresh eggs!! I'm afraid there are too many critters in our area - opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and of course hawks in the air.

I will be content reading about yours!


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## lily cd re

So since last Saturday (one week) I have gotten a dozen eggs! Eight were from Salome (easy to know since hers are brown). Three were very light greenish blue, so from one of the ameracaunas. I think maybe Rachel since she was sitting a little broody on one of Salome's one day. And the other one which is quite green and a little smaller is I think from Sarah who is physically the smallest of the bunch. I still have one bird that hasn't laid at all. All things considered I think they will be great producers once they really settle in on it and the weather gets a bit better. They are definitely marking the longer day length, having already increased their end of day out and about time by about 45 minutes since the end of December.


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## PoodlePaws

How many eggs are you getting per day now?


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## lily cd re

I usually get at least 2 a day and often four! We have been having eggs for breakfast at least once or twice a week. Even at that I've been giving eggs away all over the place. They are fabulous.


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## PoodlePaws

I am converting my dog kennel in the backyard to a chicken coupe. The people that lived here before me bred labs. I have a humongous 12 x 12 area that is split down the middle with 2 doors. I need to rebuild the roof. And add the siding. It has a cement floor which is nice - I'll be able to hose it off to clean it. Then we are going to build a big X pen that's covered and connected to the coupe.


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## lily cd re

You will be able to have a lovely flock with that much space. If you were closer I would donate a rooster to you since sadly I can't keep my boy.


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## PoodlePaws

Well we live in the city limits. There is no ordinance saying I can't have chickens. Only a noise ordinance. I didn't think 7-8 chickens would make that much noise (or would they?) but I know a rooster would be too loud. I would love one though. My neighbors would hate me. Lol.


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## lily cd re

Yeah the rooster noise is a problem. By ordinance I really am not supposed to have a roo, but then again none of my birds were supposed to be roos. We are allowed up to 8 hens. As BF keeps reminding me, I am "that neighbor" now. I really have to find a place for him in the next week or two.


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## patk

so he can't be desexed and it wouldn't help if he were? (you can tell i know even less about roosters than i know about hens - which is nothing.)


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## lily cd re

patk said:


> so he can't be desexed and it wouldn't help if he were? (you can tell i know even less about roosters than i know about hens - which is nothing.)



Yeah, I spoke to a knowledgeable vet who said the odds that desexing him would change his behavior are well less than 50/50 so it doesn't seem worth pursuing at this point. He chased me around the yard yesterday afternoon, so his current behavior is making it easier to think about sending him elsewhere. I am still sad about it though.


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## PoodlePaws

And you wanted to give me a people-chasing rooster. Lololololololol ?


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## lily cd re

He just started doing this yesterday! I wouldn't want to give any poodle friends an upstart rooster unless they had lots of room for him to be off doing his own thing.


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## poodlecrazy#1

Usually desexing is only successful when they are only a few weeks old. And even then they still might crow and act like a rooster does. Testicles in roosters are located all the way up in the chest and it is extremely difficult to castrate them fully without nicking the many blood vessels in that area. The testicle tissue is so fine and hard to grasp. Even the smallest amount left behind can allow for proper male hormones to be released therefore causing the undesired behaviors (and toughening the meat when castrating for capons).

I sure wish I was close enough to take him for you. I would love to have him fertilize some eggs and see what he produces lol. I'm sure I would get some weird looking barnyard mixes but I can only imagine what he would make with my Blue Andalusians. 

Don't allow the chasing thing. If he starts, turn around and stand up to him. He will only get worse if he succeeds. Like I said before nothing worked better with my Silkie rooster than tossing him with my foot a bit. If you are uncomfortable with that just turn around and pick him up or lay him down. He'll get the idea that you aren't the one to mess with. He shouldn't have the Spurs needed yet to inflict any damage so get him taught before he does! Those things are nasty and can slice you up good.


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## Ladyscarletthawk

For one there is an anti crow device for roosters.. your welcome:angel2:
No-Crow Rooster Collar from My Pet Chicken

Second he needs to get snatched up to show him who's boss. Personally I like mean roosters myself, makes great watch dogs. I had a 9lb rooster that I kept and he was mean as hell didn't care who he attacked. You have to handle him a lot and yes hold him by his legs. One day he thought he would dominate me. He leaped 4ft in the air to attack my chest.. LOL fool! In mid air I snatched both his feet, with the other arm I shoved his chest back and I had him hanging upside down in less than a second. I suppose he didn't know what happened other than you don't go after the hand that feeds you, cause he never did. 

You can't kick or push them back with feet or arms cause that makes them attack you more. Unfortunately feats of strength like holding them by the legs upside down until they calm down, and then letting them go, makes them think twice about beating you up. God I want your rooster lol, but can't have any poultry now lucky! Whomever runs first from the other is the weakling and meant to be chased and beat up.. Thats chicken logic.. god I miss having a flock! Doesn't matter how big you are either.. I had a small bantam hen that beat the crap out of her full sized daughter, and beat up on of her mates cause he got too close to her chicks. She could judo flip any size bird over her head lol.


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## lily cd re

poodlecrazy#1 thanks for explaining that for everyone. The vet I spoke to who will take him if I can't find another home did explain all of that to me, but the whole situation is such a bummer for me I didn't have the fortitude to explain it all myself.

Ladyscarlethawk, thanks for that suggestion, but he is wearing a no crow collar and crowing through it. It is an abbreviated crow, but still loud and not compatible with my suburban neighborhood.

The change in day length in the last week must have really given him a surge of testosterone because the nasty behavior switched on almost overnight. I did not run away from him when he charged me. I stood my ground and told him loudly to knock it off. When he ran at me again I did give him a boot. When he persisted I chased him back into the run and locked him up. He was a bit more reserved this morning, but I didn't have time to let them out.

All in all, it is just clear that he has to be rehomed. While I have resisted doing it until recently (partly because of how cold it has been) now that he is being ornery with me my lingering desire to try to keep him is fading fast. If one of you chicken savvy folks was close by I would bring him to you, but since that isn't the case I am checking local farms and do have a back up person who will take him if all else fails.

The good parts are still that the eggs are abundant and delicious, and my girls still love me even if their brother doesn't.


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## Charmed

I had forgotten about the roosters that tried to get snotty with me... they all got picked up and carried around for at least thirty minutes while I did chores. It was so embarrassing for them especially when the hens came running up to see them "burritoed" in my arms. I never had a rooster that needed more than two days of the treatment. They also avoided me like the plague for several days; which was fine with me! It's funny that I had forgotten completely about the roos pulling that. I guess because most of the time our roos were so sweet. Did I mention that I dremel the rooster's spurs when they get too long? It is really easy , if someone else will hold for you. I've done it by myself, but it is a bit trickier. Sorry that your roo has to go, but glad that you are already lining up some homes for him. Congratulations on all your pretty eggs.


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## Ladyscarletthawk

It always makes me sad to see roosters that have to be rehomed . Hope he gets a good home. I love the plumage and attitude of roosters. Capons I hear make nice pets and even better eating. As far as I know it is done when they are weeks old, but some I thought can be done when they are older. That would help stop with the crowing and the attitude actually, even at an older age. It makes them more hen like altho don't expect eggs lol. There have been known cases of hens turning into rooster.. altho they can't fertilize I don't think.


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## PoodlePaws

Does he ever try to attack your dogs?


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## lily cd re

He goosed Lily once, but all the girls were milling around under her. I don't let Peeves out when the birds are loose since he wants to herd them and they just get all over excited and run around like crazy.

I would have been willing to try seeing what desexing him would do even though it is late, but no vet near me is willing to do it.


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## Tiny Poodles

Does the Surgeon Jane Kovosky come to any of the Vet Hospitals near you? I bet she would do it!


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## peccan

Lily, I love hearing your stories about your girls and Reb! Can you get us photos of the young ladies and mr. Foghorn too?


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## PoodlePaws

Y'all will get a laugh out of this. 
When I was in high school we were in biology and a smart-ass guy asked me if I knew how chickens mated. I looked at him with a gross look on my face. He told me that the rooster and the hen both flew in the air and flew straight at each other really fast until their chests collided really hard. 
Crazy! I still laugh about that!!


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