Eggs (week ending 6/4): 25*Let's see. Beaker, the other bantam hen (pictured here) has started to lay eggs. Hers are the same tiny size as the hen that is now broody, only Beaker's eggs are light brown (the broodymom's eggs are a creamy white).
Eggs (year to date): 952
*Includes 3 Bantie eggs
The two easter eggers that I suspected were roosters are. One for sure, but the other is almost identical except for more of a splash of coloring and less tail feathers. Trying to jump hens has been observed (they really seem to go after that crazy old White Rock hen), and now attempts at crowing are in the mix. Put 'em on the cull list. That leaves me with one EE hen, maybe (hen for sure, not so sure about the color of eggs it will produce). Further, the mystery chick I took with the EE's is turning into an I-don't-know-what. All I know is that it seems to be bantam sized, and I thought I heard it try to crow a day or two ago. Next time I'm just going to buy straight run Americaunas from a hatchery and avoid horse trading.
Ths Saturday the Class of 2005 will be released. I'm taking down the barrier and the fence. I caught one of them in the coop with the adults - once they get on the new high roost, it's an easy hop over the wire - and this morning I watched one sitting on the roost as it attempted to crow for the first time. Caught him posthaste and marked his leg with THE BAND - one of those yellow nylon cable ties that go on and have to be cut off. This is THE MARK. THE MARK OF THE CULL!
I'll have to observe the rest of the class for roos with the exception of the White Leghorns. It's pretty obvious which of them are roosters. I think I might keep one WL roo, though, just so I can call it Foghorn. As in... well, you know.
A tougher call are the mutt birds. They're such a scramble of characteristics from their parents that deciding which is what may be a problem. At one point I thought that all the mutts that got the Wyandotte pea comb were females, but I'm not so sure that's the case now. I figure at least half will be roos. But which half?
There's also one White Leghorn female that's a runt. It's about half the size of the others. I figure this one is at the bottom of the chick pecking order. Maybe it'll catch up once it's outside and doesn't have to work as hard to compete for food.
Once the Class of 2005 gets a few more weeks of sunshine, greens and bugs under their belts, The Cull will happen. Not counting the unhatched eggs under the sitting Silkie/Cochin, I have 50 chickens. How on earth did that happen? If I were keeping them in the coop 24/7, I'd have a serious problem with crowding since I've technically only got space for 24. But letting them run free in the daytime takes a lot of that edge off.
I plan to keep four roosters. Sir Handsome Poof-A-Lot, the white Silkie/Cochin cross, a Buff Orpington, a Barred Rock, and a White Leghorn. Roger and Rocky are on the adopt-out list (I've got a couple of people who have asked about getting chickens, including roos). The rest are destined for the freezer. Between the roo culls and some of the older layers that are to be retired and a mix of birds to be adopted out, I think I can get the flock down to about half of what it is now.
Then I can watch my feed bill go down. And wait to see how many chicks the Bantie hatches.
