Visited Walter and company at the farm today

This afternoon we were in Richmond so we stopped by the vegetable farm of some guys who bought the two cochin bantam hens a couple of years ago. At the time of the sale, we also gave them Walter our beloved aging hen who had started to crow. Today when we walked over to the coop, there was Walter -- going on five years old and still ruling the roost. It was great to see she's still doing well. They also still have one of the little cochins -- really cute to see too.

Five chickens, five eggs

Bringing in the day's eggs just as it is starting to rain ... Most days this spring we've been getting an egg from each hen. Pretty remarkable considering their ages are so varied -- between 1 and 4.5 years. Anyhow it has been nice to have lots of eggs for meals and to share with everyone. I love the varied colours. Three "Easter Eggers" lay blue or green, the black copper maran has a rich brown egg, and the polish (Fancy Pants) lays a white egg. The pale blue in the middle is my favorite.

First post after a break from blogging

The fall and winter flew by and I realized I hadn't posted since July. Today it is raining so I won't be taking photos, but the chickens are doing fine. We have 5 laying hens who are working out well. Two are hatchlings from last summer and three are ones who have been with us for 2+ years. The latest improvement has been a diy automatic coop door opener with a light sensor. When it starts to get light in the morning, it opens (saving me having to get out of bed at 6am.) They've even stopped squawking in the morning to get out! Then at dusk when they've gone in to roost for the night, the door closes. This makes both everyday and vacation care of the coop a lot easier.