Our chickens started laying!

The chickens we hatched out have finally started laying. They are part chantecler and part ameracauna. Their eggshells are an interesting green color, unlike the ameracana blue. We call them Chantecanas. The ameracauna (also known as easter egg chickens) were bred for laying blue eggs, and the chanteclair was bred for surviving cold winters. Our chickens are now perfect for this cold country. They are survivors and colorful egg layers all in one.

We will put some pictures up, so you can see the colorful green eggs for yourself!!

Our egg production had slowed down for awhile though. We had tried many things to get them laying again. First we put in a white lightbulb. It didn't seem to make a difference, so we have put a heat lamp on a timer. It took a while for them to start laying again, but now we are getting better egg production.

Chicken Tips

Hey everybody! It has been really sunny this week, and I think the chickens out back are enjoying it. If you just got some chickens, and you want some information, keep reading. We usually give our chickens our left overs from supper. Here are some things to avoid:

- Too much bread

- Potato peels

- Banana peels

- Meat

- Too much cheese

Feeding your chickens your compost is a good way of not letting food go to waste. If you have any questions on the kind of stuff you can give to your chickens, leave a comment and I will post the answer.

Other things you can do to keep your chickens eggshells strong is to feed them calcium. Ways of doing this is either buying calcium that is ready to just throw in to their feeding container, or crush up eggshells and throw it in with the rest of the compost.

If you feed them compost daily, you will see a difference between your chickens egg yolks and the egg yolks from eggs you buy at the store. The difference is that your chickens egg yolks will be more orange. This is not a bad thing, in fact, this is good. It means that your eggs are healthy.

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

Camille

Chicks birth information

THE M TRIPLETS

Names (in order of birth): Mango, Murky, Munchkin.

Date of birth: May 26th 2010

Time of birth: For all of them approximately at 5:45 am

Certain characteristics:

MANGO: Big and completely yellow

MURKY: Black and white with a white line before his beak

MUNCHKIN: Small and yellow with a little bit of orange on his back

Sex: Unknown

BIG-BLUE

Full name: Big-Blue Tropic Sven

Date of birth: May 26th 2010

Time of birth: 4:41:24 pm

Certain characteristics: Black and white

Nickname: B-B, Big-B, Blue-B

Sex: Unknown

JACK

Full name: Jack Quack Sven

Date of birth: May 26th 2010

Time of birth: 5:18:24 pm

Certain characteristics: Yellow

Nickname: Jacko, Jacki

Sex: Unknown

OZERO

Full name: Ozero Survivor Sven

Date of birth: May 26th 2010

Time of birth: 5:47:18 pm

Certain characteristics: Yellow

Nickname: Zero, Zozo

Ways of writing his name: oZero, Ozero

Sex: Unknown

BAKKA

Full name: Bakka Nolan Sven

Date of birth: May 27th 2010

Time of birth: 8:41:49 am

Certain characteristics: Yellow

Nickname: Bok, BokBok

Sex: Unknown

New arrivals

We bought an incubator a month ago, and we (my family) decided to hatch out some chicks. Seven out of fourteen hatched and I named them all. They are adorable, here are their names: Mango, Murky, Munchkin, Big-Blue, Jack, Ozero and Bakka. There will be more information on their birth tomorrow.

Camille

P.S. The names are written in order of birth.