Friday, November 12, 2010

The Waiting Game

As y'all may have noticed, I've added a new Eggs Collected feature on the left. Right now, we're still at ZERO; I'm hoping that will change within the next few weeks.

I got my first chickens in June (5-Silkies): 1 died, 1 was murdered by a cat, and the other 3 turned out to be roosters. I returned the two that I was sure were roos to the breeder in August and got 3 more Silkies that she was certain (or at least pretty certain) were females...here's to hoping! Since then, we've realized that Brooke (my last remaining original Silkie that was sure to be laying an egg any day now) is, in fact, a roo. His cock-a-doodle-doo's, long hackle feathers, and stiff tail feathers have given him away...every morning like clockwork! We've decided to keep him considering he's about as fierce as, oh, a butterfly. My 2 older, hopefully-female, Silkies are 2-3 months from laying and the 10 new arrivals won't start laying until Spring. I've begun to wonder if I'll ever get a Silkie egg; it will certainly be something to celebrate when it does happen!

Waiting for my 19 big girls to start laying has reminded me of the wait I had to endure to see my children enter this world. I imagine myself taking pictures of that first egg as if it is a member of our family. Seriously, I may even hire a photographer and invite the entire extended family over for a photo with the darn thing. Since they were all born in early July, I'm praying that they'll start producing somewhere around the 1st or 2nd week of December. However, since chickens begin laying at around 20-28 weeks depending on the breed, it could be as late as January/February... OR worse, they could decide to wait until Spring since production goes down in the Winter. Tick-tock my little flock...Mama wants some eggs.

Stay tuned for the arrival of the 1st egg... maybe I'll have it gold-plated?

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