No eggs for you....

Scarlett and Prissy are usually very good about their egg-laying.... an egg a day from each of those hens. Audrey and Mammy, however-- very picky about their decisions to lay an egg or not. Too hot? No way. Too windy? Maybe. Too cold? Give me a break. As a result, both Audrey and Mammy haven't laid eggs since the end of May. (You're fired!) -- Actually, another owner might have told them "You're fried!"

We don't use eggs every single day, so we've been getting along just fine with the two daily eggs from Scarlett and Prissy. I usually have a dozen eggs to spare in the fridge, along with the dozen that I'm using. When all four hens were giving us eggs (with Audrey on an every-third-day routine, and Mammy with her every-other-day schedule) that gave me a little more than a dozen eggs to spare, along with the dozen I was using.

Since we've had the chickens, I've been careful to use the oldest eggs first, keeping numbered egg-boxes in the fridge. My husband shakes his head at my numbered 1 - 6 boxes, but I know the system and it's working. I keep count of the eggs we get, and I know which hens are laying and which are temporarily on vacation.

This morning, our neighbor across the road asked if we would like some of her hens. Her husband, recently deceased, had bought 30 baby chicks around Easter-time, and now she has way too many hens. Her husband had given away the roosters a while back-- they were bothering the hens, and making way too much noise as they competed for first prize in their daily crowing contests.

Do we need more chickens? Not really. Four is enough... but only two are giving us eggs, and when we have company... and with holidays coming up... I know I'll be needing more eggs. Our four hens have already established their pecking order (and there really is a pecking order in every coop) and who knows how they would react to more chickens in The Coopacabana.

However...... two more chickens would be nice. And the neighbor's chickens are the same age as ours. If I can pick out two Rhode Island Reds, then I won't have to worry about running out of eggs. (That breed of hen is very good for egg-laying.) Once you have fresh eggs from your own chickens, you don't even want to consider buying a dozen eggs from the store.

Tomorrow afternoon, we will go and look at the neighbor's chickens. She will tell us which ones she wants to keep, and let us pick from the rest. If I can get two Rhode Island Reds that don't look exactly like Scarlett, then I will take them. We'll have to bring them back here in one of the cats' carrying crates, and then keep all six hens inside the coop for a few days. That way, everyone will get to meet-and-greet, the two new hens will get to know their new home, and then they can all go out into the yards together again.

Scarlett is the queen-of-the-coop out there, so she's going to have to put her little foot down in order to keep her crown after the new hens get here. The two new hens from the neighbor should have no complaints about their new coop.... two sides are solid wood, and the two fenced-in sides are now covered with fabric and plastic sheeting to keep out the cool breezes now that the hotter months are behind us. Plus, the little yard outside the coop is all tented-up with rain-proof fabric to keep them away from the prying eyes of low-flying hawks. What more could a chicken possibly want?

I guess I will have to start thinking of two more names...