Chickens, eggs and new coop!

Finally!  The chickens have a permanent home with their coop now!  Matt and I worked until the sun was gone and all we had was the light from a headlamp.  They have a nice big house with nesting boxes to lay eggs and a big fenced area. 

Two days after "the girls" had their new home....we found our first egg bright and early in the morning.  I was sure that they just waited for acceptable conditions before they would start laying!  We've been finding about one egg a day for about a week.  I was so excited about that first egg it was as though I had laid it myself!

Then, a friend offered to give us 8 of her hens.  She said that to have enough eggs to feed our family, we need at least two hens for every person.  So, with just 5 hens....that wouldn't be enough to sustain our egg consumption.  She brought over 8 laying hens to us on Sunday.  We already had one of each of the breeds, Barred Rocks and Rhone Island Reds.  They fit in right away and made their selves at home.  Our beautiful rooster was quite thrilled to have eight more ladies in the coop.  Grandma Haley was fascinated with the chickens!

I think the new gals were a little stressed during their first week as we only found a few eggs.  However, on Saturday we found four!  As the days get shorter, they eggs laying will slow down a lot.  Hopefully in the spring, we will get a dozen and day and the kids can start selling them!

What a fun adventure!