More Chickens = More Eggs, Right?

Our chickens, 6 months later (10 months old).

We are down to 2, Thing 1 succumbed to what I think was self-inflicted pecking on her back. She was queen of the roost, and the other 2 wouldn't cross her, so I don't think they did it (at least not the initial wounds). It was weird. She was fine at 8am when I let them out, and at 1pm when I went to clean the coop she was dead.

I had Isaak go get Kevin (yea...didn't need him seeing the dead chicken) and Kevin brought me a garbage bag. I unceremoniously pulled her out by her feet and dropped her in the bag.  She was then crudely thrown over the locked gate before being dumped in the garbage. I thought about putting her in the yard debris/kitchen compost (she is food after all) but decided that she would start to stink before garbage day.

So, we now have 2 full grown chickens, who seem to lay eggs only when they please. We have added a timer controlled light to try to extend their "day light" hours and encourage more eggs.

With the loss of Thing 1, I decided that in the spring I would get 2 chicks to expand the flock and egg supply (learning from last time and get 2 different breeds so I can tell them apart in addition to getting them only a couple of weeks old so that they can be friendly and not so dang standoffish).

For some reason I thought I would have to wait until the spring to get chicks...turns out that is not the case.  I picked up these two little ladies today from the Urban Farm Store.

They don't have names yet, the yellow one is a Salmon Faverole and will lay pink eggs and the more brown one is an Ameracauna and will lay blue/green eggs. Not only will we have our own home grown Easter eggs but we will be able to tell who is laying and who isn't!

Here are what they should look like once full grown:

Salmon Faverole

Ameracauna

For now the Yet To Be Named and are living in a 2x2x4 tote in the laundry room under a heat lamp. Maggie is very curious, going so far as to lick one as I held her down to let Maggie smell her.

I am leaning towards Frenchie (the Salmon Faverole is a French breed) and Chi Chi (Katie's name for both of them). Isaak wanted to name them both Thing 1 and Thing 2, again.

Chickens

Well...we did it. We now are the proud owners of 3 chickens...now we need to build a coop before Duke & Maggie kill them.

I had planned to get chicks and ease into this whole chicken thing...Kevin found 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes on craigslist that were 12 weeks...and bought them. They are a little hard to tell apart so I started calling them Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3.

We made a quick trip to the Western Pet Supply yesterday evening and picked up feed, grit, pine shavings, a feeder and a "fount". Kevin built a quick box for them to sleep in and pen to stay safe in, and as Isaak would say "ta da" we have chickens.

Isaak seems to think he can tell them apart, or at least he likes to yell "No...not Thing 2, Thing 3" as I am chasing them around trying to catch them.

They seem a little wild so I am trying to spend a little time in their temporary pen with them each night and pick them up and pet them each for a little while.  I don't think it helps that Isaak runs after them saying "cluck cluck cluck", but then again he is half of the reason we got them.

Two of them seem to be more bold then the third, we have started referring to her as the chicken Chicken.

Only 8 more weeks and we should have eggs.

Now for that coop.