Black Star lays her first egg at 11 months

Congratulations are in order for Dakota my black star or sometimes called black sex link (because one can tell the sex of the chick at birth). She has been in the coop making nests for about a week, and today on this beautiful Easter morning she layed her very first egg. You can see her in the background.

 

Here are the two eggs that were layed today. The one on the left is Dakotas egg and on the right is Tallulahs egg. She is a cross between a rhode island red and a leghorn. Big difference in color and size.

 

Here is a photo of all my girls eggs, the very dark one is from Avery (red star) and the blue is from Oakley (americana).

Happy Easter from all of us.

How to stop your chicken from pecking another chicken

Here is Oakley, I got her as a pullet from a indoor coop and run, so most, if not all of the chickens started to peck each other, some badly on their backs right before their tail feathers. Some even drawing blood. So here's poor little Oakley, she's a couple of months younger and smaller than the rest of her new flock so they started to peck right in that spot.

I went to Farm & Fleet and they don't carry any products for pecking, so my next stop was a little further drive to a feed store. They carry one product called Rooster Booster pick-no-more cover-up lotion. It was super easy to apply directly on the affected area. It's a thick medicinal smelling liquid. The pecking stopped the next day, you could tell it taste nasty to chickens. I did have to reapply 4 weeks later and all is well in the coop. The cost is $19.50 it would be perfect to share, I can't imagine ever using the whole bottle. Roosterboosterproducts.com

 

City chickens getting their greens

Here I am in the coop hand feeding them leaf lettuce.

Shoving the lettuce into the fence is much easier.

That's a latta chickens!

We had a delightful couple stay with us at Manderley Bed & Breakfast. They are from Southern Lake County Indiana and told me an amazing chicken story. At their highest point in chicken egg production they had 1,800 chickens! Phyllis and Garry had their Leghorns in long rows and collected the eggs in giant metal egg baskets. It took about 2 1/2 hours per day to get them ready for the market. In their basement of their 1860's farmhouse they had a washing, candeling and sorting station. They packed the eggs and drove them to the store, what a treat to get such fresh eggs from Rosenthal Valley Farms!

Let's talk Dakota

Here she is, she was born/hatched last spring 2012. She hasn't layed any eggs yet. I got her from a farmer in Kenosha along with Tallulah (in the background to the right). Tallulah (who is the same age) started laying last October and has been non-stop, even through the winter. After searching on line I came to the conclusion, she was getting ready to lay but then the colder weather set in and shorter days so she has been postponed. She is a black star chicken, not much info on line on black stars really. She squats and let you pet her on the back, a sign of laying eggs, but she has been doing that for months. She eats well, friendly, gets along with the flock and very healthy. So stay tuned, it's getting warmer and the days longer, so she should lay her first egg soon (I hope). I read that it is extremely unusual for a chicken not to lay eggs.