November 11, 2019
Saturday Matt picked up two new chickens for us. They are young White Leghorns. They have a smaller comb than the one we have. The one we have was a great layer, especially in warmer weather when some of the others slacked off some.
We are back to 12 hens and our rooster. With the two chicks Stir-fry raised for us, 4 will be first year hens and should lay most days, KFC is 5-6 years old and likely won't lay, Stir-Fry is about 3-4 years old and may not lay much but we are hoping we can get her to raise another set of chicks. 6 are 2-3 year old and should lay some but not as much as last year.
This year we tried the preserving eggs where you store them in water and slack/pickling lime. It does not pickle the eggs but keeps them "fresh". The only difference we have noticed with them is the one we were warned about, the yolks break easier so if you want to use the eggs to separate the whites out, it might be harder. We started storing some in June and are down to 2 eggs. I hope to store more next year and get longer into the winter without having to buy any. Laying slacked off the end of September a lot, and October and November we were only getting one egg a day, if that. so we started using our bucket. It didn't last long but was great to have the chance to try it on a smaller number of eggs. Two or Three cracked a little in the bucket and we just composted them rather than risk them, but most did great.
We have been getting stuff ready for Spring to plant more -- I have a long list of wants and plan to shop for plants Jan/Feb when the ordering season opens to get bushes and trees in April/May and Bees around May too. For now I am enjoying a couple weeks of nice weather before winter is sure to hit.
