Saturday, February 02, 2008

New Chickens Settling In

two Rhode Island Red chickensNow that I've doubled my flock of chickens, I need to top up the water and the food twice as often, and muck out the hen house and the run more often. However I don't need to collect the eggs more often, as they're still not laying properly. Since Monday I've had 4 eggs, and 3 of those were from the new girls (I can tell them apart because the new girls' eggs are smaller and sort of elongated).

I knew that introducing new birds would unsettle all the chickens, but I'm sure they'll return to laying an egg a day soon. I'm just surprised that my old ladies are more unsettled by it than the new girls. They're still all avoiding each other. I'll let you know the first time I get four eggs in a day.

1 comment:

ilex said...

Oh, Melanie, I long for chickens. Pine. Ache. I covet your chickens, even if they aren't laying properly. I love the little under-their-breath clucks they make. Love watching them scratch around in the dirt. Lovelovelove them. Saint-husband draws the line at 2 house rabbits, however.

Have you seen this article? It's about a family who kept chickens in their Manhattan apartment- it came out last May:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/garden/17chickens.html?scp=2&sq=chickens+apartment&st=nyt