How Many Eggs in June?

The grand total of eggs collected from the Royal Hens of Poultry Palace in June was 78.

Egg collecting is a favorite pastime of the toddler set. Just ask Myles.

That's six less than in May and is to be expected during the hot summer months.

I'm not sure how, but not a single egg was broken in the process. 

Queenie gave us 24 eggs. Princess and Duchess are tied at 27 each.

The quicker we get there the more fun it will be. Rose was a joyful helper.

It all comes down to the largest egg laid to break the tie.

Queenie is out of the running, but for the record her largest egg in June weighed 1.73 ounces.
Princess Lay-a's largest egg was 1.80 ounces. And, Duchess beat them both with an egg weighing 1.94 ounces.

Congratulations, Duchess of Yolk, you win the Hen of the Month award for June! Extra mealworms coming your way.

Egg Totals for May

We are proud to announce that the hens of Poultry Palace worked together in May to produce a total of 84 eggs!

That's just two less than April, which considering the stress of heat, humidity, and rain (oh, so much rain) is excellent.

Here's the breakdown:

Queenie—25 eggs

Doesn't she look proud! 

Princess—29 eggs

She is an amazing hen.

Her laying streak ended in May at 74 eggs laid without missing a day.

She then promptly laid a 1.9 ounce egg, the largest egg so far.

Duchess—30 eggs

She wins Hen of the Month for laying the most eggs.

Bowing to Overwhelming Applause

Way to go, ladies! You deserve a standing ovation for your performance.

Egg Totals for April

We are loving the fresh eggs from our hens!

In April the Royal Flock of Poultry Palace gave us 86 eggs, which is seven dozen plus two. That's a perfect amount for the two of us—we aren't having to buy eggs at the store and we don't have a large excess in the fridge. We love to share eggs with our friends and family, so if the eggs start to accumulate, we give them away. We gave away one dozen last month.

We have gotten much better at recognizing which egg belongs to which chicken, so I'm confident in the individual totals for April.

Queen of Eggland—Golden Laced Wyandotte

Queenie laid 27 eggs in 30 days. Her largest egg weighed 1.73 ounces. Last week she skipped two days, which makes me wonder if the warmer temperatures are affecting her production. Even so, her lay rate is still very good.

Duchess of Yolk—Plymouth Barred Rock

Duchess laid 29 eggs in 30 days. Her largest egg weighed 1.94 ounces. We are predicting that she will be the first of our hens to lay a two ounce egg. She is an excellent layer.

Princess Lay-a—Rhode Island Red

Princess is Hen of Month for April, laying 30 eggs in 30 days. And what's even more remarkable is that she has laid an egg every day for the last 59 days! We thought her streak might be coming to end last week when for two days in a row, her eggs were not as dark as normal and had an unusual (for her) rough texture. She pulled out of it though and her eggs are back to normal. Her largest egg in April weighed 1.87 ounces. 

That brings the total number of eggs for the year to 166 (13.8 dozen). Getting fresh eggs from our own hens is a beautiful thing!

They're Getting Good at This

It's another three egg day.

Brought to you by...

The Royal Flock of Poultry Palace: Duchess of Yolk, Princess Lay-a, and Queen of Eggland.

Nice work girls!

Record Keeping and Storage

Keeping a record of egg production in our small flock has added to the fun of keeping chickens. 

We are trying to track each chicken's egg production separately, which is why we had hoped each chicken would lay a distinctive egg. It's become a little tricky now that Duchess is laying and her eggs look so much like Queenies'.

I record the date and weight of each egg for each chicken in a small weekly/monthly planner that I personalized with one of my own photos.

John is using an app called Egg Tracker, which he likes. The main drawback of the app for me is that the weight can only be recorded in grams and I prefer ounces.

I also like seeing all the information in calendar form, so I can easily know the day of the week as well as the date. 

An advantage to the app is that it keeps a running total for each chicken automatically. Obviously I will have to calculate the totals on my own.

After the eggs are gathered and the information is recorded, it's time to store the eggs. Many people with their own flock of chickens keep their eggs at room temperature on the counter, but I've opted to keep ours in the refrigerator. 

I picked up two OGGI refrigerator egg trays at Home Goods for this purpose. They are clear, which I like, and have lids. Each tray has 14 egg compartments, but in a pinch you could fit a few more in if you lay them on their side.

We've filled up one tray and are working on filling the other. Looks like it's time to make an omelette.

Egg Watch in Effect

Friday was an exciting day in the Poultry Palace coop.

Duchess of Yolk laid her first egg!

I went to the coop early that morning and found three eggs in the nest—one from each hen. We think Duchess laid the one in the middle. Her egg and Queenie's (top) are so similar, it's hard to know for sure. Princess lays darker brown eggs (bottom) than both those two, so it's easy to tell it apart.

Once again, I'll have to watch the girls closely to see if I can figure this out. Egg watch is now in effect.

There were two eggs laid on Saturday (P & Q) and two on Sunday (P & ?).

Not until this morning did Duchess lay an egg that I know for sure is hers. I collected it after she left the nest box and before Queenie had a chance to lay her egg.

Queenie and Princess are both in the box right now. It looks like this is going to be another three egg day!

Give Credit Where Credit's Due

We have a second egg layer in the flock! We know this because we collected two eggs on Tuesday.

The new egg is in the middle. On either side are the eggs from our first laying hen. There's just enough difference in color and size for us to tell them apart.

We were expecting Queenie to start laying soon, so we assumed the new egg belonged to her.

Queen of Eggland

I wanted to be sure though, so on Wednesday I put myself on egg watch. I kept a close eye on the coop and sure enough, Queenie went in the nest box. An hour later she emerged.

I felt certain I would find an egg in the nest. And I did...but it wasn't the egg I was expecting to find. Her egg looked exactly like the eggs we've been getting since the beginning.

What? You don't mean?? Oops! We were sure Princess Lay-a was responsible for all those eggs. We've been giving credit to the wrong bird.

How could you not know?

No wonder Queenie's giving me the evil eye. It looks like we owe Queen of Eggland an apology...and maybe a few extra mealworms to make amends.

Let the record show that Queenie was the first of the Poultry Palace flock to lay eggs.

We're now assuming Princess Lay-a is the second egg layer, but you see how well that worked out the first time, so I think we should just wait until we can catch whoever it is in the act.

My beak is sealed.

I'm sure Queenie knows, but she's not telling.

Who's Responsible for This?

We knew this would happen eventually. We've been waiting now for almost two months, anticipating, watching for signs. Last week we suspected it was close to happening and we were right!

Two little pullet eggs, each weighing 1.3 ounces.

We came home on Saturday evening from a one night stay at the trailer in Matagorda to find two small almost identical eggs in the nesting box. What a beautiful sight! But, who's responsible—one chicken or two?

Princess Lay-a exiting the nest box.

The nest box in the coop has been closed for a time because the chickens were getting in there and making a mess of things, but we opened it last week when we noticed Princess would squat when we approached.

This submissive posture is a signal that a chicken is close to laying. She is the only one in the flock that has displayed this behavior, so we were confident that she was responsible for at least one of the eggs...but both?

Princess Lay-a looking more and more like a full grown hen.

We checked for eggs on Friday at noon before we left for Matagorda and there were none. Since it takes about 24 to 27 hours for a chicken to produce an egg, it's possible she could have laid both eggs in the time we were away if she laid one late in the afternoon on Friday and the other late in the afternoon on Saturday.

So yesterday when we found another egg in the nest late in the afternoon, it confirmed to us that Princess is indeed solely responsible.

Princess Lay-a high stepping and strutting her stuff.

Three eggs in three days! Way to go, Princess Lay-a, you are living up to your name. Queenie and Duchess, you're next.

P.S. The eggs were delicious, by the way. We ate them fried (one for me, one for John) with toasted English muffin bread and bacon.