Hens of Discerning Taste

Here chick-chick-chick, here chickies, I've got a treat for you all!

Princess: For me?

Queenie: Not just you. For us. Last one there is a rotten egg.

Duchess: She said they're frozen blueberries to cool us off. They look weird, you try them.

Princess: Okay, I'll take the first bite. I'm not chicken.
Duchess: Well, technically...

Princess: Nope, don't like them. You can have them all.
Duchess: If you don't like them, I'm not going to like them.

Queenie: Come on girls...they're really not too bad...if you let them thaw a little...and then stand really far away from the plate...and then stretch you neck out really far like this...and then take a teeny tiny bite.

Princess: Hey, lady, don't you have anything better...like some bugs or something? You know the ones—those June bugs in the bottle. The ones that man handpicked under the glow of the porch light the other night.

Duchess: My favorite!
Princess: Now this is more like it!
Queenie: Leave some for me!

Poultry Palace and Gardens—Where Hens Live Like Royalty...

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!

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.

Vegetable and Herb Garden Boxes

Princess: Hey, Queenie, quit eating weeds and come over here and see what Duchess and I found.

Do you think they planted all this for us?

Me: Well, I don't know how to break it to you, girls, but the answer is NO.

So far we haven't had any trouble with the chickens getting in the garden, but it's only been planted a few days.

Normally we don't put our garden in until mid-March, but since we haven't had a freeze all winter and we've been having springlike weather, we decided to go ahead and risk it. I think this is our earliest garden yet.

In the herb box is oregano, fennel, rosemary, and tarragon (and more). These four herbs are established or have reseeded themselves, though we did have to dig up and transplant the oregano in order to build up the soil that had washed out on that end of the box.

New herb plantings include...

sage,

flat leaf Italian parsley (because they say it's the best to cook with),

and curly leaf parsley (because I think I like it better).

Thyme, which is my favorite herb, is planted in a pot on the porch, as are a couple of varieties of mint. You can see dill in center of the vegetable box below.

Planted in the front and sides of the dill are various peppers—some spicy, some not.

Curly kale is planted behind. It won't last long in our climate and will be replaced with hot weather vegetables like okra and purple hull peas. I think John told me he planted carrot seeds in here, too. And he either sowed seeds for squash and zucchini or he's going to buy plants later, I'm not sure.

And then we come to the star of every vegetable garden, in my opinion, the tomato. There's just no way a store bought tomato can ever measure up to a homegrown one. This variety pictured is Celebrity. We also have planted some cherry and grape tomatoes.

Cucumbers will grow on the wooden frame in the front of this box.

By the time the cucumbers and tomatoes grow large enough to fill up the space, the romaine lettuce that is growing between the two will have been picked and eaten.

With God's blessing, we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest.

Happy Friday From the Flock

Sometimes I wonder what our chickens are thinking and saying to each other...

Princess (left), Duchess (back), Queenie (front)

Princess: Is she taking our picture again?
Duchess: You know she is. I told you to take more time preening this morning.
Queenie: (moving closer to the camera) Well, I just had a dust bath and I'm looking quite lovely, if I do say so myself.

That might not be their thoughts exactly, but I'm sure they would want to wish you a happy Friday...if they could. See you next week.

It's a Hen's Life

Three weeks into chicken keeping and all is well.

We let the girls out of the palace on a regular basis. 

For now we supervise their outings. This might not protect them 100% from predators, but it makes us feel better.

Scratching and pecking goes on for a half hour or so, and then with no prodding from me...

the girls return to their living quarters, bellies full of weeds and bugs.

All that's left to do is preen and rest. Such is a hen's life at Poultry Palace and Gardens.

Introducing the Royal Flock

Here they are—our three hens!



Naming the girls turned out to be easy after we decided to call our coop Poultry Palace. It seemed obvious to us that a chicken living in a palace needed to have a royal title. There should be a queen, of course, and how about a princess, and maybe a duchess, too. And then the puns just came without even trying. We couldn't help ourselves. Laugh with us or forgives us, whichever applies.

Now, on to the introductions...

This is her royal highness the Queen of Eggland. We call her Queenie for short. She's a Golden Laced Wyandotte, a brown egg layer. She was my pick for our flock. I think her feather pattern is stunning—so regal. She had to be the queen, though we're not sure she's the one ruling the roost.

Here's a picture of me holding Queenie, so you can get a sense of her size. She and our other two hens are approximately four months old. They still have a lot of growing to do. It will another two months before they start laying eggs.

Our Rhode Island Red is named Princess Lay-a. We hope she lives up to her name and lays lots of beautiful brown eggs. We call her Princess or Prissy. In typical princess fashion, she has a knack of getting her own way and we think she's calling the shots in the palace. John picked her for her beautiful coloring and classic good looks.

And then there's the Duchess of Yolk, the sweetest hen in the flock. We call her Duchess or Duchie. She's a Barred Plymouth Rock and lays brown eggs, too.

This sweet hen has a way of stealing your heart. She is very friendly (or maybe very hungry) and will readily eat out of your hand. She doesn't mind being touched and is the easiest to photograph. I believe Duchess is the one that will become our pet chicken.

And so ends the introductions (if you know what I mean). I'll be back next week with more from Poultry Palace and Gardens.