New Chickens, First Egg!

I picked up the hens on Tuesday from the local feed store Buckerfield's.

There was a lot of excitement when I got home! Rum and Coke were terrified of the newcomers and spent most of the time as far away as possible. Once the hens had adjusted to the coop they proceeded to peck at and chase Rum and Coke, adding to their fear.

I would suggest to anyone getting hens to get them all at once. We didn't go this route because we wanted 2 different breeds, but in retrospect it wasn't the best idea. Watching them establish their pecking order can be hard to deal with as there was a lot of "ruffled feathers"! There was a lot of clucking and running around the first day. The second day was a bit calmer but Rum and Coke were still being bullied. If the hens were in the run, Rum and Coke were in the coop, and vice versa. This lead me to build a mini feeder and put in a bowl of water at the end of the run so Rum and Coke were not kept away from food and water.

The mini feeder is on the right.

I've been extremely excited about the new comers and so have the dogs. I was hesitant at first letting them mingle but so far so good. Angus is pretty good but when they get annoyed with him and try to run away, he likes to chase. There has been no problems yet and he is starting to mellow out now that we have had them for a few days. Of course, we always supervise him closely so the hens aren't in danger.

Our coop is holding up really well with the new residents. I have to fix one of the hinges on the large door of the run. The screws came out, so the door needs to be remounted and reinforced. I will be adding a door at the north end of the run so the ladies can go and enjoy the lawn I have been growing for them. It will be enclosed with chicken mesh so I won't have to be as diligent in supervising. The main door on the coop is extremely heavy (~70 lb) and I am trying to figure out how to remedy that. My friend has suggested we get tailgate shocks to help with opening and closing. I've also thought about moving the hinges so that it swings open to the side, as opposed to lifting, it but I think it's too heavy for that. I will keep you posted.

Before

After (the north lawn is on the left)
I also built a little ladder and a surround so they can get some grass occasionally. They love it!

 The door with the broken hinge is open

 Inside 

Coop with hanging feeder and waterer

The chickens enjoy exploring the back yard and grazing on the grass. I have boards that I can set up to fence off how far they can wander and to keep the dogs out when I am not supervising. Rum and Coke are pretty used to me picking them up by now, however the new ones are harder to catch. I let them out the other day and it took me 25 min to get them all back into the coop. I even caught my sister herding them with a stick. I built a ramp and it only took them 20 min or so before they started using it. I do have an escape artist on my hands. As soon as I have one of the doors open she will attempt to get out. Any possible opening and she is there. 

What are you looking at?

The escape artist! She has the largest comb and I read somewhere that if there is no rooster one hen will take on a dominant role-including growing a bigger comb and wattle, even crowing! I hope not...my wife works shift work and will kill me!

We got our first egg yesterday! I thought it was going to happen but wasn't too sure. Then dominant hen started acting really weird; she was pacing, squawking, and just acting plain miserable. We had them out in the yard, penned off, but she just kept getting out. I rounded everyone up and put them back in the coop, hoping she would calm down. The wife and I went out to get groceries and half an hour later I get a call from my sister and she is telling me that we have an egg!! The moment we were waiting for had come, we have homegrown eggs! No eggs from the other ones yet but that should come, one is a good start.

The egg and her producer (the escape artist)

It had a hole in the top. The membrane on the inside wasn't broken so nothing came out.