On the third day of Christmas da, da, da, da, da, da… three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree… Scratch that. We have three hens, but our hens are not French. We also don’t have two turtle doves, but we do have two dogs, oh, but no partridge, just a cat. But we do have a pear tree! Two actually. Oh, and did you know that Partridge is a type of chicken. I don’t have one, but discovered it the other day. I love tidbits of information like that. But you’re not here for that…
Back to the chickens. As I said, we have three hens, but they are not French. One is English, one is American and the other is probably American, no definitely American. Anyway, as you may recall, we adopted “the girls” from a friend-of-a-friend of my Dad’s about a month ago. They are all about a year and a half old, born around Memorial Day of 2011. The girls, having had previous owners, already had names. Jolene, Billina and Zydeco. Although we contemplated renaming them, we really couldn’t come up with any names that seemed to make them worth changing. I mean Souffle, Omelet and Scramble just didn’t seem right and besides these are chickens, hens if you will, so giving them egg names didn’t seem appropriate. We came up with some other names too, but nothing really stuck so we decided to keep them as is. Plus, all of our other animals were named before we adopted them and we kept those names, to honor their history in a way, so we thought we should do the same for the chickens. I should clarify, when I say “we”, it’s mostly me, having conversations with myself, running it past the rest of the family for their input to which I usually get head nods and “sure” as a response, hence “we”.
And Now for the Chickens!
Jolene
First up is Jolene, named after the Dolly Parton song. Jolene is a Buff Orpington, a breed originating from England. Jolene is at the top of the pecking order in our coop (both literally and figuratively). She also got a bit stressed when she first moved in (hence the feathers missing from her chest in the picture above). Jolene makes me laugh. She’s curious, and the most trusting of me so far. We think she was the first to lay an egg for us too but we can’t be certain because two of them lay brown eggs, she’s one of them. Jolene really likes treats. She prefers apples and carrots and attempts to eat an occasional finger if you don’t bring her treats.
Billina
Next up is Billina, a Silver Laced Wyandotte, an American breed developed in New York State, in the early 1870s. Billina is named after the chicken in the Wizard of Oz books, specifically Ozma of Oz. (I’ve never read it, but now need to.) Billina is a bit of a funny girl. She’s the quietest of all of them thus far. She’s observant, confident, yet not the first to check anything out. She’s always the last to come out in the morning and last to go in at night. Billina also lays brown eggs.
Zydeco
And last but not least, Zydeco. Zydeco is an Ameraucana, also known as an Easter Egger, an American Breed known for laying light blue, green or pinkish-brown eggs. Although the previous owner wasn’t positive of the reason for her name (she shared ownership of the chickens with two others), Zydeco is a mixed genre of music (which I happen to like) found in Louisiana combining Cajun, Blues and Rythym and Blues. Zydeco has yet to lay any eggs since moving to our place, but we saw proof at her previous home that she lays green eggs. Zydeco is pretty cool. I love her tail! She’s a curious, but cautious girl so far, she still scampers a little when I go near her too. Oh, and I think she might be the smartest of the girls too. I swear she knows her name, more than once she’s turned and looked at me when I’ve said it.
The girls arrived a little over four weeks ago and just started laying eggs on December 12th (easy to remember 12-12-12). At first it was one egg per day, then there were two, then one, then two. We are still anxiously awaiting a day where we get three and that one of them will be green (which would mean Zydeco is finally laying).
First eggs from the girls!
As of right now, we have 11 eggs from the girls. You’ll notice a “J” and a “B” on the eggs above, there was a lot of squawking in the coop the other day. Jolene made a big stink every time someone laid an egg so I happened to know which chicken laid which egg. Just to clarify any confusion, the eggs did not come out with their initials on them (as my son briefly thought) I marked them to see if we could determine who laid the others.
You might wonder why we haven’t eaten any eggs yet. Well, I’ve been saving them up to make custard pie. Now I have plenty for a pie or two and some other treats. Seriously can’t wait! Oh, and yes, now I will start eating them for breakfast too.
Kate
Walnuts n Pears 