Today's Egg Count: A Baker's Dozen

I was a little surprised today that despite the dreary 50 degree high and drizzle, the girls gave me 13 eggs!

The brown ones with the white speckles are from the Barred Rock hens, the blue one is from my older Americauna, the small cream colored one is from my Phoenix hen, and the other two pale ones are possibly from my Silver Laced Wyandotte and a young Americauna. The regular brown ones are from the Red Sexlink hens, who are fabulous producers, I'm very proud of those little ladies!

To be fair, the Partridge Rock hen tried to keep 4 of them. She is possibly the most broody hen I've ever had. She has claimed one of the laying boxes, and sits in it all day, except if she gets up to eat or drink, and another hen lays in "her" box, then she plops herself down and claims it for her own the moment she gets back in. I really need a name for her, any suggestions would be welcome. Isn't she lovely?

She's a pretty girl, with beautifully detailed, buttery soft feathers, but she makes the most evil squawk when you approach HER box! So far, she doesn't peck when you take her eggs. I shouldn't feel guilty taking her eggs, but when a hen is so determined to be a momma, I admit that I am always tempted to just let her keep them. I know, I'm a sucker. I believe I've mentioned that before.

The current plan is to collect some Americauna eggs and put them in a nice fluffy nest in one of our chicken apartments for her to sit on. She can be my auto-temp, auto-turning incubator since she's obviously not picky about just whose eggs they are. I am tempted to confine a couple of my banty pairs later this summer and try the same routine if it works. If she wants the job so badly, who am I to deny her? As long as we don't end up with some freaky chicken version of that Rebecca deMournay movie... Once they hatch and survive a week or so, they're mine, tough noogies, momma.

My exciting news is that tomorrow morning there is a chicken swap near my house, which I will certainly be attending, and after I go by there to see what's available, I'll be heading out to Amelia to buy my first pair of Maran chickens! These are Blue Birchin Marans, and they lay super dark brown/reddish eggs, like almost milk chocolate color. I'm excited to add to the color variety in my egg boxes, and I'd love to perpetuate some of these lovelies since they're fairly uncommon. The guy also has Lavender Orpingtons, and some Black Americaunas! I can't wait to see this farm, it sounds like they've got some fabulous chickens, unusual breeds, and the Americaunas I got from him last year are all thriving, which is a good sign!