No, chickens molt. They shed old feathers and grow new ones. During this time they stop producing eggs and put all their energy into feathers. Apparently we need to give them some more protein (bug patrol needed). Anyway we are still getting a single egg a day so one is still leaying.

Feathers from molting chickens

Chickens like eggs. I did know that from reading about this in magazines and books, but I have now witnessed it for the first time.

This egg eating by the chickens occured yesterday (Monday) and it has to do with the structure build and the location of the chicken coop.

Chicken coop structure. We have two small latches (one on each side) where we can remove the eggs, but at present the coop is located against some bales of straw (I use straw as the boundaries of my vege patches). The position of the coop is my future strawberry patch. So on Monday the chickens laid their eggs on the opposite side to where I could get easy access. Normally this is not really an issue as we just gently knock the eggs (using a piece of wood) across to where we can pick them up. This time we cracked one of the eggs. It was a free for all, the chickens raced to it and started to devour it. Luckily we got the other two eggs out.

Now my understanding is that the chickens should not get the taste for eggs, if they do they will start to eat them all the time. So today Lee-Ann is going out every hour or so and grabbing the eggs, so far she has two of the three we normally get. My thought being if we go a few days removing the eggs straight away we should be OK. Otherwise it may be stock for them.

The Chickens have landed

Yes we now have three isa browns in the coop. They seem healthy and are scratching around, bought from a local breeder and are at point of lay, he did mention that they will take a week or two before they start laying. It is actually fairly exciting, it is one of those defining moments for us. The kids are interested and today we spent a good hour sitting out there watchingthem and seeing if we can pick their personalities.

The chooks have arrived

The back half has a roof on a hinge that provides access to the coop itself, and there is another smaller door in the other half. There is a drawbridge style door that when raised locks the birds in their nesting area for the nite, when lowered they can roam in the rest of the enclosure. The reason for the size is that Lee Ann and I can move it and that it fits reasonably well on the vege patches.

So for construction most of it was using scrap wood from around the place and we had to buy the external ply.

The basic frame.

Here the sides are getting placed on the coop

With the main roof towards the back, and the smaller access point at the front

With the drawbridge up

The drawbridge down

The first vege bed to be hit by the chooks

Now we will be getting 3 Isa Browns for egg production and a bit of weeding. Hopefully they will arive this week and we will be getting these at point of lay (approx 20 weeks old). Lee Ann wanted one point made, that it is heavy to move, but can be done with two people.