Unexpected Daisies: Very Egg-citing

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Very Egg-citing

Our once little chicks,

So Cute!

will be 17 weeks old tomorrow!

I know! I can hardly believe it myself.

In fact, I hadn't been paying much attention to how old they were until one of the chickens dropped into a squat when Miss Sofia tried to pick her up. This squat action is very unlike the normal routine of trying to run away when someone is trying to pick them up. This squat action is, from everything I've read on raising chickens, a good indicator that a chicken will begin laying eggs soon. -squeal!-

Of course I wanted Sofia to make the chicken do it again!

Did you know that chickens begin laying eggs between 16 and 18 weeks old?

This squatting action made me decide it might be a good idea to count the weeks since our girls hatched.

17 weeks!! Whoop Whoop!!

Definitely time to prepare the nesting boxes which have been closed up to prevent the chickens from making them a place to sleep when they were younger, and since chickens poop right where they sleep, to keep the nesting boxes poop free. Yes, poop free nesting boxes are ideal!

I purchased a couple of (the humor is not lost on me) roasting pans to line the nesting boxes. They were the only thing I could find that was the right size to fit inside the boxes. I'm not sure if the chickens will like roasting pans as nesting box liners, but they will make for easy work when it comes to changing out the nesting material.

While the Husband removed the board that closed up the nesting boxes, I filled the pans with pine shavings and some lavender sprigs (lavender smells so nice) and placed them inside the nesting boxes.