First Egg!!

I got my first egg today! Wooo hooo! OK, stop laughing, this is a milestone for me, so let me revel.

The chickens are settling in well. Both mini-chicken houses were used last night, all the food was gone, and the whole flock met me at the gate this morning clamoring for food. Rocky had competition eating from the bowl I held.

Rocky looks different, acts different. He's standing much taller, almost completely erect, and strolls around like a lord among his ladies. I've noticed he stands around a lot watching them scratch and eat, like he's protecting them, as he gives a soft alarm call they all heed when one of the dogs gets nosey.

I kept hearing a chicken squawking earlier and ran out to see what was wrong. One hen (they don't have names yet) was standing outside the newest chicken house just squalling at the top of her lungs. She ran to me when I came in and I swear it was just like a kid coming to complain to mama. I understood immediately. (Yeah, that's weird, but apparently I speak chicken as well as I speak dog) Another hen was in that house, all settled down in one of the nesting boxes, and THIS hen was upset because SHE wanted that box! Too funny. I picked her up and talked to her and the other hen came back out. I set hen number one down and she immediately ran into the house and took over the box.

Those two hens are both claiming the house, although hen number two doesn't make a clatter when hen number one is in there. I just checked and number two was in there, with an egg. So I took it and she refused to leave the house, so she may be going broody, and the other one may be too, or they're just establishing territories and ranking order.

This promises to be a fun and interesting project, with the added bonuses of food and compost for my gardens. Neighbors were already asking me at breakfast this morning what I'll be selling eggs for! Cool!

That's all for now, I'm going to go eat my egg.