As you know if you have read my blog for long, we moved last year to a "country in the city" house so that we could have animals. We have 6 lovely ladies (the hens): Effie, Sunny, Jennie, Baby, Poppy and Abbey.
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| Baby, our white cochin |
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| Abbey, on the right, is a splash blue cochin. There is a reason cochins are called "fluffy-butts"... |
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| Jennie, my lovely Brahma. |
All 6 of our hens are laying. It has been a most satisfying lesson in sustainability for us and the kids.
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| We get a nice mix of white, creme and tan/browns. About 3 1/2 dozen a week. Aren't they pretty? |
Then today...a different kind of egg was collected...
Our ducks layed their first eggs. Our female ducks are Bella and Hermione. (Yes, our daughter named the one bog/girl pair Bella and Edward and the other pair Harry and Hermione)...As someone who loves to cook I am very excited the ducks have started laying. For starters, duck eggs are higher in albumen, making them excellent for baking and we are also hoping later for ducklings! Here are a few more pictures of our ducks here at Brighton park...
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| Edward swims in the kiddie pool. This year, Mr. Darcy has plans to put in a small duck pond for them. The back row, from left to right, is Bella, Harry and Hermione. |
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I love the dark royal blue plumage that Harry and Hermione have on their wings. Gorgeous.
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We have 5 more baby chicks due to be delivered next week that, once laying, should add blue, green and dark brown eggs to our morning egg basket (so excited!). This past week I sent Mr. Darcy to the feed store to buy scratch (chicken feed). He came home with no feed and two baby turkeys... They aren't terribly photogenic right now...
I do love that about Mr. Darcy...always full of surprises. (Maybe I should be happy that the feedstore that day wasn't selling calves or ponies...). If you are thinking about chickens, I recommend this website,
http://www.mypetchicken.com/ It is a wonderful source of information and a great place to order specific breeds and unlike other sellers, they have a minimum order of 3 chickens and not 25, making them backyard friendly for the beginner. The chickens and ducks have been just one step on our journey to lead a more green and sustainable lifestyle. How about you? Making any steps, big or little, to be more sustainable? Leave a comment and share them with us! Blessings,
The hens and ducks are lovely! The eggs are very pretty! Congrats on your new little baby turkeys!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marissa! The hens and ducks have been a wonderful family project and quite easy. Time will tell if the turkeys are more trouble!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have fresh eggs every day but I have to settle for getting them from the local farmers. Far too many critters in our yard to keep chickens. Have a nice week!
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