Friday, December 4, 2009

FINALLY JoyHouse EGGS!






















I am so grateful and appeciative for these beautiful eggs. This major accomplishment only took 6 months 12 days and 4 hours give or take.

The JoyHouse chickens went through the normal growing and eating and changing that all chickens do.

When "the girls" finally reached 24 weeks old , and still no eggs, I started to wonder. I must be doing something wrong. I finally purchased some Calf Manna as suggested from a BYC friend and 10 days later ....
Walla! AN EGG!

Within 24 hours I noticed one of the young buffs had fowl pox.
After vaccinated the entire flock, I started getting 2 or 3 eggs a day, cracked them open, broke yolk, nuked them.. and fed them back to the girls..... as a precaution because of the fowl pox vaccine.

When the girls were up to 4 eggs a day, I was just beginning to wonder if it might be ok to start keeping and eating the eggs myself. That's when I noticed that two of the flock were walking around depressed and hiding in the coop all day. I thought it was either a side effect from the vaccine or because of the obnoxious juvenile "coming of age" young Roo that was jumping on anything that moved. Those poor pullets were so tired of him.
When I realized we were dealing with Cocci it was too late. I lost my dear little young Wheaten Ameraucana Cockerel named Bingley -soon followed by my sweet bantam pullet Crystal.

The treatment for Cocci is added to their water for 5 days. After treatment is finished.... for 14 days you can not keep the eggs. I was getting 5 to 6 a day..... and feeding them back to them.

It is now three days passed the two weeks and the girls are laying 7-11 eggs a day.

After fowl pox, and cocci and now with the days getting shorter and the temperature dropping, and SNOW in Cut n Shoot TEXAS.... I am very grateful and appreciative for every single egg and the chicken that laid it.

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