Joy, joy, joy! Our first Seven Oaks Farm egg appeared yesterday morning and it was unbelievably exciting for both of us.

The day started much like others where I made a visit to the coop at first light to open up, feed and do a little clean up. I noticed a bit of a different atmosphere in the coop yesterday morning. For one thing it seemed as if one hen, a Rhode Island Red with the largest comb and waddle, was really agitated and unusually vocal in a way that I had not heard before. She had a certain elongated squawk to her voice that I didn’t read as panic or fear but just something different. Dave was with me when I cautioned aloud that I had a feeling there was something providential about to happen. After clean up was over, I picked up this particular hen to comfort her and she buried her head in the crook of my arm (perhaps for warmth since it was quite chilly) and stayed there for some time before several others tried to take her place. In response, I broke one of my current ‘rules’ and put a corn cob out for an early treat whereas I usually prefer that they eat their regular food in the morning before getting treats.

Off we went with the Wards to the local Christmas tree lot to search for the perfect tree for all and to get a photo op with our dear little Coulter. It didn’t take long for him to decide he was ready to go home!After sorting out the trees to each location, we headed back to the farm and immediately went out to check on the chicks.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature egg and six or so white tailed darned deer???? (more later on the deer in coming posts!) There it was, a precious, little egg, (foreground) sitting pretty as can be in one of the nest boxes! The egg you see at the rear is the ceramic egg meant to encourage the hens to lay in the nest box. Such excitement…at nearly 23 weeks, an egg at last!  This one weighed 38 grams which is small but also typical of the first eggs a bird will lay.

How fun was this! Perhaps I had a little help on the way this week and must give credit to all my sources.

Last Tuesday on my morning walk I spotted two gorgeous, plump pumpkins on the Ward’s street that had been put on the curb for the trash men to take away. Bonus! Although I was tempted to put one under each arm and carry them home to feed the chicks, I texted Jason and asked if he would mind snagging them on his way to the farm that morning. He stopped, did a ‘grab and go’ and provided me with these two lovely specimens for the chicks. Chickens love pumpkins and will eat the flesh and seeds voraciously so what better than for me to serve them some discarded pumpkins! I cut one of these up post haste…And served them up to a delighted group of hens…thanks to Jason!So today I continued on the egg watch to see if there would be any additional egg laying. There was less of a panic atmosphere in the coop this morning but I could ‘spy’ on the chicks through a small gap in the wall between my workshop and the nest boxes. The same Rhode Island Red was nesting  or ‘using’ the nest box and low and behold…a second egg was laid this morning. Here are both eggs in the egg basket I have from the Luehrman farm. Upon visiting the coop this afternoon, the chicks seem to need some comfort and that same RI Red hen hopped up to get some cuddling and was also soon joined by a friend.We look forward to many more eggs in the future as well as fun from Coulter!