No eggs?!?

Back in March, we bought 5 six day old chicks at the local Tractor Supply.  They were Buff Orpingtons which we had heard were good year round layers.  Around the end of August, we began looking for eggs.  Few weeks later, we were still eggless in the Buff coop so I did some research and saw that Buffs could be as old as 7 months before beginning to lay so we kept waiting.  In the meantime, we were sure but disappointed that 3 of the chickens were roosters.  I listed 2 for sale/trade on Craigslist.  I had a quick response from someone who was interested in trading an Ameraucana hen for the roosters.  Yeah!!  We had been wanting one of those hens for the colored eggs they lay.  During a second conversation, the man offered to give us a 2nd hen also which we gladly accepted.

Well, today while doing some work in the chicken pens, we let all 12 chickens go wandering (the black dog was chained up).  We realized due to the friendliness with the hens that we had 4 roosters.  Not happy!  Finally, late this evening, the man's wife showed up to make the trade.  She had the 2 hens (both Ameraucanas!!!) and carried them, upside down I might add, over to the coop area.  She then quickly let us know we had 5, yes I said 5 roosters!!!!  Arrgghhh!  The nice thing is she gave us some great info on how to tell roosters from hens even at a young age.  She also took 4 of the roosters with the promise to let us know if they have some Buff hens for sale.  Guess that explains why we never got any eggs!

Our Growing Family

Chicken family that is!  We added 4 more girls to our coops on Saturday.  They are Golden Sexlinks and around the same age as our Buff Orpingtons so not laying yet but should be soon.  Here are some pics of them.  I know at least one has been named, Snickers I believe, but don't ask me which one.

 

Speaking of our Buffs, look how big they have gotten!!  Not the small things we brought home 6 months ago.

 We did end up with 3 roosters out of the 5 so 2 of them are up for sale or trade.  Anyone interested?

Here is our handsome guy, Mugsy, and his lady Ramona.  They are our Australorps.  

I couldn't get a shot of Dove, the third of our surviving original 5.

Update

So here we are a week later after losing our second chicken.  Thankfully, the 2 remaining hens are still giving us eggs and hopefully, the Buffs will start laying soon.  Still aren't positive how many hens we have although I am pretty sure there is 3 but that is another story.

Now, did the tip we used on the dog work?  That is still to be seen but I will be working on training her more with the electronic collar as soon as we get the replacement charger.  Why a replacement one you ask?  Well, seems said pup was pretty smart and ate the part that plugs into the collar and remote.  I definitely know that I will not trust her in any way, shape or form with my chickens!!

On the lighter side, enjoy a video of the puppy chasing bubbles that the girls are chasing:

Things that go togther - Not!

Peanut butter and jelly, pen and paper, bacon and eggs - all things that go together.  Chickens and dogs - not so much!  Ever since our Lab puppy showed up on our porch, we have seen trouble on the horizon.  Tonight it came to a head in that one of our chickens, Oreo, died as the result of rough treatment by the Lab.  This is the second chicken we have lost in the past month. The first, Peanut, died most likely while we were out of town and at the mouth of a carnivore like a coyote or fox.  We found only enough evidence to confirm it had been our chicken and that she had been out at least a day as there was a broken egg nearby.  We are also missing a 3rd chicken but hope she is just hidden good for the evening.

Our chickens are in coops with fenced in run areas but the gate is a little iffy on how secure it is.  That will be fixed in the next few days.  We are also giving a training tip that we read about on line a try so if it works, I will share about it.  If this happens again, there will be no grace and the dog will have to go.  Not an easy decision but the chickens are an investment.