Wyandottes are pretty and have rose combs, so less susceptible to frostbite too.
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They can be mean little shits tho… And apparently they will never die or get taken by predators 
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Ours aren’t mean but they are my least favorite (of our very small flock). My main complaint is that both of them lay eggs with very tough membranes so it’s extremely difficult to break them neatly. I often crack the shell then have to poke a hole in the membrane with my finger. More often than not I end up with broken yolks and shell bits in the egg. I haven’t heard this from anyone else so I don’t know if it was just a bad bloodline at that hatchery.
I was very sad that our Easter Egger dropped dead one day at age 1 - she was the character of the bunch, plus I loved having the color. I’ve wished that had been one of the Wyandottes. Less sad but disappointed that our Olive Egger lays brown eggs. Love our sweet and relentlessly-laying Golden Comets!
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Yeah my OEs lay brown eggs too. So disappointing.
How is everyone doing with the winter weather? It’s not too bad yet here, which is lucky.
Spring plans?
My attempted early hatch did not go well, not a thing developed. I’ve been getting more and more irritated with commercial feed over the years and I’m at the point now where I think I’m done. Looking into sourcing ingredients and getting a grinder and just doing it myself, at least that way I know it’s fresh and I can control the vitamin and amino acid content.
I wish stores/CoOps would just stock things like fish meal and roasted soybeans and calcium powder, part of the reason I haven’t done this before now is because it’s a pain to track down and order those things.
I’m also irritated that the nice 13 gallon grinder that I decided not to buy two years ago is now double the price, I should have pulled the trigger back then.
Our girls are still laying.
So I say we are doing great.
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And nothing beats polish hens, with their feathered top hats, for absurdity.
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We have 16 layer hens, 1 roo at the moment.
The roo was farm hatched-- our only one. He’s a massive cochin mutt, very beautiful. At least 7 yrs old at this point and his mobility is declining. So we keep an eye on him, this is probably his last year but no indication so far that he’s not well /not enjoying life. He is the sweetest rooster you could ever hope for. Can carry him around and he’s happy as can be-- I’ll be sad when Monster goes
The hens + egg color:
Americauna - green
Dr Whiting True Blue - blue
Cream Legbar - blue
Buff Orpington - brown
Bielefelders - brown
Partridge Rock - brown
Golden Campines - white
Brown leghorn - white
Cuckoo Marans - dark brown
Our old farm is blessed with a full building for a chicken coop. It’s about 24x12ft, whole southern wall is windows so great airflow and warm sun in the winter. Built-in nest boxes and roosting bars. I divided the building interior into thirds. One third is for our garden stuff, the middle third is for chickens that I want to keep inside or otherwise isolated, and the last section has an automatic door. Normally I keep the door open between the two chicken sections, and they all mingle. But when I have a batch of chicks, or a bird that I’m not sure is well, it’s really really nice to have that center section that I can close off as an isolation ward. Easier to just sketch than describe:
Here’s our coop (pardon hubby’s shaggy asparagus garden)
And, just because I love him, here’s Monster the Nicest Most Handsome Roo On The Planet:
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That’s a nice setup! And Monster is most definitely quite a handsome guy 
I managed to get ahold of people at two different feed suppliers and the second one was a winner. They can get me the fish meal, soybean meal, calcium, and are the cheapest for whole corn and oats. I forgot to ask them about alfalfa meal but I bet they can get that too. Will order my first batch next Monday.
Placed my order for the feed grinder from TSC and ordered the Nutri-Balancer from Fertrell, so when everything gets here I’ll be set to make fresh feed with higher vitamin and nutrient levels 
I worked out the per bag cost and it’s actually only $20-$21, not bad when Purina is $24 now. I remember thinking about doing this 2 or 3 years ago and I decided not to because it was going to cost what I considered too much more, but commercial feed was only $13.99 back then.
I’m excited!
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The molt has ended and coupled with a light, production is up! Sold 10 doz eggs in the past week.
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Huzzah!!!
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You must be rich now! Eggs are 7.50 a dozen now at the grocery store. 
My modest little Flock o’ Four (3 hens, 1 rooster) is beginning to be productive.
I am feeling generous enough to add an egg to their morning oatmeal/yogurt.
Had one myself this morning & have 7 sitting on the counter.
Sign of Spring to Come 
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I’m a pushover I’ve given away 12doz this week to friends
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Well I’m not a pushover and I’ve been selling eggs for a few years now. They supplement my income, those 10 doz eggs almost pay for two bags of food for them.
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I have a regular customer, I’ve mentioned her before somewhere I’m sure, but she’s driving me insane. I ended up buying more layer pullets just because of her and her parents wanting tons of eggs in the winter. This year, between December 14 and January 14 she requested/bought NINETEEN dozen 
Usually it’s 3 dozen every other week. This is the same one that kvetched that I notified I was raising prices January 1st, from $2 to $3, when I’ve been charging her low all along because she’s related to my work and we were friends. Come to find out, she’s been supplying her boyfriend and sister with eggs. That just doesn’t sit right with me, she’s added two new customers at her decreased rate, so I’m basically getting screwed. It’s not the end of the world, but it just sticks in my craw, you know? She bugs me anyway ~sigh~ I finally had to tell her no more for a week at least, I am OUT. I think it especially bugs me because I can’t get them to take more than 3 dozen every 3 weeks or more all summer/fall, when I’m drowning in eggs, from the pullets I had to buy for THEM. Ugh.
Anyways. Haven’t gotten my feed ground yet because I assumed soybean meal and whole roasted soybeans could be used interchangeably and they can’t, just now heard back from the ration man on how to alter that so hopefully I can get my first batch of feed made tonight. Made progress on excavating my old stall, if I can keep working on that at night I should be able to finish it before February and get the rest of my pens made and really be in business.
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Wait she’s reselling YOUR eggs?? Um yeah I’d be pissy too. WTAF?
I have a customer who buys five doz at a time every three or four weeks and several other sporadic customers who ask when I post that I have some but otherwise don’t request; I’ve never charged less than $4/doz because that’s the going “farm fresh” small farm rate around here but I’m bumping my rates to $5/doz to everyone else because I anticipate my feed cost is going to go up. Heck my power bill was oddly higher this month and I saw on local SM group that it was the same for a lot of people. High col area, yay…
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Yep!!! It would be different if she were up-pricing them to my normal rate, but she’s not. She’s being the egg hero I went back and looked at the messages after the 12th dozen because I was like, “Am I nuts or is this not a LOT of requesting???” Pete’s sakes…
