March 2, 2015
EGGS:
January Total — 61
February Total — 220
It’s amazing what more daylight does. I can’t wait to see what happens in March! I hope I will be reporting some chicks. I have been checking whether or not our eggs are fertile as I cook them. We have 2 roosters for 18 hens and only half (or less) of our eggs have been fertile (bulls-eye). I don’t understand what’s going on.
I was able to clean out the coop and spread it on the future sweet potato patch the day before we got more snow this week. The day before the snowfall, it got up to 45 degrees and you would have thought it was 60! We were outside all afternoon, soaking up the sun!
We got 6″ of snow the next day. We are now in mud.
(5yo eating snow. Pruned blueberry bushes all around)
I know I am not alone, looking forward to spring (greens)!
It looks like we may be out of 20 and 30 degree days. I am hoping to plant some seeds this week (and cover them). Once I start planting, I need to revamp the chicken run — can’t let the chickens free range when there are seeds/plants in the ground!
Check out what other gardeners are harvesting at Daphne’s Dandelions 🙂
Gardening Without... 
Wow on those eggs! And I think a lot of folks are especially anxious to see spring this year. I know I am!
I’m really hoping for a 45F day on Wednesday. I haven’t seen temperatures like that in forever and our snow needs to melt. Of course I go out almost every day whatever the weather, but I’d appreciate warmth. This year we have been saying the good days are sunny and mid 20s. Our standards have really fallen this year.
Roosters often have favorite hens. Occasionally, they also pick on one or two hens that they decide they can’t stand (it can get ugly!). That might explain you egg-fertilization issue. Good luck!
so nothing I could/should do? I really wanted to hatch out at least 10 chicks this year! 😛
I’d say just stick as many eggs as you can under any setting girls and hope for the best. I’ve read that a standard-size hen can comfortably hatch up to 15 eggs at a time (bantam hens could hatch fewer, but you have large-breed chickens, right?). Candle the eggs at about day 10, and you should easily be able to tell which ones are not fertilized and need to be thrown out.
Your hens will likely try to sit at different times throughout the spring and summer. I’m thinking you’ll have no problem getting 10 chicks this year. Good luck!
Warning: If there are eggs that never hatch by day 23 or after, be very cautious about checking them. I’m a curious person, which can get me into trouble. I tapped an unhatched egg on our fence once to see what was in it and it exploded this putrid green goo all over me! It even took some of the finish off the chain link fence! What an interesting day that was. Lol
thx so much!…and…blech! good tip! we have orpingtons & australorps. our orpingtons LOVE to sit! we hatched out 3 last year when we were getting eggs from a neighbor (didn’t have a rooster then)
Ditto on spring….can’t come soon enough for me!
Great picture. I’m looking forward to a couple chicks myself. Only mine will be from a hatchery. No Roos here! I always feel bad when I switch them back to the coop/run from free range. But, I’d feel worse having to eat them if they demolished the garden one more time. LOL
The look on your son’s face is priceless! I hope you get lots of eggs! Looks like you have a lot of blueberry bushes back there.
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