Yesterday, The Girl and I finally got around to packing up a few of our chickens. We were suppose to bring the hens over to Girly Girl’s House a few weeks ago, but it was so cold outside I didn’t want to traumatize the chickens so we waited until yesterday to move them.
Luckily Girly Girl only lives a few houses away so we were able to put all 6 of the chickens in a box and drive them over to her house. 
Buffy, the sweetest Buff Orpington ever, didn’t want to go. In fact she clung to The Girl until Girly Girl’s daughter came over and pried her away.
I think she’ll be okay.
And the other chickens? Well, I don’t think they cared one way or another.
When we brought our baby chicks home in early September we were planning on only giving 4 of them to Girly Girl once they were old enough. But she wanted more and we gave in. But to tell you the truth, after having 20 {YES 20!} chickens in my backyard for the past few months, it was kind of nice to be able to finally get the flock thinned out a little. Now all we need to do is find a home for the 2 roosters we ended up with before they start crowing. Eeek!
Do you have chickens? Are they laying right now?
Mavis wants to know.
And if you are looking for a great chicken book, check out Homemade Living: Keeping Chickens with Ashley English I think it’s pretty awesome.
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Lisa says
We have four chickens and they ARE laying right now. Up until last week we have been getting an egg a day but Thursday, yesterday and this morning we got THREE eggs each day. That’s 11 eggs in 5 days.
Cecily says
We are getting 6 – 8 eggs a day. I need to thin my flock too. Some of my hens are getting old and not laying much anymore.
Patty P says
I’m getting around 3 eggs a day. Only my Marans are laying right now. All of my Easter eggers and Olive eggers are on vacation, I guess. I do provide additional light in the morning before sunrise too.
Pam says
Brought home 26 chicks from the Post Office (gotta love mail order chickens!) on August 2nd. Ordered all females but ended up with 3 roosters (not a problem – we’re in the sticks!). I didn’t get my first egg until December 15th but am now collecting 7-10 a day! I LOVE it! I have all Rhode Island Reds and, despite warnings from other owners, they are the nicest bunch of chickens I’ve ever owned. Can’t wait till I start getting more eggs than I know what to do with – I have a few neighbors I’d like to thank with a dozen eggs every once in a while……………:)
Jesse says
I have a mixed flock of 8 fancy chickens and they are NOT laying right now. Lazy little monsters! 🙂
I am getting one tiny egg every other day or so. At one point I was getting 7-8 every day. I know it is the short daylight and they are getting a little older. I don’t supplement their light because I would rather they lay into their later years than more often now.
Challice says
This past March, after 10-15 years of dying to have chickens, we brought home 10 baby chicks. Wilber did not survive past the first day… however, from day 2 til now, the other 9 hens have been part of our family. Our children named them, “Pa, Mr. Scott, Mr. Edwards, Kyle, Jessie, Rascal, and some never got true names since they changed so often) anyway, about 3 weeks ago, we were told that we were only allowed 2 in our zoning area. Health and safety thing. 1/4 acre lot and its only healthy to keep 2 on our property. Uh… yeah. But the eggs we buy in the store where the chickens are so packed that there is no room walk, that is healthy? Whatever.
So, now only two 🙁 But yes, they are still laying.
Angela Willis says
Awwww Chalice, that stinks. Zoning laws are crazy sometimes. I have a cousin who works in code enforcement and I called her before we got the ball rolling. Only thing we couldn’t do was have roosters. Bought 7 chicks and about 4 months later, one by one, every single one of them started crowing! All roosters:( Tooke them to our local Feed store. Swapped one for a silky, one for a rabbit, and got a couple bales of hay for the rest. Bought 6 from a local guy that were already laying for him. Took about 3 weeks for them to lay for us, but they finally did. Went from getting 3-4 a day to 1-2 a day.
Challice says
Oy! what a bummer!
Victoria says
I have 4 spring chickens that I got Feb 2013 and 3 three year olds. They are all laying, getting 5-7 eggs a day. I have a light that turns on at dusk and turns off at 11pm.
Taryn (forkandneedle) says
It’s the middle of summer here (New Zealand) and I have five hens but only two (a new hampshire red and a black orpington) are laying as the other three are being mums – my other new hampshire has seven babies (plymouth rock and orpington) while my buff cochin is due out next week with orpingtons/cochins and my langshan has just had new hampshire and plymouth rock eggs put under her. We also have two orpington cockerels (12 weeks – from my mum) and a blue cochin pullet (10 weeks). I get the fertile eggs from local breeders but am hoping to have my own next year! It’s great fun for our family and we spend a lot of time just watching them. Luckily we live on a cropping farm so I think 100 is a possible council limit, but we have plenty of room and feed for them. 🙂
Kathy says
We have hens that are in their third year with us. They took the fall off for molting and are now laying 1 or two a day. The easter egger hasn’t laid since August, which was when my daughter went off to college. We think she’s in morning as that is my daughter’s chicken.
erin s says
We have 27 hens right now and average 12-16 eggs a day. It’s been below zero a lot this month. They have lights on in their coop all the time plus a heat lamp so the water doesn’t freeze. When it warms up I’m thinning the green layers. They are horrible layers and beat up on each other. The eggs are pretty but they aren’t worth the feed.
Darlene says
We have 14 chickens, mixed ages and breeds, but are getting 6-8 eggs a day. Plenty for our family of 3 and the neighbors 🙂
Michele in Salem says
out of our 9 or 10 chickens we have no one laying right now, but we are here in dark, cold New England so it kind of makes sense. I’d take a rest too if I was them!
Michelle R says
I have 8 hens and 1 rooster. I bought 5 “hens” a couple months ago. Supposed to be all grown and laying. My grey one kept getting bigger and bigger, then it started crowing LOL. My friend contacted me a few weeks ago and we inherited her 4 hens due to her zoning laws. We are getting between 2-6 eggs a day.
Teri says
We have 4 hens and 4 roosters. My sex link hen is still laying every day and my olive egger has just begun to lay again after a long break. The other two don’t lay unless they do it somewhere I have never found the eggs. I had a pigeon lay an egg today where the olive egger lays and it got kind of ugly for a little while.
Lucy W. says
Mavis, I really enjoy your blog. I guess you could say I’m an accidental country girl. Lived in the city all my life and now we’re really not all that rural we just have a half acre lot. We have 12 hens and a rooster. All were supposed to be hens. Surprise, surprise, surprise. We are getting approximately 8 eggs a day. But we have neighbors and friends that enjoy the eggs.
We just got another dog from some friends that were having to get rid of their breeding business due to family illness. So I guess I’m going to have a little bigger dog family. Just can’t say no. We now have 2-3yr old American Eskimos, 1-17 year old mixed breed and a 13 year old Pekinese. They are my children. I guess you could say I had another kid today but I don’t feel like it. As I said, I really enjoy reading your blog. I’ve really learned a lot from you.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Lucy! 🙂
PattyB says
Hi Mavis… read your blog all the time. You have been an inspiration for me. I started reading about your chickens but then I loved your garden posts too. I would like to hear more about the chickens because I’m trying to convince my hubby that they would be a good addition to our backyard.
Mavis Butterfield says
I’ll work on it PattyB.
Annie says
Ever thought about buying a couple of dairy goats?
Mavis Butterfield says
Umm no. My husband would freak out.