Eggs Eggs Eggs!!

So many eggs!

First, there was Moha's eggs. Moha, our last New Hampshire pullet, was found "cackling" (typical chicken call after or before laying an egg) in our barn today, outside of her fenced in pasture. I picked her up, and looked over at a small mound of hay. "Ah, so I see you laid an egg today" I said, taking steps foreward to what looked like an egg in the middle of the mound. Once I got a clear view of the "egg," I thought to myself "WHOA!!" - There were 15 eggs in one large clutch in the nest she built! She's been laying in secret here for possibly more than 15 days! Wow. . . So, I brought them all in, cleaned them, and put them in a carton. Pretty sure they were all hers, as they were very uniform looking once in the carton. This photo is before I cleaned and organized them.



Then, I got my expected shipment of 15 black/blue/splash Ameraucana eggs just yesterday. My were they beautiful! They varied in saturations from vibrant to faint hues of minty green to a seamfoamy blue color. They were sooo beautiful, and once candled - Glow a vibrant, neon green color! Here's them laid out before being put in the incubator:



And now, I just returned from nabbing 15 Wheaten and 11 Black Copper Marans eggs on a 7 roundtrip hour drive. They were certainly worth it! Both Wheaten and Black Copper are pure Bev Davis lines, and pure beauty. Photos never really due justice, but they were plenty dark, and plenty rich in color! Also, the Black Coppers were very big!



Put together - The black copper eggs and Ameraucana eggs are a nice little checkerboard of faint green and rich, dark red-brown. Right now, they finally rest in the incubator while my less than 15 brown eggs rest in the refrigerator, quite a few already eaten. My my, so many eggs!!



So, with the new eggs, new incubator, and new location to hatch the eggs - I really really hope all goes well, and many chicks hatch out of these eggs! After these chicks, I'm still expecting 12 more Black Copper Marans eggs from someone else along with 12 blue/black/splash Jersey Giant eggs! Soooo many eggs!!! What can I say, chickens are like potato chips - Ya can't have just one!!

Growin' like WEEDS!!

Okay so the chick photos aren't going to be daily, as I have been missing two of my four batteries to the camera for days now. FINALLY found them. . . And look at my Ameraucans! They're getting scruffy looking, and their shoulder and chest feathers are coming in!



This is one of the larger blues - Not sure on boy or girl, but sometimes feel it may be a boy. Likes to pick fights with the black cockerel, and I believe I once heard it "chook."



But, looking past all the lack of perfect down on the girls and boys - "Muffs" is still a very curious and tall girl!



The Ameraucanas aren't the only ones growing up, though! Look at this handsome little'un! This is one of our four Marans, and certainly a boy! The Marans have really grown, and this guy isn't the only one getting feathers popping in. . .



This is the smallest Marans of the bunch, the girl I posted earlier that was very white. Well, she has even more white now and is gorgeous! I hope she grows up to be a very good looking hen who will lay us plenty of gorgeous, dark red/brown eggs.