Happy Hatch Day Indeed: 5 months!!

Well...the little babies are not so little any more.  They are 5 months old today! (yesterday?)  I can't believe it...where has all the time gone?  I remember when they were just little teeny tiny chicks playing on a towel with a cardboard ring around to keep them inside.  Ohh...those were the days! :) Now, we can barely keep them contained with a 6 foot tall fence around the coop!  Yes, that is right.  They are finding ways out of the run.  I had an interview on Wednesday and when I got back 5 of the little girls were free ranging in the yard.  Naughty little girls.  (P.S. I did get the job, its for a local grocery store!  Not quite the job I was intending to get, but it'll help get me through school for the next couple of years!  And give me a good excuse to get out of the house and meet people!)

Today, however, is an extremely exciting hatch day...not like the others.  Because, this morning, when I went through my regular routine of looking through the nesting boxes to see if they had left me any presents, I actually found something!  I tried to take a picture of it where it was left, but it was just too dark in the coop to do that.  Yes!  You've got that right!  We got our first egg this morning!!! What an exciting day!  

I love the speckles, which is probably just moisture or something that is dried, but I really like it! And I love how dark brown it is!!  It would probably be darker brown if I rinsed it off, but I didn't. 

Here it is next to a tape measure...its about 2 inches...

Aww...its so cute!  And here it is next to a regular large egg from the grocery store.

I don't think it is a bantam egg, its a little too big for that.  I'm pretty sure its from one of the red sex links, but I can't be sure. I know there isn't really a difference at all in the actual egg, but I'm really excited to have brown eggs again!  I don't know what there is about them, but I just like them!!!  Not enough to spend the extra money specifically to buy brown eggs, but I'm still pretty excited!  We only have 2 girls that will lay large white eggs (the 2 brown leghorns) and the rest will lay brown eggs. 

Since it is their hatch day, I should probably not post pictures of only the egg.  So here they are this morning!  Here is a group picture!! :)

The two buff brahmas, little red in the back, billie the blue next to her, and a golden laced cochin...

The two brown leghorns, the two red sex links, Basil, Parker, a golden laced cochin and Ella!

Here's little red, I can't believe she is still so tiny...I'm really wishing I would have kept the other little red hen...

Basil, standing up tall and strong...and the other 2 golden girls...

Parker...he's so pretty! ...I mean, he's a good looking rooster!

Here is Billie...one of the blue cochins...I can tell her apart from Ella now because Billie is a lighter gray/blue than Ella, she has a smaller comb, and her feet are blue (not yellow! Weird!).  Ella has a slightly bigger comb, is a little bit smaller than Billie and has yellow feet.  All of our chickens have yellow feet, which is why its so weird that she has blue.

Ain't she cute!  They are so darn feisty and have some attitude, but I just can't resist them!!  

Whenever I go out to see the chickens they all run to me and are so excited to see me! (I know its just for food and not my wonderful motherly presence, but it still makes me feel like they love me!) So, this morning I took a little video of it....I wish I would have kept it on a little bit longer so you could hear the hen noises, I love the hen noises they make! :) 

OH!  And I saw my first living, moving possum the other night!  It was so weird how it moved through the grass and it was pretty ugly!  Need to do some research on the little critters.  I'm not too worried though, because I keep my chickens contained at night so nothing can get to them.  

I better get dressed... :)  Have a good one!

xoxo

c