2 brown.

3 brown (1 small)

Swam routine.

2 of the young hens are laying. 2 more should start in the next week or so. The other 5 sometime in October.

I moved the young birds into the coop to roost on Thursday night. Will check to see if they are roosting in the coop or reverted to roosting on fence. Slaughtering a couple of older hens will make the young birds less stressed in the coop. Young birds aren't really developed enough physically to move up in existing pecking order.. removing a couple of non producing hens will shake up the order and might have the two younger hens that have started to lay move past other old non producers.

It seems pretty clear that there are 3 or 4 older hens producing brown eggs - collecting 2-3 brown eggs daily and regular production is about 1 egg/36 hours... 4 hens laying over 6 days should be 16-20 eggs. So 3-4 older birds are very erratic or not laying. I need to identify which two of the old flock need to be processed for stew soon. Will cull the entire old flock as new hens come into production and their eggs get larger. My guess is the 2 americaunas will stay through next summer, 2 - 3 productive brown egg layers will stay into rainy season, perhaps all the way until spring.

Next year I want to do one order of chicks - 3 americaunas, 2 brown egg layers and 20+ meat birds. Would like to have meat birds finishing in mid June - chicks arrive April 5? that would give 9 weeks until June 7, 11 weeks June 21. Process 4-5 per week. If my feed store wants some 3 day old brooder chicks I may do 2 orders ... 14 layers, 10 meat birds, then 10 layers, 14 meat birds. All the second cohort of layers would go to feed store at 3 days...spread the cohorts by 3 weeks. Which puts some additional meat processing June 28 - July 12.

longer term I think 20 meat birds a year. Keep laying flock at 10-16 hens, with a preference for the low end of the range. so 2010 would be meat production, perhaps brooder chicks to feed store.

1 green, 3 brown (1 small)

3 brown of which one was small. Small egg was near laying/brood box and not on top of the feed can.

Thursday 1 green, 4 brown (1 small)

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown

Tuesday 1 brown.

3 brown, one of which is small.

3 brown, one of them was small and likely from the 4/20 cohort of hens... for now I'm saying the RI Red I saw acting broody near the first (warm) medium egg on Friday. I think the other 2 RI Reds and the BR from that cohort will be producing very soon. So 4 young hens should be producing by early October. Second cohort is 4 weeks behind, probably will have all 9 young hens producing before election day.

Swam routine.

1 green 1 brown. No small eggs - tomorrow maybe another, although hens can be erratic for their first few ovulations.

1 green, 4 brown.

One of the April RI Reds apparently has laid an egg, at least I found a small brown egg on top of the feed bucket with her sitting there, and the egg was warm, as though fresh from her body.

Thursday 2 brown

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown, 1 brown cannabalized
swam Wednesday night.

1 brown

Monday 1 brown. Went to a networking event Monday night, didn't swim. May have new work out of the networking, which is good as working for stock in a privately held startup is starting to be untenable.

1 green, 3 brown.
Swam.

Saturday 2 brown.

3 brown

Thursday 1 green 2 brown

Wednesday 1 green, 2 brown.
Swam.

Tuesday 3 brown.

1 green, 2 brown.

1 green, 2 brown.

Swam.

3 brown.

swam routine.

1 green, 3 brown.

1 brown

Wednesday 3 brown, swam.

Went to another doctor for about pain and lack of mobility in my right thumb. I'd seen an orthopedic surgeon attached to my primary doctor's clinic on august 15, got a cortisone shot into my thumb joint. New doctor is a hand specialist, confirmed tendonitus disgnosis, gave me a second cortisone inject when I asked for it and fitted a splint for me to wear the next month. Will have a follow up visit in early October, see how I'm doing. Surgery is something I'd like to avoid, and I'll be asking about alternative treatment modalities (acupuncture, PT) if the current cortisone, ibuprofen and immobilization regimen doesn't help.

1 green, 3 brown

3 brown