Just checking in, kind of like WIP Wednesday.

We've been busy little bees as always. My parents came to visit and I had some much needed help, I was pretty productive while they played with he kids. The fence around the garden is finished! Sucks to be you chickens and rabbits! I finally went shopping alone and bought myself some new clothes, not too exciting but I so rarely do anything for myself. I haven't bought new shorts since before Mr. Lovebug was born. He'll be 5 in December if that tells you anything. I didn't get Mr. Lovebug's room painted but thats ok, I still need samples and all that jazz. Another day.

It is officially summer vacation! The weather has been crummy to say the least. It's been almost 90 and now this week barely into the 60s and rainy. This dreary weather is so draining! The kids don't want to go outside, there's no sun, it's just... bleck! Oh well.

We've been eating lots of strawberries form the yard but they're almost done for the season. Pretty soon it'll  be black and blueberries. Can't wait! The berry fields have their sound machines on, which isn't as bad as last year. They have moved the alien abduction sounds to the other side, I'm guessing out of courtesy.

Naturebaby is being especially nature-y. She's learning about bugs as per usual, which means I'm learning about bugs and when inside she's big into jigsaw puzzles. Mr. Lovebug wants to play video games all day. Obviously that's not happening. My parents brought him a learning book to learn letters and things, we bought him special super-hero pencils to use and I'm hoping we'll put a big dent in it by the end of summer. He really isn't into writing or drawing so getting him to try is a challenge. I'm hoping the special pencils and 1 letter a day helps.

And I bought an ice cream maker. Goodbye egg sales! I made strawberry ice cream the other day with berries from our patch and the chicken's eggs. I've only had a spoonful, I'm worried the eggs will make me sick. Did I mention I can't eat eggs without feeling like I wish I was dead. Yeah, there's that.  Anyways it's delicious! Next up will be an eggless base so I can eat until I wish I was dead for a completely different reason. I'm starting to think perhaps I need a dairy producing animal.

How is your summer going? I know I haven't been around but you know, life.

Cost per dozen for May 2016

I'm pretty sure I say this every month, but how is it June already? I feel like I have a million and a half things to get done before next week. Oh well, so it goes.

May was a pretty good laying month, a really good selling month, almost no left over eggs to speak of and almost everyone is paid up. Sounds good to me!
Someone who shall remain nameless is broody. Again. She is cracking eggs. Again. And covered in egg gunk. again. she really needs a bath on of these days. I'm not thrilled about it, but at least no one was eaten. No eagle attacks, no predator attacks of any kind.

The girls laid 214 eggs, (17.83 dozen) I sold $57, spent $55.76 and made a whole $1.24 for my troubles. I'm not complaining, the girls pay for our eggs and their feed.

They have been making their way into the garden, which means I need to finish putting up the fence and they're traveling to the neighbors yards. I should just build them a run and call it a day but I like them roaming around and eating whatever they'd like.

Cost per dozen for April

Oh boy, I'm a bit late on this one! April (and now half of May!) flew by, the girls were trouble makers as per usual. No one was broody, eaten or injured, so that's a good month. Truckee (The Rooster) continues to do his job of protecting the ladies. We have had a few eagle scares. This seems to be becoming a weekly event, but Truckee groans and the girls hide. If he isn't near them he will come running to protect them. He is a good rooster.

We had 217 eggs, 18.08 dozen. My cost for feed and straw was  $19.38, I sold $24 of eggs making $4.62 profit. Hurray! Months like these the girls are earning their keep. I can't complain about that.

They have been making a mess of the garden and now traveling into the other neighbor's yard (but they don't mind). We'll be adding a garden fence this year, I'm not sure if that should factor into the cost per dozen.

At some point in June I will be doing a deep clean of the coop and deworming the flock, that will definitely have a higher cost per dozen but you've got to do what you've got to do.

Cost per dozen eggs for March

March was a doozy, let me tell you. That wind storm threw our regular cost per dozen out the window. I had to buy fencing to make a temporary pen for the chickens in the barn, bedding, waterer, and a snack to keep the girls busy. Other then that and replacing the damaged bits, getting some shavings and feed, thats a high cost.

It was a good laying month, but also a lot of unexpected expenses, 3 times that of a normal month.We had a few wonky eggs, everything seems to have corrected itself. I'm not concerned about it.


The girls laid 237 eggs, 19.75 dozen.
My cost was $101.01 and sold $27, making my cost per dozen $3.75 not terrible but not great either.

In other chicken news, we have a new Rooster. Mr. Lovebug has named him Truckee. Our Faux-Roo wasn't doing too well and we decided that it would be best for him to put him out of his misery. There will be a whole lot more on that another day.

So back to Truckee. I met a woman buying chicks (she was, not me) and we got to chit-chatting, she had mentioned that she had a few too many roos. I offered to buy one after telling her about our flock, the space they have, blah blah blah. She wanted to make sure he wasn't going to the soup pot. I was supposed to go and get him the day or the wind storm, well obviously that wasn't going to happen. After calling and calling I couldn't get a hold of her (her power had been knocked out). I felt terrible for not going to get him when I said I would and couldn't get a hold of a her. Luckily enough I saw her again and made arrangements to go pick him up.

Going to get him, oh boy that was an adventure. First, the GPS took me all over as always. You'd think I would have learned by now not to trust it. Nope! Then we took some back roads that were filled with farm construction. Nope, back to the highway. Finally we get halfway up the mountain and I can't find the place. Adventure indeed. We go there, the kids mostly had a good time. If you've never driven with a crowing rooster in the back of your car....

So that's the story of Truckee. He has earned his keep so far. We had an eagle attack, everyone survived no worse for wear. Feathers everywhere but no missing or hurt chickens. The girls come when he calls (mostly growls). No attacking or even following the kids. He's a good boy. We're very grateful that he's joined our flock.

Thats a bit more than just a cost per dozen update, but that's what has been going on with the chickens.

Oh yeah, our Buff Orpington, Crazy-Legs is broody. She's trying to sit on eggs but keeps cracking them. Great maternal skills. Broody is when a hen wants to sit on eggs and hatch 'em. They'll sit there all day and night, pull out their feathers so the egg is against their skin and they get crazy. I've heard to described as PMS and Menopause all in one. They will sit even with nothing under them, yell and growl when disturbed or even peck and bite. They neglect their own nutritional needs for phantom eggs. I'm working on breaking her of this.

Cost per dozen eggs for February

Holy Moly, I don't know what happened to February! It was a busy month, we were very productive, and so were the girls. They laid 185 eggs! No one did anything stupid like get hurtting or eaten, there's a plus! They spent a lot of time outside and we are now getting nearly 12 hours of day light.  The longer days and bugs to eat outside is definitely helping with egg production.The girls have been digging around the garden and have finally figured out that rainy days means the driveway is covered with worms.

This month I spent $23.85 on feed. Thanks to a 10% off sale, I bought enough for the month. I will have to get more in the next day or two. I've been using straw in the coop instead of shavings. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, I think it'll decompose faster in the composter then the wood shavings. We shall see.

I made a whooping $37 in egg sales. Hello in the green for the first time! Everyone paid their tab by the of the month.

So here we go, each dozen eggs made $0.84, that's a first for us!


And now to decided more chicks or not...

Eggs in January

It was a good month for eggs, certainly not as good as summer, but the best we've had an a while. We had a 5 and a 6 egg day! Lots of little first-eggs-in-a-while eggs, maybe half a dozen cracked eggs that were fed to the chickens.
Faux-Roo is still a bald mess, I've been giving him eggs when everyone else is doing other things. I'm starting to think he's not going to make it. He's a mess. One chicken broke a toe nail. And one didn't make it into the coop. So it goes

Here's the break down  107 eggs, 8.92 dozen, Spent $36 made $17 Cost $19 Cost per dozen $2.13 pretty good way to start the year!

This month we no extras, I didn't need to buy shavings, I only needed feed. Not too shabby! The first week of February, feed will be on sale, I'll be buying enough for the month, maybe for 6 weeks. I haven't decided yet. It's only a dollar off, so we'll see.

I'm going to try using straw in the coop instead of shavings, my thought process is it will break down in the compost much faster then the wood shavings and straw is much cheaper, not that cost really a big deal. We shall see how it works out.

It's also that time of year to think about getting more chickens. Last year we lost 2 pullets and 2 cockerels. Do we need more? No. Do I want more? Some times. I'd like to have a few colorful eggs just for the novelty. There is always a minimum chick order number and here you have to buy 6. I don't really want 6 chicks. I would like a few turkeys for thanksgiving though. We'll see.

Cost for Eggs October through December

The girls were having a rough molt this fall. There were many days when the chickens did lay at all. Good thing the Ducks were pulling their own weight. I'm going to guess that they we got 3 eggs every other day for November. I really didn't keep track, I picked it up again for December. On a good day we'd get 3 eggs. The girls are still a bunch of messes. Half feathers everywhere! I spent the usual feed and shavings.

During November I'm guessing had 4 dozen eggs, I'm guessing we spend about $5 per dozen.
December we got 56 (4.7 dozen) eggs, I didn't go to the usual feed store instead I picked up some shavings and feed at my local tractor supply for $20. We added some vents to the coop and spent $52 for vents and hole saws.

I'm guessing we got the same amount in November, the cost being about $5 per dozen.
Cost per dozen for December $15.42

This year, not including the costs before the girls started laying, we ended up paying about $5.70 Per dozen, not great but not terrible either. I'm hoping the girls will start laying again since more of them have feathers again. Once I have more than a few eggs kicking around I can sell some more, I've had some people asking!

Come on January!