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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Pullets


Pullets and Pullet Eggs



Pullets are chickens which are under one year old.  These came as "Day Olds"

This is how it works;  You order your chicks from a breeder and a few days later your Postman calls with a message that a box has arrived, a box that is making chirping noises. 

As soon as you get the chicks home you must dunk their beaks into a watering dish.  They seldom learn how to drink on their own.





 This is a Buff Orpington.  You can always tell when they get serious about raising little ones.  They start clucking incessantly and will also try to hide their eggs. 

Eggs were always more important to my Mother, so she would place the clucking chicken in a gunnysack and let the chicken  think for a day or two.  It always worked.





We also have a few older chickens.  Can you see the difference in egg size?  The small eggs are known as "Bakers Eggs".  Bakers like small eggs because they are super fresh.  Small eggs are never stored. 

 Did you know that large eggs are sometimes stored for 4 months or more before they are delivered to your Grocer?

Pullets start laying eggs when they are about 4 months old.

Gene was raised on a chicken farm.  He and his older brother, Blaine, took care of 5,000 chickens and collected a little over 4,000 eggs a day.  That is where the boys learned their work ethic.



I named him "Rocky".  He was a very fine and gentle rooster.  We have had others.  Alturro, the South American rooster was mean but beautiful.  Like our neighbor's bull, he was sent to another zip code.  Then  "Whitey" came along, not as handsome but very protective of his ladies.






We raise Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Reds, Speckled Sussex and Buff Orpingtons, they all lay brown eggs. However, we do not raise Araucanus even though they lay beautiful blue eggs, that is when they are in the mood to lay eggs.  After all, they are from South America and it gets cold in Utah.

Gina


10 comments:

  1. Oh, Gina, is that you?
    Thanks so much, I'm feeling in the middle of the countryside right now. What a pity I'm going to the East Coast again, no chance of stopping by this time :(

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  2. Love the family history, and the photo of you in this post, Gina! What did you do with all your eggs? We're lucky, our neighbors raise chickens, and all we have to do is knock on their door when we need eggs! Depending on the amount of baking I do, sometimes a dozen eggs last just a few days, but usually longer.

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  3. Dear Frau Mayer and how is the cat? Too bad, next time maybe. Have a great trip.

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  4. Dear Francesca, We share our eggs with friends and neighbors. Right now, only the young ones are laying. But come springtime we will have eggs galore. We have a farmer friend who stops by regularly for "his" eggs. He raises cattle, horses and mostly sheep, but no chickens.

    Love every one of your posts, Francesca. Have a great weekend.

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  5. hello Gina, thank you for joining my blog-now I found your lovely inspiring site and will love to follow yours. looking forward to go back to all your previous posts and catch up on all you have shared, kind regards
    Colette- South Africa

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  6. Hi Colette, Welcome, and all the way from South Africa! So glad you stopped by. I love your beautiful blog and look forward to becoming better acquainted.
    Gina

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  7. Hi Gina,

    Your chickens are fabulous! I have always wanted to raise chickens and of course build a beautiful chicken coop to keep them in...I have the space but am concerned that I travel too much. How many days can you leave them "on their own"?

    ~jermaine

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  8. Dear Jermaine, For many years we lived in the city and would go to our country place on weekends only. We had chickens. They were fine on their own for a week at a time, provided that we left them plenty of food and water. After that we had a neighbor look after them. The "old place" had an adobe chicken house. It kept the eggs cool, even in the Summer. We have since moved permanently to the country, built a new house and built a chicken coop in one side of the new barn. When we travel we have one of our farmer neighbors (the one who stops by for eggs every other day) take care of the chickens.
    My advice, go ahead, build a chicken coop, have chickens, and enjoy fresh eggs whenever you want them. If your neighborhood does not allow a rooster, that is all right. You will still get plenty of eggs. Personally, I love to be awakened by the rooster.
    Gina

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  9. You are so cute in your picture, as you are now.

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  10. Dear Christine and dear Steven. You know that I LOVE compliments.

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