Having a hen and her fresh eggs...

We have one Hen and her name is Patty. She is a spicy Rhode Island Red that I love dearly. I have found chickens to be the quirkiest animals and I love quirky. Her sounds, personality and the way she moves her head cracks me up. We've had her since she was a wee chick and now she is almost 3 years old... i think.

Patty started laying eggs when she was around 4-6 months old and she lays about 6 eggs a week. Every now and then she out does herself and I'll get two a day for a few days in a row. Hen's usually lay eggs into their teens. Isn't that amazing!? That is a fine amount for our small family, but if I ever felt we needed more, we can get more chicks! 

It is so exciting to go in her coop and grab her egg each day. It never gets old. It's good to keep clean straw or shavings in the laying box to help keep the eggs clean. Egg shells naturally have a coating on them that you don't want to wash off until you are going to use them ( if you buy them in the store, this coating is already washed off and is why they need to be refrigerated and go bad quicker). We keep them on our counter in our kitchen for weeks! I have read the general rule is under 3 weeks on the counter. Something super cool about eggs is that you can easily check them to know if they are too old. Here is how:

I can't tell a huge taste difference from store bought eggs but others swear they do and could never go back. They do look different to me...the yoke is very vibrant and plump. They are quite pretty actually. 

I am very blessed to have a handy hubby. He designed and built this coop from scratch for us. Its adorable and just the right size for our backyard. There is room to have a few more hens in there if we ever desire. There is a full size door opening on the right side to be able to go in and out and there is a small door on the left side we can open to gather eggs. If you don't have a handyman around and on a budget, I would suggest finding one on Craigslist. 

Me and the girls have enjoyed Patty so much, ever since she was a chick, that it is not uncommon that she ends up in our house. I clean her feet and put on her..........leopard print chicken diaper. Yup. You read that right. She can be in the house for a couple hours if her diaper is on. She is hilarious to have about.... she likes to follow the girls, peck at any crumb on the floor, hop in baskets, lay on the bed and other quirky things. She cracks me up. 

I would say her only downfall is that every now and then she is loud. It's random and I'm not sure why she does it. You are not allowed to have roosters in our city because of sounds so I thoughts hens weren't loud at all except for a few squawks when laying their egg. Its not every day and its over pretty quickly. The only time I really mind it is when its earlier in the morning to where I think it could bother my neighbors. I'm also not sure if this is a Patty thing or a hen thing in general. She's not perfect...but pretty darn close :)

Taking care of her is not a lot of work. We just need to make sure she has water, fill up her food dish with "laying mash", collect her eggs and clean out her coop every now and then. 

Between her being hilarious, low maintenance and giving us fresh eggs... I think Patty is the bestest. 

Kristin