First Eggs from New Hens
Back on March 19 of this year I ordered chicks from a hatchery. They
arrived and those that survived grew. Almost exactly five months
later, the hens are beginning to lay. I got my first small eggs this
week, and the rooster that was masquerading as a hen is proudly ordering
his flock around.
There is still one old broody Buff Wyandotte that I plan on setting
some eggs under once they get to a size where I think there might
be a chance they could be fertile. Hopefully I'll manage to get some
additional chicks this year yet, so my flock will be re-established
from the dog attacks.
It's always fun when the new hens start to lay, the eggs usually
start out very small, sometimes without perfectly formed yolks. After
a few weeks, the eggs get to be larger, and usually there are a several
that end up being huge with double yolks. All are edible.
This week the flock will move to their still incomplete chicken yard.
Work has been the delay, I got booked on two pilots in a row, one
about Mick Foley the wrestler and another for CBS starring Craig Ferguson.
Both funny, both reality, both would not require writers (there is
a Writers Guild of America strike looming).
It used to be network pilot season was in January or February, the
networks would choose which shows they wanted to air from the pilots,
then production would begin in spring and be concluded by late fall
or early winter. As cable networks have become more powerful and the
'big five' networks have to compete, pilot season seems to have moved
later and later. The shows we are doing pilots for now would be backups
to the announced fall schedule for a network, easy to create and finish
in a short time so there would be a show available to put into a time
slot where an original show was not working.
But the frenzy of producing a perfect show on no money means long
hours for us worker bees who have to create the actual programs. But
this week I have a couple of days off to finish the hen yard, so maybe
I can move my flock to their new luxury accommodations.
Cheers for chickens!