6 months, 11 days
4 hens
3 bags of layer feed
1 state-of-the art, handcrafted chicken coop
0 eggs
They say good things come to those who wait. I've been waiting for eggs since March, raising our day-old chicks through the cute peep phase and then the hideousness of chicken puberty, letting them roost in the sunroom and spread their dust and feathers everywhere until the coop was finished and it was warm enough for them to move outside, and then dutifully saving kitchen scraps for them all summer. We culled out the roosters and now we are left with two Americuana hens and two Delaware hens. And never have I seen animals do less to earn their keep. The ROI on this chicken enterprise has, to date, been pitiful.
They have food, water, and fresh air. During daylight hours, they can leave the coop and wander into the chicken run at will. They are not too cold or too hot. They are not overcrowded. And yes, they are all hens.
At the end of the day, all I am left with is patience. In the urban world, things happen on a schedule, and time is money. With growing things, whether they are plants or animals, that schedule is turned on its head.
So yes, patience.
I'll close with a dedication the flock, with the words of Guns n' Roses:
"Take your time, 'cause the lights are shining bright...never break it, 'cause I can't take it..."
