Backyard chickens bring joy, challenges

I guess the lesson that comes with raising backyard chickens is the same as the first thing you learn with kids: Never say never. When my two backyard hens (pets) stopped laying in early September, I figured that since they are both around three years old, that was that. They were done. After all, most chickens are only good layers for two to four years. When I posted comments about it on facebook and twitter, several friends suggested it might have something to do with the short days of the season. But they’d stopped laying while there was still plenty of light each day so I just assumed they’d finished. I put the heat lamp in their henhouse, to provide both heat and light, but didn’t turn it on until mid November when the weather was its coldest. Then, while traveling in Germany the first two weeks in December, I got an email from the house sitters that they’d found a surprise in the nesting box one morning. A tiny egg. Just like the girls had laid when they’d first started laying. The next day a normal-sized egg was there. When I got home there were a handful of eggs in the basket on the counter. And every morning since then another brown egg has been waiting for me. Merlin, the Buff Orpington, has stuck to her retirement, but Little Blackie, my Black Star hen, has hit her second youth. And once again my family is enjoying delicious organic eggs. Poking around on Backyardchickens.com, I discovered there are a lot of reasons hens will stop laying: inconsistent feeding, over feeding or a widely varied feeding schedule will stop egg production. And sometimes, they just stop for no particular reason. With only three of us at home, an egg a day is plenty. And just looking at the basket of beautiful brown always eggs gives me pleasure. Maybe Little Blackie is an overachiever and she’ll decide again she’s ready to try retirement. Until then, I’ll take whatever she decides to give.