We celebrated National Poultry Day on March 19th along with the three year anniversary of my blog and Facebook page, both of which were launched as marketing tools for my custom egg carton labels business. And while my egg carton labels business is crankin’, you’ll rarely hear me promote it for two reasons. First, the label business is bigger and busier than I ever intended it to be and I can barely keep up with orders along with everything else I have cooking online and offline. And second, the labels have long since taken a back seat to sharing a passion for keeping backyard chickens happy and healthy. I did not intend for my life to take a turn from trial attorney to pet chicken resource, but I am having the time of my life with every aspect of it. I have some very exciting opportunities coming up in the near future that I never saw coming and I look forward to sharing them with you and continuing to share this chicken-keeping adventure with you for many years to come!

My Buff Orpington pullet has been spending quite a lot of time in the nest box, which suggests that she’ll want to brood chicks soon as the breed is inclined to do. I think I can accommodate her with some fertile eggs!

While spending time with my birds, Sparky alerted us all to the threat overhead. The girls all scooted quickly into the run and he moved on without incident.

Ally McBeak (Tolbunt Polish Frizzle) had been in the basement for a time to re-grow feathers on her head after having been pecked, but she’s back in the mix with a ponytail to conceal the newly emerging feathers. She hated the elastic band and had removed it by the next morning.

Several of the hens are molting, including Ally McBeak (mentioned earlier) and Irene, my Bantam Welsummer (pictured here).

With Bertha (Partridge Cochin facing camera) and the two, Dark Cornish hens (that we bought at the poultry show in January) out of quarantine, integration went swimmingly and they’re now exploring their new world freely! Bertha seems to be acting as their new, surrogate mother.