Pop Quiz Answers

The post you've all been waiting for!

1) Rhode Island Red: the classic "little red hen" will lay about 250 eggs per year.

2) White Plymouth Rock: A cold hardy bird that will produce 200 eggs/year. We have four.

3) Buff Brahma: Primarily a meat bird, they lay about 150 eggs/year. We have three hens.

4) Blue Andalusian: The Medieval spanish chickens can lay 170 eggs/year. We have four.

Let's see, that works out to be 2,150 eggs per year, or about half a dozen eggs a day. More in the summer, and fewer in the winter (we have an unlighted, unheated coop.) Hmm...looks like we'll need to make more pound cake and egg nog!

Family Pictures

Gathering Eggs

One of Daniel's favorite tasks is gathering the eggs. Stretch! Look! An egg! And he proudly brings the basket back to the house.

Pop Quiz!

As school is getting back in session, I thought I'd put together a little "pop quiz" to test your knowledge of Gallus gallus, the domestic chicken. I've finally--after six months-- identified all of the breeds we have in our backyard flock. They're arranged in order of difficulty. Got your breed book handy?


1) This well-known classic is an American original. We have only one.
Hint 1) Note the dark red color, rectagular body, and small single comb.
Hint 2) Named after the state in New England where they were developed

2) A little more difficult, this is another American bird. We have four in our flock.

Hint 1) It's not a White Leghorn. Note the bird's short tail and horizontal back. (Also note it's large, meaty size. It's used as parent stock for commercial broiler chicks.)

Hint 2) Grandma's dad used to raise this variety in Wilford.
Hint 3) The best-known color of this breed is "barred"

3) Originally from India, this breed is part of the Asiatic class. It's considered a "rare variety" We have three of these hens and one rooster.

Hint 1) Note the feathered legs, darker head, and large overall size of the bird.

Hint 2) The breed shares its name with ill-tempered, humpbacked cattle from the same region. The breed is popular as roughstock at rodeos. (Umm... the bulls, not the chicken).

4) This is the hardest one. This smallish bird is "Mediterranean class," and is very athletic. The gray color is called "blue," and despite the two-toned feathers, it's not a Barred, Silver-laced, or spangled anything. It's considered a rare breed. (I got them by requesting "any laying variety" from the hatchery.)

Hint 1) Note the white ears, long upright tail, large single comb, and gray legs and beak. It also has darker feathers around the head.

Hint 2) Named for a province in Spain.

Trivia) Gregor Mendel used the breed to establish the first rules of genetics with dominant and recessive genes. There are three varieties (black, white, and blue). The blue is obtained by crossing the black variety with the white, with the resulting chicks being a ratio of one black, one white, and two blue. Crossing two blues will result in the same combination.

5)Extra Credit: Our rooster, who luckily doesn't crow too loudly, needs a name. (Any answer is right on this one!)

I'll post the correct answers next week.

Story Time

Bedtime stories are a well-established tradition here, as they are in every household. All of our kids love "reading" their favorite books throughout the day. Daniel's favorite stories are always about animals. A few of his favorites are The Poky Little Puppy, Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings, and (below) The Very Busy Spider. Ben, on the other hand, gets more excited about cars, airplanes, and heavy machinery. He loves Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, My Truck is Stuck, The Happy Man and His Dump Truck, and the Fireman Book. Last week, though, when Grandpa visited, he got hooked on Book of Mormon stories, with Ammon fighting off theives, Alma meeting Amulek, and other stories from that part of the book.

Happy Birthday Daniel!

We celebrated Daniel's birthday on Sunday. He loved all the attention, and presents, and cake.

Daniel in the "Birthday Chair"

Riding Bikes

Ben’s on two wheels! Clark took his training wheels off this afternoon, and look at him go. The quote of the day was, “Let’s go cruise some more, Grandpa”.


Daniel, not to be left out of the fun, jumped on Ben's big wheel and pushed himself along the sidewalk.