Feathered Friend Friday

I thought it would be fun to start a new series called "Feathered Friend Friday." The plan is that every Friday I will write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about chickens. I'm a bit obsessed with my girls, so this is a good way to share my love of all things chicken!

My good friend Heather introduced me to PicMonkey since our beloved online photo editor, Picnik, closed down earlier this month. PicMonkey is very user-friendly and there are so many cool features! Much easier to use than Picnik, in my opinion. I decided to play around with my facebook profile picture.

This is my Delaware hen named Jobin ("joe-bin" not "job-in"). Never heard that name before? Then I'm guessing you've never seen the movie I Love You, Man. We watched it while we were in the middle of trying to name our first flock of eight baby chicks. In the movie, the main character is newly engaged and realizes he has no close guy friends to be in his wedding. His solution is to go on "man dates" to find a best man. Hilarity ensues. He's trying to act cool by throwing out random nicknames for one of his suitors, and one of the names he blurts out is Jobin. For some reason, that cracked David and me up, so we thought it would make a good name for one of our chicks! And it ended up being one of my all-time favorite movies, so the name stuck!

Of course, as with all my animals, I hardly ever call her by her actual name. Most of the time it's Jobs for short, or Jobina when I want to make it sound more feminine :)

Jobin lays the prettiest pinkish eggs. She will be three in August, and she still lays really well, usually about 5-6 eggs per week. I've read in the past that a hen's egg production declines sharply after she reaches 18 months of age (hens raised commercially for their eggs are typically slaughtered around that age and sold for their meat because farmers don't think they are worth keeping around for egg production). However, I have not found this to be the case as all my hens are still laying well, usually 4-5 eggs per week. It could be the fact that I allow them to take a break from laying while molting in the winter, whereas commercial farms use artificial light and other methods to keep their hens laying year round (check out this article about the "last battery hen" in the UK being sent to an animal rescue organization. So great!).

Jobin has such a fun, laid-back personality (yes, chickens do have individual personalities!) and is a great member of our flock. Our rooster, Cam, has taken quite a liking to her, and they often sleep cuddled up next to each other on their roost. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen!

~Tammy