To everyone in Hawaii and in Japan: thank you for your support! And a big thank-you to the fellow chicken channel that introduced mine. Thanks to all of you, we’ve passed 100 subscribers. Because of the time difference, my replies to comments can be slow sometimes, so please bear with me. I’ll keep doing my best!
Egg sizes in America
Eggs sold in the US come in S, M, L, XL and Jumbo, sorted by weight. I’ve forgotten the other numbers, but I believe Jumbo is 72 g and up. Prices differ by size. But I believe all my hens work equally hard to lay, so all our eggs are the same price.
In America, very few eggs are rejected as off-standard, so even quite small eggs reach the market as Small. Most supermarkets carry M, L, XL and Jumbo, and Jumbo is fairly rare. Small you almost never see.
Planting mugwort
A friend gave us mugwort (yomogi) for the chickens. It’s very healthy for them — vitamins, of course, but it also helps get rid of worms. I already crush mugwort sold as tea and put it in capsules as a homemade dewormer, but I think fresh leaves are better. Apparently mugwort grows everywhere in Japan, but here in Hawaii it’s extremely rare. I once grew it from store-bought seed, which was hard work and didn’t do well, so this time I got a clump from a friend’s garden. I split it into two plants. I hope it spreads like a weed!
Calcium boost
Eggshells are basically lumps of calcium, so washed, dried and crumbled, they make a great calcium source. Supposedly the chickens who need calcium eat it on their own, but mine treat it as a snack, so I’m not sure the right ones are getting it. There was a long line! The little ones weren’t very interested. Last, the quail got some too — calcium helps them lay eggs with hard shells. There was already an egg in the back of their pen.
Meet Flare
Flare is a tiny, tiny chicken, and her name comes from the French word for flower. She and Opal, whom I introduced before, are mixed-breed birds: the breeder accidentally mixed up breeds, and they weren’t wanted. (Mikan was complaining about the filming in the background.) Her feet are tiny too, but she’s great at digging for bugs. When she finds a worm, she shouts “mine!” and runs around digging for worms with her sister, Toast.
Thank you all, for watching and for getting us to 100. See you in the next episode!