I thought I was having a really low-production spring this year. The girls just went on strike several times and I wasn't getting any eggs from them. But I didn't worry much because I could think of several likely potential causes of this (like changing food types).
Today I went to chop down the forest of thistle, blackberries, and fennel (from last year's garden) that I had let get out of control (you know, giving birth cuts down on one's ability to do yard work) and I found three clandestine nests...so far...containing a total of 39 eggs. So far, only the last 9 have failed the float test.
I'm not done hacking down the blackberries, so I'll expect to find more eggs tomorrow. In the meantime kids, keep your garden under control and if your hens skip a day in the spring, don't take it on face value: go on an egg hunt.
So who knows why hens do this? I haven't been able to clean the coop for a while so I could see them being legitimately unhappy with the conditions in the nesting boxes. I'm only now starting to feel strong and vibrant enough to work in the yard, what with the baby now doing 8-hour stretches of sleep at night (woo hoo!). The hilarious thing was that whenever I found a nest, the chickens would give an angry sounding hoot. They're actually the ones who tipped me off to the presence of the third nest. Once I uncovered the second one, they ran to a spot under the blackberries and I heard them rustling around so I figured there were more under there. We'll see what I find tomorrow!
Today I went to chop down the forest of thistle, blackberries, and fennel (from last year's garden) that I had let get out of control (you know, giving birth cuts down on one's ability to do yard work) and I found three clandestine nests...so far...containing a total of 39 eggs. So far, only the last 9 have failed the float test.
I'm not done hacking down the blackberries, so I'll expect to find more eggs tomorrow. In the meantime kids, keep your garden under control and if your hens skip a day in the spring, don't take it on face value: go on an egg hunt.
So who knows why hens do this? I haven't been able to clean the coop for a while so I could see them being legitimately unhappy with the conditions in the nesting boxes. I'm only now starting to feel strong and vibrant enough to work in the yard, what with the baby now doing 8-hour stretches of sleep at night (woo hoo!). The hilarious thing was that whenever I found a nest, the chickens would give an angry sounding hoot. They're actually the ones who tipped me off to the presence of the third nest. Once I uncovered the second one, they ran to a spot under the blackberries and I heard them rustling around so I figured there were more under there. We'll see what I find tomorrow!
