So I took today off to study for a test. And I figure it's nice outside, so I'll let the peeps free range while I study at a table I've set up outside. While studying I hear one of the girls start cackling, and the other chickens join in. Hmm. Sounds like the sound chickens make when they lay an egg. So I stroll over to the coop and peek inside. Everyone just looks at me like "What? We're not doing nothing." So I go back to my studying. Thirty minutes later another chicken starts cackling and everyone joins in. These are my first chickens, but I'm convinced that must be an egg song. So I return to the coop and do more investigating. Down in the corner of the coop under the droppings pans I see a hole wallowed out in the shavings and I spot little brown eggs in the indention. I rush out of the coop to retrieve my camera, while simultaneously posting to facebook that I've got an egg sighting. Grab the camera, race back to the coop, snap a picture, then crawl back under the roosting pan to retrieve 6 precious eggs.
I'm exceedingly impressed because my girls won't be 5 months old until December 7th, and because of the shorter days I really wasn't expecting them to start laying until they were closer to 6 months old. So I didn't even have the nest boxes ready for them thus the eggs in the corner of the coop. So I fill the nest boxes with shavings, stuck in some golf balls, and put the roosts down for the girls to access them. Meanwhile one of my Delawares, Weezy, was just giving me for what, fretting and pacing all over the coop - occasionally stopping to scratch a hole. So I'm thinking she must be ready to lay an egg too. So I grab her, put her on the roosts outside the nest boxes, and she quickly picks out a nest box and gets comfy. Twenty minutes later she's singing the egg song, and I have my 7th egg.
Can you guess which one's Weezy's??
So I've got 7 eggs from my 14 confirmed pulletts who are less than 5 month old girls. Am I a proud mama?? You betcha!!
I'm exceedingly impressed because my girls won't be 5 months old until December 7th, and because of the shorter days I really wasn't expecting them to start laying until they were closer to 6 months old. So I didn't even have the nest boxes ready for them thus the eggs in the corner of the coop. So I fill the nest boxes with shavings, stuck in some golf balls, and put the roosts down for the girls to access them. Meanwhile one of my Delawares, Weezy, was just giving me for what, fretting and pacing all over the coop - occasionally stopping to scratch a hole. So I'm thinking she must be ready to lay an egg too. So I grab her, put her on the roosts outside the nest boxes, and she quickly picks out a nest box and gets comfy. Twenty minutes later she's singing the egg song, and I have my 7th egg.
Can you guess which one's Weezy's??
So I've got 7 eggs from my 14 confirmed pulletts who are less than 5 month old girls. Am I a proud mama?? You betcha!!
