Haven’t had much egg activity lately. Not sure why, as the Golden Comet girls are usually reliable. Last night I went out to close up the coop and found Bossy outside the coop, but inside the extra run (we call it the playpen) and she was sitting on an egg! I was surprised bc I didn’t think GC’s went broody much.
But this morning, I went down to check for eggs after letting the girls out earlier and found Flossy in the nestbox. I saw Bossy leaving the coop so I thought maybe she’d laid an egg and I wasn’t expecting to see Flossy in there. I guess I disturbed her because she stepped out of the box into the roost and dropped an egg before my very eyes! Unfortunately, it hit hard enough to crack, so I took it in and cooked it in the microwave to give back to them.
* Bossy was missing when I tossed out the cooked egg from Flossy, but a few minutes later she came running from underneath a stand of Crepe Myrtles (different from the one they used to lay eggs in, if you remember that). I was immediately suspicious she’d laid an egg because she’s usually the first in line for treats of any kind. Sure enough, I found an egg. Seems to have a spot where the shell is thin and it kind of bulges where the thin spot is. Not sure if you can see it in the pic.
Had the grandson visit today - he's almost 3 and he collected the eggs in a basket and fed the hens scratch -- they were surprised at a small human but all of them are darling ladies and were way more interested in the scratch he was throwing at them than him. All was well and was a lovely morning!
5 eggs today -- I FOUND ONE BY THE LAWNMOWER hahaha Which made me think a couple things; (1) I've seen a skunk AND fox on our cameras at night roaming around the house and barn -- and they are stupid as hell because that egg sat out all night and they didn't get it. (2) it makes me wonder if the fox is hunting the skunk. Both of them don't go near the hen house.
I think it was Toffee -- she is a regular escapee but I think she was trying to make it back to the hen house and she just didn't get there in time. She laid it by where I keep the straw for the nests.
This did make me wonder if maybe I shouldn't keep the straw somewhere out of their reach, perhaps they are confused by the straw on the ground. Anyway, it was a surprise to find it -- I had gone to get some fresh straw to freshen up a nest box that had a poop in it.