We have a mystery at our place.
We have two flocks of chickens. One includes three banty hens. We have had very few eggs from the three all fall and winter and don't know who has or has not been laying. The laying has picked up a lot in the last week or so with increasing day length. We're now getting a banty egg about every day.
This morning I cracked open a banty egg and saw a distinct bullseye. I looked again and again and compared it to other eggs. It sure looked fertile to me.
But here's our mystery: The little banty roo that used to run with these girls has been gone since October. That's almost five months ago. There is a large rooster in the next pen, but it's next to impossible for him and a banty hen to have gotten together. Even if they were in the same pen, I'm not sure the 15# roo could make the right connection with the little teeny hen. I've been diligent to keep the banties separated from him because he is so huge.
Is it possible that the little banty roo fertilized an egg back in October and the egg didn't develop till February? Or do we have some very clever shenanigans going on here?
We have two flocks of chickens. One includes three banty hens. We have had very few eggs from the three all fall and winter and don't know who has or has not been laying. The laying has picked up a lot in the last week or so with increasing day length. We're now getting a banty egg about every day.
This morning I cracked open a banty egg and saw a distinct bullseye. I looked again and again and compared it to other eggs. It sure looked fertile to me.
But here's our mystery: The little banty roo that used to run with these girls has been gone since October. That's almost five months ago. There is a large rooster in the next pen, but it's next to impossible for him and a banty hen to have gotten together. Even if they were in the same pen, I'm not sure the 15# roo could make the right connection with the little teeny hen. I've been diligent to keep the banties separated from him because he is so huge.
Is it possible that the little banty roo fertilized an egg back in October and the egg didn't develop till February? Or do we have some very clever shenanigans going on here?