When I found a small (1.25" x 1") dark olive green with brown freckling egg in the nesting box with our regular Ameraucana/EE eggs yesterday, I said, "Uh oh...someone's having egg issues!", and put a close eye to all six hens. All seemed fine, yesterday, as well as today.
Well, when I found another one today, my first thought was, "Which wild bird is using our nesting box?!"
Our small flock are enclosed on a large area of lawn by electronet fencing. Crows, Blue Jays, Cardinals and a plethora of sparrows share their food and water (I do worry about pathogen spread, but there's not much I can do about it. Knock on wood...) We've learned to appreciate the Crows and Blue Jays, because they warn of Hawks, and will mob them and chase them away. I've learned a lot listening to the crows on our property, and so have our hens.
Has anyone ever experienced a wild bird using their hen's nesting box? Our coop actually has two big boxes, but the girls always lay all in one, or the other. This odd egg was mixed in with the chicken eggs!!
I Googled images of Crow and Blue Jay eggs, and it could be either. I've never seen a Cow Bird on our property, and those eggs looked too small and weren't the right color.
A mystery avian sisterhood uncovered!
btw...cracked the one yesterday into the compost bucket. No familiar yolk, but two globs of "tissue" instead. Definitely an odd egg...
Well, when I found another one today, my first thought was, "Which wild bird is using our nesting box?!"
Our small flock are enclosed on a large area of lawn by electronet fencing. Crows, Blue Jays, Cardinals and a plethora of sparrows share their food and water (I do worry about pathogen spread, but there's not much I can do about it. Knock on wood...) We've learned to appreciate the Crows and Blue Jays, because they warn of Hawks, and will mob them and chase them away. I've learned a lot listening to the crows on our property, and so have our hens.
Has anyone ever experienced a wild bird using their hen's nesting box? Our coop actually has two big boxes, but the girls always lay all in one, or the other. This odd egg was mixed in with the chicken eggs!!
I Googled images of Crow and Blue Jay eggs, and it could be either. I've never seen a Cow Bird on our property, and those eggs looked too small and weren't the right color.
A mystery avian sisterhood uncovered!
btw...cracked the one yesterday into the compost bucket. No familiar yolk, but two globs of "tissue" instead. Definitely an odd egg...
