The Sullivan Six

[AinaWGSD]

Breakfast! Lady Amalthea laid this one this morning. And then proceeded to scream about it so loudly I could hear her inside at the far end of the living room. At 6am. I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Marcille has joined the layers! I think. I guess there's a chance it could be Artemis's but i really don't think it is. It is a very pale brown.

I can't seem to get a picture that shows the color accurately. When it's wet, these two eggs are the same color.

 

[Callender Girl]

Congrats to Marcille! Everyone is doing a great job, and breakfast looks delicious!

 

[AinaWGSD]

We had a broken egg last week. So this afternoon I threw together a new nest box using leftover scrap lumber from the run (the black milk crate was the old one)

It was dark by the time I was finishing up, but the girls were being very brave about the pneumatic nail gun!

 

[Callender Girl]

Hope the girls appreciate your efforts!

I have given up trying to figure out why certain nest boxes are popular or unpopular. For a while, all the girls wanted to lay in ONE of the two nest boxes in the white coop. Now, when everyone is out and about, it's a single nest box in the Urban Coop. IF they aren't released early enough in the day to suit their fancies, the girls in the Taj Ma-Coop put all of their eggs in the same kitty litter bucket nest box.

But, eggs are eggs, and they've trained me to look everywhere and accept whatever they do

 

[AinaWGSD]

They liked the milk crate just fine, but it didn't have a lip on it to keep the nesting material in. We're pretty sure the broken egg was because it was on the bare plastic with no cushioning and got stepped on. I'm just hoping they don't feel like the new nest box is too open, guess we'll see today.

 

[AinaWGSD]

The girls (at least Paprika and Marcille) have approved the new nest box!

Also, saw this giant bird of prey sitting on the neighbors' utility pole this morning. That was either the biggest female hawk I've ever seen in my life, or a juvenile eagle. Of course it was backlit by the rising sun and took off as soon as I got my camera out.

 

[Callender Girl]

I used to LOVE seeing eagles and hawks -- before I became a chicken, duck and goose keeper (although I'm pretty sure the geese would make any bird of prey rethink its lifestyle choices!!).

Congrats on making a nest box that at least some of the girls like!

 

[AinaWGSD]

I used to LOVE seeing eagles and hawks -- before I became a chicken, duck and goose keeper

Yeah, I'm glad my run is completely covered for sure. Earlier this year, when we just had the netting over the run, husband came out to see a [probably] cooper's hawk sitting on the corner of the run. And I'm pretty sure we had a pair of hawks raising chicks in one of the neighbors' yards a few years ago. Not to mention the owls.

 

[Callender Girl]

There are nesting eagles within sight of my property. They like to occasionally hang out in one of my tall evergreen trees. As soon as my geese spot them, they begin raising a ruckus.

I'm sure it's less about protecting the other birds -- who all scatter -- and more about their own displeasure over the visitors.

Although I let my poultry out when I'm home, any time I'm not here everybody is cooped, even though all of their runs are protected with hardware cloth on all sides and the top.

More disturbing for the eagles, there are plenty of crows around here that like to surround and mob birds of prey. I recently watched as crows surrounded and heckled an eagle in the field that was trying to eat a meal of freshly killed rabbit.