From the dog bowl:
In other chicken news, last Sunday I had the coop torn apart for cleaning, all open and aired out and all dishes and nest boxes freshly scrubbed and drying in the sun.
I was eating lunch on the back porch, Tuck lying at my feet. Lilac, one of the young hens, grew very interested in my tuna and crackers. I tossed her a few crumbs and she hopped up on the porch right in front of Tuck and ate crackers out of my hand. It was a peaceable kingdom if I’d ever seen one. The rest of the day she stuck very close as I worked on the coop, even as her sister Iris ventured further away. Normally the two hens stay close together. I figured Lilac was just looking for more handout and enjoyed the attention.
But when I put fresh bedding in the coop and hung up the nesting box, Lilac jumped right in the nest box. Within two minutes she hopped out and ran to join Iris. I checked the nest box and sure enough, a beautiful still-warm egg. I am excited to have finally solved the mystery of which hen is laying which colored egg. Fittingly, Lilac’s, on the left, is the more purple of the two:
Lilac is pretty. She’s trying to live up to her name with her eggs! Our new “girls” (Barred Rock Plymouths and Rhode Island Reds) are producing daily now. The egg sizes have gone from pullet to “grade a medium”. I’ll be glad when they’re “large” and I don’t have to use 2 for 1 in a recipe!
Hi, Dianne!
Lilac is indeed gorgeous but looking a little worse for wear since King Guinea picked out her back feathers. He’s now in isolation so all the girls can recover.
Sounds like your hens are coming on line with the egg laying. I was amazed that mine started out laying large eggs from the very beginning, including a couple huge double-yolkers. But with our recent cold and diminishing daylight they are slowing down. The guineas seem to have stopped laying, and the hens are hit and miss these days. Time for a well-deserved break!