Aha!
No wonder we weren't getting any eggs.
We had an idea that this was happening. We kept hearing that chicken-laying clucking noise far from the coop. That cliché you always hear about hen talk? Buck-buck-buck-buckAH! That's how it really sounds. I keep thinking that it's the poultry equivalent of "Ow! Ow! Ow! This really hurts!" But I'm probably just imagining things.
I'd tried to investigate earlier, but that thicket has a poison-ivy carpet and is packed with those mid-level leafy shrubs that ticks love. I had on shorts and no hat, and I'm a little wimpy about that kind of thing, so I didn't get far. Hubby found it later, underneath a brush pile, a lot closer to the edge of the field than I'd thought.
Hubby removed these eggs, and put fresh straw in the coop's laying areas. Success! The Easter Egger found it suitable and laid an egg there yesterday. Since she was the instigator of this little revolt, I'm hoping the Marans will follow suit.
How Exciting! Congrats on the eggs! That was so cute....how you wrote out the sound the chiken makes....I can hear it exactly that way! FUNNY!
ReplyDeleteAre we sittin' on these or eatin' em?
ReplyDeletePretty funny that they would all use the same nest.
Who knew chickens were so selfish with their eggs?? lol Can't you hear them? "I ain't sharing my eggs! Let's go hide!" :)
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a cache of eggs. I wondered the same thing as FC-- all in the same nest? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteKerri, I was surprised the first time I heard them doing that!
ReplyDeleteFC, well considering that there's no rooster, there's not much point to sitting on them. ;) Oh they loooove using the same nest. And once they see lots of eggs in a nest it's impossible to make them lay anywhere else. So we threw all those away... because they were probably a mite old.
Katie, well it's our fault for letting the coop become unworthy I suppose. Or maybe the snake scared them.
Robin, I think that the Easter Egger has been laying on walkabout longer than this nest would indicate. There was probably another one that animals discovered (and ate all the eggs). We had been getting only brown eggs (from the Marans chicken) for some time.
Cool! I love the little laying song the hens make, although I never get to hear it any more, since Monique seems to have taken early retirement from egg-laying. I like what you've done to the banner, too- those eggs are soooo pretty.
ReplyDeleteGreat story. I'm glad you found the nest.
ReplyDeleteThanks Grace, I'm still playing with the header. Let me know if you think it gets too busy!
ReplyDeleteNCMW, yeah "retired" chickens are fine, but hens who hide their eggs away are not playing fair. :)
Long time ago when I let my hens free range it was always exciting to find the BIG nest :)
ReplyDeletesparrows are noisy too. in the philippines we call them maya birds. very unromantic lovemaking. courtship is better, they go from branch to branch. then suddenly one of them zooms straight into the other and they are both knocked off the fence onto the empty field behind. and oh, the noise....no eggs, though. at least, i didn't find any....
ReplyDeleteyou might be interested in my chicken story : The Wooden Eggr
ReplyDeleteWho'd have thought the hens would get "snooty" about your accomodations?! Perhaps if you hired a concierge...
ReplyDeleteWe went from gathering five eggs a day to gathering only one a day. At first we blamed the snakes (which were definitely responsible for at least a few missing eggs), and then we noticed the hens spending much more time in the pasture than usual. We found a stash of eggs underneath the lawn tractor, and another in some brush beside the shed. Then we found one of the hens with ten baby chicks tucked up underneath her dress (we had a rooster for a while; his name was Eddie). They're all still with us. Want some?
ReplyDeleteKF, it's a wonder to me that no wild animals find the nests and eat the eggs.
ReplyDeleteEuthymic, that's interesting.
Pamela, thanks, I will check it out.
Jen, they can be barrel-o-monkeys fun :)
Lisa, now that's an idea... :)
Megpeapie, are you local? :) Really, two chickens are plenty for us, but I really did enjoy giving away all the extra eggs we used to get...
Aaaargh. Since I last commented, we have gone from gathering six eggs a day to gathering one egg a day -- if we're lucky! Any advice on getting unruly, free range hens to lay in their cubbies? We've tried fresh hay and fake eggs...
ReplyDelete