Fresh Eggs

I've just rushed into the garden to see what all the noise was about as there was a serious clucking going on. Two fresh eggs were in the nesting box, and they were still warm from having just been laid, so that must have been the reason for all the fuss. So it wasn't a fox or a large cat!

Egg production, after plummeting to two eggs a week, now seems to have reached two a day, which means that two of the hens are laying and two aren't. Hopefully this is a sign of further improvements to come, and with warmer weather and the two birds that moulted having both regrown their feathers, I'm now in the happy position of having slightly more eggs being produced than I can consume myself. This is despite making three lots of banana bread in the past few days to use up some bananas that were turning black in the kitchen and the shop bought eggs that were approaching a month old. I may be about to give my ex wife six fresh eggs as a thank you for feeding the chickens six weeks ago.

Actually, I don't know why I thought a cat might be the source of all the clucking in the garden. I didn't let my own cat into the garden when I first got the hens as I was concerned that she might chase them, and her antics when the patio doors were between her and them was that she would pounce on them at the first opportunity as she twice threw herself at the glass as though she was hunting them. But two weeks ago I decided to let her into the garden while I was there and so that I could rescue them if she was minded to attack them and she cowered on the ground and cried to go back indoors. The chickens, meanwhile, were resolutely unbothered.

The only casualty so far have been my lawn, which is now a brown and barren strip of land, and my plant pots, which have been overturned by the feathered vandals and their contents tipped all over the patio. I'm potting up some seedlings today and so it looks as though the plant pots are all going to be transferring to my front garden, away from the vandals but within easy reach of any passing thieves. I think I'll take my chances with the robbers - I know the vandals will be back if they're given the chance.