Friday was the first day that I found 6 eggs when I went to collect them. This means that all the girls are laying and I will have to get busy trying to find some buyers!
I don’t know for sure which egg belongs to which pullet, but I have some guesses. I AM pretty sure that the light colored one on the bottom left is from Rachel the speckled Sussex, because they were the first to appear and the breed is known for producing cream-colored eggs. Because there are three (in the middle and on the bottom right) that look roughly the same, I am assuming that they are from the three Orpingtons. I have no idea about the last two, but I fervently hope for little Belle’s sake that the giant double-yolked egg is from Zen the Giant hen. But there are no guarantees.
Early this spring, Steve constructed some 2 x 4 frames upon which we piled pine boughs (stripped from the trees by the ice storm last winter) thinking they would provide some cover and protection from hawks. I don’t know if they’re working, but the chickens love to hang out under them and I have not seen any hawks around. Friday evening I saw a small bird fly out from one of them when I went to put up the chickens for the night, and found a cardinal nest with 3 eggs!
This is pretty interesting, but I’m not sure how it will work out for the cardinals. They’ll be mostly safe from mammalian predators inside the electric fence, but once the young fledge the chickens themselves may kill them. I’ll try to watch and keep the chickens inside for a few days when the time gets near. Of course the eggs have to hatch first and the female cardinal bolts off the nest every time I enter the run, so the incubation may not go well anyway. But I’m hoping for the best for the cardinal family!
That is so cool to find a Cardinal nest. I hope they make it. Gosh I haven't seen with my own eye, a Cardinal for 35 years, that's just wrong. I truly miss all of the beautiful birds from there. If you head east a little ways from here, you can see Bald Eagles a plenty and that is a sight I never tire of. Mostly what I see around here are robins and sparrows. Unfortunately Buddy (cat) really likes this time of year if you know what I mean. :-(
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the cat because I'll bet you have some cool Western birds that I've never seen. If you find yourself catless someday (or he decides to move back inside), put up a feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and I bet you'd be surprised at what shows up! Ohio is suddenly overrun with eagles as well. We've had a nesting pair near work for about 15 years so we see them often.
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