The last few days I have cracked open a couple of eggs that appear to be fertile eggs. I knew they couldn’t be fertile because we don’t have a rooster. Well, today I think I figured it out. I heard the sounds of chaos in the chicken yard and looked out the kitchen window. I saw one of our black chickens in the field behind our fence. The other chickens were freaking out. I hurried down to the chicken yard to try to get my chicken back into the yard. When I got down there I saw all four of our black chickens in the yard! Then I saw him. On the other side of the fence was a black rooster with a gold head! I ran back up to the house to get my camera. I ran back down and unlocked the gate and went into the field. As soon as he saw me, he hightailed it outta’ there. I was on his heels, trying to take his picture and wanting to know where he came from. He lost me in the deep brush so I never found out where he lives. I was able to snap this picture before he disappeared into the berry bushes.
Michael says he doubts the rooster could have been getting in and “dating” our girls but I know what I saw when I cracked those eggs! I will be keeping my eye out for the wandering Casanova. I’ll keep you posted.
Now, about poor Lucy. You remember the mustard egg I put in the nesting box, right? Well this morning Lucy was in nesting box #1 when I went down to the coop. She always uses nesting box #2. If it’s not available she’ll resort to laying a giant egg in the mud. You can read about it HERE. Anyway, there she was in nesting box #1. I looked into box #2 to check the status of the mustard egg and found it had been cracked! There was mustard-hot sauce filling everywhere. I quickly scooped the whole mess up and carried it back up to the house. I was sure Gayle had broken it and we were going to have to Craigslist her.
FOLLOW-UP: Well it turns out I was wrong about a couple of things. First of all, chickens don’t have heat taste buds so the hot sauce idea was doomed from the get-go. Secondly, that wasn’t a rooster behind the fence. It was a hen who eventually came to be named Stella and to live with us. There is much more to her story and the chicken addiction she inspired. The subject of Stella will be continued.
Cindy, the maran eggs that have been laid here have had pretty thin shells. The eggs the guy gave me have hard shells. I think it might be the stress of the move. I have been adding extra oyster shell to their feed. The marans are at the bottom of the pecking order so I’m not sure how much if it they are actually getting. We’ll see!
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Mary
HaHaHaHaHa you have it all…….even a "visiting" rooster! You guys definitely don’t lead a boring life, even when you live in the "country"!
Poor Lucy, always problems with eggs……….but I am glad it wasn’t eaten! Do you think the hot stuff thinned the shell or is that type of shell thin to begin with?