I probably should have titled this post “The Case of the Peculiar Egg Placement“, but then, that would sound like a Nancy Drew mystery, and that would have dated myself for sure! This has been a season of busy, and I’ve got so many topics I want to write about and little time to do the big topics justice. So, in the form of constructive procrastination, I’ve got to share a little farm hilarity.
A bit of backstory: After a summer of drought, Mother Nature has seen fit to gift us with the wettest October on record. At last count, our area has gone from drought to 8 inches over the yearly average in a short 31 days. This has created all sorts of excess water issues on the farm. (Wherever there’s water and animals, there will be copious amounts of mud). Case and point: Last week, our internet guy came to fix our unstable internet situation. Turns out, even a colony of fire ants had moved to higher ground (our roof), and had moved their entire nest (dirt and all) to the radio receiver box.
Because of all the rain, we have mucked our little hearts out daily. Last week, I noticed an interesting thing in all my mucking of stalls and turnouts. Eggs kept appearing in a very peculiar location….right out in the middle of the turnout… in front of God and everybody. Now, chickens tend to like a little privacy when they lay, so the location is odd indeed. When something out of the ordinary occurs, curiosity drives me to figure it out… and this little mystery was bugging the heck out of me! These eggs…. I gave them 3 options:
- A dog moved them out there (maybe… but why didn’t they also eat them?)
- A young hen, not knowing any better just laid them in a very weird spot (Possible, but not likely.).
- They are super old and eroded out into view from under the dirt. (I’m not touching them if that’s the case! Old eggs can be like legit grenades. One wrong jiggle, and they explode. Been there. Done that. It’s not pretty. )
To add to the mystery, each day, there was an additional new egg…. so bizarre! Yesterday, while we were outside doing chores, I happened to be in just the right location at just the right angle to look up and solve the mystery. Drishti! (That’s this particular hen’s name). She has found, perhaps, one of the most dangerous places to nest. Even worse…. it appears she is broody, and intent on sitting on her eggs til they hatch… well, the eggs that haven’t yet rolled off the roof! We’re gonna have to figure out how to move her and the remaining eggs to a safer location. I have never had a chicken who wanted to lay eggs in such an elevated place. Typically, they are ground layers.
Ants on the roof….. eggs in the gutters. You know it’s been a rainy season when everyone, and everything is moving to higher ground!
