All the Buff Orpington chickens have started to lay. They are beautiful girls, and lay (so far) small, gorgeous, brown-tending-to-lavender eggs. It is difficult to tell the hens apart, but some personality is showing through.
Yesterday I found one of them outside the chicken yard. Undoubtedly flew over the fence. She let me catch her, and I put her back with her friends. This morning when I let the hens out of the coop, her ladyship was outside the yard again: she had spent the night quite comfortably behind the hen house on a plant cage.
We had business in Tucson today, so I hoped she would stay in and not become coyote bait or come to other harm while we were gone. When Dan went to clean stalls, my blond friend came strutting out of the horse barn, after proudly depositing her egg on one of the hay bales!
With a short trip out of state in the next couple of days, we had to do something to keep madam in her yard, and not be a constant worry for our ranch caretakers and us. So I caught her, and Dan clipped the tips of the flight feathers of one of her wings. This will affect her balance, and she will not be able to fly out. So the book says. As she continues to grow she will gain weight that will prevent her from flying the coop naturally. Life among the chickens!
1 comment:
Some folks just have an insatiable curiosity!
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