Posts Tagged nest boxes

It’s early February and the hens are laying nearly every day. Green egg is  from an Ameraucana, large tan egg is from a Barred Rock, and medium egg is from a Buff Orpington.

Every afternoon I look forward to seeing what the three hens have laid for us. It is early February and they have finished their molting (moulting).They look clean and fresh and their personalities have changed from cranky to sweet.

Our weather has been warm this winter with sunny days in the 70’s. My apologies to those of you in the country that are still experiencing blizzards. In case you haven’t heard, we’re entering the worst drought in California’s history. If it doesn’t rain soon, we’ll surely have water rationing.

We usually don’t let the hens out to scratch for bugs and destroy the dirt garden paths until late afternoon. This way we can be certain they lay in their nest boxes, instead of in hidden nests among the shrubs. They are now each laying about 5 eggs a week. Thank you, Zelda, Roxanne, and Marigold for these beautiful eggs.

Our youngest granddaughter visited with the hens for the first time this weekend. At 20 months, she’d had no previous experience with chickens and showed no fear. She fed them, walked among them, examined the feeder and waterer, collected the eggs from the egg boxes (only breaking one), and in general, seemed to accept the hens as just another curiosity in a world of curiosities.

Hens and children are curious creatures.

Most of our little granddaughters have met the hens at some time in their lives. None have feared them, but some are more comfortable with them than others. The hens have their own unique reactions to these miniature humans. As we know, children move more quickly than adults. The hens are on their toes when children are near, ready to leap out of reach of the toddlers at any unexpected movement.

The hens circle around the tiny humans, sure that a bit of corn or lettuce will eventually be offered. Some of the hens are shyer with newcomers, than others. Daisy and Rosie will allow themselves to be offered to the youngsters for petting. We can easily pick up these two and let them be petted. They appear to relax as they are stroked, waiting patiently for the ordeal to be over.

We often describe Sweetpea as “Auntie Sweetpea”. She worries aloud about these strangers who’ve invaded her space. Tulip is standoffish, and the two Wyandottes are sly creatures, giving the little humans wide birth.

We built the nest boxes so that we can collect the eggs from outside of the henhouse by lifting the hinged lid and reaching down into the nests. Although this little child is too young to grasp the concept that hens lay eggs, she still expressed delight in finding a hidden egg waiting for her. Who doesn’t?

If you would like to visit with the hens see our home page.