• My daughter, who is taking French, christened one of the Wyandotte chicks "Jean-Bob" (the two Ross chicks were originally named Bob and Bob until I tired of saying "Bob the hen"). The one she named has a more distinctive look, with a mostly-black head without the silver-white streaking. It also turns out that Jean-Bob is one of the outspoken chicks in the batch, and loves to boss the others around and stand on top of the feeder and screech at my wife.

• Last night I replaced the floor nest box - which has been frequently trampled by goats and knocked over by the Reds - with a large plastic buckets. How it goes over remains to be seen (folks in the Backyard Chickens Forum say their chooks love them - and they love the easy cleanup). I broke down and bought it at Tractor Supply since I hadn't had any luck finding free ones and one of the Reds might be starting to lay. However, this morning I scored a former pickle bucket with a lid at the Steak and Shake near my day job. Will probably use that one for Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds or my wife's birdseed.