Let's see, 9 eggs for the partial week beginning 7/1 and ending on 7/3.

As of Saturday night, one of the Reds went missing. This brings to mind one of three scenarios:

1) Swiped by one of the Philistines who pass by the house on the highway and see the chooks in the yard,

2) Eaten by a marauding mammal (or ambushed by Cleo, the barn cat, who is otherwise petrified of the chickens), or

3) Gone broody with a secret clutch of eggs.

Interestingly, while 2 is the most likely, there's some evidence to support 3. The roosters have become sexually active (which shouldn't effect whether or not the hen gets broody, but would effect egg fertility). The maximum egg count per day dropped from four to three over the last couple of weeks, making us wonder if one of the hens wasn't holding out in a secret location. I kept seeing one of the Reds getting back in the nest box after three eggs were already there. Thinking that she was about to lay, I left her alone - but a fourth egg never materialized.

So I noted when 28 days have passed on my coop calendar - 21 for fertile eggs, if any, to hatch, and another 7 for the hen to get the idea that nothing was going to happen and return. That works out to July 31. If the missing Red doesn't return by then, she'll be an official write-off.

If she is, I'm not upset. I knew going in that this was the chance I took letting the chickens range freely. I think overall they're healthier for it, so the risk is worth taking. And if it was a hungry critter, well, it's nature.

And if it was Cleo the cat, well, remind me never to turn my back on her.