The last week brought 40 eggs - nothing to complain about since the days are getting shorter and cooler, and my light in the coop is still without power.

As a result, I postponed the Rosses trip to the butcher since they're not of proper size yet. I went ahead and took the heat lamp out of their part of the coop - by the time the power gets restored, there won't be much point in having it on them. They've already used enough food energy to stay warm that they're behind in growing, which means I'm going to have to buy another bag of food for them. Might as well keep them around to finish it.

The Rosses also had a visitor for a few days. The White Rock Pullet I had was so picked on and bedraggled that I put her in with them. I was having to go pull her out of the tack room every night as it was. She was a little bewildered at first, but caught on to the system after a while. Yesterday she released herself on her own recognizance - since she was the only one using the perch, she no doubt got up high and flew over the chicken wire. So now she is back with the others. This morning there was a rubbery soft shell egg under the perch, near where she'd spent the night. I'd suspected that she hadn't started laying yet. Now she's the last of this last batch of chicks to start, We'll see how long it is before she seeks refuge in the tack room again.

One other story from a week or two ago: After seeing the bad reaction the family dog had to picking up a toad in her mouth a few years ago, I thought the only predator they had would be something cold-blooded like snakes. Not so. The other day one of the Red Sex Links had one in her beak. She put it down and played with it a little - it was still alive - then she picked it back up and, looking around suspiciously, snuck under the hibiscus bush to enjoy her, um, treat.

I should also note that mornings I've been putting the chicken scratch just outside of the goat fence so the chickens could step through and peck away without the goats trying to take the goodies for themselves. The other morning when I was running behind in dealing with the goats, I walked out of the barn to see the chooks all waiting for me in the place where I usually scatter the scratch.

Also want to note that science is right - being inconsistent with a reward more powerfully imprints a behavior than consistent rewards. Case in point: sometimes when I have an old piece of bread or some stale crackers, I'll go out on the porch of our house and call the chickens over for a treat. Or if the chickens are ranging near the porch, I'll find something to toss out to them.

My wife, on the other hand, doesn't toss something out to them every time she is on the porch. The result?

When the chickens see her on the porch, they all go running up to her in the hopes that she has some goodies for them. They don't do that with me, even though I usually do.

Ain't nature grand?