Eggs (week ending 5/21): 45*With the able assistance of a mysterious entity known as KK, who was there to soak up chicken ambience (and volunteered [!] to help with the chores) I got everything done last week except finding wood for the chicken tractor and mucking out the front part of the yard. We did one thing that I forgot to put on the list - putting up a new roost in the coop. KK and I put our heads together and I ended up cutting a suitable branch off the stripped and dying willow in the barnyard. KK is brilliant at working with found objects, and using an ancient, rusted bucket handle and another piece off of the same tree, created an arty means of mounting the new perch..
Eggs (year to date): 862
Includes 5 Bantie eggs and three broken eggs found in nests
I didn't think it would see use right away as we hung it in the nursery area of the coop. When the Class of 2005 (as I have dubbed this batch of chicks, in honor of the 4th graders who hatched them) get introduced to the rest of the coop, I'll take down the barrier and fence to expand the coop once more. I didn't think the chicks would find their way up to the new perch, but it wasn't 24 hours before one brave little white leghorn found its way up there. They're dumb birds, but not that dumb.
During the week I also took the plastic nest box I had abandoned earlier and recovered it, using duct tape this time. I put it back in the coop, but so far no nibbles on usage from the chooks. I think I need to make the entrance a little bit bigger. As it is, they still tend to lay in the one little corner next to where I keep the water and oyster shell. Keeping them locked up has encouraged the laying - I got 9 eggs a couple of days as a result of this - but now the goofy things have virtually abandoned using the hanging nest boxes.
Maybe they are that dumb.
