Eggs (week ending 6/18): 38*I think the hens are feeling cramped in the coop again. The Class of 2005 hasn't quite gotten the hang of setting foot outside the coop to forage yet, so there's a lot going on, and the place is far from the quiet refuge that hens like when they go to lay eggs. I say this because I found a secret laying location over the weekend.
Eggs (year to date): 1039
*Includes 3 Bantie eggs
No problem, though. The culling is coming, and last night it got easier. Some nice folks stopped by who were interested in getting some additional chickens. They were most interested in the Banties, but Sir Poof-A-Lot a/k/a/ Handsome isn't for sale, nor is his female counterpart, who is currently stubbornly sitting on two eggs that aren't going to hatch (more on that in a moment). Beaker is laying, but I don't want to sell her, either - my daughter has gotten rather attached to her. That leaves the mystery rooster and the black Silkie/Cochin cross rooster - and I may be hesitant to get rid of him now, considering what I saw this morning.
See, I've read that Easter Egger hens are mean and ill-tempered, and I've been seeing that first-hand. The two I have aren't full grown yet, and I've already decided they've got to go. They were dinner table destined, but the folks who came buy were interested in EE roosters, so one or both may get a home soon. Good.
I've been defending members of the Class of 2005 from the two EE roos when I'm around because they're really overdoing the whole pecking order thing. This morning while finishing up the feeding and water routine and going out the gate, I heard an awful series of squawks. Looking up to see who was doing what to whom, I saw the little black Silkie/Cochin roo chasing the meaner/bigger of the two EE roos, which was easily half again the size of the S/C.
This was no ordinary chase. The S/C pursued the EE for a good thirty seconds or more, grabbing feathers, out-maneuvering him, and just generally showing him who was boss. They ran back and forth in front of the gate, then the EE ran to the goat fence and stopped, sticking his head through. The S/C ran through the gaps in the fence, grabbed the EE by the neck and continued giving him what-for.
So for the time being I dubbed the S/C Muhammad Ali - for the greatest fighter of all time. The S/C might not be, but I have to admire its spunk in taking on a larger, meaner roo like that.
On Thursday night the goat herd expanded by two as doe Ebby delivered two kids, both little bucks. One is all black except for ears, facial highlights, and socks on all four feet. The other has a lot of white, and looks more like the traditional Alpine coloring. It's definitely smaller than the other, and has an air of runt about it. My wife and I are debating doing some bottle feeding (our daughter was in Canada during the birth and is on a mission trip in West Virginia this week).
We had Ebby with Clover and her two kids, but Clover started getting territorial. When the buck kids would wander her way, she'd knock them over with her nose, and keep knocking them over when they stood. So last Saturday I mucked out the stable where we'd been keeping the wethers and the obnoxious doe that didn't get pregnant, put down some Dry Stall and fresh straw, and made it a nursery for Ebby and her two kids. Next Saturday: moving the big pile of manure I took out to the official manure pile.
Finally, I don't think that I'm going to get any chicks out of the broody Lady Poof-A-Lot. She started out sitting on nine eggs and is down to two. A couple broke, but others have mysteriously disappeared - three of them at once - and during daylight hours. We've speculated raccoons and rats (I thought they were both nocturnal), but I'm wondering about two-legged predators. I don't know. The two eggs she's on now are 25 days old and no sign of hatch. I'll give her until Saturday (they could be younger eggs since hens kept laying in her nest when she was off) and then deliver the bad news.
Meantime, looks like I'll be collecting some Bantie eggs for the folks who stopped by. Not for eating, but for hatching. Looks like I might be putting my toe into the fertile egg business. For one shot, anyway.
