A total of 22 eggs this week, a nice jump from last week. Here's the reason why: three of the pullets have started to officially lay eggs.

I discovered this on Friday when, after collecting three eggs in the coop, I went into the tack room and found two more. One was more normal sized, but the other was a small pullet egg. I thought I had two that were starting to lay, and one of the suspects was Shadow - the Red Sex Link that likes to follow me around.

So Saturday I left them in the coop for a while in the hopes that they would learn to make their deposits there. By afternoon there were three eggs in the nest boxes, and I managed to confirm Shadow as one of the layers.

Sunday was a different story. As soon as I opened up the coop, Shadow ran back and forth, looking through the fence into the tack room, running back and forth like a small child that had to find a bathroom - and fast. Then she found her way out of the coop and made a beeline for the tack room. I tried to put her into the nest box, but she kept leaving to go back to the tack room. There was absolutely no way she wanted to lay in the coop.

(Sunday I also found the crushed shell of what looked like a pullet egg in the goat stall - so one of them had been practicing in a bad place - at least there's a lot less traffic in the tack room. I've been meaning to fence it off, but until the layers all start using the coop, I'm loathe to - I'd rather find the eggs in the tack room than go on a hunt in the more inhospitable places in the barn.)

I also determined that the other Red Sex Link, which I named Cinnamon, is the second layer. She was also determined to lay her egg on top of the hay in the tack room instead of the coop. What is interesting is that the RSL eggs are longer than the ones being laid by one of the Reds right now, giving them the illusion that they're bigger. This kind of confirms what I've read on the Backyard Chicken board, which is that RSL's are "egg laying machines."

Research Sunday also showed that one of the Reds is laying in the tack room again. She will have to be re-educated. Finally, I found out that there is a third new layer - one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes. She was going into the bales of straw and had dug out such a cozy little nest that if I hadn't seen her go into it, I never would have found it (at least, until I moved the bale of straw). I waited and moved her to a nest box with an egg in it, and she laid one there within five minutes of my moving her. Her reward was being banded with a red tag on her foot so I know she's a producer (I didn't do this to the RSL's since there are only two and they are easy to tell apart).

So until I can re-educate the hens that are straying from the coop (that sounds so Soviet, don't you think?), it looks like I'm going to have to tread lightly in the tack room.

There once was a rooster named Roger
Who was quite the horny young codger
When the feeling hit, then
He could jump on a hen
And when he was finished, he'd dodge her.

Yes, it's summer on the farm and the season is bringing out the hormones in the roosters. Even Rocky, the third string roo, is trying to crow and get a little attention from the hens. Roger remains the dominant rooster, though, and tries to interrupt the amorous activities of Jean-Bob and Rocky (I don't think this would happen if the hens wouldn't squawk so much when the rivals jump them). The Reds, and the Red Sex links, seem resigned to having Roger's attention now and quietly submit. One of the RSL's, a little flirt named Shadow (because she follows me around the barnyard), was the first to start crouching submissively for Roger when he does his pre-coital rooster dance for her.

Seventeen eggs this last week. Missing one of the laying hens put a damper on production, but some of the pullets will probably be laying by summer's end, judging from the occasional soft shelled eggs I've been finding.

This last week I isolated the White Rock that was acting strange. I checked her out and it looks like she has cataracts. She has really perked up since I isolated her, though - probably because in the small quarters she can find food and water easily. Unfortunately, it's not going to pay to keep her that way, and so I think a date with the dinner table is in her future.

15 eggs last week. Lacking one laying hen made a big difference in production.

Last night when locking the chickens up, I startled (and was startled by) a possum that was helping itself to a bit of left over cat food. I don't think this is the creature who may have done in one of my layers (recent forensic evidence - some scattered feathers near one of the other farm buildings - led us to the conclusion that the missing hen may have been done in) because one of the White Plymouth Rocks was sitting in the tack room watching the possum eat cat food.

This same White Rock is now on the list to be culled - probably soon. It isn't acting right. I thought it might be blind, because it was staggering around and bumping into the side of the barn - but it does seem to see me coming to pick her up and move her out of the way. Maybe she's just fallen to the bottom of the pecking order and is bruised and abused. Will have to check the Backyard Chickens board to see what kind of wisdom I can find there.

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.

A dozen eggs since Sunday, 90 for the month.

The roosters continue to develop. Jean-Bob still doesn't have much of a crow yet, but he's definitely more active in the chasing hen department. Any hen who bends over to peck something on the ground within eyeshot of him is just asking for trouble.

The funny thing is how the Reds stick up for each other. The assaulted hen will ruffle her feathers and chase off her would-be romancer, whether is was Jean-Bob or Roger - but I've seen one Red go after a rooster that was mounting one of the other Reds, effectively chasing him off.

I've also seen Roger chase Jean-Bob off of a hen, too.

Another soft shelled egg this week. Suspicion is still with one of the pullets, although one of the Reds may be having some problems. This bears continued observation until I can figure out what's going on.