Okay, now is the time of year when the girls begin to start laying less eggs. Less light = less eggs.
Wrong!
Sneaky buggers just have been flying the coop and laying them elsewhere. The compost will be happy.
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Got something to say? Email me at fastweedpuller at gmail dot com.Wisdom from the sage
Wendell Berry:
"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."
--from an essay in "The Long-Legged House""The word agriculture, after all, does not mean "agriscience," much less "agribusiness." It means "cultivation of land." And cultivation is at the root of the sense both of culture and of cult. The ideas of tillage and worship are thus joined in culture. And these words all come from an Indo-European root meaning both "to revolve" and "to dwell." To live, to survive on the earth, to care for the soil, and to worship, all are bound at the root to the idea of a cycle. It is only by understanding the cultural complexity and largeness of the concept of agriculture that we can see the threatening diminishments implied by the term "agribusiness."
"Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating."
--both the above are from essays in "The Art of the Commonplace: Agrarian Essays"Is this so hard to believe?
"An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor, or Ba'al, or The Golden Calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further," Richard Dawkins, 2002.
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fast grow the weeds 
Many years ago when we first inherited some very free range chickens (there was no coop, they came with the farm) we used to spend a good part of each morning hunting the eggs. Most times we found them.
Chicken-clueless here: So, are these fertilized eggs? Could they become chicks? Or did the chickens abandon them? Do abandoned eggs hatch? Whatever the answer, they’re really pretty in a wild little heap like this.
Alecto, you always surprise me. Here I am thinking Nomans is doing his clucking for the first time ever.
Anne: Well, we have no boys, so there’s no fertilization going on. Unless they feel like going broody and sitting, the egg-laying thing is just something they do about every day…I don’t think they like it considering the whoops they make. And yes, you don’t need a rooster to make eggs! This is something that surprises some folks, I have found. But think about it, women don’t need a man to be fertile, either. It just happens.
Our pullets just started laying, right about the time they started hanging out in the 6 foot tall roughage along the border of our property. Knowing that they might find the perfect laying spot in there, we have them under yard arrest in the morning to make sure they get comfy in the coop.
Chickens are great fun!
We recently acquired 9 bantams (4 cocks, 5 hens), to add to our 10 ladies (who now seem like Amazons!). I don’t think any of the dwarfed cockerels have had their way with the larger hens yet, but we like the fun mix. Bantam cocks are so… cocky. They are the incarnation of the word, so it should be no surprise. I can’t help thinking that this is a case where the platonic “idea” of cocky is outdone by the reality of cocky.
El – he is, I’m not. I bought the first farm in 1985 in an entirely other life. NoMans is a city boy from South Jersey (think Camden) and is learning all sorts of things lately!
Wow, what a cache!
LOL, chooks (aussie for chickens) are notorious for doing that. You can either enjoy the egg hunt, and many do, or clip one wing lightly so they cannot fly the coop.
Have to love those chooks, mine provide, apart from food and manure, hours of fun just watching their antics!
Blessings:)
You can use some of the eggs. The weather is cool – so they might not have all gone bad. You could boil them and give it to other animals. When a broody chicken goes unreliable and leaves her eggs – if it is not too many days – I boil them and give it to the peacocks. Our chickens also like to eat the cracked egg shells. Just a thought.
TS: Oh yes, they are so fun! We were at the county fair this weekend and yes indeed the child is convinced we need bantams. So, next year when we put in our poultry order, I am thinking we need about 6 of the little buggers, probably Cochins because I have heard they are good setters. I’ll take your word on the cockiness: somehow seems less scary than a 10-pound Jersey Giant attacking your leg. And yeah, they are little sneaks, aren’t they? All they’re trying to tell us is they want a little darkness and privacy to do their egg-laying.
Alecto: Ah, previous life, check. So you come by this honestly 😉 right? I dragged my latte-sipping starched-shirt husband to Life With Chickens too and I think he’s definitely a better guy for it.
Taylor, yep! Over 2 dozen. Lost count at 25.
Molly, when I feed everyone in the morning I swear I lose about 15 minutes every day just standing there watching them. This is before coffee so I am a bit dim anyway but I swear they are so hilarious and fun to be around. And thanks for reminding me: it is time to clean out that coop for the compost! Such happy compost.
WF: Thanks for the tips! I do feed older eggs to the birds, hard-boiled or scrambled sometimes adding old dinner to it. These are some pampered poultry. But it’s a good idea not to waste; me, I had no idea how old these things really were so I stuck (broke) them all into the compost. I had to break them too. Last time I just didn’t and turned the pile I spooked myself by setting off two egg “bombs” that literally popped/exploded. No surprises in the compost, please; the snake 2 years ago was bad enough!
El,
Our bantams were given to us, and are more than we care to have. We have a couple beautiful pairs… Dutch Bantams (the smallest of the bantams) and Modern Game. If you want some that are ready to go now, let me know. We are not really that far away. We want to keep one or two pairs, but the rest are up for grabs.
Ha Ha Ha, those are some funny birds!