A Rest From It All...

Brooding in a nest full of eggs must be pretty energy consuming and a great bore to a broody hen. While the rest of the flock are enjoying the day, eating corn scraps, a broody hen has to stay put in her nest and incubate her eggs.

Once in a while even I will catch Lemon dozing off with a nod to her head.

Now doesn't she look like such a dear. . .

Sometimes sharing the coop can be challenging with constant prying eyes and loud noisy neighbors. Lemon is a bit perturbed of this. 

Don't Spice and Lemon look like broody buddies! (Actually Spice is only visiting the nesting box to lay her egg, but she does give a great broody impression)

Every now and then, Lemon takes a break from it all. So she jumps down from the coop with a loud proud squawk, ruffles her feathers, and is a chicken on a mission to the feeders. After eating, she then enjoys dust bathing with the rest of the flock.
One of her favorite thing to do is perch in the new perch I put in the chicken enclosure. Lemon just enjoys sitting there and preening.

One time I let Lemon outside for a bit to enjoy the grass and bugs, she found great joy in perching on the lawn chairs as well.

Lemon decides to hop higher with a great big flap.

Taking a sunbath before heading back to the coop.

After she's done with all her business, Lemon returns to the coop. When she enters her nest, she murmurs softly to her eggs while gently maneuvering around the eggs until she is facing out of the box. Than she settles down with a shake of her body.

Here's a video of her settling into the nesting box:

Oh Dear Oh Dear Miss Lemon

I always love hearing the gentle grumblings of moody broody hens when I check for eggs in the coop. It's funny to see them poofed up in their dazed eyes.
Our silly White Leghorn hen, Lemon has been broody for a few days now, never abandoning her nest. So I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to slip 5 mix-breed chicken eggs I got from Common Ground (3 blue eggs and 2 brown eggs) underneath her. She accepted the eggs and gently scooped them underneath herself when I was gone; I could her her moving around inside the nesting box.

The eggs I gave Lemon are over a week old so I I'm not sure if they are still be viable. So far, 1 blue egg ( an Easter Egger egg) and 2 brown eggs have nothing inside them; seems like they were infertile. I also accidentally cracked an egg that I thought had nothing inside. It turns out that there was an alive growing embryo! 
After that warning, I returned the last blue egg to broody Lemon who grumbled in complaint for disturbing her. I may go back next weekend to get some more fresher eggs, just in case this one doesn't hatch. 

Broody? Or Sham-broody?

Lemon has started acting weirdly lately.

Whenever I pay a visit to the ladies, Lemon seems to sulk and make deranged clucking noises. If I even move or come near her, she erupts in a hysteria of strange clucking; walking around fluffed up a bit in a wary mode.

She reminds me very much of broody Butter from my previous flock. When Butter was broody, she strutted around the whole chicken fence making the same clucking noises Lemon was, with feathers up and wing drooping low to the ground. She was a crazy broody but a good mother and I still miss her "crazy broody mode". She never bit me when I checked the eggs underneath her, only made complaints.

Here she is, a bit upset since I locked her out of the coop.

(Butter is actually growling at the camera, not me)

I dismissed the fact the Lemon could be broody. It simply wasn't very likely in Leghorns since they were bred for egg production, and most of their broodiness was probably bred out of the breed.

But Lemon still continued to make weird clucking noises and strut around day on and day out. At dusk when the flock went to roost, and I to close the coop door.....Lemon still glared at me, ruffling up her feathers with a disgruntled expression. Charcoal, Spice, and Lime softly clucked to reassure her.

 I locked the door and whispered goodnight to the chickens.

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One day, I looked outside and didn't see Lemon. Where could she have gone?

She wasn't in the outside nesting box.

 Nor the old doghouse where the ladies held their secret meetings.

So finally I checked the coop, and snugly fitted inside one of the nesting boxes was Lemon. She grumbled at me and raised her hackles.

I left her alone and wondered.
Lemon could be broody, but I would give her a few more days and see. I know that a lot of hens get "broody" (or sham-broody)only to walk off their nest after two or three days of boredom in the coop.

Being broody does have its high points, and I was planning on incubating some eggs from Common Ground.

But who knows, does Lemon have the determination to brood a nest full of eggs?
In the meanwhile, the rest of the chickens are still going only their daily lives, tilling the earth and searching for worms while Lemon lies bedridden in the coop; full of broodiness.

Fruitful Summer

The wild blackberries in my backyard have finally ripened in to a dark maroon hue. Knowing how much the chickens love fruit I shared the bounty with them.

Some of the berries are ready to be picked.

It's funny to see the reactions of the chickens as I walk to the door. 

First they crowd the entrance, with Charcoal sticking out her head once in a while trying to get a bite first.

As soon as Lemon gets a piece, everyone centers their attention on her and the chase begins. But since the blackberries are so small, Lemon simply gulps it down in one bite. I think that the rest of the flock seems a bit disappointed. I've noticed that since they were chicks, the food chase was kind of like a game. When one chick finds a bug or fruit, they have the choice to eat it in secrecy, but sometimes instead she will emit a small short chirping sound and run toward the flock. The other chicks will catch sight of the tasty treat and run to steal tiny morsel from the finder. Lasting in a second long chase.

When nothing is left, they stare expectantly, looking for moooooore treats. Mrs.Wattlecomb (Lemon) gives me a piercing glare of disgust and with a shake of her head she struts away.

Eventually thee others  lose interest and they too, walk away to get a drink of water. The exception is Charcoal, who's always looking for a lap to sit in. Well not today Charcoal, try again tomorrow.

Lemon's Double Yolker

I found a ginormous egg while checking the coop's nesting box. I'm assuming it belongs to Lemon because she lays the largest eggs. It was almost double the size of a normal egg (which is the size of Lime's egg), and loomed in size when I held in in my hands. It reminded me of the time when my old hen, Pine would lay me giant double yolk eggs.

Here's a short story about Pine laying a double yolk egg:

One day, around 2011 or 2012 back in my old house, Pine was spotted my mom without the rest of the flock. Since she was the lead hen, my mom got a bit worried and followed her as she hobbled all over the yard. She noticed that Pine's posture was strange. Pine was a bit hunched over with a drooping butt, and she walked slowly to each destination. It took Pine nearly 30 minutes, until finally, she stopped to rest at a big pine tree in the front yard yard. Out plopped a fresh new egg, and as my mom neared to collect it, she found that it was very big indeed! No wonder it took so long for Pine to push out that extra, extra large egg! Which mush have hurt considering the size of it. When my mom cracked open the egg, we found that it was a double yolker (an egg containing two yolks). Pine, our Easter Egger hen was the only hen of our 6-hen flock that would lay these ginormous eggs. She didn't lay them too frequently, yet they weren't rare. My only other hen that would give me an occasional double yolker was Sugar, my sweet sweet Red Star (click here to read her story). Though, even Sugar's double yolk eggs were not as big in comparison to Pine's.

Anyways. . .back from the past to current time. . .

Here's a comparison of each flock member's egg. Charcoal has the most petite and adorable chubby egg of them all.

I eagerly brought the egg inside to reveal what was inside.

Was it going to be a double shelled egg?

Or perhaps a triple yolk?

Eh, the first one maybe, the second. . .not so likely.

When I cracked the egg using the edge of my bowl, I saw that it was not a double shelled egg. There was rich yellowish yolk inside, already starting to ooze out now that I had disturbed the membrane. I cracked the other side and let the yolk drop down to my bowl. And there it revealed itself to be. . .a double yolk!

Egg Ritual

Baa-AH! au-au-a-a-bwua-AH! au-au-a-a--ba-AHH!!" The sound of Mellow's histerical bleating could even be heard through the window.

Who knew such a little chicken could bauwk as hard as she did?

Here's a recording of Mellow's noisy "buaa-AH's!"


Soon, the little white heads of Lime and Lemon popped out of the doghouse in confusion. Not knowing what to do, they added in soft cluckings of their concern for their dear little flock member Mellow.
 I noticed that Spice was sitting in on of the nesting boxes. Mellow stopped her loud bauw-AH-kings and ran back into her little hideout: the doghouse as soon as I arrived. Apparently, it was another call for attention on her newly laid egg; I spied a small light brown egg nested among the pine needle bedding (under Spice).

For some reason all the girls like the nesting box on the top left corner, they lay their eggs there everyday. Once in a while though, I do find eggs on the bottom box too. Another acceptable place to lay eggs is the doghouse. The chickens love to hang out there all day. I took a peak today on the other side of the chicken enclosure where the doghouse was positioned. Here's what I saw when I looked inside the doghouse:

Lemon stands up and stretches after laying her egg.

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Now back to Spice. . . 

Spice was well settled in the favorite nesting box among the chickens. I could tell that she would soon lay an egg as she started panting heavily.

Spice prepares to lay her egg.

Still wet, her egg pops out!

Soon after the egg was laid, Spice hopped out of the nesting box, and Lime who had been observing for a a while, decided to hop in.

Settling in. . .

Quite the comical expression. Doesn't lil' Lime look so motherly for a change?

After a LONG time, Lime finally jumped back out, fluffed her feathers, and headed back to the doghouse. Well, I guess that's all the egg laying they will do today!

New Egger! (continuation of Idle Holi-days)

These past days, I've been finding more eggs than usual. . .

The only eggs used to be the tan-ish, tinted, small Mellow eggs.

However, now two chickens also joined the production line, accompanying lonely little Mellow.
First up was the mysterious white egg that appeared on the coop floor a bit cracked and caked with a layer of poop on the 20th of December. The next time a white egg was spotted was on the wet ground of the chicken enclosure.

I've been finding white eggs, especially on the ground.

Who was laying these mysterious white eggs?

Was it Spice?

No, she still hadn't squatted

Charcoal?

Most likely not, her comb was still small and petite sized.

Lime?

A few days ago when I had bent down to pet her, she had squatted for me. . . a possibility, but still there was a better answer.

. . . I was convinced that Lemon had laid the egg

Added to the suspicion were the giant red comb and wattles that Lemon carried. She had the biggest in the coop, Lemon also squatted for me a couple of times.

Finally it was unraveled, and I spotted Lemon one day in the nesting box. She stayed in there for a few minutes and then plopped off the box, there was no egg. Disappointed I walked away from the window. When I returned, a fresh white egg, just beaming lay on the ground. 

So, Lemon was the new egg layer.

Comparison of Mellow's egg (left) and Lemon's second egg (right). Lemon's bright white egg isn't very big, but slowly they will exceed Mellow's.

But a few days later, another egg was found. It was white as expected with a few blood stains. The only possibility was Lime, as she was the only other pullets who would squat for me.

Lemon caught being in the nesting box.

A desolate white egg was the result!

Idle Holi-days

For the holidays, a new Canon EOS was given to me as a present. Immediately, I started snapping pictures and playing with the menu. I also took the camera outside to visit the *chickers* <= not a misspelling error and get some crisp pictures of them.
*Chickers is just a little "nickname" I like to use instead of plain old and regular chickens, I also like to call them chickies.
 "Chick-chic-chickies!" I routinely call out to the flock when I head towards their enclosure. Without my calling, they notice the door swinging backward and begin pacing at the enclosure fence; waiting for me. And constantly as I am bombarded with a crowd of 4 chickens (Mellow is usually less exited about meeting humans), 1 or 2 little sneaky pullets will attempt to wiggle their way past me. Of course, I block them. And if by chance I have some table scraps to offer, their attention will be averted onto the food and I can peacefully and quickly slide through the crowd of chickens, without them noticing the escape route they could have taken advantage of. Anyways, here are some pictures I took of them during the holiday season.

"Run Lemon run!" Lemon managed to slip out while I was opening the gate door.

The chickers were also given some yogurt as a treat today. They happily crowded me and jumped at the cup, bawking while gulping down the delicious lumps of fruit and the strawberry flavored yogurt on the spoon.

Looking up expectantly.

Top and bottom: The flock enjoying a small spoon of strawberry yogurt.

At last when no more of the gooey yogurt was available. . .

. . . the chickens looked at me. Not long after did they resume their usual constant whining and pulling of the pants.

Charcoal and Spice closely examine the black fabric, deciding which fold to tug first.

To be continued. . .

Next Post:
New Egger! (continuation of Idle Holi-days)

Maturing Into Hens. . .

After Thanksgiving, the chicks had big changes in their physical appearance. Lemon had the greatest of all; she got tomato-red and bigger wattles and a comb that flops over to the side  like an adult Leghorn's, she had also increased in body size, and is now about the size on a full grown hen.

Top and bottom: Lemon and her proud big red wattles and comb.

Lime my other White Leghorn on the other hand was still her small slim size, with big bulgy eyes of curiosity, or as some would say, cuteness (I would note deviousness), only a little bit of growth in size of her comb and wattles were most noticeable but they were now as red as Lemon's.

Lime in her dazed stare. A couple of ways to distinguish Lime and Lemon from each other is their size; Lemon is much bigger than Lime, I have also noticed that Lemon's eyes are farther spaced from her beak. Lime's eyes are kept close to her beak, creating an appearance of cuteness and curiosity.

The comb and wattles have also gotten larger in size and redder in Spice as well, the only ones in the flock who had not changed were Charcoal and Mellow. Mellow of course, had already reached adulthood and was frequently every week, laying eggs in the coop. She would presumably look the same in her lifetime, a small dark brown figure running with mad sprint in a hobbled fashion across the yard to catch up with the flock. Charcoal still had the same personality rank, and physical appearance though a tiny bit of her facial parts had become flushed in a vermilion hue; the tips of her comb still bore the same coral color, with lighter yellowish tints.

Spice's comb has now started forming a rounder circle with longer points, and in her holy authority it also appears to resemble a crown.

And again. . . the great! The terrible! And the vigilant Lemon strikes back! Terrifying the soles out of my boots.

The eccentric little buggers peck away at my boots, and ooooo! Their favorite, jeans. . .
* Lemon (left), Charcoal (middle), and Lime (right).