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| - Super Secret Nest - |
Just the other night there was a bellowing of the bulls, where they may take turns seeing who can be louder, or they may carry on in unison. Actually, I think the bull calls might be like the boom box scene in High Fidelity, or they're just singing to the lovely ladies in the pasture. The bovine ladies.
The hens have started laying, so ardently that I wouldn't be surprised to see an egg on top of the clothesline. Every time an egg is laid, the hen laying cackles and calls, then all the chickens on the yard call back, as though to congratulate a new chick being born to the world.
The hens are all running around trying to find a nest that won't be found by the other chickens. Places like in the rosemary bush, under the freezer, behind the electric saws and drills, or on a bench in the shop (see accompanying photo).
When one hen figures out where another is laying, she will go on the nest, break the eggs, and lay her own eggs there. Then the other hen will come back to the nest, thinking those eggs are hers, and sit on them, doing all the work of setting on and raising the offspring. Pretty clever and sneaky for a little ol' chicken.
I have one black stag (immature rooster) who has figured out how to come in the dog door. That's very exciting, to come in the house and find a large, black bird eating the food out of the cat's bowl.
It's like Easter every day around here, trying to find where all the eggs have been hidden by the hens. Sometimes I don't find them all, and sometimes the hens don't remember where they're at, either. There is no pleasure in coming across a nest full of rotten eggs, although they do explode upon impact if thrown, which has a sense satisfaction. Though it takes a bit of bravery, or foolishness, to pick them up in the first place.
