A Little Love Nest

We have an escapee, she's figured out how to hop the enclosure and spend the majority of her day out pecking grass instead of marching around in the muddy coop. I let Ivy back in occasionally if she seems to want to return, but for the most part she seems to enjoy her independence and frankly, if she's smart enough to get herself out she deserves a little alone time. It hadn't really been a problem until I noticed she hadn't layed her usual daily seafoamy green egg in a few days. Then one morning after Ella slogged through our muddy backyard to feed the gals I noticed Ivy feverishly pacing the fence, then she got her whits about her, hopped onto the perch, flapped to the top of the fence, awkwardly fluttered to the ground and made a beeline to a patch of dirt that stays pretty dry up against the house. I was so curious, and suspecting to find a few eggs in her new little secret spot among the trowels, rakes and pitchforks leaning up against the house providing her a decent amount of protection. E and I peeked from my bedroom window that is situated exactly above her special little spot (with a bird's eye view) and sure enough she had made a little love nest in the dirt with 2 beautiful seafoamy blue-green eggs.