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.

Green Egg & Chicken Shoes

You guys, I finally got a beautiful bluish-greenish egg this morning from Ivy, one of my new Aracauna's!  And it was in the egg box, right next to Marigold's big brown beautiful egg (not playing favorites)! How these relatively dim birds figure out where I want them to deposit their precious egg is beyond me. It is so perfect; and the only real reason I got new chicks this year!

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... and it was a double-yolker to boot! Don't you love how the shell is seafoamy green, even on the inside?  So happy!

Also finally invested in some proper coop shoes. I've been ruining my clogs and flip-flops out there and needed some designated 'chicken shoes.'

Roomies

So our once, little fuzzballs are all feathered out and living outdoors...finally! The problem is that in typical fashion the older gals are going after them like sharks! Until the new 2-month-old ones get old enough to hold their own, I have to separate them for most of their waking hours. It's not that big of a problem because I need a bit of weeding done, and the 11-month-old girlies more than happy to take care of it! Really once they've laid their egg, they're much less cranky, but I've expanded the coop outdoor area to give the young ones some space to hide and the older ones some respite from their incessant and obsessive peeping when they all are in there together.

Introducing:

Daisy, Ivy, & Clover

Thanks to all who participated in the poll, can't wait to see these gals grow!