This is kind of a funny little tidbit. If you’ve been reading the blog for a time, you know we’ve had this issue with the chickens laying eggs in the walls.  It got really out of hand when two of the Buffs went a little broody and the whole corner tarp – that was holding in the hay insulation that Sue had stuffed between the studs this winter – simply came off the wall. Everyone was standing in line to lay their eggs

in what we termed the Broody Corner, AND if the line wait was too long for this favored spot, they would just lay their eggs any ol’ where under the roosting spots. Sometimes they would bury them and you’d have to go rooting around in the hay to find them, or worse you’d just smush them as you stepped through the coop on your daily Egg Hunt. Yesterday, Sue had had enough! Plus, that’s a place that the ducks really would like to nest at night, but the tarp makes it difficult for all three hens to be together. So- some Broody Corner Clean-up was served today.

Sue stapled the tarp back up onto the studs, stuffed it full of hay again, then screwed on some plywood to make it more permanent. Of course, at this point, the chickens could still get on top and lay between the studs – as they are want to do. Sue said that some of them were pretty put out as they watched their special spot disappear right before their eyes! About now in the process they were thinking, “Phew, at least we can still lay our eggs in that hay up there.” So, Sue nipped that in the bud and provided a side order of

“chicken caps”. (That’s what she called them in her e-mail to me.)  These are simply 2×4 caps on top of the plywood. They serve the purpose of keeping the eggs out of the walls. Sue was afraid that a couple of chickens had tried to stage a sit-in as a protest while her back was turned. We counted every one last night, just to make sure no one was trapped in the walls. 🙂  You can see the chicken caps between the studs. This sure worked; we picked up 11 eggs yesterday and they were all in the nesting boxes where they belong! YAY! Now we’ll see if the ducks take up residence quickly. They should be starting to lay very soon – judging by the goings on in the pool. (Is that TMI?)  Well, when that happens, we’ll be sure to write about it here. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

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Today’s Weather: Yesterday’s high was 85°, we had a cloud cover most of the day with a little rain in the morning, but not really anything to talk about.  We really need to get a rain gauge. Today was more of the same. It absolutely poured in Sierra Vista while I was at work, but nothing here to report. We have a long string of Thunder Storms predicted, but that is to be expected this time of year. We’ll see how much rain they actually deliver.

Egg Report: As noted earlier, yesterday we had 11 eggs! Then again today, we ended up with 11 – bust mostly because Maeve had been collecting her own and hiding them from us! I was fit to be tied this evening because I couldn’t find her anywhere (she’s my special little one, the only one remaining from my original birthday purchase for myself last year); I was sure something had made off with her during the day. I thought I looked in all the little place she could hide in the coop. I guess I got too upset about it and just couldn’t see where she would be… Sue found her in two seconds, along with her little stash of 5 eggs. We thought about leaving them with her, but we haven’t had a rooster for her for some time now… they wouldn’t be fertile.  So, thanks for keeping our numbers up there, little Maeve!