Yet Another Weird Nest From The Past...

Found a couple more pics I thought I'd share....

Hello not-quite-empty bucket, what is that peeking out of the top?  What could possibly be lurking within?

Oh...a Very Large Chicken!

To be fair, we hadn't had Gloria very long and she hadn't quite gotten the hang of using real nests yet.

Nest Boxes, Yay!

Hen happiness is cool new nest boxes! Thanks to husband doing some building, the cardboard boxes are out and real wooden boxes--deep enough to hold all those big, fluffy butts--are installed, compete with loads of fresh, sweet-smelling hay and snappy black landscape cloth privacy curtains to make those dark hidey-hole nests so near and dear to every hen's heart.

At first when we placed the nests, before I added the curtains, there was much chicken excitement.

Weedcat is so excited that he gets a bit confused and plonks down next to the nest boxes instead of inside them and starts burbling softly and excitedly to tempt his girls over...

But Weedcat finally gets it together and goes inside the nests...

Followed by several very large hens.  Knowing how they all love to cram in there together, we planned ahead and made them extra large and extra deep to accomodate this nonsense.

More hens climb in...

After a while it's like the old phone booth stuffing fad, only for chickens.

And of course the hens all have to stuff behind and under Weedcat.  It's some kind of chicken comfort thing. The hen right outside becomes convinced that secret egg-laying is taking place and starts her Egg Song at the top of her lungs.

Weeds kept going from one nest to another, calling girls in nonstop--they all had a grand time.

Then I added the curtains!  More chicken excitement...
Bear takes position on top to direct everyone while the hens start peeking in...

 

The roos come along to inspect them and place their stamp of approval...

  Meanwhile serious and sober hen inspection continues.

 

 And inside, the baby chicks have their own structure, built by the kid out of LEGO.

They really dig it and climb inside to pile up and sleep.

Latest Weird Nesting Site...

Yesterday I pruned back a bunch of rose bushes, leaving the cuttings out overnight for the tortoise and the chickens to forage in.

This morning...

Bear decided to lay an egg in there, you can just see her little face peeking out. Now--I cannot THINK of a more uncomfortable nest than a pile of pure rose branches, with all those thorns! I SWEAR they have nest boxes, lovely proper wooden ones with loads of fresh straw.

Nope. Nothing will do but this nasty pile of thorny branches. Even Phoenix the rooster was looking at her like she was nuts.

Weirdos.

Hi Tech Meets Old School!

It's Nest Boxes 2.0!

Old style wooden boxes on the bottom, recycled computer monitor cases on top.

Seems the hens approve!

Weird Nesting Spot #176 Or; Oh Come ON!

The chickens have outdone themselves this year on finding odd nesting sites to hide eggs in. Sometimes we spot them right away, other times we don't. Mostly it's the banties that pull this stunt, being more savvy then their heavier laying hen sisters.

What's this? Why, it's the 'green waste' trash can, stuffed full to overflowing this week! A couple of branches that didn't quite fit are sticking out and propping the lid open a bit, but surely THAT won't cause any issues, will it now?

Will it? Wait--what's that...?

Arrgghhh! Of course, a hidden nest that is SO perfect, four of the little buggers had to lay there. Those are rock-hard Carrotwood seed pods, too.

Heck, that's nuthin'. The day before Halloween we found THIS gem, tucked away in a pot of aquarium gravel I'd just put out after transferring N.'s monster goldfish to their new tank:

The gravel was still wet, for crying out loud!

But for sheer esoteric beauty, my personal favorite is this one from August:

While we were making the new chicken run, we set our tools on top of the rabbit hutch to keep them out of the kid's reach. The banties (once again) decided that the wooden top of a rabbit hutch, out in the open, in a bunch of zip ties was PERFECTION ITSELF.

I just liked the swirly pattern they created.

Weird Nesting Site #213

Today it was Millie, taking advantage of some stuff earmarked for garage storage one day while we were cleaning it out...

She's actually tiny enough to fit into the Christmas tree stand, so I'm sure I'll find an egg in here later.

Poking around to make sure it's good enough for her egg...

Whoops, watch the footing--!

Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!! OK, be cool...

Hmmm... that foot must have something wrong with it, I never lose my balance...

Meanwhile, Stoney, a little banty hen, took the more mundane approach of actually using a nest box, although she DID have to growl and warn off Boots, who was looking to oust her.

Indoor Egg Hunt, Again...

After suffering a setback which involved her darting out underneath the running feet of N. and getting stepped on, Maggie has bounced back. She is now back to the point of standing and hopping again, and seems to be settling in as Housechicken Supreme. She's got the routine down. We put her out in her little run during the day but she spends the night in the kitchen. Maggie has discovered (to our endless amusement) that owing to the slickness of the linoleum floor, she can get around quicker and easier if she flaps her wings madly and does her little hippity-hop run simultaneously, thus zooming about the kitchen. It looks like chicken ice skating. Maggie has adjusted well, and has learned that there is a lesser chance of N. stepping on her if she sensibly stays put on her towel in the evenings.

But the other day it was raining, and since she is still sitting most of the time, Maggie had to stay inside.

Cue loud, unhappy chicken howls. Lots of them. From a BIG hen.

I did open the sliding glass door a bit so she could at least socialize with the other chickens who were huddled on the back porch. THEY howled because it was cold and wet outside, and Maggie was dry and warm INSIDE. I mostly yelled back for EVERYONE to shut up, already.

After a bit I went out to the living room to fold laundry, and listened to Maggie whine and move about restlessly. I knew what THAT meant, but didn't really have anything for her to lay her egg in or on--besides, no matter how nice of a nest you make for a chicken trapped indoors, they will inevitably choose their OWN nesting spot.

She did, finally...here she is giving me a dirty look:

Under my desk. She did manage to pull over a file folder and scatter it's contents, but that was easily picked up later on.

It's A Plot, I Tell Ya...

In their ongoing quest to brood and hatch a clutch of eggs, my hens have started laying away again. 'Laying away' means creating little sneaky nests anywhere BUT the lovely nest boxes that J. made especially-special for them. They do this juuuust infrequently enough so that we forget about it, until we realize that for the last few days our egg production has dropped by half.

Then it's off to play Off Season Easter Egg Hunt. Usually it's the banties that pull this stunt, who, if you ask the man that owns one; will tell you are wicked clever little snots. Favorite hidden nest spots of the past (not counting eggs laid in the house) include: an old wheelbarrow full of potting soil and large gravel that I was going to use as a planter--eggs laid DIRECTLY on the stones, in a trash can, in a long redwood planter, on top of the folding table and my personal favorite: suspended in air in the branches of the sage bush in the herb garden. That was a good one, we didn't find THAT little treasure trove for nearly two weeks. Silly us, we were looking UNDER the bush...

Usually when a hen is going to lay an egg, the entire neighborhood hears about it in advance for some 20 minutes. Loud, anxious cackling along with a desperate hunt for THE PERFECT SOMEPLACE TO LAY THIS EGG TO END ALL EGGS. She is accompianied by the rooster, who will follow her around crawling into lovely dark hidey-holes, burbling charmingly and suggestively, trying to sell her on HIS special nest. After several long minutes of this nonsense, including loud, repeated requests to be allowed in the house to lay the egg there (NO thank you, I fell for THAT one before), she finally settles on the same spot she always lays her eggs. It's when she gets quiet that she's actually laying the egg, followed by another round of explosive, joyful cackling which all the other hens take up, too. A hen will lay an average of 6 eggs a week, or an egg every other day. Say you've got 10 hens. Each one cackles for herself AND all the others for every freakin' egg. Now you know why farmers drive tractors. It's so they can get a few minutes of QUIET.

Currently we have six hens that have gone broody--that is, they've Gone Over To The Dark Side. Suddenly the sweetest, gentlest little hen morphs into Godzilla. She stays on the nest all day in a trance. She will come off the nest once or twice a day to eat, drink, and poop massively and with a grand stink. The other chickens run for the other side of the yard when a broody comes off the nest and stomps, clucking loudly and angrily, across the yard. It's chicken PMS From Beyond Hell. God help you if you stick your hand near her to roust her off the nest or, most heinous crime of all, take her eggs. Loud, chicken-y death shrieks, fluffing up and bloodletting (yours) follow quickly. Most heartbreaking of all is the nearly human shrieks from the hens that sound JUST like they are sobbing, "Nooooo!" as you remove the eggs from under them. We are heartless, murderous fiends to take their unborn and yes, we feel lower than dirt and apologize.

So lucky us, we've got SIX of these right now. Since we don't want more chicks, we have to both take their eggs each day (the other chickens gleefully find a broody hen and climb in with her to lay their eggs) AND roust them off their nests and into the safety of the coop each night. Some of the broods have formed Survivor-ish alliances and sit together in one nest. That's better, that way no matter HOW you stick your hand in there you're gonna get bit.

Little snots...