Amira voted in the One Topic At A Time post, and today I am going to share the secret of the Ladybug Mystery, just for her.
Lately, we have to look for the chica's eggs. We may find one or two in their nest box, but we have seven laying hens, and only one or two eggs in the nest box means that some of the hens are hiding their eggs. We found seven eggs where we are building the barn, nested in the old tomato vines. We found another clutch hidden beneath a shrub, by the garden path. I find them behind the coop, under a wood pile, in the bottom of an empty flower pot... it's like a daily egg hunt!
Zoe, the sneakiest and most adventuresome.
Little Debbie, she's small and flighty.
Penny flies right over the fence, no problem. She also likes to sit on the eggs.
The sneakiest hens are Penny, Little Debbie, and Zoe, because they are very small, and they can escape their yard by flying over the fence or slipping between the posts. They were raised by hens, and not by us, so they don't have any faith or trust in people. They scare easily, they run from us, they panic when we hold them, and they have strong instincts about hiding their eggs from predators. It's really quite silly.
Last week I noticed the ladybug sandbox was open, just teeny bit, and I realized that I need to clean it out. Snails and spiders get in there during winter, when it's not being used. It gets icky! Well, I thought to creep myself out and peeked inside... and what do you suppose I found?
Yup! Another secret stash of itty-bitty eggs, from our three itty-bitty wild chicas, Penny, Little Debbie, and Zoe! They had to really squeeze themselves and be particularly sneaky to get into the small opening of the ladybug sandbox, but they did it.
Today it is raining, and I probably won't let the chicas out of the shark cage, unless we get a dry spell. Besides being sneaky and silly, the chicas are also not too smart about the weather, and they will get soaked and muddy, before it occurs to them to stand under shelter. When Zelda sees all the eggs in the nest box, she'll probably get very excited about sitting on them, because being broody is her thing!
Well, Amira, Happy St. Patrick's Day! And thanks for voting in our One Topic game. It sure will be great when your family is in town, together, and we can have extra help with our wild and silly egg hunts!