A couple moves from the big city to the countryside and starts a small farm...wait, you've heard this premise before? What? Trite? Hackneyed? But, I have goats. Really cute pictures of tiny baby goats. And cheesemaking recipes. We slaughter our own pigs and cure our own bacon! Well, that's in the master plan, anyway. Just read it, you'll see.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Crafty Chickens
Today we found a hidden cache of eggs behind the hay bales in the momma barn. I must have left the window open one day. Eight of them. Nobody has been sitting on them, so they ought to be edible. Eighteen eggs today, and it's not even over.
A propos pf nothing other than egg laying behavior, as you know I am a big bird fan. Love 'em. I have a pet cockatiel (a small parrot). Mine is male, which has its own problems in general, but companion bird's egg laying can present real problems.
With parrots, if you have an egg laying female, there is a window during which you must remove the egg to disrupt the laying cycle. Too soon and she'll lay again, to late and she'll lay again. (Essentially, I think this has something to do with the bird becoming convinced that the eggs has (a) been eaten, or (b) been defective. There's a point in between where she'll believe that the EGG was good, but perhaps that the CHICK was not, and therefore does not need to lay again.)
Anyway, long ride for: I bet there's a wat to shorten/prolong production merely by timing the harvest. But then, parrots and chickens might be nothing alike.
Sneaky chickens, you found their egg stash! LOL!
ReplyDeleteA propos pf nothing other than egg laying behavior, as you know I am a big bird fan. Love 'em. I have a pet cockatiel (a small parrot). Mine is male, which has its own problems in general, but companion bird's egg laying can present real problems.
ReplyDeleteWith parrots, if you have an egg laying female, there is a window during which you must remove the egg to disrupt the laying cycle. Too soon and she'll lay again, to late and she'll lay again. (Essentially, I think this has something to do with the bird becoming convinced that the eggs has (a) been eaten, or (b) been defective. There's a point in between where she'll believe that the EGG was good, but perhaps that the CHICK was not, and therefore does not need to lay again.)
Anyway, long ride for: I bet there's a wat to shorten/prolong production merely by timing the harvest. But then, parrots and chickens might be nothing alike.
So...sounds like ham and eggs will be a staple meal in the menu at your house? ;)
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