Et tu, Coco?

Darn it, now Coco's gone broody!

I was gone part of the day, then working furiously on a rather fascinating project for work, so I didn't do a mid-day egg-check. I noticed Coco was missing before dinner...and still missing after dinner. I persuaded Jeff to giver her a push so I could do a grab...and she was sitting on all four of today's eggs!

She rallied well, though, immediately rejoining the other ladies in the run. Poor mama-wannabe!

Now you see it...now you don't

What a difference a day makes! I got home from my Saturday microbiology lab in time for lunch yesterday, and was able to enjoy it in the dappled sunshine of my patio, with Gwyneth's new cookbook, fresh from the library.

The ladies got to enjoy a sunny happy hour at their old waterer. They use the chicken nipples just fine, but they get so excited when they have the opportunity to drink out of a puddle or basin (do chickens get nostalgic?). Accordingly, I keep old waterer handy so they can imbibe a bit when I let them out of the coop.

Peas are looking perky. I was busy with microbio homework after lunch, so Jeff planted some seeds for kale and other greens for me. Our Seattle spring is still unseasonably cold, but I figure we can plant out our tomato starts and sow seeds for beans, cukes and squash (under cloches) Memorial Day weekend.

I don't feel so bad that I got a late start sowing tomato seeds indoors, seeing as I have to wait longer to safely plant them outside, anyway. We went to a nursery to buy a few herb plants (thyme, oregano and basil) and some petunias and such for our hanging baskets. Their tomato starts were huge and in BAD need of planting out, but our nighttime temps have not been reliably above the mid-40s yet, so good luck with that.

Ironically, the weather took a turn for the nasty while we were at the nursery, and has been that way all day today. Windy, constant rain, cool. Yuck! The ladies agree...about every other time I peek at them out the living room window, they're laying huddled together under the henhouse. I'm so glad we got our flock going last year...I would hate to be starting with chicks this year in this weather!

Four eggs, no brooding

Hooray, I think little Bob is cured of her fledgling brooding habit!

After the incident last Saturday, she was fine on Sunday...but the four ladies only laid two eggs among them, so I'm assuming the lack of brooding was because Bob was not one of the day's layers. Then Monday, she was back to brooding. I caught her trying to hatch her egg and Miss Buttons egg (Marmalade and Coco had laid their eggs in the other nest box). So I pushed her butt forward enough to grab the eggs from under her. Then, because I felt bad, I petted her for a minute while she softly clucked at me.

Then came Tuesday. One egg. I was convinced that little Bob was staging a mutiny: "OK, ladies, no more laying until she brings my babies back!"

Wednesday and Thursday...two eggs each day. What the heck? Very strange for this time of year.

Then came Friday. Four eggs...and no brooding! Ditto for Saturday! Although they put off all of their laying until the afternoon, maybe because they were distracted by Jeff finishing the path next to the coop (Lady Marmalade had been in the nest box a long time, and when I went out there, I found four eggs...clearly the other ladies had already hurried in there to do their business, and we hadn't noticed. Of course, I carried the eggs inside, said "Well, I know why Marmalade was in there so long...she was all backed up!" and showed him the eggs. I think he really believed me for several seconds...).

Speaking of the path...it's all done, except we need to get some more little groundcover starts to plant between the stones.

Things are coming along in the garden. The peas I planted two weeks ago are coming up strong, and the lettuce and spinach is slowly germinating and pushing through. If we get some decent breaks in the weather today, we plan to plant some beets, carrots, onions and more greens.