Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Hens, At Least, Are Abundant

The egg-laying proceeds with abundance. Today I actually found eight eggs but two of them were almost shell-less, more bag of egg than egg and they were right together in a part of the nest the hens usually don't lay in, right up by the poop that collects where they roost at night in front of the nest. The hens are persnickety about where they lay and they make little nests in the nesting boxes far from the poop and will wait in line to lay in their favorite. So this was definitely the work of one or two new hens.
I set the vulnerable, wobbly sac-like things on the ground for the chickens to eat and they did.
Yes, chickens love to eat eggs.
But, the six that were truly formed eggs, I gathered with great love.


I know for sure that the blue egg is Ozzie's, the two small brown ones of matching size are Butterscotch's and whomever my stealth layer is, probably Lucille's, the white one is either Chi-Chi's or Cha-Cha's. And the very small egg on the end is Missy's. I saw her repeatedly get into the nest which is actually on the outside of the henhouse today and jump back down with no egg laid until finally later in the day, I discovered she had succeeded. 
Missy is the small black hen with the fuzzy legs, the sister of Eggy Tina. That darling Missy egg is so small that it fits in an iced-tea spoon with room to spare. 

This is all absolutely fascinating to me. 
Which probably means I need to get a life. 

It rained today again. Sweet and heavy and I felt as if I were all alone in the world, the grey curtains of water drawn around me, the noise of it on the roof blotting out all beyond that might intrude upon this space, this place. No one needed me, I was entirely able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to do it. It was wonderful; I felt guilty.
My husband's workload has gotten tremendously heavy recently with the cars, with our rental property, with this and with that. I knew that his day probably didn't include enough time to truly sit down and eat his lunch while I spent time writing and reading and casually doing things around the house, spying on the chickens and making soup as the rain poured down.
Sigh.
Guilt is my default emotion. Always has been, probably always will be. 
I try to assuage the guilt by knowing that tomorrow the boys will be here all day and it will all be a different story. Two boys with four fully-functioning legs, both wanting to go off in different directions, do different things at the same time, both wanting Mer to help, to join in, to get snacks, to get juice, to listen, to pay attention, to play, to swing, to watch this, watch this, watch this.
Today I took care of myself and tomorrow I will take care of them and I will do a better job of it, having had this good day of rest. At least that's what I'm telling myself. 

And who knows? I may be right. 

More tales and egg reports tomorrow from this small thing I call my life. 




12 comments:

  1. I never get tired of photos of eggs. They're just so damn inspiring and beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I told someone today, very passionately, that eggs were the world's perfect food. Guess who I've been hanging out w/ for years ;)

    I feel very guilty even when I take the time to have a Saturday or Sunday to just lounge and do absolutely nothing. I keep thinking I should take a walk or something. But I am planning hard for an at-home do nothing weekend this weekend. I am so so tired.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the egg photos. It's unfortunate that we don't see all of those colors in the grocery store, that would be cool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The eggs ARE fascinating. And remember you're enabling your husband to contend with his workload by taking care of him, doing all the background tasks that keep the household functioning. (I don't mean that in a sexist way. I do the same for Dave.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Curtains of rain drawn around you. What a fantastic image. And the colors of those eggs are awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved the egg play-by-play. I guess I need a life too! Missy took a piece of my heart with that little baby egg she worked so hard to lay.

    I think Chi-Chi and Cha-Cha could just both go by Chi-Cha.

    And Eggy Tina is still the best chicken name in the history of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Elizabeth- They, to me, are proof that as Michelle says, The Universe is Abundant.

    SJ- Do it! Rest your body, feed your sweet soul. And eggs ARE the perfect food.

    Allison- Probably at farmers' markets you could find differently colored eggs.

    Steve Reed- I know. He tells me that all the time. Still, I feel guilty.

    Angella- As applies to eggs (at least!), the universe is not only abundant, it is beautifully and differently colored.

    Jill- YOU ARE BRILLIANT! Chi-Cha they shall be! And yes, Eggy Tina is such a great name. My Owen is so smart and funny and I hope his teachers all realize that and cherish him.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If I had chickens that laid eggs, I'd have an egg blog and literally every egg would be captured.
    I have no life either.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting about the eggs and the ones that don't have much shell. Made me think of the problems with DDT and calcium back in the 70's.

    ReplyDelete
  10. heartinhand- I would not be surprised to discover that someone had already done that, incorporating the cookery of the eggs as well.

    Denise- To me, so very beautiful.

    Syd- Yep. But in this case it's just that it was a new hen's first attempt at an egg. It sometimes takes awhile for all systems to mature.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.