December 2007

1	We were out all day so I didn't see any of the girls' antics, but we got 3 eggs.
2	Tat's feathers are slowly growing back and all of her bare skin has disappeared, apart from one small pink spot on her bottom.
3	During my hen watching I saw Salt in the nest and she laid a deep brown egg.
4	Eggxamination day!  Trying to sort out Salt's from Pepper's and convince myself that the bigger white eggs are from Lacey.
5	A four egg day!  Haven't had one of those since 13 September when Aggie & Tat were still laying.  They're both resting now but Salt & Pepper have taken over - in more ways than one!
6	Pepper is so adventurous, trusting, stupid.....  she jumped up to come in through the study window and there wasn't even any food on offer!
7	Salt was in the nest laying at 8:30 but I didn't manage to retrieve her egg before Pepper went in there later.  When Pepper re-appeared, I found Salt's egg broken in the nest.  Later. I found another egg laid in the run.  I guess this must be from yesterday......
8	I fear Clover is starting a broody period.......  She's spending all her time in the nest, although sometimes she's perching, rather than nesting, and when I lift her out she cluck, cluck, clucks around.
9	We popped out for lunch which meant that the chicks were locked in for most of the day.  So, I gave them a bunch of cauliflower leaves and chard/spinach from the garden.  Tat, Salt & Pepper demolished that in minutes.  At the start, Tat and Pepper were monopolising the bunch, so Salt just waited for Tat to tear of a piece of leaf and then stole it from her mouth - what a cheeky chick!
10	Pepper tried to get in the closed study window today.  She could see me as I was standing at the window using the printer.  Salt jumped up on the table, but that wasn't good enough for Pepper,  She jumped up to the windowsill, but it's not quite wide enough to accommodate her.
11	Temperature is forecast at -4C tonight.  All the chicks except Lacey went into the nest.  She perched outside alone but we were worried she would get too cold, so lifted her into the nest with the others.
12	Lacey was lifted into the nest again, but Salt & Pepper heard us and came out.  Silly girls.
13	Lacey was in the nest, then she came out so I started to clean it.  Unfortunately she hadn't laid, so she then paced about, desperate to lay an egg, poor thing.  I had put the old nest material in the wheelbarrow, so I tried to tempt her into a temporary nest there, but she wasn't interested.  Once she could get back in, she did lay pretty quickly!
14	Clover rested after a hard day's work in the garden.....
15	I put corn out for the chicks this morning but Pepper wanted raisins.  She followed me in the back door, jumped up onto the wicker trunk and pecked at the raisin bag to get my attention.
16	I caught Tat in a rare private moment and fed her a whole digestive biscuit as a special treat.  Lucky chick!
17	Salt is the new Tat - she's laid for 10 consecutive days.
18	Caught Salt & Pepper begging biscuit from our workmen earlier - have they no decorum?
19	I swear I could take Pepper out for a walk - she just follows me everywhere when I go outside.
20	18 eggs in total last December and 49 so far this month.  What a difference the young ones are making.
21	Pepper was so under my feet when I was trying to top up the food bowls that I stood on her toe.  She didn't seem to mind so I guess it didn't hurt.  She certainly proves the premise "no sense, no feeling".
22	Pepper nearly got squished in the door earlier, as someone came into the house not realising she was following right on their heels.  One day, she'll come to harm if she's not careful.
23	Not much mention of Aggie this month but she's still looking beautiful, although a bit nervous and skittish just now.
24	I lost count of the times pepper made it into the lobby and got her head in the sultana bag.  I'm going to have to move the food, I think.
25	A Christmas egg from each of our three layers - Lacey, Salt & Pepper.  And Christmas treats for all the chicks as Crow's daughters brought them a special wild bird feed, full of treats.  But they were all early to bed as they tired of the constant rain downpour.
26	Lovely days for the chicks in great contrast to yesterday's rain.  Crow brought Clover out to my lap for some food but she didn't last long there as a marauding Pepper took over, making quite a mess of my coat with her dirty feet in the process!
27	I've said it before but Clover is so, so cuddly when she broods.  No pecking, she lets me pick her up and hold her in one hand while I fasten the nest back up, then carry her all the way to the table for food.  And boy, is it warm under that tummy!
28	The funniest ever sight was Pepper falling off the wicker basket because she couldn't see due to the sultana bag over her head.  She put her head in the bag to steal sultanas then raised her head and got a bit confused!
29	At last, perhaps Clover is coming out of broodiness.  She seems to be out & about with the others a bit more, although we still have to block the nest at bed time to stop her going in there for the night.
30	Everything seems to be about Pepper - the naughty one.  I had a plastic bag of veggie peelings, destined for the compost bin, standing in the car port.  Pepper broke into it and made of with a big piece of red pepper which obviously took her fancy.
31	Three good layers this month: Salt 26, Pepper 25 and Lacey 22 (and 3 from Clover before she went broody).  Salt had the honour of laying the 800th egg of the year with Pepper fast behind producing number 801.
	eggs this month
	eggs this year