Egg shoping

It was a joint decision. Neva and I decided it is time to start cheating.

We were chicken shopping, and needless to say, the babies were irresistable. We chose six various sorts which birds. Neva determined she would name them after the greek gods. I only remember Venus, but she remembers other female goddesses with splendor to match that of our new puff ball chicks.  Meanwhile, outside they had three full grown fat, speckled black and white Brahams that were raised by a little old lady who sat on the porch rocking with her chickens (this sounds like a used car salesman tactic, but I believe the lady at the Chicken store, and I honestly think some old gal really did rock these happy little birds. They certainly seem tame.) Best of all, I’m told these girls are already laying one egg a day.

That’s enough for me. SOLD!

So we just brought home some full grown egg layers. We think. I put them in the pen and the boys went crazy. They kept jumping on the girls, pecking at them. I think the birds were fighting to establishing pecking order because new birds are entering an already established kingdom, afterall. But Neva said “I think the boys are trying to mount them, don’t you?”

I stood there a minute trying to determine how I felt about my daughter using the word “mount” She accepted what was (maybe) going on, awfully matter of factly. Ah well, she is a country girl now. What did I expect?
 
We watched a few minutes, but had to get to the house to set up the little chicks under a heat lamp. They are only a few days old and so they are delicate. We now have chickens in various stages to observe and raise. We have the three mid-sized Lucy’s (a few weeks old). The greek goddesses, only days old. Full grown hens having a wild time out with the boys….. we hope. Now that I think of it, it’s a fine FLEX replacement. I have my Mini movement chicks, my dance combo chicks and my program chicks. All in different stages of nurturing as I wait for the day they will come into their own.

The store also had some rare japaneese adult girl chickens that lay an egg a day, but they were small, strange looking birds. I don’t mind strange, but  little eggs? I’ll skip that. 

Anyway, tonight I’m wondering if tomorrow I’ll find eggs in one of the nests. Maybe it will take a few days for the new girls to get comfortable enough to leave us a gift – they might need time to adjust –  or maybe it needs to be warmer before they start laying again. But then again, they may just start laying right away and tomorrow Neva and I might be eating a very special breakfast. Yehaw, I can’t wait to see what happens.

So, I guess you can say we cheated and fast forwarded things to get immediate egg-gratification. Will we get lucky? Tonight I will dream of eggs. The question is, will I be eating them tomorrow . . . or simply ploting yet another way to get birds ready to do their duty?