Personally, I have always thought this a very silly
argument. Has an egg EVER just appeared?
Well…in fact…YES!
The other morning, as I did the dishes, I gazed out the
window, surveying the bit of the world in the backyard. It was a lovely Spring day: flowers blooming,
trees budding, birds singing…and an egg on top of the grape arbor. WHAT?
I looked again. Yep, there really was an egg on the grape arbor.
I questioned the Boss.
I thought perhaps he thought it would be funny to see if I would notice.
He occasionally likes to tease me all the time. His bewildered WHAT? only proved that he had NO idea what I was
talking about.
When I investigated further, the “egg” was just a
shell. THE RAVEN ( Ellie’s nemesis) must
have stolen one of Ellie’s treasures, taken it to safer ground for
feasting without cleaning up after
himself. At least that is my hypothesis. THE RAVEN has been observed repeatedly
in the backyard scooping up “treasures” and flying away with them. Short of installing a “farm-cam” we will never
know some of the strange things that happen around here.
The Spring of the year is the height of egg production. The hens are laying an enormous amount of
eggs and they cannot be counted on to lay all those eggs in the nest
boxes. They occasionally lay on the
ground, in the feeders, and by the feeders.
Much to the Boss’ frustration, a good number of the pullets lay their
eggs on the floor of the henhouse. He is very discriminating in his
selection for the Market. The very dirty or questionable eggs are never offered
for sale.
When he gathers and then washes the eggs, any cracks or
undesirable eggs are discarded. This is
Ellie Mae’s favorite part of the day. To say Ellie loves her eggs is a somewhat
of an understatement.
She will take an intact egg gently in her mouth and carry it
around for a long time, searching for just the right spot. She will then lick the entire egg clean,
savoring each morsel of dirt and grime. Then, she will carry it from place to place, trying to find the perfect
place to eat it. Once she finds the
perfect spot, she will gently crack it open and eat the yolk and white. Occasionally, she will eat the shell as well.
Ellie often tries to get Jed to participate. He does not seem appreciate the great egg
treat. She will show him the egg and
attempt to tease him into playing with her. He is generally uninterested in her
“doggie-gourmet” offerings, he would rather eat sheep feed or wait for the
occasional dog cookie. The eggshells don’t seem to agree with him at all.
The crows and the RAVEN seem to enjoy the eggs as well, much
to Ellie’s displeasure. They have been
observed swooping in among the chickens to steal the eggs laid on the
ground. We have seen them fly down into
the compost pile and root around for eggs as well. Ellie’s crow battles are legendary. You need to read THIS. But, the crows and the RAVEN are cagey creatures. I have yet to photograph them in the act of
egg stealing. The only evidence I have
is circumstantial at best…and the fact that the crows will sit up in the trees
laughing raucously at Ellie’s displays of annoyance at their blatant thievery.
So, I am left to my theorizing about the egg on the grape
arbor…
Yesterday, I found an eggshell in the haystack in the barn… Maybe we should invest in a “farm cam”!
Yesterday, I found an eggshell in the haystack in the barn… Maybe we should invest in a “farm cam”!
No comments:
Post a Comment