I put "our" in quotes because she hasn't decided whether she belongs to us or not yet.
Our neighbors across the street had 3 hens when we moved in. I think it was the second time we came to look at the house, that the hens were on the lawn of what would be our house! I thought, cool! Someone else in the neighborhood has chickens.
Well, two of their hens got killed by a raccoon, and they were down to just one. And one hen by herself is not a happy hen. Plus, their garden is in the backyard, with nothing protecting it from the chicken(s). And so they decided to give Muesli the hen away, and perhaps start from scratch when they've got some kind of fence up around their garden.
They offered Muesli to us, and we decided to go ahead and take her. But the problem is that she knows where home is--just across the street! She's only slept in our coop one night, the night they brought her over and we shut her in immediately. Since then, she comes and hangs out in the daytime and goes back to her favorite hedge to sleep in at the neighbors' house.
She has been a good companion hen for Louise, who lost her hen friend Thelma last May when a raccoon killed her. Louise seems lately to be feeling her age (I actually have no idea how old she is) and has been doing a lot of laying around.
And Muesli has laid us one egg! The delicately-colored robin's egg blue one on top is hers.
3 comments:
What a beautiful egg, and what a cute hen! I hope Muesli learns where she's supposed to sleep soon.
A question about hens. Does a hen lay the same color egg every time, or does it vary by season/diet/moon phase?
No, they pretty much lay the same color egg every time. I suppose it may vary by diet, but the only variation I've seen with that seems to have to do with strength of the shell, and the less-strong ones would be a bit lighter than usual. I can usually tell who has laid their egg by looking at what color and shape and size they are.
forgot the name of that chicken breed, but we had one that laid green eggs. had her about 10yrs. lived a long time.
i think if you lock her up in the coop for a couple weeks, she will stay home.
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