A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Rachel came into the house the other day saying, “Mom put some shoes on and come with me.”

I’ve learned not to question, but just go. We went into the neighbor’s yard while I tried to guess what lie ahead without asking aloud, “Is there a chicken next door?” or “Have more quail escaped?”

I followed Rachel through the fence in the back of the neighbor’s yard, and there in the corner was a little “nest” with five eggs.

missing eggsIt seems the younger chickens, who had just begun to lay, were unsure exactly where they were supposed to put their eggs.

We do have three very nice nest boxes complete with wood shavings, but sometimes the nest boxes are occupied so I guess the younger chicks gave up and went elsewhere.

We briefly considered giving the eggs to the neighbors as rent payment for the chicken’s use of their yard, but realized we had no idea how long they had been there and did not want to inflict rotten eggs on anyone – especially our neighbors.

This does solve the mystery of why we were getting so few eggs. We assumed it was the hot weather, but clearly, we just weren’t looking in the right place.

Silly humans forgot–chickens don’t always do what you want.