Robin in Residence

Nate called me when I was on my way home today, to let me know of the surprise he found in the chicken coop. He informed me that we must have had a robin lay an egg in the nesting box. Along with the ten typical sized eggs, was this bit of an egg. Obviously it is from one of the aruacanas, because it is light green-blue in color.

Why the picture on the stairs you ask? Was I setting my husband up for a slippery surprise? No, these were Nate's house project for this week. They are a vast improvement on the previous climbers. Think 90 year old farmhouse. Think cracks, creaks, popping nails, and wobbles. Think inferior building: instead of three stringers (the long boards that are notched and form the frame for your stairs) think two stringers, and then the triangle cut-out pieces nailed to the old log wall to form a stringer along the wall side. Yeah really, if it weren't so dark outside I would go and take a picture of what he took out. How many thousands of feet have walked, stomped, stumbled on those hazard ridden stairs? Not to mention how many times feet have slipped and butts have hit those slippery, too short treads? (Mine did last week, not pretty. Picture black and blue on a posterior region, in the shape of Australia.) I feel your grimace, right in my ***.

Ok, back to poultry news. We moved the chicks, who are now closer to chickens, out to the coop this past week. They do not venture out too far into the yard, but are happy with the extra room. We also have three duck hens setting on nests full of eggs right now. I am hopeful we get some ducklings. Henrietta, our Japanese fantail bantam, has been setting for the past few weeks, and I was expecting chicks any day. For some reason she left her nest for quite a while today, so I'm not as optimistic that there will be babies this go around. This would be the third year she has hatched out her own offspring, so I am not going to question her abilities.