We've solved the mystery of the missing eggs

I previously complained about the small number of eggs that we've been getting, and we had been puzzling over how it was possible to find eight eggs on the first day, and then no more than three on each following day.  Well, we've solved the mystery of the missing eggs.

Back when we first constructed the chicken yard, Mike and I both had a hunch that the girls would take advantage of the mostly dead, hollow crab apple tree in the yard to lay in.  Despite this concern, we didn't do anything to block off the inside of the tree, and hadn't thought to look inside of the tree since the girls began laying, despite the paltry number of eggs we've been getting.  On Sunday, we were out saying hello to the girls when we noticed that a rhode island red and an aracauna were perched on the side of the tree.  It was cute.  When we went into the yard, the rhode island red hopped out of the tree, but the aracauna held her ground (this would be a theme of the afternoon).

Aww, chickens in a tree

I'm not getting out

We quickly realized that the girls were probably in the tree for a reason, and so Mike peered into the hole.  Looking back up at him was yet another rhode island red, and when he saw her little chicken eyes, we knew that we had a nest situation.  Mike plucked her out of the tree, and sure enough, the girls had quite a stash of eggs in the hollow, including three blue eggs.

Tree nest of eggs - 24 in all

Tree eggs laid out

The rhode island red had just laid an egg, so I put that in my pocket.  We didn't know how old the rest of the eggs were, though, so we decided to give them to Bullet and Lily to be on the safe side.  In retrospect, it was a bad idea to give each dog a dozen eggs for lunch, and the puppy gas that lasted throughout the evening taught us never to be so generous again.  It was truly heinous for us, although the dogs seemed undisturbed.

To prevent any future use of the tree as a nest, Mike wrapped all of the openings to the trunk with several layers of the netting that we had used last weekend to shore up the fence.  The girls, in particular, the aracuana and the rhode island red who were occupying the tree when we arrived, did not like this development. 

Hey, what's going on up there?

Okay, maybe we can just squeeze in through the bottom

Um, hello, I can't get in here fella

Seriously confused chicken

These two would not accept that the tree was now off limits, and couldn't figure out the netting.  It was a very confusing day to be a chicken.  Already since we blocked off the tree, though, we've had two eggs in the nest box, so I'm hopeful that this will straighten out some of the laying issues. 

Since we had traumatized the girls by taking away what was clearly their favorite place to lay, I tried to make amends with some leftover peanut noodles.  I know that these are my chickens, because their favorite human foods are tofu, rice, noodles, avocados, and vegetables.  So I thought that peanut noodles with veggies and tofu would be a good treat, and I was right.  The girls immediately flocked around me, and Alice was bold enough to try to grab noodles from my hand as I dropped them down to her.

The girls love noodles

Alice, mid noodle grab

Alice in all her glory

I'm glad that we've determined that the girls are laying more than 2-3 eggs a day, and that we truly do have chickens that lay blue eggs.  Taperman is also glad that the likelihood of his receiving a dozen eggs has substantially increased!