A Confession, a Competition and a Conundrum

The Confession.

In yesterday's post I may have, inadvertently, suggested that the Governor of Victoria had opened my new shed.  In this regard, I may have made a tiny, weeny mistake.  He was in the town and he did open something, but it wasn't the shed.  He was here because of the newly refurbished community hall.  Sorry if my post was misleading.  :-}

The Competition.

All you have to do to win a two night stay, twin share, in the new shed is to correctly guess the planned use of the said facility.

The suggestions to date have ranged from the practical to the unusual to the very worrying:

• Tool shed
• Mushroom growing facility*
• Potting shed
• Granny Flat
• B and  B for an alpaca
• Milking shed for goats
• Education Facility (definitely not!)
• Massage Parlour*
• Distillery*
• Rustic Japanese Bath House.*
• Garage for an ATV
• Site for a Nativity Play
• A pole dancing studio*
• Home for a new ride-on mower
• Goat house

* I like these suggestions and may change my mind about what I was planning.

Keep those ideas flooding in!

I failed to mention, yesterday, that nothing has been bought for the remodeling.  It was all material hanging around, including some iron and laserlite that had been replaced on the carport roof.

The Conundrum

Why haven't we been getting many eggs?  It is Spring and everyone is talking about the glut of eggs they are getting and pondering ways to use them.  And, last night one of the hens was missing at bed time.

Mmmm!  I began to put two and two together and went hunting and finally I checked under the hedge on the left, just where the spout of the jug is pointing.  This is what I found.

It is a very fluffed up Henny!

When she reluctantly agreed to vacate the hideout this is what was under her.




This leaves me with some dilemmas:

• Are the eggs fertile? (Brewster does a lot of posturing and mounting but I don't think he often makes a 'connection' - if you know what I mean).
• Will she remain on the eggs or lose interest?
• What if a fox or other predator finds her and her eggs?

My possible solutions:

• Move her and her clutch of eggs to the waiting broody house - tonight when it is dark.
• Let her sit a couple of more days to make sure she is going to stick.
• Candle the eggs to see if there is anything in them...if they are fertile, leave them and check again at a later date.
• If they aren't fertile, buy some eggs that are (I can buy them at day 18 or 19...they hatch at 21).  The disadvantage of this is that you can't pick the sex of the chicks.
• Or...get some day old chickens and poke them under her at night so she gets a nice surprise in the morning. The advantage of this is that we are more likely to get hens rather than roosters.

Oh, by the way Henny is a Barred/coloured Leghorn and they don't often go broody.  If the eggs are fertile, it will be a good cross.  Dad is very handsome and mum is a good layer...so pretty chicks with eggs in the future maybe.

Whatever happens, it looks like the flock is expanding.