The Almost Monthly Egg Report

The year's at the spring And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven -
All's right with the world!
- R. Browning

That pretty much sums up this glorious day - the third in a row of blue skies and golden sunshine. (We won't talk about the many days of cold and wet preceding today...) Much has happened. Gardens are being planted. Chicks have been raised, have grown up and some are already in the freezer. Predators have had their day, too. Three attacks, no less. Gone are several chickens - not sure how many, ALL twenty, four-week old turkey poults (that was a SAD day), and two ducks. Two of the four remaining ducks are sitting ferociously on their eggs, so much so that I cannot collect any more eggs until they are finally done. Being a beginner at all this, I am not even sure we had a male duck, so all their determined, laudable motherly efforts might be totally in vain. The baby Buff Orpingtons have doubled in size since their group photo last month. We slowly integrated them into the existing flock. Now they are all together and everything seems to be copasetic. Except I think Doodle-Doo is a bit more confused with twice the number of hens running around him. He also has bcome more aggressive toward me - three surprise attacks - one while my back was turned (a favorite rooster trick) and twice while I was cleaning the egg boxes. I yell at him mightily each time. The sheep have been out on the pasture for the last week and a half and are very happily munching the fresh, spring grass. Unfortunately the sheep shearer STILL has not yet come. Hopefully next week. The daffodils and forsythia looked grand, and now the lilacs are blooming with their fragrant purple. The colorful dancing parade of the flower fairies has just begun. Hooray for Lady Spring! Oh yes, the egg report.....the hens are pretty much back up to speed - 10 to 12 eggs a day with the occasional baker's dozen thrown in along with the occasional off day of half a dozen or so.