So, I realize I have neglected posting about the chickens. We added a third to the flock. We started off with D'Brickashaw and Tony Romo. They did not get along with the new girl, and Romo was especially mean, so eventually we named her Jessica Simpson. And for a while, all was well in the back yard. My regular computer's fan has died, so there will be no pictures of the following, I'll try to do what I can.

At first, I just thought they couldn't share the nest box. Jessica was clucking around the porch, looking in little spaces, so I figured she needed a place to lay. I noticed her foot was bleeding, and it's because she kept trying to get in the nest with Tony Romo, who was making crazy noises and pecking her every time she tried it.

The next day, I saw her happily snuggling with Romo in the box, and thought, "Oh, how nice, they're getting along!" When Romo was through laying, he popped out and Jessica started cooing and stretched herself out over the eggs. I went inside to have some breakfast. And when I came out, I busted her in the nest box with egg on her face and  everything. What I thought were maternal noises was actually a nom nom song. I had to clean out the whole coop so it won't smell like  rotten egg.

So today I've been reading a lot about what you can do when this  happens, and a lot of people seem to think it's incurable. They say it's  time for a chicken dinner, but I can't do that with something I've  given first aid to. When the other chickens pecked the crap out of her  feet, I caught her and washed them and sprayed her toes with Neosporin.

 

 

Anyway,  what you can do is get golf balls and put them in the nest, so when the  offender tries to peck them, she gets nothing. We tried that this  morning, and D'Brickashaw wouldn't go in the nest... just kept making  this noise that sounded like the aliens from Sesame Street (nope, nope,  nope, nope, nope, nope, nope).

So I captured Simpson and stuck her back  in the run and pulled the golf balls back out, and then Romo would lay,  but D'Brickashaw just kept trying to make a nest on the bag of pine  shavings we keep on the porch. And I'm thinking I really didn't want to  clean up a broken egg on the porch, so I just dumped the shavings out  for her. She was wailing and making all this noise, but she calmed down  right away once she had a nest. I wound up with two eggs, put the golf  balls back in the nest and let Jessica back out, who went directly into  the nest box for snacks. And she pecked all the golf balls (yes, they are really that dumb). The moral of the story is, Tony Romo was right.

In closing, I feel fortunate that this is one thing I  don't have to worry about. I'm pretty sure no one is going to sneak  into labor and delivery to try to eat my baby. But I might bring a doll just in  case.