Operation Egg Drop

This day was set up to be a challenging day. Today, my parents went back home, which is always a challenging day for my kid especially. And with all the work on the party done, i thought i would give myself the day off to have some fun in Sumner and tool around my favourite garden centre and thrift stores down there--a sort of reward for my efforts of last week and a refueling of my soul for the patience that was going to be needed for the afternoon, once Ri was out of school, without her beloved grandparents, and with her Daddy working until late-o'clock tonight. :o( Certainly there were going to be some behavioural challenges.

I had just gotten on the freeway toward my destination when the phone rang. It was the extremely nice stranger i mentioned in the last post who offered us eggs! I rang her back yesterday, after doing a little research, and asked if we could have some Ameraucana eggs. They read as another sweet and charming breed like the Orpingtons we have, minus the good at brooding trait. :o) She also has Cuckoo Marans, which are supposed to be docile too, and lay rust coloured eggs. It was a tough choice. She has exquisite tastes in birds though, and i can see why she's won ribbons at the chicken shows she's entered.

Anywho, she had called to let me know she had some eggs with her for me and they were ready to be mommied. So after i picked up some squash and tomato plants, i headed back to her shop to pick up the eggs.

Aren't they sooooo beautiful?!?!

After talking for a few minutes, i rushed home and realised how perplexing it would be to introduce these eggs to our Mamacita. Meringue usually eats the eggshells of the eggs i've used. I was so worried that she was going to bust these, that i could only bring myself to put one next to her. At first she pecked at me and then she just looked at it. After a few minutes of telling her what a good mommy chicken she was going to be, i laid another down next to her. Then i remembered something the woman said this morning: if another chicken comes in and laid an egg in that nest, Mamacita will pull it underneath her and sit on it. So i waited. Then i started putting the other eggs in with her and i saw her rear up and try to open her beak to pick up the egg, my heart started racing. I was so afraid she was going to bust into it and eat it. But then she started hudging it with her beak toward her tummy. So i put the rest of the eggs in around the edges of the nest and she positioned them just so. Then she started settling in and making herself cozy. Don't you just love it when an animal lets you witness something so instinctual? It's like what i imagine receiving a blessing from the Pope is like. :o) I started talking to her some more and she really started ruffling up the neck feathers, so the Momma instinct has really shifted into high gear, now that she has a clutch to sit on.

Later i went back in and she allowed me to snap a photo of her. These 3 weeks are seemingly going to be the longest in my life since i was pregnant with Ri!! :o)

I am super worried that she'll be an obsessive chicken and not eat or drink or deficate for so long that she'll parish. But i have to remember that she is just an animal--she'll know what to do, or if not, it'll help with that law of nature "Survival of the fittest".

Since the other two chicas are showing no signs of becoming brooders and are completely unpredictable, i let them out of the coop to free range while i played God with Meringue. :o) When we would route her out of the coop, Vicki and Lil Miss would just give her the once over--nudging her making sure she was okay, yet still taking earthworms or food away from her when we would try to give her a little extra--the chicken equivalent of the "Are you going to eat that?" food swipe, eh?

Well, i'd say they got their payback today. Ever wonder what a chicken looks like after it's been in a downpour??

a drowned rat!

This is Lil Miss after a few minutes in the rain. Poor thing. Maybe since she's a Seattle chicken, she needs a little Rain-X for her feathers--ha ha!

Then below here is Victoria--aka Vicki.

If i was a chicken, i'd be in the coop on a miserable day like today, but ours don't seem to mind. Maybe that is because we have such lazy birds...today is a great day for earthworms! They found a whole earthworm highway in the driveway and feasted for minutes!

I hope these girls are going to make very kind aunts to Mamacita's flock when they hatch!!

And also, if you are in the Seattle area and are reading this blog (i thank you) and i would like to recommend the shop that my new acquaintance works at--Marine View Floral. They have such lovely displays there--the mom (my new friend) is a floral designer and her daughter owns the shop. They have beautiful items for sale too--very chic and charming altogether. They are very kind and have a beautiful dog named Ellie that gives you a very warm greeting at the door. As soon as i get a little $$$ saved, i am planning on going back to purchase a wonderfully pink cake platter they have there! :o)