Most people who keep backyard chickens do so in order to provide themselves with a supply of eggs. But when we first acquired a few chooks, I was so enamoured with their personalities and fascinated by the fact that they were so tameable, that I forgot about the egg thing.
Yes, I had set up nesting boxes and bought a little chookhouse but I was so fond of picking the chickens up and giving them hugs that I didn’t care if they laid eggs or not. Occasionally, out of curiosity, I would look inside the nesting boxes but there were never any eggs anyway.
Then, one day I found a dozen eggs inside an old crate at the back of our garage. They were huge and I knew they must have come from our one and only Isa Brown hen. I was thrilled and we ate them over the next few days – delicious!
But she never laid any eggs there again. In fact I have no idea where she lays her eggs and I can’t follow her around 24/7 can I. Now, since chickens average an egg per day, this means that, having had Isa for around six months now, there must be a couple of hundred eggs … somewhere!
But where? Even she can’t find them!
jmgoyder 
When I was growing up, my parents raised chickens. For collecting the eggs every morning, I got to keep pigeons in the coop, too. I had racing pigeons and tumblers. I loved watching the tumblers somersault in the sky. Made for a great memory!
Excuse the ignorance, but what is a tumbler?
They’re pigeons that some racers use to lead their racing pigeons into the coop. You don’t win when your pigeon lands on the roof, but when they go inside the coop. A tumbling pigeon stays and flies closer to home, and when they want to show off, they do somersaults in the air. One of my tumblers liked attention so much, he’d somersault until he’d nearly hit the ground, then take off again. So they’re just another type of pigeon.
This is fascinating! We have wild pigeons everywhere. I am very interested in the tumbling thing. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Julie,
I am enjoying reading your stories……keep them coming. Hope to see you soon! Janine x
Thanks, Janine. I am having a lot of fun with the birds and the blog!
Thanks. I’m enjoying reading about your birds. Indiana doesn’t have nearly as may wild birds as you do, I’m sure. But I enjoy watching the ones we have.
Indiana may well have more wild birds. I am a bird novice but am becoming much more observant.
I belong to a writers’ group, and one of our members is a retired naturalist who writes tons of articles about birds. I love it when Neil reads. I learn so much. He took a small group of us to a small nature park in northwest Indiana where sandhill cranes gather to feed before they migrate south. It was an inspiring evening. Their call is so unique, I don’t know which I liked better–listening to them or seeing them. I’m lucky to know him.
Wish I could meet this Neil!
Funny and I love it.
In a hundred years someone will find thousands of fossilised eggs – in meantime I have to buy them!
Perhaps some little animal or other wild bird is eating them?
mmm
First, if you ever do find them… then pick them up ever so gingerly!!! Old eggs build up gas inside and can explode! (voice of experience here – GACK!!!) Second, try putting a false egg into your nest boxes. Some people buy wooden or clay ones, some use plastic Easter eggs, and one person I read about actually put in a golf ball! Point is, that seeing the egg in the nest is a clue about where they are supposed to put their eggs. Hope this helps. ~ Lynda
This is great advice – thanks, Lynda
I will try a golf ball first! Julie