Hens and Chainsaws

We've got a real nice hen house here with a dandy roost and five nifty nesting boxes each lined with soft wood shavings. It's an comfy place for them to lay their eggs and that's pretty much what they've done up until now. They've tended to favor a couple of the nesting boxes and have been noted to lay their eggs on the house floor, but that's all. Until now, that is.

The shop here is an enclosed space in the pole barn and outside the shop are shelves with all sorts of tools and gear stored. It's a covered but open area. On the bottom shelf are our two chainsaws. It's a hard shelf, something you just wouldn't want to sit on. But hens are strange birds and for no good reason two of the hens have decided that that shelf and between the two saws is where they want to lay their eggs. I have to admit it, they just don't think the way I do about a good place to lay eggs.

There may be a reason they do this: when out during the day they like to hang out under the shop and it's a closer place to lay than a trip back to the hen house.

You may think I'm a bit obsessed with these hens and it's true that I find them fascinating, but there's more to it than that. There's a lot less going on out here, fewer distractions and action. So things like the hens, our cat, the birds, and the newts in the pond are more noticed. Even the constant activity of the moles, it all stands out more clearly. So if you're not trying to do too much all the time it's a lot easier to see what's in front of you. And sometimes it's amusing as all get out.