Signs of Spring

Spring has come tip-toeing in this year.  And despite being nearly a week into spring, we have seen only a few signs of its entrance.  Because we have 6+ inches of snow blanketing the fields around us, I thought I'd share a few of the subtle signs of spring I've noticed...

Easter egg hunts...

Crocus and other spring flowers...

Kids & Chicks...

And super cute chicks...the little one is sleeping on the bigger one's back...

So fret not the snow...for spring is on its way!

When the Chickens are Chicken...

With all the snow and colder temps that have stuck around from the end of December through the beginning of this year, the chickens (until today) have been hesitant...squeamish...well, just plain CHICKEN about coming out of the coop!  

Here they are on New Year's Day - perched on the threshold of the chicken door.  I imagine their conversation to be like kids looking outside on a cold winter day, wondering if it's going to be worth their while to go out and play when it's down-right frigid out there.  The hens ultimately decided that it was not worth their while.  Which, in some ways, may have been correct since there would be no worm for the early bird to get.  

Despite the fact that all our hens are "winter hardy", my guess is they're all wishing they had flown south with the rest of the snow birds.  

Carpe Di-HEN

Many of us are familiar with the latin phrase "carpe diem" meaning "seize the day."  

'Round these here parts, we Carpe Di-hen...this is how the chicks "seize the day!" 

Nesting

Let me give you a little background from the past week - 
Sunday night, Roxanne, the woman who boards her horses behind our house, came to our door with a coffee can full of eggs.  Evidently, the girls had been laying their eggs in the horses' hay in the barn.  Ryan and I had been wondering if they had been laying eggs outside of the coop, as we seemed to only get one egg each day (which seemed a little too...coordinated?!..shall we say, for our chickens).  

So I was distraught. 
The nail-biting and lip-chewing commenced.  
Why didn't they want to lay in their home??  

I felt like Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore...
"Are you too good for your Hooommmee??"  

Ryan and I pondered.  And we deliberated.  And then it struck me - they hadn't had a chance to make the laying boxes (which we had recently added) home.  Many a' pregnant woman can tell you - the nesting instinct can be strong.  Who wants to bring home their child (or in our case, their precious egg) to a unprepared, muddled mess??  

So Ryan stuffed the laying boxes with even more straw and we left the girls in the coop for two days straight.  They needed some concentrated time to make these boxes "home".  And nesting they did! 

So much so, in fact, that the second day this is what Ryan found - 

THREE EGGS IN THE SAME NEST!!! Evidently, there had been some competition for this particular box.  Everyone wants the corner lot, I guess.

And today, this is what I came home to - 

An egg (or two) in three out of the four laying boxes!!  

That goes to show - with a little nesting...a little effort to make one's environment "home"...we can let down our guard, and eggs, to relax in comfort and familiarity.