The egg count has been a little low for the past few weeks and guess who’s not putting forth a regular contribution to City Boy Hens. If you guessed Swiffer.. then you are correct. Now, I know there’s going to be a few of you out there who will be sure to defend Swiffer by asking how I know that it is she that is not laying.
Well…as any self-respecting chicken owner will attest, I can tell which hen lays each particular egg. It also helps that I only have 3 hens on my urban homestead. At City Boy Hens, Honda lays a large egg that is slightly elongated. Rosie’s contribution is gigantic (extra-large) and Swiffer lays an egg that is not too far off from the size of a Ping-Pong ball. Okay…I may be exaggerating a bit, but it is definitely the SMALLEST egg each day!
So.. in the last few weeks, some of the “smallest” eggs have been missing from the coop. Initially, I thought it was odd that Swiffer would be slowing down so soon, considering that she only began laying last October. But then again, nothing that Swiffer does is too surprising because she has always been a bit of a strange chicken.
Anyways, this morning I went out to feed the hens and collect the eggs. As I walked past the cedar hedge, something caught my eye. There, nestled around some dried leaves was…..an egg….THE SIZE OF A PING PONG BALL!!!!!! There was no second guessing. This was Swiffer’s egg!
Well…Swiffer, you’ve managed to lower the bar AGAIN!!! Now….. you’ve taken it upon yourself to not even bother to lay your egg in the coop. What’s the problem? Are the “digs” not good enough for you? Feel like your slummin’ it at City Boy Hens?
It’s bad enough that you won’t use the nest box, but now you’ve taken it upon yourself to just start dropping your eggs around the backyard where ever you see fit! Ah…..Hello???? The backyard is not even that big. I’ve seen how far you can run when I come out with some vegetable snacks. Surely, you could waddle your lazy ass back over to the coop in order to deposit your egg.
Is this some kind of joke?????? Do you think I’m going to start a covert operation every day in order to find your egg????? Is this some kind of Easter Egg prank???? It’s bad enough that you picked on Rosie for a month, that you took forever to actually start laying eggs and that you lay the SMALLEST EGG every day, but now you are going to hide them for me to find. Let me tell you what’s coming down the pipe. Look into the crystal ball. Do you see a large soup pot with a fresh free-range chicken flavoring the broth? No???????????…………….. LOOK CLOSER!!!!!!
In the mean time…all free-ranging for you will be strictly curtailed until one Ping-Pong sized egg appears in the coop each day. No egg………no recreation time! The decision is yours. Man…I can’t believe you……….even after I wrote a great post about you last week!
City Boy Hens 
Maybe poor Swiffer is upset she didn’t get her OWN Nest box…I mean, why does she have to share? (You have a really nice coop by the way).
She is such a beautiful hen! I love reading about her antics 🙂
Hi BCL,
Thanks for dropping by. There are actually 2 nest boxes in there and Swiffer continues to lay her egg on the floor of the coop! Strange chicken.
Regards,
CB
Haha – Swiffer seems like quite the character! I’ll bet she just likes to do things her way! Thanks for the laugh.
HI Vickie,
She is a strange chicken. Thanks for dropping by.
Regards,
CB
What you got there is one sassy hen! Or maybe she loves you so much she wants to make sure you’ve got something fun to write about 🙂
HI Joan,
Sassy is one way to say it. SAUCEY MMMmmmmmmmm! Might be another!
Thanks for your comment,
Regards,
CB
She’s a hoot! Hello, new follower visiting from The Homestead Barn Hop. I love all the special little cut-outs and touches inside your coop such as the ramps to the nest box and the waterer platform. I would love to have you link up at my weekly Clever Chicks Blog Hop! This week’s just started: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/06/clever-chicks-blog-hop-40-and-henbag.html
I hope you can make it!
Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com
HI Kathy,
Thanks for your comments. Thanks for the Blog Hop invite. I hope “Non-Chicks” are welcome!
Congrats on your article in Chickens Mag. last month.
Regards,
CB
We’re an equal opportunity blog hop, CB. 😉 Thanks for linking up!
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
Hey City Boy,
I have a couple of hens who like to leave their eggs all over kingdom come too 🙂 Although I don’t know which ones, because I have over 20 hens (down from over 60…way too many!).
You need more chickens and more antics!
HI Lisa Lynn,
3 hens is enough. I am illegally flying under the radar with one hen that gets pretty noisy sometimes! Thanks for your comments and the hop!
Regards,
CB
I think the digs look quite posh. Much nicer than our coop. 😉 Thank you for linking to the HomeAcre Hop. I hope to see you back this week: http://everythinghomewithcarol.com/the-self-sufficient-homeacre-hop-5/
ooo I have one hen doing that at the moment too. And I did consider the nofreetime approach. You can pop by to read about my Freckles at http://findingfifth.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/a-freckles-stash.html Also I got the idea from Clever Chicks Kathy to put some curtains up over my nesting boxes and it worked for the rest of the chickens. Apparently they do like a bit of privacy. Lovely to find your link on the Down Home blog hop.
Haha, such a cute story 🙂 Thanks for joining the Creative HomeAcre Hop, the link is up for this week — please come join us again!
Cheers, Andrea
Oh gosh, too funny! It is frustrating when they don’t lay in their nesting boxes. I have one who lays in such weird spots!
PS – I love your coop! It looks like an awesome setup.
Visiting from the Backyard Farming Connection Hop.
HI Tammy,
Thanks for the compliment.
Regards,
CB