My Babies Become Women

I've been pondering the problem of making nests for the chickens. I had no idea when they would begin to lay eggs, but I knew I needed to prepare. I couldn't think of what to do, since their house is so small. Trying to give them an illusion of privacy in there seemed an unsolvable problem.

It seems that the chickens' biological clock was ticking faster than I thought. These eight eggs were all together under the shorter ladder I had placed near the door as a second roost. They haven't used it, since they prefer to huddle together on the top two rungs of the other, bigger ladder. I don't know how long the eggs have been accumulating. They were not obvious there in the corner, the same color as the wood shavings around them. In any case, the big event happened without fanfare or even acknowledgment.

Now I know where to put their nests, though, and it happens that I just recently thought of what to make them with. I have an unused medicine chest with a central shelf. If I take the door off and lay it on its back, it makes two chicken-sized compartments. I'll fill them with bedding and stick them under the ladder. Two nests is enough for three chickens, so I've read. I'm sorry I didn't have a nicer place for them earlier, but they seemed to manage anyway.

My girls have grown up.