The Mystery Layer

We had a mystery layer. 

When we only had two laying chickens, we found an egg that looked much different from Penny’s white eggs and Oreo’s oblong pinkish brown eggs. It was more of an orb shape and a bit darker brown. We found it on a Sunday afternoon after church in a nest that hadn’t had an egg in it yet. It was cold and none of the chickens were giving up their secret as we inspected and interrogated each brown egg laying chicken. We suspected Sparky was the newest layer. However, we could not be sure. She had been showing all the signs that she was ready to start laying for a couple of weeks, but so had Daisy. It was time to be on egg watch. I calculated the approximate time the mystery egg was probably laid. Then figured out the earliest time the chicken would lay again. 

On Monday we were all on high alert. Checking the coop almost hourly to see who would jump in the box. We were so disappointed when Oreo was the only chicken that showed any interest in the boxes and she laid a very oblong pinkish brown egg. No other chicken laid on Monday. Super bummer. 

On Tuesday we went into the coop in the morning and there was another egg. None of the chickens were anywhere near the boxes when we approached the coop. And none of them were talking. Except to let us know they wanted out of the coop. Not one of them had the afterglow of laying an egg and none of them were singing their song.  {{ humph }}  This is such a frustrating dilemma. I have been meticulous with recording who has laid an egg on each day. 

On Wednesday Oreo graciously gave us an egg. But no other excitement in the egg diaries.

Thursday we kept checking the coop every hour and again every time we heard any amount of clucking at all. Around noon we heard some clucking and decided to go check. There we saw an egg in one box that looked just like the other two mystery eggs. Daisy was in a different box clucking out a song with all her soul. Peaking in there we saw a cute tiny little beige egg! It looks nothing like the mystery egg from Sunday and nothing like the egg in the box next to her. Daisy laid her first egg! It was so cute and she was so proud. She got out of the box a little while later all the while still clucking and placing straw on her back. Even after she was out of the box.

This made us deduce that Sparky was our mystery layer. But we hadn't found her in a box yet. That Friday our goal was to catch Sparky in the act. Checking the coop constantly we were determined that this would be the day we would confirm she was the layer. How hard could this be? Checking the coop every half hour I was sure we would catch her. Harder than you would think. We did eventually find her in a box laying late that afternoon. Watching her, we watched Sparky go in and do her thing then jump out. Total time was less than 30 minutes, a very efficient chicken indeed. In the 13 days she has been laying, she has given us 9 eggs. Not bad for a chicken who just started laying.