Spring is in full bloom, if not in the world at large just yet, at least in the chicken coop.
Our three happy hens — Snow, Nellie and Hope — are relishing the longer, warmer days by spending hours on end cavorting in their pen. They peck. They scratch. They preen. They chatter. They squawk with glee whenever they see The Treat Dispenser (aka, me) approaching from afar. (Chickens have very keen eyesight, which is useful in spotting predators, edible creppy crawlies and human purveyors of snacks.) Gone are the windy, snowy, bitterly cold days of winter, when “the girls” remained holed up in the coop even during the day, emerging only long enough to grab some feed and sip a bit of water.
But the real proof that spring has sprung on Planet Chicken, the irrefutable evidence that we have turned the corner despite lingering mounds of snow and still-chilly mornings, is in the math. By which I mean the number of eggs the hens have laid of late.
The stats tell the tale.
December 2014: 6 eggs (all in the first week)
January 2015: 0 eggs
February 2015: 8 eggs (all in the last week)
March 2015: 60 eggs
That's right: 60 eggs. It's not a typo. That averages out to about two eggs per day for the month of March, and it's the highest monthly total we've recorded since last September. It's an impressive performance for three hens who produced a combined total of only 14 eggs during the three-month stretch from December through February. Against that backdrop, 60 eggs over 31 days is not bad. Not bad at all.
With that kind of inventory on hand (or under wing), maybe the hens will sell some of their wares to the Easter Bunny.
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