The Other Hen/Roo

This morning Kristine pointed out the other hen that is sex changing. It is the buff Orpington. I'm not sure if the black hen (Australorp) is the other Hen/Roo. I don't think so because the comb is not very big. You can see the Orpington has an enlarged comb and Kristine called my attention to the fact that she doesn't have a fluffy hen bum and she has gotten thiner. You can see she kind of has feathered pantaloons instead of the fluffy hen bum. I tried to get a photo of one but I found it very difficult because I got no cooperation from the girls. At all. I'll keep trying. I would like to get a photo of this one and another Orpington to compare their characteristics. 

This is the second photo of the hall tree I have posted. The reason it is here again is because I have been thinking about the things we do all the time that we never think about because they are so much a part of our life. I call them the invisible things because they don't get recorded because they are taken for granted. So, here goes with this answer to, "Gee, I wonder how they used to collect eggs?" question. Sounds dumb, but somewhere down the road someone may wonder? I wonder how my great grandparents did stuff. Well, this is what I do. I come out of the house, sit down, pull on my boots, get my coat and egg basket and head to the coop, put the eggs in the basket, come back here and do it all in reverse. Maybe this sounds dumb, but I'm going to try and record the invisible stuff when I can recognize it.

These two photos are of the top nest box (with me holding the door open) showing the opening for the hens to get inside (top) and the scrap boards (bottom) on the other end of the nest. When I say I closed in these boxes I don't mean that they are very dark. It is just that now they are closed in on three sides and little bit on the fourth. The hens seem to like them a lot.

Smiles

~:>

[8 eggs today]