No not the chocolate variety...REAL eggs.... the days are getting longer and with the additional daylight the hens should now be gearing up to laying eggs. I had to have stern words with them this week. As you can see above, they were resting on their laurels! I got ONE egg on Wednesday. Of course ALL the hens said it was theirs! I told them I expected increased production given a) it was Spring and b) the amount of food I was giving them and c) they were getting supplementary worms from the garden too! Bah!! Young hens will lay throughout the winter but after the first year, as the light declines, so does egg production. I could put a light in the hen house and they would continue to lay, but I think they deserve a bit of a rest and to stay "under the duvet" for winter, much like myself!
Here is the first egg of the season.....
Fortunately yesterday and today I did get two eggs each day so perhaps they have been listening!!
Meanwhile the hens have been enjoying the sunshine like the rest of us in Orkney. While most of the UK is still under cloud, snow and ice, and suffering lengthy power cuts and struggling to keep livestock alive, we've been getting lovely blue skies. Cold, but sunshine and NO wind. It really lifts the spirits. Easter is upon us, and although I don't celebrate it as a religious festival I do celebrate it as a Spring festival.
Today is "Good Friday", and a public holiday in most of the UK, but not in Orkney! I have no idea why.... however on Monday there IS a public holiday (known as Easter Monday) which we share with the rest of the UK. I'm enjoying a few days off work and a chance to potter in the garden.
Here are some crocus from earlier today. Such delicate flowers I marvel at their resilience to the wind.
So Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate it. Meanwhile I shall continue my egg hunt!
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