First, another one of the hens is laying eggs. Yah, right? Well, we'll see. Here's my hesitation. Every night the hens go to sleep in exactly the same place, and every morning I clean the droppings. This morning besides the droppings there was also what looked like the inside of an egg. One of the chickens layed a shell-less egg. According Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, the go-to manual on chickens, there are a few possible reasons for this. One is that it's a first egg, which, of course, this one is. Another, is that the hen was nervous or scared or for some reason had to lay it quickly before the shell could form (shells form at the last minute apparently), and third, the chicken has a vitamin deficiency. Now, if it is Honey laying the egg, it could be the third reason. Honey has a crossed beak and is as tall as the other two, but because she has a harder time eating, she is thinner than the other two. Let's hope tomorrow I have at least two good eggs. It's going to be hard to correct the vitamin deficiency in Honey, if that's what it is.
Also, there is a possibility that Bee is laying as well. There was an egg in the pen, but it had fallen and gotten cracked. It wasn't where Birdie usually lays, so I'm not sure if it was hers or not. Although I didn't see an egg from her today, so it could have been hers. We'll see.
The other possibly interesting thing is that we trimmed Honey's beak today. Well, Kevin did. Thankfully, he does all the hard things. I held Honey and he cut away at it with a dog nail clipper. We had to be careful not to go too far, just as we would for a dog's nails actually, but he trimmed a good 1/4 to 1/2 inch off, so hopefully she'll be able to eat better now.
Here's a before picture. She reminds me of Gonzo with how curved her beak is.
Here are a couple of after pictures. The top pic shows how much we trimmed off, but the bottom one shows just how crossed it is.
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