No eggs, but...

The hens have been poking around in the nesting boxes. The wood chips have been disturbed. The ceramic eggs aren’t where they used to be. And nobody pooped in there, just like the books said. It appears that instinct will carry the day again.

Ellie remains the friendliest of the bunch. Yesterday when I was tidying up the coop, she came in for pets. I picked her up and almost instantly Julia and Sara came in and stood as if waiting their turn. Does Ellie’s cooing call them for attention?

The girls are getting their combs and wattles. I thought it was time to put up another series of portraits so you can see how they have changed. It’s very hard to tell some of them apart. Sara and Giada’s beaks are nearly identical now. I have figured out that Sara’s tail has a black stripe all along its length while Giada’s is broken by bands of white. Ellie, for the moment, still has a beak that is lighter than her sisters’.

Ellie

Ellie's comb and wattle
 

 

Sara

 



Giada



All of the Araucana remain distinctive. Julia gets browner all the time. Nigella has stray gray feathers among the tan. Bridget has kept her pure white color. Ina’s feather patterns seem to become more intricate all the time. Ingrid is developing gray beneath her dark tan feathers.

Ina's beard is getting blacker

Bridget, ever pure white

Ingrid, with her underlayer of gray

Julia (note: Ellie's tail is in the picture because she is pecking at my cuff)

Nigella with stray gray feathers

Jennifer’s comb is darker red and more pronounced that Clarissa’s, but I suppose that could change too. We have discussed leg bands, but I don’t know where to get them. I’m also a bit daunted by the prospect of installing them. I can’t think the girls will like it much.

Clarissa

Jennifer (Ellie is never far away)

On the nature front, Hilda spotted a lovely spider sitting on its orb web in the garden. She found it after she watered, which accounts for the picturesque droplets on the silk.

Spider in the garden