No Eggs Today

I didn't get any eggs today.  :-(  It doesn't happen very often, but it has happened before.

I can't say that I'm surprised.  It's been super warm this week, mid-90's here since last weekend.  And after a very mild summer, I can imagine that this has stressed the hens.

Fortunately, I've had a flexible schedule this week and could give them some cool treats in the afternoon and hose down their run to cool them down.  I also think that my presence here in the afternoon is confusing to them.  They all line up at the gate wanting to be let out into the larger garden to free range.  But when I let them out, they hit their favorite spots quickly and then go stand in a cool, dark corner.

The fog layer is building up off the coast and should start to push in, so cooler weather is not far behind and hopefully, the eggs will follow.

I'm fortunate in that my girls are not quite a year old yet.  This means they won't molt this year.  Molting is the process where chickens replace all of their feathers with new ones.  It's a stressful process for them and requires lots of protein to produce all those new feathers.  And as a result, they stop laying eggs during that process.  Once they finish their molt, it's usually winter time where the days are shorter and many hens simply don't start back up until spring time.

But my girls should continue to lay through the fall and winter this year.  And my goal is to add a new chick next year meaning, I'll have one hen laying through the fall while the others, molt.

But today, I miss my beautiful egg presents that my girls usually leave for me each day.