Egg tales

On Thursday morning, all six geese ventured out together for the first time in a very, very long time. Not before Tatty Anna had carefully covered the two remaining eggs with feathers and straw.


An opportunity missed.



I should really have surreptitiously removed the remaining two eggs but it didn't occur to me until it was way too late. The window of opportunity only lasted about five minutes anyway. Tatty Anna is no longer the prime carer for the eggs and it wasn't long before the new sitter returned to the nest.





 

But just when it looked as though all things egg-linked had settled down, I find this...

Thirty guinea eggs! The only reason I came across them was that Sue thought one of the girls may be sitting on eggs in the long grass which has shot up in the chicken enclosure.
As long as there are eleven guineafowl on the fence in the evening we know that none are sitting. If one evening we find less than eleven, it will probably mean that one of them has decided to sit.

Last year, Girl Guinea managed to lay a clutch of eighteen eggs, unnoticed by us or predators, before she sat tight and hatched the lot.

We don't really want another thirty guineafowl! So if Girl Guinea decides to incubate, we shall let her. But once they hatch then last year's birds will be freezer bound!
If any others decide to sit, we shall remove the eggs.

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ed. As I write, we are up to 45 guinea eggs.

I took the last goose egg and fed it to Daisy. It stunk to high heaven, but Daisy didn't seem to mind.
This morning, one of the geese has built a new nest and laid an egg!