Ladies-in-Waiting

Stand on one foot.  Now, stand on the other foot.  Now, let out a squawk.  That's the Lady-in-waiting dance.  In royal courts, ladies-in-waiting were companions and fancy servants who excelled in etiquette, conversation, dance, and making music.  In the hen club, a lady-in-waiting does all that of her royal counterpart, but in addition, she is ready to lay an egg.

Queen L dodging the paparazzi on the lower right
Miss Lena pacing and tending

Queen Latifah Hen reigned supreme the other day as I was checking off various Things I get to do today from my list. Her shrill shriek had the other hens giving their heads a snap to shake the sharp edges of the sound out of their ears. Since they think I'm the head rooster, I trucked out to the coop to see just exactly what was going on.

Miss Lena mid-cackle as Katy heads toward the nest

Latifah was on the nest, the special throne nest, to be exact.  There are three nest boxes, and occasionally eggs show up in the other two.  The middle box is the preferred, however, and Latifah was taking her time. Lena Horne Hen, Second Lady-in-Waiting, paced back and forth keeping her company, chatting quietly, and intermittently giving a cackle to make everyone aware that something important was happening.

Katy ready to slip in on the right.
When an egg is on the way, a hen needs a nest.

Near as I could tell, the problem was that Miss Katy Perry Chicken, Urgent Lady-in-Waiting, wanted to lay her egg--soon.  Every time she moved toward any of the nest boxes, Queen L would shriek.  It sounded like short-speak for "Off with her head!"  Fortunately there were no soldiers to carry out the orders, and in time Katy was able in sneak into the nest box along side, lay her egg, and get the heck out of there.





It is getting close to Easter.  Latifah, aka, The Easter Bunny, for her habit of dropping her eggs all around the coop and the hen pen, needs to be cut a little slack here.  She had, after all, figured out how to sit on her throne and wait.

Easter Already?

Eggs here and there about the yard--could it be Easter?  I knew it wasn't, of course.  We still have our Christmas lights up.  On second thought, that's not such a good indicator.  There has been an occasional time (well, maybe "times") when our colored strings on the eaves have still hung aimlessly until March and a very early Easter.

I've been watching the Laying Ladies lately--quite a bit, actually.  With all past hens, over time I've been able to match the hens with their eggs.  Just need to see who goes to the nest and put the resulting product with the producer.  The other day Latifah cooed and cluckled and hiked the ramp into the nest area.  She was on a mission to lay.  Not long after she was back out in the hen pen with her flock.  Eager to make the match, I headed out to the nest boxes to inspect.  They were all empty.  There was an egg on the ground by the raspberry canes a bit later.   Must be Latifah's--in such a hurry to get back to playing "hunt and peck" that she just couldn't sit still any longer.

Maybe new layers are practicing building patience.  How long can you wait on a nest for the egg to move through and out?  Apparently, if you (hens, of course) are new at it, it takes a bit of learning. Not having every been a hen, I can't describe the process with any accurate detail.  Let's just say that several of the girls are still getting the hang of it.  Several of them have it nailed.

One for me

One for my husband

Our Sunday breakfast (I know that today is Monday) is usually omelet.  My husband makes them.  He's taken tips from the masters and practiced the wrist action needed for the "perfect turn" for years.  He's good.  The omelets are good. "Love my breakfast" is always the beginning of Things I get to do today if it is Sunday morning.  But yesterday morning we were an egg short.  God bless Katy Perry Chicken--I had seen her head into the nest.  And just as we were ready to crack the eggs, she was back out in the yard having taken care of things she gets to do today.  The egg in the nest box was still warm, bloom just dried, as we cracked it and added it to the rest.  Looked like an Easter Breakfast to me.