Saturday, April 11, 2009

"Hen to Set" Saga: 4

So we went back to the drawing board.

Melanie moved over 3 Hennies from the Class of 2008. So we had 9 Hennies total with Freddie the Rooster. That 2nd group was more submissive and was expected to be less likely to reject Freddie's advances.

As a possible back-up, Melanie also called the Hatchery to see if we could add on 5 Buff Orpington Chicks. The following conversation ensued: Hatchery Employee: "Ma'am, we don't allow add-ons. This is our busy time of the year." Persistent and slightly begging Melanie: "Not just 5 little chicks?" Hatchery Employee: "Ma'am, we don't allow add-ons." So the pressure was back on Freddie the Rooster and the Hennies in coop.

In the meantime, the Humans kept a watchful eye on the coop. Melanie marked the Eggs produced prior to the addition of the 3 Hennies. All eggs produced prior to this "marker time" are assumed to be infertile. From this time forward, she wanted to keep an eye on what eggs were coming and who had produced them. To our delight, we have more eggs. But we do need to know which ones have the greatest likelihood of being fertile. So, Melanie and Richard have been keeping track of the eggs, who laid them and what date they were laid.

To our delight, Freddie has been meeting with the favor of some of the Hennies. We tried not to follow this too closely, but these doin's are important for our objective: which is having baby chicks in a few weeks.

1 comment:

The Thinker said...

What a fun story! I am catching up from the beginning.

If you check the link to Saga: 4 from the page of Saga: 3, you will see there is an extra little "http:" at the end of the link which prevents you from getting to the website. You might take that off so the link goes through alright. :)

Cassandra