Beth, one of our herd-share owners, texted me yesterday advising that some of the eggs she bought from the farm were "in chick". Oh dear, that was definitely not supposed to happen. Sorry sorry sorry. Nothing worse than yucky eggs, is there ? So when I arrived home, I went out to the little fridge with a large bucket of water, and did the float test on all the eggs to pick out any old ones. Threw out 19 eggs that wobbled in the water, of which 3 were yucky. The rest lay down on their sides like good, fresh eggs should. I also chucked 5 dozen duck eggs as they stood up in the water, although no actual floaters. I think that I need to put a sticker date system into place.
Maybe I should just go into the chicken house and chuck all the eggs that the chickens are sitting on, but then what if some of there are nearly ready to hatch, and I chuck out little chicks ! Going to have to do the following : 1st make another large roost for the chickens, as the one we have is full at night, and the little one Herbie made for the little chicks has given way under full grown chicken weight. Then section off the brood box nests so that other chickens can't enter to lay additional eggs. Keep accurate date information on when the chickens start sitting, so that when the 3 weeks is up, and there aren't any hatchlings, I can throw the eggs out.
Thank you Beth for advising me of the issue, as I don't want any repeat of this. If anyone else has had eggs that are yukky, please let me know and I'll replace them.
Mowed the lawn today. It was raining a little, but I finished as we have lots of rain in the next weeks' forecast. Washed the mower down afterwards as there was wet grass everywhere. Found 2 different places with chicken egg nests.
Gonzales and his boys came to the farm this morning and bought a Bantam hen. I gave him the cheeky Bantam rooster that sneak attacks me. His 3 boys took turns in bottle-feeding Wanda. Then Robin and Bruce visited in the afternoon to see the farm. Bruce fed Wanda, but he was much more interested in playing with the dogs and Marmalade, the only cat who put in an appearance, than seeing any of the other babies. Strange, are kids, no ? Gave Robin some fresh milk, she'd never tried real milk before. Another family sharing our farm :) me likee. Bruce threw Annis' new frizzbee for her, again and again. Thank you Bruce.
Chatted to my dad this evening. He's busy planning his trip to South Africa at the end of the year. Funny, but I've no desire to go back, at least not now, although Herbie would like to visit. Reminds me, need to get my South African passport renewed, my greencard renewed, so much paperwork.