The Inside Coop #3

Tucson's most nearly famous hens are in full egg laying production these days. The longer days and warmer weather has does wonders for their spirits. You can even see how they change from the drab, slightly colder weather black and white to brighter, sunny and warm colors.

Cracker in profile. This is her best side - trust me, I've watched her lay an egg.

Fans, this is a true Chicken Diction moment. This is where it all begins.

One of the Araucanas - your guess is as good as mine really.

Here they are after a hard day's work.

The Inside Coop #2

Second only the fact that I am now into the triple digits of blog posting, is what took place on Wednesday: ALL FIVE HENS laid eggs! And if that wasn't fantabulous enough, I made the startling discovery that one of the Araucanas is masquerading as a Buff Orpington by laying not green, but beige colored eggs. That's right, we have a South-American-Cracker-wannabe-Araucana-in-drag chicken in the hen house. While this may have skewed the daily egg count in terms of which delegates are assigned to which variety of chickens, I think the most important lesson that is to be learned in this week's edition of The Inside Coop, is that chickens are indeed very talented and crafty little beings. Yeah. There are many many layers that make up a chicken, especially in this Menlo Park backyard of Tucson, Arizona.


Please join me next week for the third installment of The Inside Coop (brought to you by Chicken Diction Inc. and created by our good friend and neighbor, Caryn).

The Inside Coop #1

Let us begin a new chapter in the Chicken Diction library of knowledge so that we may further educate all the faithful readers of this holy book of fowlish lore...The Inside Coop. After hearing the cries of the local masses I am giving you what all of you want: a probably-weekly but definitely-regular update of the goings-on of life in the near famous backyard of Menlo Park.

1. The chickens have survived the freezes quite well, however Cracker decided to go on a very long sabbatical from egg laying. Fortunately she has come round as of today.

2. One of the Araucanas got loose on Sunday, which was not anywhere near as exciting as one would have expected or even hoped for as he was writing a blog about such an event. It appears that the chicken aviary has become quite a fulfilling home for the five feathered friends in the back, as she hustled right back in as soon as I could manage to open the door and chase her in.

3. Most exciting was what I found in the chicken house today...

...Granted, we hadn't checked for two and a half days.