‘Lorp has also turned out to be a roo. He was looking very hen-like until we got rid of Red a few weeks ago, whereupon he immediately grew out his comb and wattles, grew roo tail feathers, and went through a crazy growth spurt. And one cannot forget the crowing. He is even louder than Red.

We gave him to the orchard guy at the farmer’s market who also took Red. Red apparently is living the good life. The orchard guy was going to fatten him up a few more weeks, so Red just wandered around their store. One day someone came by and said “I’ve been looking for one of those!” Presumably he meant a Rhode Island Red rooster. So now Red has a harem of 25 hens to watch over.

I don’t know if ‘Lorp will be so lucky. He looks far more succulent than Red did. One can hope.

Our other three hens are finally laying eggs. At least two anyway; I don’t think Rock has started yet. I had been looking in the henhouse regularly, but didn’t really see any eggs. A week ago when I took the top off to thoroughly clean the coop out, I found six eggs! One was cracked, but we made a delicious frittata out of the rest. I am unsure who laid them, though I suspect Buff did so. Since then, we have gotten at least one egg a day, and yesterday we got two! They are only medium sized and smaller, but hopefully they will get bigger. I have actually seen Star laying down to lay, but Buff must be laying as well. I have noted a specific cluck they make while/after laying an egg.

Today I think Buff may have laid an egg somewhere in the yard. I had been keeping them in the run until eggs appeared, but they were resistant, so I finally let them out in the afternoon. Star eventually produced an egg, but I only heard Buff making egg-laying noises and walking about. I will have to look more carefully under the bushes tomorrow.

So, each egg cost us approximately $50 each. The good news is that they will only get cheaper.