Hawkeye lays an egg

Is that so remarkable? You bet it is! Hawkeye is our “handicapped” bird – a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but the dearest, sweetest bird. She has been known to fall asleep on my lap while I meditated.

The other females of her generation have been laying for months now, and we just figured that Hawkeye would never be able to. So I was intrigued when I saw her go to the nest corner in the chook house 2 days ago, as soon as she came out of her cage in the morning. She just stood there, but really really close to the guinea already sitting on the nest. And then she got this dreamy look about her, and her eyelids started to flutter shut. She didn’t move, didn’t make a sound (unlike the other guineas who sound like strangled ducks when they lay), and a few minutes later, THUD, the egg dropped to the floorboard. Now I know why guinea eggshells are so hard! And she has done the same each day now –her eggs are smaller than the other guineas’ eggs, and not quite so yellow—we discovered this morning at breakfast. We’re wondering if the 28% protein feed that we’ve been feeding the keets has anything to do with it. She is not eating adult feed at the moment, since she’s in with the babies. Who knows? Anyway, we’re very proud of her.