Egg thief is still around

It’s a clear crisp morning here in Michigan.  The sun makes the 30 degree temperature bearable.  I went out to the barn early this morning, in attempt to foil the egg thief but I may have been too early for some of the hens to lay.  I set the light timer back an hour a few days ago so there would be less time between when they got up and started laying and when I got to the barn.  However I only collected 4 eggs from the 15 hens in there.  I also collected 4 eggs from the silky chickens and there are only 5 hens in that pen.

Last week I put a dozen large plastic Easter eggs, the kind you open and fill with candy, in the nests as an attempt to confuse the egg thief.  It crunched some of them in its teeth cracking them apart.  Some were under the nest boxes, where I often find eggshells.  It’s obvious from the teeth marks that it isn’t the hens eating their own eggs.  I don’t think a cat could open its mouth that wide to take the whole plastic egg in it and bite down.  I am leaning toward an opossum even more.  Now I just have to catch it and kill it.

I opened the outside hen run up so they could go wander this morning.  There is a little dusting of snow here and there and they ran over and were picking at it.  I think they confused it with bread crumbs.  The grass is still green and I wanted them to be able to harvest a little of it.   They will be all over the yard I know and in the front of the barn eating cat food but it keeps them from being bored.  Some of the hen ducks are also flying over the fence and wandering around.

I finally got the white turkey butchered.  He dressed out at around 15 pounds with a decent breast, good for a young heritage bird.  He had grown a few dark feathers in his wings.  The older toms were starting to pick on him and he was starting to gobble and strut so it was time.  I may cook him tonight or tomorrow or freeze him for Christmas, haven’t decided. 

Another stray cat has shown up at the house.  She’s a big black and white fluffy cat, very friendly but it looks like she was well groomed and although she’s thin now she was probably well cared for at one time.  She rubs around my feet and meows in the barn.  I gave her some dry food off by herself because she seemed reluctant to get in the feed bowls with the other cats.  She eats a little but it seems like she’s looking for something else.  Maybe her family. 

I don’t know if the fluffy cat was dropped off or wandered here.  But Steve told me I needed to stop sitting out in front of the yard with cats on my lap and draped over my neck where people could see me and think about how much I love cats and how I might like theirs.  I like cats but I don’t really want another female one.  I am hoping she’s spayed because her head is large like a males and she is big, sometimes cats spayed early take on male traits.   But the underside is definitely female.  I haven’t been able to pick up the black stray that has been here a couple weeks now although he’s no longer afraid of me.   I think it’s male but who knows.

The bad thing about strays is you don’t know if they are carrying fleas or diseases.  But when you have a barn and feed cats there you always end up with more cats.  And the new research that shows cats carry a parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, that can cause depression and mental illness in humans doesn’t make me feel better about having a lot of them around.  Read more about that here;  

http://www.examiner.com/article/common-cat-parasite-is-linked-to-mental-illness-and-suicide-humans  It gives new meaning to the crazy old woman hoarding cats stereotype.

I am off to taste test 3 types of chocolate peanut butter cups I am experimenting with for a cooking article.  They are cooling and hardening and Steve is waiting impatiently to tell me which one tastes the best.  I’m going to run out and check for more eggs too.