The Daily Gripe

Ok so I have chickens, a lot of chickens.  They're friendly, well most of them are, there's a few stand-offish ones but we won't talk about them.  At last count there were 22 of them.  The hubs counted them, I don't know how because every time I try they are so busy moving around and jockeying for position at the feeder that I can't keep track of who I counted and who I didn't! Anyway, I say I have 22 chickens out there meanwhile he says that we have 22 chicken DINNERS out there. Why? Oh that's a simple answer!  See the girls have taken a break.  I don't know if this is a normal thing or if I'm doing something wrong but they aren't laying. Not one of them.  I suspect that they're going through the molting process and when chickens molt I understand that they stop laying to conserve their energies for feather making.  I have sort of read up on why they don't lay and suspect that it may also have something to do with the time of year and the shorter days.  They seem to not lay about this time of year every year; they also seem to molt this time of year every year.  I'm not 100% sure though.  The one thing I'm 100% on is that I feed them daily and wait patiently for something other than ick to come out the other end and I get nothing!  In the mean time I'm down at the grocery store buying eggs.  I'm feeding 22 (supposedly) laying hens and buying eggs! Where is the sense in that?