Palazzo La Chooks

We have had backyard chickens for years now and have become complacent, security at the coup is not what it used to be.   A few people that know me well are very surprised I have managed to keep a pet alive for so long but I have.   I love my chickens because they eat all the left over  food my children waste (thus reducing my Mother Guilt) and they give the most amazing eggs!

A few weeks ago my egg supply dried up and I was very worried
A - Was the dog getting in and eating them?
B - The girls couldn't be off the lay as three of them only started laying and I have seen them in the nesting box.
C - Are they eating the eggs themselves? (Which would be bad as we would have to bump off 5 chickens and I don't have any suitable burial spaces at the moment.)
D - What else could it be?

With a bit of stelth surveillance from Miss S and I, it turns out it was D - Crows.  They are so clever, they set up a scout in a neighbors tree and as soon as a chicken comes out of the laying box he calls the others from near and far so they can all come down and eat the eggs!  I was outraged, so wizzed straight down to the produce store to get the netting I was supposed to replace about three years ago.

The girls got some Free Range Action while Miss M and I got to work.

The New Look Palazzo

They were a bit suss about coming back in.

 I was out of the habit of going down daily and getting eggs as there hadn't
been any for so long.   When I went down a few days later I could believe how
 many there were.  In your face Crows!