She's Made Her Choice

And it's the bushes!

When Ginger last laid here, she buried the egg and went on her way.  That was Sunday.  She never looked for it yesterday.  I figured she'd just dropped it and forgot about it, so I picked it up and kept it safe in the house (at room temperature, just in case).  Today, she had another egg ready, so she was looking for a place to lay it.  I had moved the nest box to her "side" of the yard, away from the ducks, I had refilled it with fresh hay, and I had put a fake egg in it to help her decide. 

No dice.

She took one look and sniff at it, buried the egg a little, and went right over to the fence to get out of her yard.  I couldn't buy her off with hay or lettuce.  She was determined to get out, so I opened the gate.  She went right over to the area where she had made her nest and looked for it.  She couldn't decide where she had put her nest last time, but she was close.  I helped a little.  I picked her up and placed her back in the spot she had chosen last time.  She immediately began to look for the egg she had left and re-make her nest.  I wasn't going to win, so I went inside and got her egg and placed it underneath her.  She rolled it right back under her breast and went about laying another one. 

An hour later, she's still there, and now the nest is a proper one, lined with leaves and a little bit of her feathers.  I think she might be serious this time, so I won't interfere.  If she means to do this, she can do it.  I'm pretty sure that the little ones will be some odd combination of Buff/Chinese or therabouts, but she wants her babies.  Who am I to stand in her way?

Oh, and if you were wondering where Ferdi is in all this...

He's right here.  He knows I'm no threat to him or her.  He was not upset at this moment.  In fact, I was just stroking him when I took the picture.  I can easily walk up to Ginger and stroke her too, but I won't.  She's got work to do, and I'll leave her to do it.

The real threat Ferdi's protecting her from??

The five week-olds.  They do look shifty, don't they?