Rogue animals on the homestead

The animals are going rogue on me!  A few of the scoundrels were up to mischief this morning. My usual farm cat, KitKat, was not the one who slipped out the door with me to do chicken chores but it was Rufus who rushed past me and ran out the door. Rufus is not supposed to go out in the winter, only KitKat is allowed out in winter and 90% of the time it works out ok. This day Rufus pulled a fast one on me. I saw him by the door when I was about to go out with the animals feed. I picked him up and places him well away from the door. Rufus appeared to be interested in looking out a window  so I took my chance and went out the door....closely followed by a very fast, sleek, gray cat, yes Rufus got out!

 Rufus the Rogue and I headed to the hen house, it was snowing so I figured he wouldn't stay out too long and there was no way I could catch him anyway, he'd made his escape!

At the hen house I encountered another rogue or two. A roost bar was down again allowing broody hens to settle into a nest. In that open nest box I found not one but two bantams. 

Those bantams were arguing over something, I had a look and yes they got themselves some eggs to sit on. One was colored which tells me that rebel was the likely culprit again, the one who opened that nest box. One egg was brown and one cream. 

Using my forensic detective skills (after all I did teach that forensics mysteries co-op class!) I put together the likely scenario. The bluey-green egg, likely Rebel's was cool. Rebel opened the box and later two more hens, likely some of our earlier layers maybe the buff rock Buffy laid the brown egg and White or Black Beard the either of the two Salmon Faverolles laid the cream egg more recently since those were still warm. None of these birds were the ones in the nest box though those birds were a black Silkie (not sure which one they all look alike)and a bantam Silkie Mix (Pansy).

I removed the birds and the eggs only hoping I caught them in time before they went full on broody. They didn't go back to the nest which is a good sign. It's not that I would mind the chicks from these eggs, they were a nice selection. 

But we can only hatch a limited amount this year and it's a bit early. Not to mention the fact that there is a high likelihood that these eggs aren't fertile. Mo the head rooster is only just barely starting to "think spring". So we will wait and hopefully I won't find those silly bantam hens back on a nest again when we get home from co-op later. And yes Rufus went right back in the house with me after chicken chores!