Red combs and wattles, eggs sans the shells, new sounds in the chooks’ dictionary, and now the SQUAT. All pointing to a happy laying hen in the near future.

Until a few days ago, any attempt to touch Susie only resulted in a panicked squeak, but all of a sudden, she courtesies sweetly when I hover my hand above her.

From my teacher Mr Internet, I know that the squat is a gesture of submission shown to a rooster. This means that she must be really close to laying.

A shocking 90% of people to whom I’ve mentioned my chickens have thought that a rooster is needed for hens to lay eggs. At least they know that eggs come from chickens. Susie is eggspected to prove us all right.