Tomatoes Now? No Eggs?

4 tomatoes

 

When I half bent to get the picture of the third tomato the tomato plant has now, I did not see the fourth little tomato. It is hiding above the tomato on the right. This tomato plant has been there for months. Why now? Not one thing has bitten it. There are no weeds.

I have a possum, ground hog, and raccoon that now call or have called my basement HOME SWEET HOME. I suspect they like tomatoes, especially when tomatoes are ripe.

If the plant had not had this tomato cage placed over it, the chickens would have scratched it up. They love spending time in this 4 x 4 sq. ft. area. When I put the cage there, I had no idea there was a tomato plant.

Speaking of chickens, mine quit laying.

Maggie May might be Mighty Mack for all I know. But, she spends hours during the day sitting in the bottom box, the egg laying place. She does not seem overly aggressive to the hens. She is younger, so I suppose that is why she is always first everywhere. Besides, she is the size of Thelma and towers over Patsy Cline.

Patsy Cline quit laying the day I put Maggie May and her two little sisters in a cage in the hen pen. It is as though she turned all her energy to torturing Maggie May and the other two little ones. She is only about 18 months old, far too young to quit laying.

Thelma quit laying when she was doing poorly. She has been back to normal for about four weeks. So, what is the problem?

There was not one egg in September. During August, Thelma had given me about 5 eggs each week since March, even at her advanced age of 5.5 years.

Every day, I look three or four times into the nest. There is never an egg. I check for eggshells to determine if I have another snake or someone is pecking eggs. Beak inspection is done surreptitiously. But, I have no suspects as of yet.

When I suspected Thelma and Patsy Cline might be laying in my yard, rather than search the yard, I just left them locked up until three hours before sundown. Nothing!

I feel I might throw up if I have to eat a store egg.

This is a mystery. Well, Maggie May might not be old enough. Thelma may be too old. But, Patsy Cline has no excuse.

I called my chicken friend and asked if I should buy laying food or cat or dog food. He said what I fed my chickens was much better than the garbage in the store. He no longer works there. When he did work there, he recommended it to me. He blamed this on the time of the year.

Four eggs each week would make me happy. Right now, I am not happy!

Your turn
Have you ever had a tomato plant start producing so late in the year? Does anyone have an idea why none of my hens lay, especially Patsy Cline?