Topaz was the first girl to start her moult after her broody spell. She is the first to get her red comb back and for the last few weeks she has been practising laying. She goes into a nest box, swirls around, sits for anything up to an hour then comes out shouting.
Every time I check there is no egg. Topaz has always done a lot of practise laying. Peaches and Barley both laid an egg six days ago and none since. They have slowed down from every other day to an egg each once a week.
On Sunday Topaz was in the right hand little coop but we didn’t hear her shouting as usual. When I checked the little coop there was an egg and it looked a little larger than Peaches or Barley’s egg but as we had eaten their eggs for breakfast that morning I didn’t have one to compare it with. I decided to wait until we got another egg before I jumped to conclusions.
Today Topaz was in the right hand little coop again and this time she did come out shouting. There was another egg in the right hand little coop the same size as the one on Sunday. Hurrah, Topaz is laying again.
A shop bought medium sized egg on the left and Topaz’s two eggs on the right
Maybe Topaz is going to lay properly this year. Well done Topaz!
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That is such good news! Well done that girl . It sounds like she has not struggled ,maybe the rest has done her good 🙂
You may be right. I hope she will hit her stride this year and become a much better layer. It is so good to have even just a few eggs.
I know clo vers eggs were very thin last time round and a few soft ones. As you know I thought she had stopped laying for good. She is now laying 5 a week and they are strong shells and perfect . Just a good rest needed hopefully .
There was never a problem with Topaz eggs, it was just the lack of them. She came to us in April and laid only a total of six eggs before her winter moult. On that basis two eggs in four days is already a winning formula. Compared to Topaz laying six eggs in the same time span Sparkle laid one hundred and nine. It’s not all about eggs but Topaz’s record last year was pretty dismal by any standards. I feel positive though that this year it will be different and she will have her chance to shine.
Brilliant news – she does look in superb condition. Her output has surely got to be an improvement on last year! I do hope you get a reasonable number of eggs from her before she turns broody. One of my two wyandottes is back to normal, but not yet back in lay but the other is persisting. I’m blocking the nests at night and putting her i the anti-broody coop during the day, but this morning she’s well marked with poop obviously having sat tight on the floor beneath the perches! Cotton, the silkie, is also broody this morning, after only 10 eggs in this ’round’. Peaches and Barley may have stopped temporarily but they’ll come back on – and shouldn;t ever go broody!
Topaz is looking great and has a lovely red comb. I hope she keeps laying and doesn’t go broody. Some days she has been in the nest box for an hour and I’ve held my breath wondering if it’s the start of being broody but was relieved when there was an egg.
I still wonder if lower light levels have caused the slow down with Peaches and Barley as even the clear tarpaulin makes it more dull plus we have had dull days. I am sure with the longer days they will get started again and there must be enough light for Topaz I guess.
I am just happy to get some eggs and Topaz’s eggs are a reasonable size for a bantam. We will have them for our Sunday breakfast.