Practising for egg laying

For the last couple of weeks Amber has come in and sat in the nest box every morning while I poop pick the coop. This behaviour plus her being very vocal makes me think she is getting ready to start laying again.

Amber comes in and has a twirl around then she sits herself down and stays there while I clean the coop. As soon as I have finished she promptly stands up and marches out. It is really amusing to see and I have no idea why she only does this while I am in the coop (or at least my head and hands are in the coop).

Sometimes Honey will come in and watch her and most days Peaches and Barley come in and watch her. Emerald nearly always comes in as she leaves and has a quick scratch around in the nest box but doesn’t sit like Amber. Sparkle occasionally comes and has a peck and scratch from outside the pop hole or just inside.

Topaz doesn’t bother with the main coop but goes and sits in her favourite right hand little coop on some of the days in between laying her egg. It’s as if she is never quite sure on which day her egg will come but she has always behaved like this. Toffee is the only one of the girls that hasn’t shown any interest at all so far. I guess when she is ready to lay she will just get on with it without the need to practice.

I have been trying to remember to take my camera out with me in the morning to capture this and this morning I finally remembered.

Amber goes into the nest box

She has a twirl around

She sits herself down

She has a look below

Once Amber leaves it’s Emerald’s turn

She likes to try facing both ways

Once Emerald has had a scratch around she also leaves. The funny thing is that all this activity takes place every morning while I clean the coop and yet none of the girls even lay their eggs in this nest box. They all prefer the little coops.

I wonder if it’s something to do with being around the leader of the flock (me) I class myself as leader as obviously Topaz is top hen and my role is completely different. I also find it interesting that given the choice they prefer to lay their eggs in a place other than where they sleep at night.

I have to say that I do enjoy this little ritual with the girls each morning.