Rosemary and an update on egg laying

While my husband was doing a bit of tidying in the garden he decided to prune our rather large rosemary bush. He put some of the branches in the run for the girls. Being quite tough we think they will keep them occupied for days. They can’t instantly strip it like grass.

Some rosemary for the girls

Honey laid another egg today, this time with a thin shell, at least I am pretty certain it was hers. Honey was sitting in the nest box this morning and when we next went up to the girls Sparkle was running around the run with an empty egg shell in her beak and being chased by the rest of the girls. I caught up to her and took the shell from her. It was thin and was broken at one end and was empty except for a little bit of white. When the girls pecked at the ground I could see the sticky mess that was the remains of the egg. I removed it and turned the earth over where it had been.

I think it must have been Honey because this is the same pattern as last year. She first laid an egg, white first, then the rest with a paper like membrane the same has she did two days ago (I assume if there was a membrane the girls ate it). Then she laid one or two with thin shells then they were normal from then on. I assume the same thing is happening this time.

The good news is that she didn’t look at all unwell this time. Tomorrow morning the girls will be getting mash with ground up egg shells to help them along.

Other egg laying news is that Peaches and Barley are still in synch and laying together for two days then miss a day then two days. Sparkle is laying every other day and her eggs have remained a darker colour which is good as it’s easy to tell which are her eggs. Topaz is still a mystery, she has the reddest comb of all and looks in prime condition but is still erratic with her egg laying. She was laying once a week but now hasn’t laid for two weeks and yet still goes in the nest box for a while most days which is what she did last year.

Topaz only laid six eggs all summer last year and has laid eight eggs in two months this year so it is an improvement. I think unless it changes as summer comes, perhaps she is just a hen that doesn’t lay so much. Time will tell. Either way as long as she is healthy that is all that matters to me.

We have now had sixteen eggs in the last seven days and today was our first four egg day, with just the little girls, although of course we only had three in reality as Honey’s was gone. We now have five girls laying with just Amber, Emerald and Toffee to start. I expect Amber starting to lay again will provide more drama.