I have felt that Amber has been getting ready to lay for a while now. At lunch time today she was hunched with her wings down and not looking happy. When I checked back after lunch I found an empty, broken, thin egg shell in the run. There was a wet sticky patch near where Amber had been sitting and I was pretty sure this must be her egg. Amber also has a mucky bottom and I think the egg may have broken on it’s way out.
Amber has a mucky bottom
Sorry, Amber, for the undignified photo! I did actually try to tweak that loose looking feather but it wasn’t loose. Amber didn’t even flinch as the girls are used to doing this to each other when there are loose feathers or some debris stuck to their bottoms. My husband commented that she probably thought that I was a chicken. The lines do seem to get blurred sometimes.
Amber now looks fine though and if it was her egg then the good news is that she didn’t look as unwell as she used to look before laying and it was thin shelled rather than having just a membrane so this would be a bit of an improvement on last year.
Later in the afternoon Honey and Emerald were in the nest box in the main coop. I think Honey wanted to lay and Emerald was just being nosey.
Emerald is being nosey while Honey is in the nest box
I checked that were no eggs in the nest box at this point. Emerald soon left and Honey settled down.
Once Emerald left Honey settled down
I now started to wonder if it really was Amber’s egg or if it was Honey’s and she didn’t realise and had gone to sit in the nest box afterwards. I was keeping my fingers crossed for an egg from Honey to prove it was Amber’s egg laid earlier.
I kept checking and Honey was in there for a very long time and I was holding my breath. Soon after I had seen her still in the nest box I returned and this time she was out. I lifted the lid with baited breath and there was her warm egg. Hurrah! This egg was laid in the nest box and had a perfect shell.
I was so pleased. Hopefully this means Honey is back to normal and over her spell of thin shells and Amber has laid without looking really unwell like last year and although the shell was thin it was better than last year when her eggs had only a paper like membrane.
Toffee is now the only girl yet to start laying. I was so pleased Amber and Honey’s eggs came on a Sunday when I was able to keep an eye on them or I wouldn’t have been so sure what was going on. I am so happy at this improvement and hopeful that things are getting better for Amber. She now has no stress in her life and will probably lay less often too so this may just be enough to improve her. I am really happy with how they both did today.
I did consider giving Amber a bath but her mucky bottom doesn’t seem to be bothering her and I think a bath would stress her as she doesn’t like being handled. Also it is so cold at the moment and on balance I decided it was best to just leave her be. As always I will be keeping a close eye on her but she seems perfectly happy at the moment so that’s good enough for me.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Delighted that Honey has now got into her stride and really hope that Amber has fewer problems than last season. Great, too, that Emerald has started to lay. I had a membrane-only egg this morning – managed to chase off Chocolate, the producer, who was about to eat it, scooped it up with the bedding and disposed of it. Hopefully, Toffee will produce her first egg soon. My little lavender pekin has started to lay – her eggs are tiny, compared to the rest, but have sturdy shells and are laid in the nest box! Wish Dart would take a lesson from that.
To most people this may not look like a great start but to me this is the best start Amber has ever had, this being her third year of laying, so I am pleased that things are looking better for her. I am glad that I am not alone in the membrane only egg at times and hope Chocolate too gets into a more normal stride soon. I too do the rushing in and taking away thing before they get to it if possible. I am cheering Toffee on and am sure she will suddenly surprise me as she is that sort of girl, entirely her own girl and different from any other member of the flock, always. Well done little lavender pekin and Dart, well what can you say, you can’t have every thing! She is amazing in her own way so you have to let her off being different. This is what we love about our girls after all, they are all different and all special. I am actually really pleased with how things are going because it is getting better than before and I am less worried about the girls and am feeling quite proud of them. Goodness, I do sound quite the mother hen!….. And, I have started a dandelion patch for them!
I really think you need to get a camera inserted in your run / nest box 🙂 but then you would never get your work done .
I can see you now backwards and forwards up and down that path through rain , cold and sun .
I must admit I am up and down the path a lot and always grabbing my camera. Even so I still have moments when I don’t take my camera and wish that I had.