The end of Topaz’s broody limbo

Topaz has appeared to be in what I call, a broody limbo, for the last couple of months. This means she doesn’t lay eggs and at any chance possible she would go into a nest box where another girl was laying and would sit on any eggs laid until I remove them. She would then come out of the nest box shouting and when another girl lays an egg the whole thing starts all over again but she didn’t fully commit to it.

She didn’t settle into a nest box for the duration like she did last summer when we were away a for a few days and didn’t remove the eggs. I wondered how long this would go on  as this was a new experience for me.

About five days ago Topaz stopped bothering to go in and sit on eggs. She stopped bothering going into the nest boxes at all. I wondered if a change was taking place.

Yesterday morning Peaches and Emerald laid their eggs in the left little coop and I removed them. Toffee had been looking in the left coop as if ready to lay her egg. When I next checked Topaz was in the left coop and I wondered if she was getting ready to lay again.

I checked  back a little while later and Topaz was now out in the run. I checked the left coop and there were two eggs. I felt certain that they were Toffee and Topaz’s eggs. Peaches and Barley’s eggs are white and Emerald had laid hers earlier. Honey only lays every two or three days and lays in the main coop nest box and her eggs are smaller and Amber hasn’t laid an egg since her first one this year. Sparkle laid the day before and her eggs are a distinct oval shape and often have little spots on them. These eggs were both the darker colour but one egg was dotted with little calcium blobs so I deduced that this was Topaz’s egg and she is back in lay. She had laid her last egg seven weeks ago.

Hurrah! This appears to be the end of Topaz’s broody limbo and it looks like she will be back laying eggs again. This is really good news. Well done Topaz, egg number nine this year. Perhaps she is back on track. Maybe she will even be better tempered now that she is back to “normal”, we can but hope.