Sparkle has another new home

I said earlier today that I would try Sparkle in a separated part of the run tomorrow but in the end I decided that there was no point in waiting until tomorrow and instead I would do it right away.

By the time I had it all ready it was three o’clock and I decided to leave Sparkle in there until six o’clock. She has water, a dish of mash, a sprinkle of sunflower hearts and some spinach. Of course she took no notice of any of these things and looked quite put out about being separated. Meanwhile the other girls were desperate to get in and were pacing the boundary.

Sparkle’s new home

Emerald was the funniest as she would go to the gate then go round the other part of the run to the hatch, then repeat this several times over. You could almost read her little brain thinking that she was certain she could usually get in through the hatch.

Sparkle looks distinctly unimpressed

Sparkle returns to her favourite spot on the table

At least this space is much bigger than the cat box and has her favourite spot which is where she spends most of her time anyway.

They all perch together

I love how they still find a way to be together with Sparkle on the perch one side of the wire and the rest of the girls on the perch on the other side with the exception of Peaches who is in the nest box and Topaz who is shadowing her so that she can sit on her egg once it’s laid.

I used to wonder what sort of sixth sense Topaz had as she always seemed to know when one of the girls had gone in to lay their egg and which box they were in. While getting the run ready for Sparkle I saw how she does it. Peaches quietly went into the left coop nest box. Once in there she did the usual scratching around to get the shavings how she likes them. As soon as Topaz heard this scratching she was straight over to the little coop. She peered inside then went in to join Peaches. Sneaky!

Just before six o’clock I opened Sparkle’s gate and threw the girls their bedtime sunflower hearts. Sparkle hadn’t touched any of her goodies so perhaps it wasn’t because she didn’t want to be in the cat box that stopped her eating after all.

The girls soon cleaned up in Sparkle’s part of the run and Sparkle took herself off to the bedtime perch.

Looking at her though she doesn’t look as if she is suffering and her comb and wattles and face are still a good red colour. If my theory of her eating once a day like a broody hen is correct then maybe in the morning if I separate her first thing and give her corn and sunflower hearts as well as mash, she may eat a bit more without the competition. I will also leave her with spinach and some fruit as I think just eating anything at this stage is better than eating nothing.

I feel that this is the best I can do for her for now and we will just have to wait and see how the new regime works tomorrow.