Maturing

Bluebells comb and wattles are growing and she is beginning to look quite mature. I am wondering if she may be ready to lay eggs soon.  I had put a grill in front of the nest box to deter them sleeping in there, which is what they were doing from the start. I have decided to remove it today and see if they revert to sleeping in the nest box or if they will continue to sleep on the perches. I was trying to break the habit of sleeping in the nest box before egg laying begins, but don’t want them to be shut out of the nest box if they do want to lay. They have been roosting on the perches for three months now, so I hope it has become a habit. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they revert back to the nest box though. I will know in the morning by where the poop is. If they do revert back to the nest box I will try blocking it off at night and opening it up in the morning, but it would be good if I could leave it off all the time.

Pepper, Dotty and Treacle’s combs are still quite under developed, so I think it will be another month or two before they are ready for egg laying. I was told by the farmer that Treacle’s breed is a late developer and Dotty is a month younger than the other three so I am expecting Bluebell to be first then Pepper, then Treacle and Dotty about a month later.

Bluebells comb and wattles are developing

It wasn’t easy to get a photo as they wouldn’t stay still for me, but you can see Bluebells comb here and Dotty’s complete lack of comb.

As far as the bedtime routine goes, they have not roosted on the roof of the coop since the first two times. We seem to have stopped that habit and continue to check each evening to make sure they are all in, but so far so good. I wanted to sort out the bedtime routine before unblocking the nest box, taking it one step at a time!