Close ups of the girls

Today I thought I would take some close up portraits of the girls to show how their combs are changing.

Peaches close up

Barley’s close up

Barley laid her first egg a week ago and Peaches has yet to start. You can see by the photos above that although Peaches comb is starting to get red it isn’t nearly as big and as red as Barley’s comb. Barley’s comb is always bigger than Peaches anyway but you can see that even despite this Peaches isn’t quite there yet.

Butterscotch is having a dust bath

Butterscotch has a black comb so it’s difficult to see any changes in her comb. As she was having a lovely dust bath while I was taking these photos I decided to include this one of her.

Speckles close up

Speckles comb is getting redder but isn’t as red as Topaz, Peaches and Barley’s.

Honey’s close up

Honey’s comb has just a little pink in it.

Emerald’s close up

Emerald has a really tiny comb and it is always pale. I think it looks more pale because she has a white face.

Toffee’s close up

Toffee’s comb is quite pale too but has a bit more colour than Emerald’s.

Topaz close up

Topaz has a very bright comb and is spending a lot of time in the nest box practising. She has just come out of the nest box and Barley is on top of the nest box watching her. You can just see her head in the top left hand corner.

Topaz is in the nest box so some of the girls gather on top of the nest box

It is really funny how interested all the girls are when Topaz is in the nest box. At times today Peaches and Barley would go and look at her in the nest box and Topaz would come out shouting angrily. She is one angry bird and can’t stand to be watched when she is in the nest box.

And here she is

A little later Peaches checks on Topaz

She looks so cute when she is looking in the nest boxes

Topaz spent all afternoon in the nest box with no egg laid. She came out for the bedtime corn then returned to the nest box.

At dusk I checked on the girls and they were all in apart from Topaz who was still in the nest box.

When this happens with Butterscotch it’s easy as she is a docile girl. I simply pick her up and place her on the perch in the chicken shed.

Topaz is a totally different girl. She has always been our angry girl. I tried to pick her up but she pecked me and ran out of the nest box past me. I felt sure as it was nearly dark she would soon head to the chicken shed so I shut the nest boxes and waited. No way was she going in and she headed out to the garden part of the run even though it was almost dark.

I tempted her back with a trail of corn and as the automatic door had now closed I propped it open with my chicken door stop. I tried to guide her towards the pop hole but she was determined not to go in and kept trying to dodge past me. In desperation I used the net to catch her and put her through the pop hole.

The net is a fishing net that I keep hanging by the chicken shed door because Topaz goes broody often and pecks me so I use it to ease her out of the nest box for breaks to eat, drink and scratch or dust bath. I can pick up all the other girls but Topaz has always been the only girl that pecks in anger. As I have often said she is a unique girl and that brings its own trials.

I could hear her making noises, as if she was upset, from the shed floor as it was too dark to get to the perch. I wedged the torch under the pop hole to give her some light. This worked a treat and she jumped up to the perch and settled. I checked that they were all settled and removed the torch and closed the door.

I wonder if other people have these sort of dramas. Topaz is behaving like a broody but she hasn’t laid an egg yet. I wonder what drama tomorrow will bring.