This morning Butterscotch laid her egg first thing as she always does after she has missed a day. A bit later Peaches was in the nest box. When I next checked Barley was also missing and it turned out that she was stood in front of the nest box watching Peaches. They do like to stick together.
Once I had opened the nest box to take a photo the usual girls came over for a look too.
Peaches is trying to lay her egg while Barley watches over her
Emerald and Honey get in on the act
Barley now watches from above as Honey has taken her place
Speckles jumps to the nest box lid at eye level with me once again
She takes a look at the girls below
It is always this same set of girls that have to watch a girl in the nest box as soon as I take a look. Butterscotch, Toffee and Topaz don’t join in with this although you can see that they are milling about nearby on the patio area.
A little later Peaches got her egg laid and soon after that Barley laid her egg. They are even in sync with their egg laying at the moment. One difference between them though is their egg size. These two are a very similar size with Peaches being just a little wider across the beam but you can only see this when they are side by side. Their eggs however are quite different in size.
Barley’s egg is on the left and Peaches egg is on the right
By late afternoon when I checked in again Butterscotch was back in the nest box despite laying her egg first thing this morning. It is day twenty two since she started laying again, so as usual like clockwork, it looks like she is going broody once more.
Speckles again jumped to the child gate when I went in the run later in the day. I stroked her and felt that I could easily have picked her up. If my husband is nearby with the camera I may try this next time.
When I went in to give them their bedtime corn Butterscotch was back out again. I think she knew it was corn time.
I went back at dusk and Butterscotch was in the nest box instead of the chicken shed so that means she is definitely broody once more. I lifted her out and placed her on the perch in the chicken shed.
And that’s another day with my funny little girls. They do make us smile.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I love how the other hens are all peering into the nest. What’s going on here? Are there treats? Hens are so funny.
They are funny. They are so nosey. If I am looking at something, they have to look too.
The nest box series of photos with your comments is so funny. Thanks! I wish I was home during the day to watch my girls and their antics. But then I would never get anything done. 🙂
I am very fortunate to work from home and am only out while delivering lunches and shopping for the next day.
I pop up to the girls all the time especially on quiet days but you are quite right about getting stuff done. Some days I finish my work later because I have been checking up on the girls but that’s okay, it’s the advantage of being here and is more fun this way.