We tasted Bluebells egg this morning (laid yesterday) and it really was less strong. I am now certain that it was the jasmine and is just taking time to leave their systems. I feel a lot more positive now and am hopeful that by the weekend we may at last be able to eat the eggs. Hurrah! This has been such a long process. If only we had realized sooner that it was the jasmine we could have been eating eggs by now, but hind sight is a wonderful thing as they say!
Today was the first day I checked for eggs (mid day) and found both Treacle’s and Bluebell’s side by side in the nest box. Treacle’s was still warm so just laid, Bluebell’s cold so the earlier one of the two.
It’s been very cold these past few days and the ground has been too frozen for me to be able to poop pick outside. I suppose if it is that frozen it is not going to come to any harm and when it gets warmer I will do a bigger pick up. I tried to pick up but it was too hard to move, it would need a chisel!
I worry about the girls only having frozen ground to walk on and nothing to scratch but they don’t seem bothered. They come out in the morning in the usual rush and have a quick feed and drink of water and huge poops then go off on to the frozen ground for a wander, looking like it’s not a problem. They do have the big dry perch which they use in between but they don’t seem to worry about the cold or frozen ground. When they jump on me in the evening, it amazes me that when they perch on my hands (as the rest of me is covered) their muddy feet are still much warmer than my hands. How do they stand on frozen ground or mud and still have warm feet? It’s amazing!
Now that I am sure it was the jasmine that has been the problem with the eggs, I have resumed some treats. I think in this cold weather and with frozen ground they need some treats. Today I gave them apples to peck and have given some tomato and occasionally dried meal worms and sun flower hearts as well as greens. They hoover up everything and look at me as if to say “more please”! And they give little grunts of satisfaction.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
That’s great news – hopefully this will all be resolved soon.
This morning we tasted both Treacle’s and Bluebell’s eggs from yesterday and there was the most noticeable improvement yet. They are very close to being normal now. I am so relieved as it’s only a matter of time now before we will be able to eat them at last.
I hadn’t realized it would be so gradual and take so long. When they first started to taste less strong it was difficult to tell if it was our imagination and wishful thinking but today we both agreed that they were very much better. Hurrah!