More drama with Flame’s second egg

We are really struggling with the new girls getting their eggs laid. Yesterday morning Flame wanted to lay her egg. She kept going in the high nest box but would scratch around and then come out again.

Once again she was making a mournful sound and looking stressed. For a while she stayed in the high nest box but while she was in there Ebony was shouting her head off. We can’t understand why she was doing this.

Flame is in the high nest box

Again we worried about the neighbours. It was a hot Sunday morning and nothing we could do would quieten her. We tried corn and spinach and attention but on and on she went and she is the loudest girl we have yet to come across.

We were getting really stressed ourselves. In the end we decided to shut her in the chicken shed. We hoped that Flame would soon lay and then we could let her out. I didn’t want to disconnect the automatic door as this one is really complicated to reset so I blocked the pop hole with the bag of straw.

I went back to check a little later and Ebony had pushed her way out of the shed and Flame was back in the run looking stressed again.

Then Flame went into the chicken shed and started scratching around in two of the corners. I had already pushed the shavings into a heap in both the back corners. She eventually settled in the left corner where Ebony had laid her egg the day before.

Flame sits in the corner of the chicken shed

It’s distant because I took this photo through the pop hole. I was afraid that if I opened the door it would disturb her and it had taken so long for her to settle.

A little later Flame was back out and her egg was deep within the shavings. We have now realised that we were right earlier in our assumption that it is the depth of the shavings that these girls want.

I had run out of shavings when I topped up the nest boxes so I will buy some more and make the nest boxes and the corners of the shed even deeper. Both Ebony and Flame went back into the high nest box in the afternoon as if checking it out. We think maybe if the shavings were deeper they would prefer this nest box but we are also happy with them laying in the shed as long as they can choose somewhere and get on with the job.

We are now certain that it is the depth that they want. They both scratch out a really deep hole and then get down to the wood if the layer of shavings isn’t deep enough.

Dandelion sits with the chicks

It was heartwarming to see Dandelion so close to the chicks. As the chicks can no longer be called the three amigos I have decided that once they are no longer chicks I will call them the silkie girls.

Later in the day all the girls were dust bathing and Cinnamon was dust bathing right next to Ebony. I didn’t get a photo as I didn’t want to disturb them and they were under the metal table which is a difficult spot to get photos.

Sunday morning we found ourselves wishing that the new girls would soon come to the end of egg laying for this year.

It’s such a shame, when they are all getting along so well, that we have been having this problem. I am sure it will settle soon though, once we get the right combination for them, and they get used to the new laying spots. Here’s hoping so.