Ebony and Flame have both laid four eggs in six days since they both restarted laying after a half moult.
This coincided with us finishing the chicken shed and moving the three nest boxes to their new position. Ebony is obviously not happy with the new positions of the nest boxes and is now laying her eggs in the wooden shelter. She has laid all four eggs in there.
Flame is happy to go in any nest box but lays her eggs in the same nest box that broody Smoke is in. Flame then lets Smoke sit on her egg while she spends her time following the little girls around waiting for a chance to sit on their eggs.
This is most peculiar behaviour. Flame isn’t broody because she leaves her own eggs to Smoke and she leaves the nest box once I have removed a little girl’s egg from underneath her. I have never come across this behaviour before. Flame just seems to like sitting on the little girls’ eggs.
Ebony’s current place for laying her eggs
Ebony reaching for pine shavings to put on her back
It doesn’t matter to me if Ebony wants to lay her eggs here as it is dry.
The girls have also been very noisy lately. There is a lot of shouting. The little girls shout before they lay an egg, if the nest box they want is occupied, when they have laid an egg and also when Flame is sitting on their egg!
Flame and Ebony shout before and after laying an egg and also shout while the other one is in the nest box/shelter and Speckles shouts if both Ebony and Flame are laying at the same time and are out of sight of her.
It is quite exhausting with all this shouting going on and I worry about the neighbours. As soon as the egg laying is over for the day the shouting stops.
Egg production has increased though. Before Ebony and Flame starting laying again we were getting one egg a day. We have had now had two, five egg, days. This has been Marmite, Vanilla, Flame, Ebony and Salmon today and the day before yesterday and Marmite and Jasmine on the day in between.
It is lovely having plenty of eggs again but I just wish the girls could be a bit quieter about it!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Flame wants to hatch a serama chick!! 😉 xx
I think you are right. She does seem to be obsessed with the seramas. xx
you do have some funny little girls, but then it keeps it all interesting.
I sometimes wonder if anyone else has such funny little girls as me or is it just me! They are ridiculously funny.
Mine have been exceedingly noisy today; there were 9 eggs in total but, judging by the noise, there should have been 19!
It always makes me feel better when you say yours are noisy too. Some days there is so much fuss around the egg laying and it is a relief when they have all laid and all is quiet again and other days there is hardly a peep from them.