For about a week I was finding Flame’s feathers in the chicken shed each morning but she didn’t actually look very different from usual. Now I have stopped finding feathers and she suddenly looks quite tatty.
It won’t be long before she is back to normal as she has lots of pins.
Smoke was only broody for a week before she gave up. I think the colder weather made her give up quite quickly. I then started finding Smoke’s feathers in the chicken shed each morning. It only lasted a couple of days and she doesn’t look any different to usual.
I think we may have had a break through with the bedtime routine. The three bigger girls go in at dusk but the little girls have been getting shut out when the automatic door closes. They then call out for me to go and put them in.
Yesterday my lovely husband had a hospital appointment for his eyes in the afternoon and as I drive him home we knew we wouldn’t be back until after dark. We decided that I would prop the main door of the chicken shed open enough for the girls to go in and hope that they would get themselves in.
To my surprise when we got back and I checked on the girls they were all in. Result! I simply had to close the door. I am now going to leave the main door open a bit each night and won’t go and check on them until after dark.
We are hoping that this will retrain them to go in by themselves. Once they have been going in for about a week I will try leaving the door closed and see if they still manage to get in. I hope this will break the habit of them relying on me to put them in.
It also means I only have to close the door instead of getting them all perched and removing Sugar from my head several times! Time will tell if this works and I will report back at a later date with the results.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
The new feathers on Flame’s back are looking lovely, but the front view is another story! Must be a huge relief that the youngsters found their way in unaided.:)
They went in again tonight. At dusk I could hear them calling for me but I knew that I mustn’t go out or that would just continue the habit of waiting for me to sort them out. I waited until it was quite dark and then went out. Again they were all in. Hurrah!
Aw Flame will soon look pristine again! Wish my girls would put themselves to bed! xx
Yes she will. The annoying thing for me is that they were all putting themselves to bed until it started getting dark early and then they no longer seemed able to do it. I think it quickly became a habit to wait for me to do it. It was hard not to respond to them calling tonight but I know it is for the best to get them back on track. xx
Flame do look a bit tatty at the moment, but she do have very attractive feathers.
She will soon look her lovely self.
She is like two different birds when you see her from the front or from the back. She does have very pretty markings and as you say she will soon look lovely again.