Not only were all three nest boxes occupied at once but occupied by seven girls. Our flock seems to be diminishing! This morning there were only two girls out in the run and that was Spangle and Shadow.
Two broody girls clogging up the nest boxes is meaning that they are all three in use and some sharing is having to become the norm.
I grabbed my camera and took some photos.
It is so odd seeing so few girls out in the run these days. Luckily the two bigger girls are happy to share a nest box with the two broody girls.
When I went back to check a little later Shadow was in the nest box by the gate with Salmon.
There is an awful lot of nest box sharing at the moment. I don’t think all three nest boxes have ever been so busy.
It is great to see the girls sharing instead of shouting about it. A few moments later the egg shout went out. I went back to check.
Smoke was now in the nest box by the gate which is a nest box she never uses. I lifted her out and there were Shadow and Salmon’s eggs side by side. How did Smoke know there were eggs to sit on!
It never ceases to amaze me how a broody girl will always find the eggs. It is quite amusing to see the nest boxes being so well used at the moment. They are funny girls.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Good that you have the three, and that sharing is no problem. That’s a seriously committed broody, to sense where eggs have been laid and gravitate towards them, ready to hunker down!
I always call Smoke my serial broody. She is the most committed and always amazes me by being able to tell where the eggs are. She often moves nest boxes to sit on the eggs. I wonder if she listens for the egg shout or if she tunes in to a girl leaving a nest box. She seems to have a sixth sense for it.
Shadow and Salmon have lovely markings, beautiful girls.
I know that I am biased, but it’s funny, I looked at that photo of them together and thought to myself how pretty these two girls are. They are also the two smallest girls. They do look very sweet together.