I gave the girls some chopped tomato which is an absolute favourite of theirs.
It just happened that in the above photo the flock had split themselves into two halves. On the right are the five girls that I got from pipinchick. The three on the very right are this year’s girls and the next two last year’s girls. The flock now has five out of eight pipinchick girls. That’s an interesting progression.
Autumn loves all the treats and comes running to the patio area whenever I go through the gate to the run.
In the next bit of broody news Gold went broody five days ago. She is not very committed and has now come out of it again. That means we are back to three laying girls. We have Dot, Storm and Cloud laying at the moment.
It always seems that as one girl starts laying again another stops. It’s enough to keep us in eggs though so I am happy with that.
Mango gave up being broody four days ago. Unfortunately after Cloud had perched herself in the chicken shed for the four nights that Mango was broody this changed as soon as Mango gave up being broody. Once Mango started not going in at bedtime Cloud stayed out with her.
I really don’t know what to do to get Mango and Cloud to go in at bedtime. They usually settle on top of the nest box so for two evenings I blocked the top of the nest boxes by draping tarpaulin over it. They still didn’t go in and were just wandering on the patio area after the pop hole had closed.
I am out of ideas now and just resigned to putting them in each night. I am just hoping that when the darker, colder, nights of winter approach they might decide to go in. That is my only minor complaint though and I am happy to have a happy flock.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
All looks really well, Carol – and it is good that you have found a reputable breeder.
From two local breeders I have lost three girls before they even got as far as laying and it has totally put me off. I am now happy to pay for delivery from a reputable breeder. They have shown so much care with phone calls and e-mails to help me with settling Autumn. I gave them an update today as they asked me to let them know how it was going and I felt they really cared. It is so good to find a breeder that I feel I can trust.
So good that you have now found a very caring breeder. Some in the past was not good. A lovely flock.
I am really happy to have found a good breeder. It’s just a shame they are not nearer. I have had an e-mail back from them this morning saying how good my girls look and how pleased they are that I am happy. I mentioned the game girls egg laying was sometimes three days in a row and they said they have a saying that happy hens lay eggs!
I’m going to keep an eye on Pipinchick – I’d love it if they started to stock barbu D’anvers or barbu de Grubbe. They do have Barbu d’uccles but they have the dreaded feathered feet! xx
Well the three girls I got from them this year they didn’t have last year so they seem to be adding all the time. I too will be keeping an eye what they have in the future. xx