We have had a bit of an up swing with the egg laying and were surprised today with a four egg day. Dot laid first then Autumn then Sugar and Mango.
Autumn has now laid four eggs and they are always in the same corner of the chicken shed. Autumn is a girl of habit. She always perches in the same spot next to Dot on the side perch in the chicken shed and she always lays her egg in the same corner.
Sugar laid her third egg two days after the one with blood on it. This time it was almost perfect with only a tiny bit of crazing on the shell. She then laid her fourth egg today which is three days later and this egg was perfect.
Sugar didn’t looked uncomfortable before laying this egg which is probably because the shell was normal. She seems to have improved for now which is really good news.
Sugar’s egg is on the left then Mango’s egg is next then next is Autumn’s egg which is a slightly darker colour and then Dot’s egg is on the right and always has some slight speckling on it.
I thought it would be good to get a photo of all the girls to go with the egg photo so I sprinkled a few sunflower hearts on the patio and quickly snapped a photo. What amused me is as soon as I had done this Autumn and Mango went to the water and suddenly there were then five girls at the water. They are such flock creatures!
They do make me smile.
In other news I have been trying to get Mango and Cloud to go in the chicken shed at bedtime. They were settling on top of the nest boxes so for the last week I have draped a tarpaulin over the nest boxes to try to encourage them to go in the chicken shed. I open the nest boxes and hang the plastic sheet down over the boxes so there is no where to perch.
At first they would just be waiting on the patio for me to put them in. As soon as I opened the chicken shed door they would come to the door for me to put them on the perch. I tried leaving the door open but it made no difference and they were still waiting for me to put them in.
Then for the last three nights Cloud has gone in and perched. Mango has still been on the patio waiting for me. I am hoping that eventually Mango will follow Cloud in. It’s always been Mango that wants to stay out and I have felt that Cloud has been torn between going in and staying with Mango.
I hope that as it starts to get colder Mango will follow Cloud. I feel that Cloud going in is progress so I will continue to cover the nest boxes until they both go in. We have never had girls take this long to start going in themselves but I am hopeful that we will get there eventually.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Lovely to have four eggs in one day. Nice pictures.
Every egg at this time of year is a bonus so it’s lovely that we are now getting enough eggs to keep us going without buying any for a while longer. I was lucky with the photos.
Brilliant to hear that Sugar seems better – let’s hope it lasts. Maybe the advent of colder weather will encourage Mango to get inside and perch – it will happen, eventually!
Sugar has now laid six eggs and the last three have had good shells. I can’t believe after laying soft shells all year she has improved at the end of the season but I am happy that she is looking better. I have given up covering the nest boxes because with Cloud going in Mango was obviously stressed as there were sloppy poops all over the patio area. I have let them settle together on top of the nest box and there are only a few poops now and I am just putting them. It is frustrating and I keep hoping the colder weather will make them go in but it’s not happening yet.