The latest in the chicken run

Yesterday Autumn settled in the nest box again. Once again she was in there for about an hour and then came out without laying an egg.

I am now thinking that this isn’t a practice and maybe she isn’t going to start laying after all. Last year she started laying in October and continued to lay up until her last egg on the first of February. This is about when some girls start to lay and I would have expected her to continue laying. She had laid forty five eggs.

Not only that but Autumn didn’t resume laying through the summer. But after she had laid her last egg on first of February Autumn continued to sit in the nest box every other day as if she expected to lay. I had wondered if she would start laying again this spring but she is now following the same pattern of sitting in the nest box but not actually laying.

I wonder if she is one of those girls who don’t lay many eggs and she has already come to the end of her laying period. In the past Topaz who was a bantam gold laced wyandotte only laid eight eggs. If Autumn continues to sit in the nest box without laying then I think it’s likely that she may not lay any more.

The odd thing is that she obviously thinks that she should be laying and goes through the motions. Only time will tell.

Red, Snow and Gold continue to lay every other day and sometimes two days in a row meaning that some days we are getting three eggs a day. Storm continues to be very vocal and I think she will be next to lay.

Mango and Cloud are still the most bonded and together, chooks we have ever had. They do absolutely everything together and yesterday were dust bathing together.

I have now finished treating Sugar’s legs and feet and she has bounced back once more. I am hoping that like Autumn, Sugar will be okay now.

So for now everything is good in the chicken run, touch wood! Even if Autumn doesn’t lay there will be plenty of eggs once the other girls start laying so all is well.