Today Mango and Cloud were the helpers of the dust bath rather than dust bathing themselves. They love to help with dust bathing and do this together too.
Autumn once again sat in the nest box for about half an hour and then came out shouting as if she had laid an egg. There was no egg though. This is the same behaviour as last year after February first so I am now convinced that she probably won’t lay again.
A hen is hatched with all the eggs she will ever lay and these eggs develop within her ovaries. They have all the eggs they will ever produce stored as ova within their ovaries.
If a hen is a sporadic layer she may lay her quota of eggs over a longer period of time. If a hen is a prolific layer she may lay all her eggs over a shorter period of time. A hen may slow right down when older and then suddenly lay an odd egg in later life.
If a hen is stressed or unwell she will stop laying but once she is well again she will resume laying.
I wonder if Autumn only had forty five eggs when hatched and is now finished. We will never know until such a time as she lays again or doesn’t lay again.
Autumn’s instincts are obviously telling her that she should be laying. Eggs are not stuck or backing up though or she would be very unwell. This makes me think that the eggs may have run out but she doesn’t know that.
Snow’s eggs are so tiny that we have two each at a time. They have lovely orange yolks. We had these for breakfast today.
They were delicious!
When I lifted Mango to put her in the chicken shed last night she too squatted. Mango and Cloud’s combs are red too. I think all three game girls will start laying soon and we will have lot’s more lovely little eggs.
Click here to see the history of my flock.