One in and one out as usual

Gold has now gone broody but yesterday Red came back into lay after a two week break. Gold has laid eight eggs in two weeks since her last broody spell. It seems this year that every time a girl comes back into lay another one goes broody. This means we have stayed with three out of eight girls laying.

Snow laid her egg two days after the soft shelled one. It was small, hard shelled and with only a very slight wobble on the shell. It is her most normal looking egg since things changed with her egg laying so that’s encouraging.

Red’s egg is on the left, Snow’s egg is in the middle and Storm’s egg is on the right. Snow’s egg is the most normal it’s been for ages.

Meanwhile Mango and Cloud are still broody after two weeks. They have been exhibiting the mother and chick behaviour. Since the first few days of going broody Mango has been sitting on top of Cloud.

This may look quite cute but it drives me nuts. I think it makes them take longer to come out of it while they are behaving like this. It also means the broody crate wouldn’t work unless I just put one of them in it.

It is always this way round with Mango on top. At bedtime I have been splitting them up so that they can’t stay like this overnight. I now put one of them on the back perch and one on the side perch.

It’s been driving me crazy but I think Mango is just beginning to come out of it as when I lift them out she stays out in the run a bit longer than Cloud. I hope this means Cloud will soon follow and they will come out of it soon.

My strategy has been to lift them out every time I go in the run and then when the laying girls have laid I close the nest boxes and the chicken shed. It amazes me how even when they have been out all afternoon as soon as I open up they are straight back in.

I have also been closing the nest boxes before bedtime. This has made Mango and Cloud settle together on top of the nest box rather than inside. I am hopeful that they will come out of this soon. Never a dull moment in our chicken run!