Today Honey managed to lay her egg safely in the nest box, hurrah!
Yesterday for the very first time Dotty went into the little coop and laid her egg there. I wasn’t sure if this was a one off as she has never even looked in the little coop before, but today she went in the little coop again and laid her egg. How odd that she has suddenly switched.
Pepper has only laid one egg a week for the last three weeks. I am wondering if she is slowing down for the winter. She looks healthy and happy and her comb is red. She often goes into the little coop as if to lay but then gives up. Her feathers on her bottom are regrowing at long last so that may account for the slow down.
Dotty’s head feathers are also regrowing. I am wondering if the girls are finally going to get their feathers back just in time for the molt! That would be such a shame if they lost them just as they had got them back or maybe as they have just come in they won’t drop out. This winter will be the first time I will have experienced the molt so I have no idea what to expect.
I went back in to the girls at four o’clock this afternoon and four of them were on the big perch.
Honey on the left, then Dotty, Pepper and Bluebell on the right
I could hear Amber in the nest box making a racket. I thought I had better check that she was okay. Usually I lift the lid to check on the girls and they take no notice of me but instead Amber ran out and stood on the wooden block in the garden area.
I could see that she was about to lay her egg as I have seen her lay an egg in the run once before. I felt guilty that I had disturbed her but knew that if I tied to pick her up and return her to the nest box it would spook her. As it was too late to do anything about it and I still had my camera in my hand I decided to try to capture the moment.
Amber is about to lay her egg
Getting ready
Almost there
You can see the four girls in the background still on the perch in each of these photos.
There’s her egg
You can see that as soon as her egg was laid the girls came running over to look and I decided to pick it up straight away.
Amber happily wandered off to the food dish and got stuck into the pellets. I have noticed that all the girls go straight to the food dish when they have just laid an egg. It must be hungry work.
I wasn’t expecting to photograph this today. Their egg laying is full of surprises.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
That brought a tear to my eye ..Just Great !
The first time I saw Amber lay her egg in the run you asked, where was my camera when it was needed! I so thought of you, when I just by luck, did have my camera this time. I knew you would love this.
I know there is supposed to be an autumn moult … but my girls have always done it anytime of year … or not at all. Sometimes they moult all in a hurry and the place is full of feathers, but other times, it’s a long slow process and it may be hard to see which girl is responsible for the odd feather lying around the coop.
If they do moult all in a rush, they will feel very sorry for themselves as the feathers come back through – and they’ll look terrible! I’ve occasionally used some 100% aloe vera gel to sooth the bare skin … it must get so sore with all those quill poking through. And lots of protein.
It’s not nice to watch …
I hope it’s gradual, I am not looking forward to it. The dominiques have a thick layer of down so I am hoping it won’t notice too much. Pepper is just getting feathers on her bottom after the longest time! She doesn’t seem troubled by them. Dotty’s head feathers have finally come back in too.