Amber lays an egg with a normal shell

An egg from each girl laying at the moment

Okay, this may just look like another photo of some eggs, but this is special. The egg on the left is Pepper’s, the next is Bluebell’s, the next is Honey’s and the egg on the right, wait for it, is Amber’s. Hurrah, she has laid a normal shelled egg and in the nest box too!

After finding two of Ambers’s soft shelled eggs in the doorway of the coop I have had the girls on limestone flour. This afternoon I went up to the girls and Amber was missing. When I checked I found her in the nest box. I quietly retreated as I didn’t want to draw attention to her and have Bluebell chase her out. I hoped this was a good sign that a normal shelled egg was on it’s way.

I checked a couple of times to see if she had returned to the run. The next time I checked she came running to greet me so I went in and opened up the nest box with bated breath. There was a perfect little egg with a hard shell.

I can’t tell you how pleased I am. I think the little girls have finally got the hang of this egg laying lark. Both little girls laid for four and a half months in the summer and for a lot of that time they would look quite ill and miserable before laying each egg. Amber looked miserable for a longer period of time than Honey and I was actually quite relieved when they started to moult and stopped laying.

Both little girls started laying again two weeks ago and have both shown no sign of being miserable this time. Amber, like before, laid two soft shelled eggs though. I now hope this means that laying eggs will be normal for them, as it should be.

Only Dotty isn’t laying and I am not sure why she has stopped but she looks happy and healthy so I’m not worried. Dotty started laying after her moult for one month then stopped again one month ago. It is odd but she is her usual self with a red comb and a good appetite so I am not going to worry.