After spending all day in and out of the nest box yesterday Topaz seemed to have given up on it today. That was until about an hour before bedtime when she decided to sit in the nest box again. This was annoying because I knew she was unlikely to lay at this time of day but once again Sparkle didn’t have Topaz to show her where to go at bedtime and Sparkle does seem to be a bit dim.
I decided maybe it would be best to move Topaz out of the nest box.
I moved Topaz from the nest box
Meanwhile Sparkle had settled on the coop roof again. On the bottom left of the photo above is the cockerel door stop which I use to hold the door open while I get the girls in.
Sparkle had once again settled on the coop roof
Dotty and Pepper joined her
Sparkle moved across to the storage cabinet for the first time
She decided to settle here
Topaz after I put her out of the coop
Topaz set about preening
Once I put Topaz out she set about preening and I lifted Sparkle down to join her. They both wandered around for a little while then Topaz returned to the nest box.
Sparkle then returned to the coop roof so I picked her up and put her in the coop and closed the door. The other bantys then came to the coop roof so I put them in the coop too and closed the door.
The big girls settled on the coop roof and I left them there for a while, it would be half an hour before the automatic door would close if I hadn’t disconnected it temporarily. I thought it might be best to leave all the bantys in the coop a little early and add the big girls at dusk. I don’t want the new girls to get into the habit of settling on the coop roof instead of going in. I don’t know if this will make any difference but thought it worth a try.
At dusk I added the big girls to the coop and reconnected the automatic door opener and closer and then peaked in again. Exactly the same as last night, Amber and Topaz were in the nest box, Pepper, Dotty and Honey on the perch and Sparkle on the floor in front of them.
It remains to be seen what happens tomorrow night. At least they can all come out together at first light which is about six o’clock at the moment.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
All your lifting off and putting down and moving around made me exhausted just thinking about it ..I needed a snooze . 🙂
It sounds that way but it’s actually very quick and easy to do. The one good thing is that none of the girls makes any protest even the new girls. They accept me picking them up easily. I just really want to train them to go in on their own but it remains to be seen if it will work.
I wish Topaz would just get on and lay her first egg then the evening routine may settle but who knows!