Amber’s most recent egg and a difficult decision reached

Yesterday Amber looked really unwell again and I knew her next egg was on the way. I worry every time she looks like this and my husband always tells me she will bounce back once she gets her egg laid.

I am still giving her limestone flour and cod liver oil but I know in my heart it makes no difference. What ever is wrong with her egg making machinery or her inability to absorb calcium it’s something that I can’t fix.

Poor little Amber always looks like this when about to lay her egg

At bedtime Amber was in the nest box with Topaz which is where she always goes when she feels like this. I hoped by morning she would have laid her egg.

When I went in this morning Amber bounced over back to her usual self. I felt sure this meant there would be an egg in the nest box. This is what I found.

Amber’s latest egg

The shell was once again really soft and the egg was oozing out. She must have laid it really early as it didn’t get eaten.

Amber has sat in the nest box a few times today. She often does this as if she doesn’t realise she has laid it. I am thankful every time she manages to get her egg laid. Luckily she is only laying about once a week at the moment.

Last night after chatting to my husband and to Jackie about the possibility of re-homing Pepper and Dotty my eldest son Steve called me after reading my blog post. We had a long discussion about it and he too thought re-homing them would be the best thing all round, best for the little girls and best for the big girls too. He felt they would be better re-homed separately so that the pecking habit gets broken.

After much soul searching I have reached the decision that this is what I must do. I called in at the animal sanctuary nearby to have a look round and to chat to someone there.

I was really impressed with the place and the good work that they do. They had a horse, two pigs, a few ducks, a few chickens and quite a few cockerels. They match the animals to good homes and keep them if a good home can’t be found.

The lady I talked to was very understanding. I explained everything about the feather pulling and that I had re-homed Bluebell (now Blossom) with Jackie and the feather pulling stopped in a different flock. I said I felt in a new flock of big girls it could stop as it had with Jackie’s flock. I said how good they were with people and are easy to handle and how difficult this decision was for me.

At that point I broke down and cried then apologised and she said when people are upset it shows they care for their animals and they will have been well looked after. She offered me a cup of tea but I said I was okay now.

She took my details and said someone would call me in a few days. They have no space at the moment as each run and coop are occupied but she said she hoped they could come up with a solution in a couple of weeks.

I feel better for reaching a decision as this has been upsetting the flock and my husband and me for so long now.

Another point Steve made was that by alternating the girls on different sides every two days I may be unsettling them and that may be why there is more shouting especially over the nest boxes. They need their own space and their own nest box so I am going to try putting them on the same side for a while.

This has been a really difficult decision but I know in my heart I will have a happier flock.