Topaz laid her first egg

At long last Topaz laid her first egg yesterday. We have now had Topaz and Sparkle for three months and Sparkle laid an egg on her first day with us. Topaz has been practising for ages and the farmer we got her from was surprised when we last talked that she hadn’t laid yet.

Yesterday Sparkle and Honey laid and Topaz spent ages in the nest box. Whenever I checked on her she didn’t run out shouting like she usually does. She was also doing a lot of scratching around in the nest box.

Later when I checked there was her first egg, rounder and slightly larger than Sparkle’s egg. I was right about her coming of age. Two nights ago she started roosting with the older girls and now she has laid an egg. Well done Topaz.

Then today Toffee laid her first egg with us. I can’t claim it’s her first egg because she had been brooding on eggs for the farmer and he said it would take about three weeks before she started laying again. We have had the new girls exactly three weeks today and right on time Toffee has laid her first egg for us. She behaved just the same as Emerald and was in each of the nest boxes in turn all afternoon and scratching around all the time then went quiet for a bit and got her egg laid. Well done Toffee.

Hurrah, we have now had an egg from all six of our girls. It will be interesting to see when Toffee lays again as Emerald laid three weeks ago on her second day with us but has not shown any interest in the nest boxes since. I am not sure that the game birds are very good at egg laying but I am happy as long as my flock is happy and it’s very settled at the moment.

There isn’t really an appropriate photo for the egg laying as all the girls eggs look much the same these days so instead I thought I would celebrate with a couple of updated photos of the veg plot. As the girl’s extended run is on the original veg plot (and I am very glad to give them the extra space) here is an update on the new veg plot which is coming along nicely.

The new veg plot

It’s looking good

I am actually finding it much more convenient to have the veg plot nearer to the house as it is easier for watering and weeding. We have had four courgettes so far and nothing else is ready yet but there are flowers on the potatoes and broad beans are forming. It won’t be long before we are picking veg from the garden.