Yesterday was the fourth day of Butterscotch being broody and we have now got into an easy routine. She is so easy to pick up which makes the whole process that much calmer and easier.
If she isn’t out when I go in to the girls in the morning I lift her out and throw out the corn. I lift her at lunch time and close the little coops for an hour so that she has a proper feed and drink, poop and scratch.
I lift her again before five o’clock and close the coops again so she tops up before bedtime then she goes in to the chicken shed and roosts on the ladder.
She has become calm and the shouting only lasted for the first day. She now just clucks to herself.
Having just written my comparison post of the committed and non committed broody I thought I would update with a photo of Topaz looking so good with a really red comb and wattles. This is what you look like when you are healthy girl that doesn’t lay eggs.
A portrait of Topaz taken yesterday
She always has a bit of an angry gleam in her eye, it’s like she is asking why I have to shove a camera in her face.
When I have put Butterscotch out at lunch time I know when it’s time to let her back in again by her behaviour which has been exactly the same each day. If I didn’t shut the little coops she would have some water then go straight back in because she always heads back to the coop after a quick drink.
When she finds it shut she goes back to the apple, pellets and water and then goes into the run and poops and scratches for a bit. She repeats this a couple of times. Once she is in need of going back in she walks around the little coops and looks as if she is trying to work out where the door has gone.
If she can’t get in she will just sit down. I let her do this yesterday for the purpose of photographing her but will in future let her straight back in at this stage as I don’t want to cause her any stress.
Butterscotch is looking for the missing door
It’s got to be here somewhere
I’ll just sit here then
hurrah! I have found the door
I can get settled again
As soon as I open the door she finds it as if she has a sixth sense telling her it is open again. She was through the door so quick that the photo of her going in was the only shot that I managed to get.
Meanwhile the favourite spot for the rest of the girls in the afternoon is the table.
Group hang out
Topaz on this occasion is under the table (I am resisting an alcohol related comment here, you can supply your own!) but she is usually on the table too. It is a firm favourite for Topaz, Toffee, Emerald and Speckles. Butterscotch and Honey never bother with it and Peaches and Barley usually go for the perch next to it.
I think Butterscotch being heavier and less agile can’t be bothered and the same goes for Honey being an older girl. I have to say this table has been one of the things incorporated into the run that has proved most popular. Originally I put it there to shelter the bit of the run that gets the most wet when it rained but it soon proved to be such a favourite spot that I now wouldn’t dream of moving it.
And so we have a calm routine going and I think we will sail through Butterscotch being broody and will just wait it out until our super egg layer gets started again.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Topaz looks like she’s handling the molt well!
Have the girls associated their rankings yet?
Also, does Butterscotch seriously have blue earlobes, or is it the camera?
Butterscotch does indeed have blue lobes. Jackie calls her my posh girl with the blue earrings! Jackie also says my camera is very true to colour.
Topaz hasn’t started her moult yet. I wish she would then she would stop hogging the nest boxes.
Topaz is still very firmly top girl followed by Honey as her number two. It then gets confusing because Butterscotch is definitely above Toffee and Emerald but below Peaches and Barley and yet Toffee followed by Emerald are above Peaches and Barley and Speckles is very firmly in bottom place.
It is very sensible to block the return path, for a while – this does ensure that they look better after themselves. I do remember, as a boy, a broody bantam who died, just as chicks were hatching because we (I, really) hadn’t forced her to stay out to eat adequately. I must only have been about 10 and the broody was my responsibility – I learned a very hard lesson that day, although it seems sound common sense now.
Oh my, that is so sad. A very hard thing to happen as a ten year old. I shall continue to block her out so that she eats enough. I am now making sure she is out morning, mid day and evening. It is good to know that I am doing the right thing.
Jillian .. The earlobes are bright blue. Just like she has earrings on.
I have one girl Blossom ( ex Carol) who has partly blue earlobes although totally different breed.
Carols camera is very true to colour.
Thank you Jackie for confirming that. It is an unusual blue colour for a critter.