Freckles is broody and Speckles finally lays again

I had a feeling that Freckles was about to go broody. After laying her last two eggs she lingered in the nest box. When I lifted her out she accepted it and didn’t return to the nest box but she was making the broody sound – chuf chuf, chuf chuf.

This morning she went into the nest box and when I lifted the lid her tail rose up in a fan over her back. I now know this is a serama sign for  broody. When I first saw Freckles do this last year I had no idea what it meant and was quite concerned.  I have since gained experience with seramas and this is a sure broody sign.

Freckles is broody

I lift Freckles out of the nest box

This is another sure sign. When I lift her out she remains in the same position. I took her to the run and encouraged her to move off.

This is a shame as she is the best layer and we only have two girls laying. This means Freckles will now take a break from laying and that will leave Cinnamon as our only egg laying girl.

Freckles has laid twenty four eggs in the last month and a half and Cinnamon has laid nineteen eggs in the same time.

Dandelion continues to look brighter but still hasn’t laid an egg and is no longer going to the nest box so maybe it was a false alarm. Speckles, Emerald and Dandelion have now all had spells in the nest box with no eggs arriving.

I am continuing with the tylan to be on the safe side as I not really sure what is going on with Dandelion. Tomorrow will be day five of the tylan.

The next time I checked on the girls Speckles was in the nest box.

Speckles is back in the nest box

Emerald soon comes to watch over her

These two are such firm friends that one can’t do anything without the other being there too. Speckles came out a little later without laying once again. She is obviously feeling that she should be laying.

When I next checked Speckles was settled in the other nest box and was purring to herself. That sounded like an egg was imminent.

Speckles is settled in the other nest box

You can just see Emerald’s leg at the ramp. She is still keeping a vigil over Speckles.

The next time I went up to check Speckles was back out in the run and I lifted the nest box lid with baited breath. Yes, at last their was her egg.

Speckles egg on the left and freckles egg on the right

I felt so pleased, not because of the egg so much but because it means she is okay. I had started wondering if there was something adrift with her. Oh well one girl stops laying and another girls starts!

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4 Responses to Freckles is broody and Speckles finally lays again

  1. marion.pharo says:

    Good news.

  2. Kevin says:

    That’s great news, I bet she feelt relieved too!

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