Two broodies

As fast as some of the broodies come out of it some more start. Our current seramas are more prone to broodiness than our past seramas.

Two nights ago Flame perched at the back of the chicken shed. A little later Vanilla perched under Flame’s wing. I moved Vanilla to the amigos’ perch and she stayed put so I left Flame in the chicken shed overnight.

Last night Flame perched at the back of the chicken shed again but this time Vanilla perched with the amigos. Hurrah! After three weeks of this silly behaviour Flame and Vanilla are back to normal. Vanilla also laid a normal sized egg today.

At precisely the same time Smoke and Marmite have gone broody. There is quite a difference between these girls though. It is two months since Marmite last went broody and in that time she has laid twenty eight eggs. Smoke has laid eight eggs in eight days and gone broody again. Smoke has the record for laying the most eggs in a row but the shortest time before going broody again.

It’s such a shame because Smoke was our best layer but it seems that no sooner she started laying she is broody again. I have decided to lift the broody girls just once in the morning and once in the afternoon and then shut the nest boxes at bedtime so that they perch up for the night. I think that I just have to accept that I have a few serial broodies and lifting them less often will be less stressful for them.

Broody Marmite

Broody Smoke

Two broodies

We seem destined to have two broodies at a time but after the Flame and Vanilla behaviour I am actually relieved to be back in the realms of “normal” broody behaviour. I can also lift these two girls easily with no pecking and they use the nest boxes rather than the shed so it is easier all round.

I am just going to go with the flow!