Ebony and Flame are so noisy about their egg laying, or to be more exact, their need to be in their favourite nest box.
The frustrating thing is that they are so in sync at the moment. They both want to lay, not only on the same day, but at the same time. They are so noisy about the whole process. Flame will shout when Ebony is in the nest box and Ebony will shout when Flame is in the nest box.
Ebony will want to lay her egg and Flame will go in the nest box causing Ebony to come out shouting. As Ebony is clearly above Flame in the pecking order I wondered why she would let Flame turf her out but came to the conclusion that it was just a case of Flame joining her in the nest box and Ebony leaving because she wasn’t happy to share.
Flame is also still doing her manic thing of looking in all four corners of the shed as if searching for eggs. She has kept this up for weeks now and yet still lays most days and doesn’t choose to sit on the eggs in the high nest box. I wonder if the shed appears more like the barn where she would have brooded eggs in the past and this is still lodged in her memory or instinct.
Yesterday the usual shouting was going on over the favourite, high, nest box. Ebony had been in and Flame had sent her out once more. Ebony was shouting her head off and is the loudest girl I have ever come across. While Flame did her manic run to the shed Ebony returned to the nest box. Flame stood at the foot of the ramp watching her and then joined her.
I waited for one of them to come out but they appeared to settle together. Would they settle for sharing the nest box? This would solve the problem if they would share.
Flame and Ebony appear to share the nest box
Flame and Ebony side by side
I had a moment of hope but a few minutes later Flame was back out and shouting again. A few moments after that Ebony was back out and Flame was back in. A further few moments and Flame was back out again.
I checked the nest box and there were their eggs side by side. They must have been desperate to get their eggs laid. Peace returned to the run until the next egg laying session.
Although it is lovely having their eggs I am looking forward to the end of their egg laying for this year to get some respite from this behaviour. I intend to line up the three nest boxes on the patio area over winter and I hope next spring they will follow the rest of the girls and lay in these and will have forgotten this obsession with the high nest box.
In August Flame has laid twenty five eggs and Ebony has laid twenty four so they are by far the best egg layers we have but the noise is a real pain. It has made me regret adding them to the flock at times but I keep hoping that if we stick with it, it may settle down next year. It is such a shame because they have settled in so well apart from this issue.
I am trying to remain calm about it though as no one has complained and once the egg laying is over all is peaceful once more. I wouldn’t have taken these two if I had known in advance how loud they would be but I just hope that in time it will get better.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I am sure you worry to much, I love to hear the neighbours girls laying.
You are probably right. We should try to be more relaxed about it.
You’re like me – you worry about their noise but nobody has ever complained!! :-0 xx
You are so right, we should stop worrying! xx
They look so hilarious side by side!!! 🙂 xx
They do. They look like they should be able to get on with it and yet they also look just so as they are, determined and just like they will do as they will do! xx
Strangely, I’ve had more worries about noise this year than ever before although have had no complaints. They both look in superb condition.
That’s actually quite reassuring. Maybe it’s been the unusually hot summer we have had. I think perhaps we chicken keepers are sensitive to the noise because we worry about the neighbours but as we don’t have complaints perhaps we need to relax a bit about it. Easier said than done though.
I had two little cockerels here crowing their heads off for three weeks and no one complained but I was convinced the council were going to turn up at any minute! I think it’s probably not even as loud as we think, certainly not as bad as a barking dog, we just worry!
I think you are right, we worry, and maybe we don’t need to. We tell ourselves all the time that a short spell of chicken shouting can’t be as be as bad as dogs barking all day and we have children on both sides making loads of noise which we don’t mind. We worry but perhaps we just need to relax. If no one complains it isn’t that bad. I think it’s just because we worry that we get too sensitive to any noise coming from us. We are probably good neighbours actually and worry far too much.