Since having seramas I had been pleased how little mess there was around the pellet dish. As long as I only filled it half way the pellets stayed in the dish and there were very few flicked out on to the patio area.
Somehow Smoke starting to lay seemed to trigger a different behaviour in her. From the moment she started laying she has taken to standing in the pellet dish and scratching furiously until she empties the contents of the dish on to the patio.
On the patio the pellets get dirt mixed with them and I end up sweeping them up and throwing them away.
I decided to try standing the dish in a plant pot tray. Some pellets are still scratched out but much less as a lot get caught in the tray. A larger size of tray may be a possibility.
Smoke in the pellet dish
She likes to scratch with her feet
And flick pellets everywhere
Smoke is a really good layer. She has now laid seven eggs in nine days. That is really good compared to my previous seramas. I am wondering if she is a fluke or if the other girls will be such good layers.
Ebony is also still laying so I have come to the conclusion that she is a first year girl. I am going to guess that she is one year old and Flame is two years old.
I really wasn’t expecting to get eggs this winter so it is a lovely bonus.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Lucky you getting fresh eggs at this time of the year.
I know, it’s been totally unexpected. We are getting enough for our weekend breakfasts. If the silky girls and the amigos all lay like Smoke we will be swimming in eggs. Mind you you do need three of the little girls eggs to equal one standard egg but even so, it is lovely.
HA HA. Try feeding a Cochin. They eat w/ their feet. And they have feathered feet. My Bella just claws at the feeder and boom boom stick to her fancy feathered feet so that ends up in the feed. Sigh. It’s a battle zone out there.
I do sometimes wonder what they will think of next to make everything we do more difficult! Sigh! They are never going to just do what we want them to do. Got to love them though.
What a messy girl!! 🙂 xx
She is! I just had a thought, that instead of a bigger tray, maybe a smaller dish so that she can’t stand in it. xx
What a personality! She is looking superb.
She is quite a personality. I am amazed at what a good layer she is too. She has now laid nine eggs in twelve days!