I have on occasion seen Spangle fly on to the top of the store cabinet and then fly down to the run from there. She is the only girl that I have seen do this. The space between the top of the cabinet and the roof of the run is quite small.
Recently on a handful of occasions I have gone in to give the bedtime corn and when I have opened the store cabinet door Spangle has surprised me by flying down to the run. I hadn’t noticed she was there until she flew down.
Yesterday this happened again but this time she had her corn and then flew back up there again. She settled down to sit up there and I wondered what she could be doing up there.
Spangle is on top of the store cabinet
What is she doing up there!
She is now sitting up there
I decided to take a patio chair in to stand on and see what she was doing.
I climbed on a chair to see what she was doing
To my surprise there was an egg up there. The top of the cabinet is filthy! I lifted her down and removed the egg. I then swept the dirt and dust from the top of the cabinet.
A minute later Spangle was back up there again. She has never repeated going up there before. It was getting near to bedtime so I lifted her down again and put my broom up there to put her off while I went to look in the shed for something to block it with.
I put a broom up there to block her but that didn’t work
I lifted her down again and blocked it with a few items.
It’s now blocked with a box and a log
Spangle tried to fly up again and just dropped back down. I couldn’t understand why she was so determined to get back up there. I waited a few moments to make sure that she had given up.
I checked back a little later and the girls had gone in the shed. I always check the nest boxes just in case and there was Spangle’s, still warm, egg. I know Spangle’s eggs because they are a darker colour than the other girls and narrower.
This was obviously why she was determined to get back up on top of the store cupboard, She must have laid her egg up there a day or two earlier and was determined to get back to her new egg laying spot. Once I blocked it she must have gone straight to the nest box and laid her egg.
As it’s been so cold it doesn’t matter that the egg may have been there a day or two but it was filthy from being laid in the dust and we didn’t fancy eating it. Instead I scrambled it in a little olive oil and water and put it in the fridge to feed it back to the girls the next morning.
Scrambled egg for the girls
Spangle gets to eat her own egg – scrambled
Notice how red those combs are.
I am hoping that now the store cabinet is blocked off Spangle will return to laying in the nest boxes. There always seems to be some drama going on with these girls. They always manage to surprise me with some new behaviour. They are funny girls!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
How funny!! Spangle really is pretty – she seems to be the one that has changed the most.
How are your girls with other people – mine go nuts if a stranger approaches their run (flying into the weldmesh)….so much so it worries me about going away because they have to be physically put to bed! Also my run is very near my kitchen and if you appear with a towel over your hair that also freaks them out! xx
Spangle is lovely. She has changed the most and her tail is magnificent. It’s twice the width of the other girls tails. The mad thing is when she was sat on top of the cabinet her tail was bent over as there wasn’t room for it.
My girls don’t like other people and move further down the run when visitors are on their patio area. They won’t come close to visitors but they don’t fly into the weldmesh though. Our run is far away from the house so they can only see us in the garden. They are used to me with a hood up in wet weather and take no notice. xx
Funny little girl, from time to time they can give you a suprise.
They can indeed, never a dull moment. Today she had laid in the same nest box as last time, Richard noticed her missing before I got back and it was her tell tale darker egg. When I went to collect her egg there were five blobs of poop on top of the nest box (which is unusual) and which is where she had been launching herself to the top of the store cabinet. I think she must have wanted to get back up there and then given up and went in the nest box. Lets hope in time she forgets about the cabinet and just goes in the nest box. I think it is their instinct to go high and safe that has caused her to do this.
Where is Spangle in the pecking order? My bottom girl spends a lot of time high up.
Four eggs today from my nine girls ?
Spangle is above middle of the pecking order so I don’t think it is that. She hasn’t gone up there often it just seemed she wanted to lay her egg there. I have had seramas wanting to lay high before.
Four from nine is good. I have a maximum of four from twelve but there again only five are laying at the moment so that also pretty good.
There are some beautiful red combs and wattles – they seem to exude good health.
The five amigos and two silky girls are all from my latest breeder and they do seem really healthy and robust. They all have lovely red combs and whereas Dandelion and Cinnamon spend a lot of time in the shelter when it’s cold these girls remain active and don’t seem bothered by the cold.