Carol's Chickens

Dot and Gold looked so cute in the favourite nest box together. They were sitting side by side. I went indoors for my camera and when I returned Mango and Cloud were looking in on them. These two are so nosy.

By the time I lifted the lid of the nest box for a photograph Dot and Gold had moved apart as they had both just laid their eggs. They are so in sync.

It’s so sweet when the girls lay their eggs together.

Today I had my first sighting of a slow worm this year. It was sunning itself across the path. After I photographed it I measured the width of the path. It’s twenty two inches across so I estimate the slow worm was twenty inches long.

We see them every year from April onwards. We have seen tiny baby ones and some much fatter than this one. This one was long and thin and had few markings so I wonder if it’s one of last year’s babies. We love to see them in the garden.

In chicken news Gold came back into lay after one weeks break so we are back to four girls laying. At least Gold comes back into lay quickly.

Most of the girls are now laying two days in a row then miss a day then two days in a row. This means we are now getting plenty of eggs which is lovely.

We seem destined to have a broody girl. Gold gave up being broody after a couple of days in time for Cloud to go broody. Cloud has laid eleven eggs in twenty five days. So we are now down to three girls laying.

Cloud fluffs her feathers out when I take her from the nest box.

I will keep taking her out of the nest box and hopefully she will soon come out it.

I can’t believe that Gold has gone broody again so quickly. She has laid seven eggs in ten days before going broody. That equals Sugar’s record in the past. We have only had five days of five out of seven laying before it’s dropped back to four.

The difference with Gold though is that last time she came out of it after three days and started laying again a week later so I am hoping it will be as quick this time.

Last time I closed her favourite nest box and that was enough to keep her out in the run. This time she was in a different nest box when I next checked on her.

I decided to take a photo of Gold in the nest box because a post without photos is a bit dull. When I lightly stroked her back instead of raising her tail up she flattened herself down. When I lifted her from the nest box I could see why. She was sitting on Dot’s egg.

I always swear these broody girls have a sixth sense that tells them when an egg has been laid. My husband says he reckons they can smell an egg.

Oh well, it’s all part of spring behaviour I guess. We are happy with any eggs we get.

Storm laid today after a two week break. She really made a meal of it. It was so odd because when she started laying, this year in February, she just went straight in a nest box each time and settled down until she got her egg laid.

Today it was as if she had forgotten where to lay or no where was good enough. She was being very vocal and going in and out of each nest box. She would then run to the shelter and dig in the corner. Then she would go to each corner of the chicken shed.

This went on for ages. At one point I checked on her and she was settled in the corner of the shelter. I took a photo then she moved back to the nest boxes. She settled in a nest box for a while and then went back in the shed. Finally she laid her egg in the chicken shed.

Phew! I hope she doesn’t do this every time. She did this sometimes last year and Dot can be like this too.

So we now have five out of seven girls laying with only Sugar and Autumn not laying and we have plenty of eggs.

Sugar has now gone past the time that she started laying last year so I am hoping that perhaps she won’t lay.

We have realised that her behaviour has become dependant on the weather to a certain extent. On windy or wet days Sugar spends all day sitting in the shelter only coming out for treats, food, water or dust baths.

But on sunny days Sugar is out in the run much more and is more active. I am therefore hoping that she may be out in the run more once we get into the summer. She is also quite zippy to the treats but I notice that she eats much slower than the other girls. She can’t compete with them so I try to give her some treats away from the rest of the girls if I can.

Sugar is definitely not quite right but hasn’t got any worse so as long as she has quality of life we will leave her as she is and wait to see what happens next.

Mango has now laid four eggs, laying every other day, since she started laying. Today I photographed her in the nest box before she laid her egg. I like to photograph each girl in the nest box when they start laying. Not important but just a lovely thing to see I always think.

And a few minutes later she had got her egg laid. Well done Mango!

I worm the girls in March and September and suddenly realised there was only a week left of March so I decided to start today. As usual I put the powder in dishes of mash for seven consecutive days.

Both Gold and Storm have been very vocal for the last few days and I guessed they were getting ready to lay again. I wondered which girl would be first. Then this morning Gold went in all three nest boxes before settling in her favourite one by the gate.

When I next checked on her Dot was watching over her just as she laid her egg.

Gold has only taken an eight day break before laying again. That makes four girls laying and hopefully it will be five soon.

This morning Mango was being very vocal and I felt sure she was about to lay her first egg of the year. We had to go out for a few hours so I didn’t get a photo of Mango in the nest box. But when we returned there were two eggs in the nest box by the gate.

Only Dot and Cloud have been laying so I knew this was Mango’s egg. It is smaller than Cloud’s egg.

The egg stand shows the difference in size better. Cloud and Mango are the same size and yet Cloud’s eggs are longer in shape than both Mango and Storm’s eggs. Mango has laid her first egg of the year a week after Cloud started laying.

So for now we are back to three girls laying. Well done Mango!

It seems we were wrong about Sugar getting ready to lay an egg. She has shown no interest in the nest boxes.

There are times when Sugar looks quite normal. She runs to the treats and she joins in with the dust bathing. But Sugar spends the rest of the day sitting, mostly in or on top of the shelter. We know this is not normal chicken behaviour but she doesn’t appear to get any better or worse.

We know if she comes into lay this may mean she will go downhill. She started laying again at the end of March last year.

Mango and Cloud have taken to keeping her company some of the time. They sometimes stand in or on the shelter when Sugar is there.

It’s a complete puzzle. There is nothing to do but wait and see how she goes on.

Both broody girls are over it after only three days so that was easy.

I thought we were back to three girls laying with Cloud having laid her first egg but the next day Gold went broody so we are back to two girls laying. Just Dot and Cloud for now although Mango drops into a squat when I lift her from the inner gate so I am sure she won’t be long starting to lay.

Gold spent all day in the nest box except for when I lifted her and Storm out which I did every time I went in to the run. There was no final egg from Gold either.

What I am also doing is closing all the nest boxes at the end of the day. This means that both Storm and Gold then go and perch in the chicken shed. I think the fact that are willing to go and perch overnight really helps them to come out of it quite quickly.

Meanwhile Sugar looks like she may have an egg on the way. She spent the afternoon sitting on top of the shelter. She looked miserable and had the humped back shape that she gets when struggling to lay. Her tail was also bobbing up and down. We have been dreading her coming back in to lay. She did come for the bedtime sunflower hearts though and also perched in the chicken shed at bedtime.

Only time will tell how Sugar goes on. We have been prepared for her to have problems when coming back in to lay. I feel so sorry for her. This may well be her last year unless she can bounce back. I won’t let her suffer but am still hanging on to a little bit of hope for her.

In other news Cloud has now laid her second egg, two days after her first. This one is the same size as her first egg but no blood streak on it.