![\"Butterscotch](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/butterscotch_is_looking_for_the_nest_box.jpg\")
<\/a>Butterscotch is looking for the nest box<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Butterscotch](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/butterscotch_beside_the_blocked_smaller_nest_boxes.jpg\")
<\/a>Butterscotch beside the blocked smaller nest boxes<\/p><\/div>\n
I blocked the smaller nest boxes as I felt that if she went in one of these I wouldn’t easily be able to get her out again.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/a_disgrunteled_butterscotch.jpg\")
<\/a>A disgruntled Butterscotch<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Butterscotch](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/she_decides_to_sit_here.jpg\")
<\/a>Butterscotch decides to sit next to the smaller nest boxes<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Barley](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barley_comes_to_check_her_out.jpg\")
<\/a>Barley checks her out<\/p><\/div>\n
Barley then went into the chicken shed and started scratching around in there. I wondered if she was getting ready to lay and decided to put one of the smaller nest boxes in the chicken shed in the hope that if she did want to lay she would use that.<\/p>\n
A little later my husband was by the chicken run when he heard a commotion. He said Barley was standing over an egg besides the food dish. Once again I felt really guilty that I had closed the nest boxes just as a girl wanted to lay.<\/p>\n
It did prove that yesterday’s egg was Butterscotch’s though. Butterscotch’s eggs are a beige colour and are round. Peaches and Barley’s eggs are pure white and are oval. This first egg was long and slim. It doesn’t always show up in a photograph so I took one of the eggs laying down and one of the eggs stood up.<\/p>\n
![\"Barleys](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barleys_egg_on_the_left.jpg\")
<\/a>Barley’s egg is on the left and Butterscotch’s egg is on the right<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Barley's](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/butterscotchs_egg_on_the_right.jpg\")
<\/a>Barley’s egg is quite different from Butterscotch’s egg<\/p><\/div>\n
Now that she has laid her egg I will leave the nest boxes closed until at least mid morning tomorrow. Last year Barley started laying a week and a half before Peaches and missed a few days between eggs before getting into her stride so I may just have time to dissuade Butterscotch from sitting in the nest boxes. I will have to keep an eye on Barley and make a decision as we go along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Butterscotch was back in the nest box first thing this morning so I decided to lift her out and shut all the nest boxes. I would like to break her of being broody as quickly as possible and I hoped … Continue reading