![\"Toffee](\"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/toffee_has_lost_her_tail.jpg\")
<\/a>Toffee has lost her tail<\/p><\/div>\n
I think the girls always look quite cute without a tail.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Emerald is looking a bit shabby<\/p><\/div>\n
Emerald hasn’t much of a tail either and her feathers are so loose that any sudden movement sends some feathers fluttering from her.<\/p>\n
Topaz continues to sit in the nest box for a little while most days and often shouts upon leaving but when I check there is no egg. This is a mystery.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Topaz does this most days<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Sparkle always looks full of attitude<\/p><\/div>\n
Sparkle remains our best egg layer at the moment and is laying most days. Her eggs are tiny compared to Honey’s but she is a year younger so they may get a bit bigger in time.<\/p>\n
This is a favourite spot of the chicks and if they are chased this is where they usually go. Emerald is the one who chases them because being bottom girl, she doesn’t want to slide further down the pecking order. I think she is also grumpy because of her moult.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The chicks love the table<\/p><\/div>\n
They are growing so fast and we have now noticed their wattles growing as well as their combs.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Honey<\/p><\/div>\n
Honey is looking good and her head feathers are almost back in with just one little gap.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Amber looks great<\/p><\/div>\n
Amber may look a bit shabby to most people but to us she looks really good. Although she has a bare neck her head feathers have grown back in. Her face is back to normal and her comb is not only red but it seems to have grown. This is the best Amber has looked for ages.<\/p>\n
With Amber’s return to good health comes the dreaded return to egg laying. She isn’t looking as unwell as she used to though. Yesterday I knew she was getting ready to lay her next egg as she becomes a lot more vocal.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon she sat in the nest box for about an hour. I thought this was a good sign and might have meant her actually laying an egg in the nest box. She didn’t though. She came out without laying her egg.<\/p>\n
At bedtime as all the girls settled on the high perches I thought Amber looked near to laying. She had her penguin like stance for a little while but then sat down and dozed.<\/p>\n
I have been covering the little coops (nest boxes) with newspaper overnight while the girls are sleeping above them as they were getting splattered on.<\/p>\n
This morning when I went in to clean them up there was Ambers broken egg on the newspaper. As always the shell was like paper. I think she must have laid it at first light from the perch.<\/p>\n
Today she is looking her usual self again. It is hopeful that she isn’t looking as unwell as she used too and hopefully she will continue that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are a few changes happening among the girls at the moment. Toffee and Emerald are in the full swing of their moult. I pick up a handful of feathers every morning. Yesterday Toffee lost her last single remaining tail … Continue reading