Blue the nest box hog

It would appear my computer is dying...
let's see if we can get anywhere today

For a short while now I've been driving home in fading sunlight rather than dark, the lawn is almost growing as fast as the weeds and social media sites are starting to bombard me with pictures of little fluffy baby chickens in incubators... spring is only a few days away!

The birds know it is coming, Chuck is starting to be hormonal and protective of his girlfriends. Lacey and Blue have growing bald patches on their heads and scruffy butts from cockerel affection, apparently he hasn't quite realised he has 4 ladies as Sunny and Lizzy are both tidy.
Sunny is lowest on the chicken pecking order but has decided to focus her energies on chasing poor Bonnie duck around, Whitney duck does her best to keep the peace.

Apart from that, they all scamper from the coop every morning to search for bugs and worms, business as usual.

 

Quite often they will hang around the coop doors to see if sunflower seeds magically appear. The seeds are their current favourite treat in the whole world



The duck ladies lay in the early hours of the day.
Bonnie has taken over the crater in the corner and Whitney crams herself into a nesting box. They don't usually leave an egg a day each which is perfectly fine, Lizzy started laying mid June so we are over run with eggs!
The hens have their own laying habits. Lizzy, Sunny and Lacey are quick, in and out, they don't hang around to bask in their achievements. Lacey will often complain before laying, if she is asking Chuck to help her find a nest, she's no longer in luck - at least not when I'm in sight.
Chuck hangs about watching me instead. Probably more interested in seeing if I have food.

Blue has a much different style
Settling in to her favourite nesting box she puffs out, shuffling around every so often to get comfortable, covering herself in wood shaving and growling at any intruders to her space. She will often spend hours waiting for the right moment to lay.

 

Anyone unfortunate enough to be settling down to lay in any of the three boxes gets shoved out, Blue doesn't like to share!

It's not unusual to have to pick up angry chickens who have been kicked out of their box and lift them into an empty one. So long as it isn't the far left nest, they usually settle.
Noone likes the far left box.

 

 

 

 

I've been keeping an eye on the chicken ladies' eggs for fertile bullseyes, there has been a bit of interest from people wanting eggs so hopefully Chuck will become interested in all the girls in spring.