Back to normal

Well, the Broody Cage worked.

On Friday afternoon, we let Scarlett out for a wander, which she did. Then she tried to get back into the Nesting box, so we popped her back in the Broody Cage. Saturday morning she looked much calmer, so I let her out of the broody cage, and she spent the day free ranging with Delilah.

We had to keep an eye on her though, in case she tried to nest under one of the shrubs. She did sit down a lot, but each time we went to investigate we found Delilah sat beside her.

We decided to leave her out of the broody cage on Saturday night. Sunday, she seemed reasonably back to normal; we took the Brooody cage out of the Run, but we haven't dismantled it yet.

Today (Monday) she seems fine.

Thank goodness that's over with. Until next time.

Tantrums

Scarlett's broodiness is getting worse/

The first couple of days we did the "ice pack" trick, which seemed to be working. However, she didn't snap out of it, and so we moved on to dunking.

She's not eating properly, so today we didn't dunk. Instead, we just made sure she couldn't get back into the nest box. She wasn't happy. She tried everything to get in, including flying on to the top of the coop.

She paced around bokking, and then sat under a bush bokking. Poor little love, she just can't help it.

This evening, we put her in the broody cage, in the middle of the run. We positioned it so she could see Delilah when Delilah goes to bed, and I put in water, food, grit, some cat food and some corn. She ate the corn, nibbled the cat food, and then just started pacing up and down. She's not a happy bunny. It's horrible.

Brooddy baby.

Scarlett is once more trying to go broody.

It's not really a good thing for her, or for Delilah. Now we have only two hens, Delilah gets really upset because she is on her own while Scarlett is in the nest box. We know she's upset because she runs around sqwauking, then stops and moans. A lot. Scarlett, meanwhile, is getting all overheated and not eating properly.

She's been hoggin gthe nest box, sitting on Delilah's egg and her own. We've been removing the eggs and turfing her out of the nest box each day, and it's been ok. Apart from today.

This morning, she went back in the nest box. And again. Of course, there is a chance that she's just taking a long time to lay - but the other symptoms suggest broodiness. She fluffs up, pancakes, and isincredibly hot. The ice pack didn't work today (it has worked before), as she realised all she had to do was get off the icepack and sit somewhere else.

So, we decided we'd have to try dunking her. I filled a small tubtrug with water and did the deed. She was back in the nestbox almost immediately. We gave her a while to see if she laid, then tried again with the tub trug full. It still didn't cover her back. Still no good. My husband tried. Still no good.

I then filled a larger tub trug with water, and tried that. It was horrible, I felt really mean. When she got out she was very wet and bedraggled. She hasn't been back in the nestbox yet, so we might have "won" this round....but that doesn't mean she's snapped out of it. We'll have to see tomorrow.

Not much in it

Scarlett's eggs have gradually been getting bigger, especially over the last few weeks. Today's egg looks very similar in size to Delilah's. In fact, Scarlett's was smaller at 53g; Delilah's was 62g - but it's getting harder to tell them apart.

Everyone's Relaxin'

Wonderful few days. We put the netting over the fruit cage, which means it's easier to extend the girls' ranging area now, as the fruit-cage-netting acts as Hen-proof netting too.

The Girls love rooking under shrubs, and then dozing. I've just put them back in their Run for the evening, as I can't supervise them properly while I'm making dinner. Looked out of the window to see the two cats lolling about on our garden chairs, and the Girls lolling about in their Dustbah. They look like they are in a hottub, all they need is a glass of something within reach of their wingtips to complete the picture.

I don't want to try and take a photo as it'll make them jump up and come running to see if I have anything edible on me.

Eye-watering egg

Scarlett hadn't laid for three days, despite spending time in the nesting box. Her eggs started out at 38g, and recently she's been laying eggs at 51g.

This afternoon I checke the nestbox, and there was a huge, torpedo shaped egg in the nestbox. It weighed 78g. It's enormous, it's like two eggs merged together.

All I can think when I look at it is "Ouch!".