Oh no! An eggless day!

It had to happen: the day before yesterday was a no-egg day. The first since the 10th of August last year.

Partly it was a timing thing, i.e. the girls got into synch a bit too well, so we had 4 eggs the day before and 5 the day after. But we are also now seeing the drop in laying that comes in summer-autumn. This is when they (well, the early ones) start to moult, and generally run out of puff in the egg department. So far Frida and Ella are showing definite signs of moulting, while a few of the others are looking a wee bit scruffy.

Poppy moulting in March last year

 

We’ve still got steady (but slowing) laying from the likes of Poppy, Neroli and Bessie, but Venus, Ella and Claire are all off the lay, with Lily and Frida intermittent. It would be good for them to get their moulting done early – then they can be feathered up and laying again before winter. We’ll see.

Laying summary — January

Time for the first laying summary of 2010. Looking back to last year, it’s interesting that some things are the same, but others are very different! Most notable is that in January 2009 Claire was the best layer – this time she’s the worst, with only 4 eggs squeezed out. Back then Poppy was in yet another broody phase – this time she’s recipient of the Golden Cloaca award with 23 eggs (for the second month in a row). Neroli came in second with 21.

Things that stay the same are that Frida has had a bout of broodiness and hints of moulting (just as she did 12 months ago); Venus is flakey; Ella is on-and-off; and Bessie and Lily are steady. Here’s the chart:

So a total of 121 eggs for the month – still going well, and much better than the 83 we got in January 2009 (admittedly we have one more hen, but even taking that into account it’s an improvement). Next month will probably see a drop in production, with the onset of moulting likely.

And so the pendulum swings…

It seems that the pendulum of Claire’s gender has swung back in the female direction over the last week. We’ve had three eggs from her after nearly two months off the lay, during which time we’ve heard her crowing like a rooster on at least half a dozen occasions.

The first egg was on the 12th and was a rather weird glossy brown egg – looked like it had been varnished. We weren’t entirely sure it was her, but there were no other candidates and she has been quite interested in the nest boxes  lately. She’s taken to rolling the nest egg out and half way across the floor of the house. (No idea what that’s all about!)

Her three eggs since then (on the 15th, 17th and 20th) were pretty much ‘normal’ Claire eggs – elongated, brown with dark brown speckling. And the size wasn’t bad either (around 60 g). But she still has the opulent comb and wattles of a rooster, so we don’t expect she’s got her sexuality sorted out just yet! (Maybe she never will?)

An entirely gratuitous photopost

Photos of each of the girls, taken yesterday. Clicking on the thumbnails will, as usual, open the full size image in another window.

Go on. You know you want to.

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Bessie

Ella

Venus

Lily

Frida

Poppy

Claire

Neroli

Laying summary – December, and Layer of the Year 2009

A touch of broodiness in the ChookeNZ flock meant a bit of a drop-off in egg production for December. Frida, Ella and Venus each had a bit of broody time during the month, opening the way for Poppy to claim the Golden Cloaca award. But she didn’t take it outright – her daughter Neroli sneaked up and managed the same number (23). We didn’t expect this as she’s been a steady but unspectacular layer so far, but she is in her pullet year so is now settling well into laying.

As for the others – Venus laid well until going broody at month-end and got to 18 eggs, the same number as Lily who laid steadily through the month. Bessie laid 17, while broodiness limited Frida to 14 and Ella to 9. Claire went egg-less for the month (although she did crow on a few occasions!)

Here’s the graph.

And just in case you were wondering who laid the most eggs over the course of the calendar year, the data is below. Our ‘Layer of the Year’ may come as a surprise. 

Hen	Number of eggs	Average weight	Total egg weight
Bessie	140	59.7 g	8361 g
Venus	103	68.8 g	7089 g
Ella	90	70.8 g	6371 g
Lily	166	62.4 g	10364 g
Frida	156	60.5 g	9440 g
Poppy	153	63.3 g	9690 g
Claire	79	62.0 g	4900 g
Neroli	110	56.3 g	6191 g

So congratulations to Lily! Steady laying throughout the year – no dramas like broken legs or crop malfunctions, and very little broodiness. Also it’s interesting to contemplate that she laid eggs with a combined weight that was nearly four times her own body weight. This is why we always say thank you when collecting the eggs. (And because we’re soft.)