Feathered Friend Friday

Last weekend I witnessed one of the funniest, sweetest, most heartfelt things I have ever seen. One of our original hens, Jobin, has come off of her molt and has lots of new, beautiful, fluffy feathers. Last week I noticed her comb had turned from a dull, pale color to a bright waxy pink, so I wondered if she would start laying again soon.

On Sunday I let everyone out of the coop and spent some time with them since I don't get to see them much during the week. I noticed Jobin was being very chatty and running to and from nesting boxes. I watched her behavior for a while and noticed our head rooster, Cam, was by her side the whole time. Almost like he knew something was going on and wanted to be there to comfort her. Jobin has always been a noisy layer and seems to be annoyed by the whole process, so I knew her tell-tale signs of an impending egg (I call it "egg frustration") and apparently Cam does as well.

The longer I observed them, I noticed Cam acting like he was trying to help Jobin out and remind her where to lay her egg. He was being very vocal as well and standing by a nesting box, almost like he was telling her, "Get in here woman and lay your egg!" She wasn't getting the picture, so he led by example and climbed right into one of the nesting boxes! Jobin ran over to see what he was doing, but never got the hint. Eventually she ran out of the coop and the loyal Cam followed. Luckily I caught this all on camera!

I went back out to check on them a little bit later, and noticed they were both somehow crammed into the same tiny box. Cam was basically on top of Jobin but she didn't seem to mind.

How's that for moral support? I guess it worked because she eventually laid an egg that afternoon!

~Tammy

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