A couple of weeks ago we were finding eggs hidden away in hedgerows, now we are just not finding many at all. And it seems we are not alone: facebook is full of comments from people dismaying at their egg production and lamenting the fact that this autumn, their birds seem to be moulting far more profusely than normal. We get something between 1 and 6 eggs a day, and that is from probably over 20 birds now – we have 14 adults but a fair few youngsters from this spring have started to lay too, albeit sporadically and peoducing tiny eggs.
The weather is being blamed, of course: a hideous wet winter followed by a short spring and then a bakingly hot summer.
Queenie and her daughter here haven't laid in weeks – their combs are looking a tad pale and they don't 'do' very much at the moment either. Let’s hope a mild winter leads nicely to an early spring and a sudden up-surge in egg production!!!