Carol's Chickens

Today I thought it would be good to get a group photo of the current flock while they were having some apple. Ginger and Silver now run to the treats along with the rest of the girls.

Ginger and Silver are on the right side of the photo.

Ginger is at the back and Silver is in the middle of the next row.

I think we have cracked the bedtime routine. On the third evening with the new corner perch Ginger and Silver were first in as usual and were perched on the side perch. Gold was on the corner perch once again and as usual Storm, Snow and Red were on the back perch.

I had decided to stay more hands off so although Mango and Cloud were still out I left them to it. I checked back just before the pop hole closed and saw both Mango and Cloud jump to the side perch. I looked in a few minutes later and all was calm.

On the fourth evening which was yesterday there was the same line up when I checked after dinner with Mango and Cloud still out. I decided to check just after the pop hole closed. Mango and Cloud were on the side perch with Ginger and Silver. I think they have now got the hang of it.

It’s three weeks today since we got the new girls so the progress has been amazing. I am very happy with how it’s all gone.

Yesterday’s end of day was once again dark and wet. I went to check on the girls after dinner. To my surprise Gold was on the corner perch. She looked like queen bee in the middle of the perch and looked really comfortable.

Storm, Red and Snow were on the back perch and Ginger and Silver were on the side perch. This time they were at the corner end of the perch with Ginger nearest to Gold and Gold was taking no notice of her.

Mango and Cloud were still out. I left and returned a bit later. Mango had jumped up to the inner, child, gate and Cloud was perched on the edge of the tarpaulin covered nest boxes.

I think the problem lies with Mango and Silver having had just over two years of having the side perch to themselves. There is room for them on the side perch but they need to learn to share.

I decided to perch them next to Ginger and Silver and was pleased that there was no pecking. I checked again as the pop hole was closing and all was calm.

Dare I say that I think we are finally getting there. I just need Mango and Cloud to learn to go to the side perch with Ginger and Silver. I feel a lot more positive now though.

I have also removed one of the extra feeding stations each day. Today I will remove the last one. Ginger and Silver happily eat from the two dishes on the patio and I haven’t seen any of the girls chasing them away.

Yesterday I opened the gap by the patio and hammered in a stake to keep the side gate open. I emptied the shavings from new girls’ little coup into the chicken shed and hoovered it and it’s stored in the garden shed. So everything in the run is now returned to normal.

With Gold on the corner perch she was settled and didn’t do her usual going in and out. She also wasn’t doing any pecking so after thinking the corner perch wasn’t working I now think it just needed more time and Gold needed to find it herself.

I am feeling hopeful now that given a bit more time the bedtime routine will sort itself out.

The new girls have been sitting on top of their little coup at bedtime and I have been lifting them at dusk and putting them in the chicken shed.

But the weather has changed from warm and dry to lots of rain. I had a tarpaulin over their little coup because when it rains water drips through the weld mesh above the solid, marine ply clad, fence and drips on to the top of the little coup. As the new girls insist on sitting on top rather than inside this is no longer suitable as they would be sitting in the wet.

A few nights ago I decided to remove the little coup and see what they would do at bedtime. It was a dark and wet end of the day. I went up to check and to my surprise all the main flock were still out but Ginger and Silver had perched in the chicken shed.

This shows that they know where to go and they want to go in. The next time I went up the main flock had gone in and Mango and Cloud were on the side perch and they had chased Ginger and Silver out.

The head pecking at bedtime is brutal. I can never understand how girls that get along fine during the day can be so savage at bedtime. I have been watching them each night. What happens is if Ginger and Silver perch on the side perch Mango and Cloud peck their heads until they are forced to leave.

But if I perch Mango and Cloud on the back perch the other girls peck their heads until they are forced to leave. This is why I have only been able to perch them all at dusk when it’s too dark for the pecking.

This is making it really hard to progress. I felt something needed to be done but there isn’t much room for another perch.

In the end I decided to try a perch across the corner of the shed where the other two perches almost meet. I found a piece of wood in the shed that was the same width as the perches. My husband shaved off the square edges and I sanded it down. It is now rounded on the edges and smooth. We screwed it to the brackets.

It looks higher but is only very slightly higher due to it being a deeper piece of wood . The pale edges are where it’s curved which doesn’t show up very well but it gives the gist of it.

Gold is the worst head pecker. The main flock always perch up one end of the back perch and Mango and Cloud on the side perch with Gold on the back but in the corner next to the new perch so that the other girls are away from her, out of reach of her pecking. I am hoping that Ginger and Silver may use the corner perch or maybe Gold will use the corner perch keeping her away from the rest of them. It will be interesting to see what happens at bedtime.

Later

I kept popping up to see how it was going. None of the girls were interested in the corner perch. Ginger and Silver were first in on the side perch. While the girls go in and settle Gold is constantly in and out. She has made it her job to terrorise the girls. Mango and Cloud actually settled next to Ginger and Silver. The rest of the girls settled on the back perch. Gold was still out so I put her on the corner perch to see what would happen.

Gold moved to the edge of the corner perch and pecked Cloud’s head until she forced her off the perch. Gold then followed her out. I perched Gold the other end of the back perch next to Snow. She pecked Snow’s head making her squeal and move away. I then moved Snow to the corner end of the perch and put Gold next to Storm.

Storm has moved up to the top girl position with Snow in second place. Gold and Red seem about equal in the next position with Cloud next then Mango. Silver is next and Ginger is bottom girl.

Gold doesn’t bother any of the girls during the day but she turns into a monster at bedtime. By this time it was dusk and the pop hole closed. I checked in the shed again and all was settled.

I don’t know how this is going to resolve itself. Maybe I shouldn’t watch and just leave them to it and see what happens but it’s hard.

Yesterday Snow went broody and Red came back into lay. Snow had laid eight eggs in thirteen days which is four less than the last few times. I am going to leave her broody this time round but just lift her out a few times a day for breaks.

Red, like snow before her, abruptly stopped dropping feathers and came back into lay. She had been in the grit and oyster shell a few days before so I thought she was getting ready to lay. She had taken a break of twelve days since she last went broody.

I am happy for Snow to be broody as they are all on growers pellets. Her egg shells had been good but it would be good for her to have a break. Red tops up her calcium from the oyster shell and her eggs always have good shells. She has recently only laid eight eggs before going broody so she probably won’t lay for long.

They always look so funny straight on. I thought I would try to get a photo of these two together and they both turned to me at the same moment.

In other news I have been putting Ginger and Silver in the chicken shed at dusk. I know it isn’t helping them to go in themselves but it is getting them used to being perched in there overnight and coming out with the rest of the girls in the morning. It also means I don’t have to go out early to let them out of their little coup.

I am attempting to do this in easy stages. I know we will get there in the end.

After blogging every day about the new girls there hasn’t been so much to say after the first week as things have settled between the new girls and the main flock. The new girls have got more confident around the flock. They have also become much friendlier with me which is lovely.

I have hand fed them spinach which means they now come to my hands to see if I have anything for them. At first they used to move away from the camera but were not bothered if I took photos on my phone. I guess that’s what they have been more used too. But now they are used to my hands they are not bothered by my camera and in fact Ginger comes right up close now, sometimes too close.

They always look so funny straight on and she would have put her beak on the camera if I had let her.

At the end of their first week I decided to close their corner with their little coop and see if they would follow the main flock into the chicken shed. I kept popping up to check on them.

Mango stayed out later than usual and was on the patio area keeping the new girls away. Once all the main flock were in I decided to put Silver in as she is the braver one. I perched her next to Red as Red is usually the least aggressive. It was awful. Red pecked Silver’s head mercilessly. Silver cried out each time and then jumped down and left the chicken shed. I opened up the new girls’ corner and both Silver and Ginger rushed into their little coup.

This is why I haven’t tried mixing them at bedtime again. I feel that Silver and Ginger would soon get the hang of it but it’s the other girls that won’t let them at the moment. We need to wait until they are older and more able to stand up to the other girls.

Red, Storm, Snow and Gold always perch on the back perch and Mango and Cloud always perch on the side perch. I now think that this may have been the reason Mango and Cloud liked me to put them in. They were the bottom girls and probably got similar treatment. Now they have learned to perch on the side perch away from the other girls. But this means that if the new girls perch on the side perch they would be at the mercy of Mango and Cloud who being the previous bottom girls are now the worse aggressors to the new girls.

It has always worked out in the end before so I have decided for now to just leave things as they are and give it more time.

In other news Red is now moulting. She is leaving heaps of feathers especially when she has had a dust bath.

This is actually good timing because that means she is probably finished laying and it makes easier to keep the whole flock on growers pellets.

Snow is the only girl still laying. She has laid five eggs since her last broody spell so is half way through the amount she lays before going broody again. I plan to leave her broody this time round so that she will probably finish her moult and also finish laying.

We had Snow’s eggs for breakfast this morning and I was pleased that they had good, hard, shells so she seems to be doing okay on the growers. I am giving yogurt once a week at the moment to give her some calcium. And that is all the latest news from the chicken run.

The day after Silver found the ladder and the branch perch on one side of the run both Silver and Ginger found the other ladder and branch perch.

These two girls are very adventurous and have quickly found their way round everything in the run.

I have now opened up the wire between the two ladders as it makes a good escape gap for the new girls if there is any chasing. It is a week today since we collected them and they have come on such a long way already.

Today when I mixed the girls the new girls got much closer to the rest of the flock. The rest of the flock took no notice of them.

Silver discovered one of the ladders today. Several times she went up to the top of the ladder and also on to the branch perch above the ladder. Silver is definitely the adventurous one.

I am very pleased with how it’s going. Yesterday Ginger and Silver kept away from the rest of the flock most of the time, often being at the other end of the run from them.

Today they have got much closer to them and the main flock haven’t taken any notice of them. They all seem to be getting used to each other. It’s great progress.

Today I mixed the girls together for an hour in the morning.

Storm was the first one to chase the new girls. Later Mango and Silver raised their ruffs to each other. Later Cloud chased them too. Gold took no notice of them. I had left broody Red in the nest box and Snow was also in a nest box which surprised me as I didn’t expect her to come back into lay as she is dropping feathers everywhere.

Ginger was breathing through her beak so I put the new girls back on their own side in case it was because she was stressed. I think it was more likely because she was hot as she had been stretched out in the sun.

When Snow came back out into the run I checked the nest box and Snow had laid after a break of only eleven days.

After lunch I decided to mix the girls again with Red and Snow now out in the run. I had lifted Red from the nest box and closed both nest boxes.

Silver is definitely the braver one and she ventured on to the patio because their were some bits of apple there.

Red ran at her but Silver bounced around Red and went back to the apple. She is a very brave girl.

The new girls seemed very settled and there was no more hassle so I decided to leave them together for the rest of the afternoon. I returned them to their own space at the end of the day.

I forgot to mention that after the new girls first night with us they have since settled on top of their little coup at bedtime. This makes it easy to lift them off and put them in each night. It also shows that they now feel safe and don’t stress about going high anymore.

This has gone so much easier than I expected. These girls are not as timid as past new girls have been.

Today I switched the main flock and the new girls to each other’s sides of the run. As there are three sections it’s easy to do as I get the main flock in one section and then let the new girls into the other side and then open the two sections for the main flock and reverse this when I want to put them back again.

The new girls wanted to get back to their side with the big girls at first but soon settled to exploring the other side.

It didn’t take them long to find the food and water. These girls are more adventurous than previous newbies.

After an afternoon on the other side I switched the girls back again. Tomorrow I will put a fourth feeding station at the bottom end of the main flock’s half and then give both lots some time together. The new girls are dictating the pace and they seem keen to mix.

They will have some supervised time to mix and we will see how they get on.

As predicted Red has now gone broody. She has laid eight eggs in thirteen days which is exactly the same as last time she went broody. These girls are so predictable.

Having been a bit grumpy this year about the lack of eggs I am now happy with the situation. It’s turned out to be really good timing. This will probably mean Red will go on to moult and that will be the end of egg laying for this year for the main flock. If if she doesn’t moult and comes back into lay again it won’t be for a while yet.

This means I can put the whole flock on growers pellets and get straight on with integrating the new girls. When it looks like the new girls are getting near to laying I will move them on to half growers and half layers and then gradually make the switch to layers pellets.

This whole process is happening much faster than I thought it would but that’s really good. I will let the new girls dictate how quickly we move forward now as it doesn’t matter if it happens sooner or a little later.

Well, the new girls didn’t go in their little coup at bedtime which wasn’t a surprise to us. I don’t think any of our new girls have ever gone in their coup at bedtime as far as I can remember.

As the main flock were going in the new girls started to get a bit stressed and were looking up for somewhere to go at bedtime. It was obvious that they had had a high perch to roost on before, possibly a barn with high perches. They were constantly looking up and a few times flew into the wire. At one point Silver flew up to the top of the dividing wire.

I decided to pick them up and put them in their little coup. Ginger was the easiest to pick up and I put her in first and she settled down straight away. I then manged to pick up Silver and put her in and she bumped about for a minute and then settled.

I then cleaned the run and opened up half of the run for the new girls in the morning. I lifted out the dividing hatch and closed the gate to the run in the bottom half. I also set up another feeding station in that half of the run. It will mean when the girls are mixed the new girls will know where another feeding station is.

This morning when I let the new girls out they soon explored the bottom part of the run. Silver lead the way and is definitely top girl out of these two. Yesterday she had occasionally given Ginger a gentle peck on the head to let her know she was top girl.

Ginger seems to spend most of her time in the food dish but I am happy with that as it’s a good sign. She was very quick to find the new feeding station.

I am wondering if they might settle at the top of the ladder or the branch perch tonight. If so they will be easy to lift down from there.

In other news Snow is now moulting. I had been finding long tail and wing feathers from her in recent days but today the run was an explosion of white feathers. This means she will have finished egg laying for this year.

I am now thinking that the broody spells leading to early moults may work in our favour to get the new girls integrated more quickly. Red is now the only girl still laying. If she goes broody at the end of her “clutch” that may also trigger her to moult. If this happens that will be the end of egg laying for the main flock for this year.

That would mean that I could put all the girls on growers pellets and start integrating the new girls. It was obvious today that Silver really wanted to join the big girls. She was patrolling the dividing wire this morning. Meanwhile Ginger was at the food dish.

Red laid eight eggs before going broody last time and has already laid seven eggs this time so will probably go broody soon. So my plan is to get the new girls used to the whole run as soon as possible. Tomorrow I will switch the main flock and the new girls to the opposite sides of the run to get them used to the other side.

I think this may be a faster integration than I first thought which would be good.