Carol's Chickens

Yesterday our next door neighbours had a gardener in. They have a lot of trees and large shrubs in their garden and once a year they have a gardener with a strimmer come in and cut everything back to a manageable size.

The girls didn’t like the noise of the strimmer at all.

The main flock are almost all in here

Except Peaches who is about to lay her egg

And these three are here

They obviously think of the chicken shed as a place of safety. As soon as the strimming was finished the whole flock returned to the run.

After lunch I decided to separate the three amigos to the patio area for a bit of respite time. I directed them towards the patio and they ate from the dish of mash as if they were starving. Then we had another break through moment. They finally found the big water dish and drank and drank as if they were really thirsty.

It does worry me that without a bit of time away from the rest of the flock they aren’t getting enough food and water. I wonder if they would eventually venture to the patio.

Once they had had their fill Cinnamon starting digging a dust bath hole. She dug and dug and dug! The other two girls joined her and started to dust bath near her hole but she continued to dig and dig.

The black strip around Cinnamon’s beak is due to her long session at the water followed by straight to digging in the dust.

Got to make a deep hole

It’s getting deeper

It’s not quite ready yet

Going down

Got to get it a bit deeper

It’s not quite deep enough yet

It’s just right now

Three happy dust bathing girls

Without a bit of separation time these three wouldn’t be able to have this lovely dust bath session especially as Cinnamon needs a lot of digging time. She was first to start digging and then Apricot wandered over and started dust bathing. Then Dandelion joined them and started dust bathing. Cinnamon still had more digging to do. It was quite a while before she settled to dust bathing.

I have never seen such a tiny girl do so much digging. It’s a good job our run is really secure because with her tiny size and her digging ability she would be out otherwise. I waited until the dust bathing session was finished before mixing the girls once more.

I will continue to give these three a bit of separation time each day until their confidence grows.

We went out to check on them after dinner, at half past seven, and all the girls were in. This time Apricot was on the highest perch and Dandelion and Cinnamon were together on the middle perch.

Bedtime

What clever girls

We have definitely got the bedtime routine sorted. I am chuffed with this.

It is now five weeks since we got the new girls and I should probably stop calling them the new girls.

I have decided to leave them mixed all the time now and just wait for them to get brave enough to spend time away from the top of the ladders.

Yesterday afternoon I spent time with them with the hatch and temporary gate closed once more and while confined to this end of the run they scratch and dig and eat some mash from the patio and mix with the rest of the flock without much hassle. As soon as I open up  the run they go back to the ladder.

I am going to leave them together but continue to confine them to the patio part of the run if I think they need respite from the ladder. I am hoping that over time they will start to spend more time away from the ladders.

I took the chance to get some close up shots of them.

I use the temporary gate to keep them from the ladder

Cinnamon close up

Dandelion close up

Apricot close up

These two are a tight pair of girls

They stick together at all times. Dandelion’s head feathers have taken forever to open but are finally nearly there. You can see from this photo how tiny Cinnamon is but despite this she is the best digger of the three. She loves to dig and digs the deepest holes of all.

I felt confident enough once more to leave the girls in this part of the run for a while. I pottered in the garden near by.

Clematis

This is the clematis on the fence which we look out of the kitchen window on to. It is better this year than it has ever been.

The blossom on this shrub is lovely at the moment

We put this in for some height but I can’t now remember what it is.

A little later I opened up the run again and inevitably the three girls went back to the ladder. I just don’t get this obsession with the ladders. I knew they would be back down for the bedtime corn though so I decided that it was time to leave them to it.

When I went out to give them the bedtime corn they weren’t on the ladder but were sat together on the log with the rest of the flock around them. This is progress. I really think we are finally about there with this.

After dinner we checked on the girls and once again Apricot had gone in and found her perch. She is such a clever girl.

Apricot puts herself to bed on her perch

Dandelion was by the pop hole and Cinnamon was by the closed little coop next boxes. I retreated to see if they could work it out for themselves.

I went back at quarter to eight and there were no girls outside. I looked in the shed and was amazed to find that they had put themselves on the perches. We had put another perch in a few days ago, above the first one, because we know that once the girls get confidant with perching they prefer to go a bit higher.

Cinnamon was perched next to Apricot

And Dandelion was on the higher perch

What clever girls! I am so thrilled. This was easier than Freckles and Rusty at bedtime. I am so proud of them and I think I can safely say, that whatever else needs improvement, we have cracked bedtime. Well done little girls!

Yesterday was a good day. I had read on the “Down The Lane” forum of someone having a really hard time integrating new girls, phew, not just me then! It was suggested that one of things that could help was to put the mildest mannered, old girl, in with the new girls.

I decided to try putting Emerald in with them at lunch time until I was ready to supervise mixing them again.

Emerald takes no notice of the new girls

Emerald is top girl and a gentle top girl at that. She took no notice of the new girls at all.

Once we had finished work I closed off the bottom of the run where the ladders are and mixed the girls. I stood by with the water spray. I only had to point it at Rusty a couple of times and she stopped in her tracks. Soon the old girls were taking no notice of the new girls.

These three girls are after leaves

Freckles was in the nest box and Speckles, Peaches and Barley were really intent on getting leaves from the bush.

Rusty isn’t bothering the new girls

I actually felt confident enough at this point to go indoors and answer a few work e-mails. When I returned some of the girls had managed to escape the temporary gate and the new girls were back at the top of the ladder.

I decided that as they had had a good feed of mash while I had been watching over them, I would just leave them to it. I felt it was time to let them venture down from the ladder when they were ready.

I had jobs to do indoors and decided to leave the run open and go out later in the evening when it was getting darker to see if the new girls would go into the chicken shed by themselves.

I gave them the bedtime corn while they were all together and that went well with all the girls getting a share. I also cleaned out their little coop ready to be used on the patio as a second nest box once more. This also gives a bit more space in the new girls section of the run.

We went to check on them after dinner at about half past seven. To my amazement Apricot was not only in the chicken shed but was on her perch. I felt so proud of her, what a clever girl. Dandelion was on the patio looking a bit confused and there was no sign of Cinnamon.

I checked the nest box on the patio and there she was. Okay, not where I wanted her to go, but it was clever of her to recognise that this was just like her own little coop. I put Dandelion and Cinnamon on the perch and made a mental note to close the nest boxes tonight.

I am blown away by this progress and I think with the nest boxes closed the girls will find their way in to the chicken shed. I think by the weekend we will have them together full time at last, after five weeks. I am feeling very pleased with this progress.

Over the last couple of days I have been picking up fluffy grey feathers, some with a white spot on the tip. I knew they were Speckles feathers. I then noticed that she has a bare bottom which has become worse over the last couple of days.

Speckles has a bare bottom

I am feeling pretty miserable about this. I can’t bear feather plucking but I suppose at least it is her bottom rather than her head which is much worse. We don’t know who the culprit is as we haven’t managed to spot it happening. It has to be Peaches, Barley or Emerald.

I wonder if this integration process is proving stressful all round. While the girls are separated for half the day the original six girls only have half the run, so less space than they are used to.

I feel the need to move this integration process on but I am struggling with the new girls being averse to the patio area and unable to get to food or water.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take some drastic action. I mixed the girls at lunch time and the new girls went straight to the top of the ladder as usual. When I was watching them a bit later I could see that this had become a kind of game for Rusty. The new girls would leave the ladder and edge up the run until Rusty would spot them and would chase them straight back up again. They were being held prisoner on the ladders.

I decided that I needed to force them to be together. I closed the hatch and the temporary gate so that there was no access to the bottom part of the run and the ladders. Emerald and Barley were out of the equation for now as they were in the nest box. I armed myself with the water spray and let the action begin.

Rusty in particular went for the new girls and managed to get a beak full of feathers from Apricot’s back. I sprayed Rusty. Freckles went for them and I sprayed her. Speckles went for them and I sprayed her too. Rusty kept on trying and I sprayed her and after a while only had to point the spray at her and tell her “no”, for her to back off.

It was horrible at first and I felt bad throwing the new girls into this but soon I was able to keep the other girls from going for them. The new girls stayed close to my feet at first. They then started to venture out.

Dandelion and Apricot discover a new perch

Rusty retreated to the bush in a bit of a sulk.

Rusty also finds somewhere new to perch

The new girls finally went to the patio and ate some mash as if they were starving.

They find the food dish on the patio

They take a liking to the shelter

They kept returning to the shelter and obviously felt safe in there which was a bit of a worry because they could get trapped in there. At this point Apricot was dozing and I thought the new girls had probably had enough and needed a bit of respite.

I separated the areas again and put them back in their usual half. After the bedtime corn I opened up again. I thought it may give the new girls a chance to follow the main flock into the chicken shed at bedtime.

I checked on them once the main the flock were in the chicken shed. I had kept the new girl’s coop closed so that they may head towards the chicken shed which they did.

The three amigos head up the patio towards the chicken shed

This is brave, cinnamon is slightly less sure

From this moment I headed them in through the pop hole. They lingered behind the pop hole when Apricot suddenly jumped to my shoulder.

From here Apricot leaped to my shoulder

The camera got stuck and then the battery died

The camera hasn’t been opening properly without me helping it along by touching the shutter with a finger. I think years of taking chicken photos have caused dust to get in the mechanisms plus this camera doesn’t let me know when the battery is low but just suddenly dies. Frustrating! This was the only shot my husband was able to get before it died. I kept it in because although it’s rubbish it does show Apricot on my shoulder.

I was leaning towards the nest box to try to allow her to jump down with Cinnamon who was already on top of the nest box. Dandelion is in the pop hole door way. It took a few moments to get Apricot to dismount from my shoulder. It’s sweet that she sees me as a place of safety.

I directed them back through the pop hole and then popped them on the new perch. I closed the door to keep them there and then opened it again once they stayed on the perch.

I feel this is a huge step forward. They have gained in confidence and they know where to head at bedtime. I intend to keep this up and feel we are finally making a breakthrough with this. I will remove their coop to the patio area today as they no longer need it and I am feeling so much more positive now. I think we are finally ready to move on with this.

It’s becoming really difficult to move this integration forwards. Getting the new girls to sleep in the shed is an improvement and I intend to keep this up whether they go in on their own or I have to put them in.

The problem now is that they spend most of their time at the top of ladders. I removed the feeding station from the run yesterday because it served no purpose and seemed to make things worse. Every time the new girls went towards the food in the run they were chased to the top of the ladder again. They really need to learn that the patio area is the feeding area.

I separated them before going out to do my lunch deliveries and checked on them again before I left. The three new girls were having a lovely dust bath in a spot of sun. They wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t separate them. For now I will have to separate them at times for them to be able dust bath, scratch about and feed and drink.

In the afternoon we finished early so I put the main flock on the other side and closed the temporary gate to try to get the new girls used to this area near the patio and the patio itself.

Apricot finds the perch in the shelter

I herded them to the patio where there were pellets, mash, water, spinach, apple and sunflower seeds to tempt them. What more could they want! They still only stayed on the patio while I physically blocked them from leaving (they managed to eat the sunflower seeds first though). As soon as I moved they left.

This is such a different problem to any we have encountered before. We have never had girls so averse to the patio and I just don’t understand why. I left them in this part of the run for most of the afternoon but they didn’t return to the patio and in fact kept as far from it as possible.

While watching them we did a few garden jobs. We used to have a wooden beam outside the new part of the run to deter anything digging in. By last summer it had started to rot and I chiselled out the rotten half (closest to the weld mesh ) and replaced it with a row of bricks. This year the other part had rotted so I removed it and we bought some more bricks and I replaced it with a second row of bricks.

My husband then had the idea that if he lifted the bricks and alternated the pattern it would look like a path, much better than two straight rows. He also alternated the new and old bricks as the new ones are a different colour.

Improving the outside of the run

On the other side I had already put a row of bricks and have the girl’s dandelion strip. All the rest of the run has concrete outside so these two strips are the only parts that needed to be made “dig” proof.

The other side of the run

An hour before bedtime I separated the girls to their usual sides to give the new girls some respite and a chance to feed before bedtime.

Once the main flock were in bed I herded the new girls towards the chicken shed. I “helped” them over the threshold. Once again they headed for a corner under the bigger girls. I put them on the new perch and once again they stayed put. As they have such an aversion to the patio I may have to continue like this for the time being. The good thing is that once they are on the perch they stay put.

This morning I went out at seven o’clock and the automatic didn’t open until ten past seven. It wasn’t such a bright morning as the day before and the door opener is very sensitive to the level of light. This gave me a chance to see what was happening inside the shed.

It was all very quiet with no sounds of any aggravation. I slowly and quietly opened the door a crack and peeked in. The girls were all down from the perches ready to come out and the new girls were in the back right hand corner keeping out of the way. I opened the door wide and they all came out with the new girls evenly mixed amongst them and no problem from them.

I am happy that are fine sleeping in the shed and getting out okay in the morning. I gave them the morning seeds but as soon as they had had them the new girls headed straight up the ladder. I decided to separate them and put them put them back on their side of the run as I worry that this means they don’t get food and more important, water. They went straight to the water.

This is so frustrating because we are so nearly there and yet if they can’t get food and water when mixed we can’t go any further. I just don’t know how to get them brave enough to go to the patio or to go to food and water. This is a stumbling block I haven’t encountered before and I just don’t know how to get past this.

Yesterday I mixed the girls all afternoon and once again they spent the entire time at the top of the ladder.

The really annoying thing was, that Rusty actually perched next to them at the top of the ladder without any fuss at all, but every time they came down and attempted to get to the food dish she chased them back up the ladder again.

Rusty snoozes in the sun on the same perch as Cinnamon and Apricot

Look how close Rusty is to Cinnamon

At one point I went to pick Rusty up and she squatted for me so she is getting ready to lay any time now. Maybe that will help her calm down a bit.

I separated the girls before bedtime to give the new girls a bit of respite and decided to try sleeping them together to see if this would help things along. We put up another low, broom handle, perch in the opposite corner to the one Rusty and Freckles sleep in.

I waited until the main flock were all in their bedtime positions then I picked up the new girls and placed them in the shed. They came straight back out again.

I put them back in again and this time unhooked and closed the pop hole door. I checked on them after a few minutes and all three were huddled in the corner directly below the bigger girls. This was no good as they would get pooped on.

I picked them up one at a time and put them on the new perch. I checked back in a few minutes and they were still where I had put them.

The new girls on their new perch

The rest of the girls

The new girls perch is just showing on the right of the photo. I went out a bit later and they were settled on the perch so I hooked the automatic door back up. It was already in the closed position by now.

Yesterday the automatic door opened at quarter past seven so I planned to go out at seven o’clock and make sure the new girls got out okay. I looked out of the window at five to seven and the girls were already out so I missed the door opening.

They all seemed okay though. I scattered the morning sunflower hearts and the entire flock took them together. I was kicking myself that I had forgotten my camera and by the time I went back with it the flock had dispersed and I had missed the shot.

By the time I had done the morning clean up in the shed the new girls were back up the ladder. I put a few extra dishes of mash around the run and decided to leave to them until it’s time to go out for my lunch deliveries. I will then separate them again so that can have a scratch, possibly a dust bath, and feed in peace while I am out.

It will be interesting to see if they remember where to go at bedtime tonight. If they don’t go in on their own I will put them in again. As their perch is right by the door I feel it’s easy for them to get out first in the mornings. We have achieved the new girls first night on a perch so that is a step forward.

In a way the second day together wasn’t as good as the first. The problem now, is that the new girls are spending the entire day at the top of the ladder, and that isn’t moving things on. If I took them down from the ladder the other girls immediately chased them back up again.

Speckles is in a dust bath

Freckles is dust bathing on the other side of the wire

Peaches and Barley, Emerald and Rusty are here

Barley and Peaches are doing their impression of book ends

These three spend all their time here

I make sure they have some food

They have some mash

If I chase them down they get chased back up again. I worried that they were getting no food, so I did this, but this is a one off only. I realise that it isn’t the answer because it isn’t helping them to mix and it enables to them stay here all day.

At the end of the day I separated them again which gave them some time to have a scratch around and some food and water. On Saturday I felt that we were making progress but on Sunday they spent their entire day on top of the ladder. I have come to an impasse. How do I move them on from this!

I think the next stage is to try to get them together at night and see if that moves things on. This is definitely the most difficult integration I have ever done. I sometimes despair of them ever being united but I know that we will get there in the end. I have to keep trying different things until I find out what works.

Yesterday being Saturday, and no functions, was the ideal day to put the girls together for their first whole day. I put them together at eleven o’clock once my chores were done.

My main worry is that the new girls can’t get to the food dishes when they are mixed. I don’t really want to have a feeding station in the run but decided that for now it is the only option. I set up a dish of mash (as it doesn’t get flicked out like pellets) and a dish of water on the small wooden block. This part of the run stays dry now that it has a solid roof and it’s near the ladders for an easy escape.

Of course the original flock were straight on to it. Anything new has got to be better than what they are used to and I knew the new girls would have to wait for the novelty to wear off before they would get a look in.

I set up a new feeding station

The original girls loved it

Cinnamon and Dandelion found safety here

And Apricot here

Then something amazing happened

Rusty and Apricot have their heads in the dish together!

This was my photo of the day. I was blown away by this. Perhaps there is hope after all. The main flock stayed in this area as it was where the sun was so the new girls stayed on the ladder.

Once the main flock moved to the other area I lifted the new girls down to the food station.

New girls at the new feeding station

A chance at the mash but not for long

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before Rusty spotted them and chased them back to the ladder. They know the food is here now though so I think they will return when the coast is clear.

I checked back a bit later and was amazed to see most of the girls together in the sun. Freckles was in the nest box and Emerald was having a dust bath but Peaches, Barley and Speckles were sitting at the bottom of the ladder and Rusty and the new girls were on different rungs of the ladder. I took some photos but unfortunately there was a blip with the camera and the photos didn’t appear.

I went back to try again but Speckles had joined Emerald in a dust bath and Peaches and Barley had moved a bit further away from the ladder. I did manage to get the little girls snoozing on the ladder though.

Sitting in the sun together

Four little girls snoozing on the ladder

Rusty on the bottom, Dandelion next with her head under her wing, then Cinnamon then Apricot at the top.

A little later, once Freckles had laid her egg, all five little girls were perched together. This was quite a heartwarming sight.

Five little girls together

We have had the new girls a month now and I feel that they are going to have to get used to being together because it is time to move this forward. Cinnamon is no longer looking stressed and now that they have become confident with getting up and down the ladders I am happy to leave them unattended. This is all positive so we just need to keep going with this. We are getting there at last.

Egg production is up, with sixteen eggs on our egg rollers since last Sunday’s breakfast. Today was the first, four egg day, this year. This means I no longer need to buy eggs, so as I had two shop bought eggs left, I decided to scramble them for the girls as a treat. This is the main flock’s favourite treat of all.

Scrambled eggs for the girls

They are loving the eggs

They are not at all sure about this

The new girls just couldn’t pluck up the courage to try the egg. Once the other girls had finished their egg they were desperately going up against the wire trying to get to this dish. I gave up and gave the dish to the other girls.

After lunch I was ready to mix the girls as I had a free afternoon but Cinnamon was having such a lovely dust bath that I didn’t want to spoil it for her. Rusty and Freckles had been dust bathing on the other side of the wire.

Cinnamon makes such a deep hole considering what a tiny girl she is. She keeps on digging and when she was sitting in her hole she almost disappeared. I took one shot through the wire in case she moved on when I moved to her section.

Cinnamon makes a deep hole to dust bath in

Once through the gate Apricot put her face right up to the camera. I kept this shot as it is quite funny.

Apricot photo bombs the shot

Cinnamon stands in her hole

Apricot appears to be asking her what she is doing

These girls are so funny. It was three o’clock by the time dust bathing was finished and I opened up the gates and escape routes.

The afternoon went the best yet and I left the girls together until the bedtime corn at five o’clock. The new girls came out of their section on their own. They did end up at the top of the ladder fairly soon but I lifted them down and put them on the patio while the other girls were occupied dust bathing.

Eventually they went back to the top of the ladder. I left them a while and when I returned they had actually made their own way down from the ladder and moved up the run. This is another break through.

Rusty did most of the chasing but not all of the time. Speckles and Peaches did a little chasing. Cinnamon didn’t look stressed at any time though.

Emerald was desperate to get into the new girl’s coop so I let her in and she laid her egg there today.

I got them all back to their sections with the help of the bedtime corn and Cinnamon was scratching happily in her area without looking stressed. I felt we were finally getting somewhere with this.

I will keep giving them longer spells together and once the clocks have changed (Sunday) I will start working on getting them to bed together. The clocks changing will mean the automatic door will be opening at seven o’clock instead of six o’clock which will make it easier for me to be there to watch them come out and make sure it’s going okay. This is the next hurdle to get over but I am happy at the moment that we are making progress.

Yesterday morning there was a lot of shouting about who was going in the nest box. I couldn’t understand how it had been so harmonious on the last two occasions when the girls shared the nest box and why it was so unsettled this time. On checking it out I found four girls missing from the original flock. I checked the nest box.

Now four probably is a crowd!

Poor little Freckles looks a bit squashed again but as usual this little girl is not moving.

I think Peaches is just being nosy

Emerald and Freckles had both laid two days before so I knew they were due to lay. Speckles last laid two weeks ago and had been looking in the nest box the previous day so I knew she was ready to lay too. Peaches laid two days before and is only laying about once a week at the moment so I knew she was just being nosy. She loves to watch the girls in the nest box often much to their annoyance. This is what caused the shouting!

These three girls settled together once Peaches had retreated

Freckles sitting with three eggs again

When I heard the shout I checked again and only Freckles was still in the nest box. I lifted her and there were three eggs, one of them being hers. I lifted her out of the nest box. I always have the dread of her going broody but so far so good.

In the afternoon I mixed the girls for a couple of hours again.

Dandelion and Cinnamon made it to the patio

Once again the new girls made it to the patio while the other girls were dust bathing. There was some chasing around once more with Rusty being the worst offender but Peaches joining in as well.

Emerald and Barley in the “new” dust bath

Eventually the new girls ended up back at the top of the ladder so I decided that was enough. The trouble is once they retreat to the top of the ladder they don’t mix any more and it seems pointless to leave them there.

Cinnamon didn’t look stressed like she had the day before though so maybe that is a bit of an improvement. I sometimes wonder if these girls will ever be mixed!