Carol's Chickens

The weather here has been very cold with night time temperatures of minus two to four which means the chickens’ water freezes.

I seem to learn the hard way every year. If there is only a little ice on top of the water a jug of hot water poured on top is enough to defrost it. If it is frozen solid, as it has been the last few mornings, I have to bring the waters in and run them under the hot tap to remove the block of ice from the china dish and to be able to separate the top from the bottom of the metal water container as it freezes together.

I then fill my plastic watering can, take that up and refill the water dishes. What a palaver! It is always at this stage that I wonder why I am making it so hard on myself. So tonight I have emptied both water containers and separated the metal one so it can’t freeze together and bought my emptied watering can down to the back door.

In the morning I will fill the watering can and take it up to fill both water containers. Easy! No defrosting. I always remember this after doing it the hard way first.

In other news Smoke got over her broodiness very quickly. On Friday she laid her last egg after behaving half broody for four days. On Saturday I posted the photo of her making herself as big as possible. That evening I had to lift her from the nest box and put her on the perch in the chicken shed.

To my surprise on Sunday morning she was out in the run. She didn’t go in the nest box all day and at dusk settled in the chicken shed. Just like that she had snapped out of it! I would be happy if it was that easy every time.

And since I blocked off the store cabinet Spangle has laid her eggs in the nest box nearest the chicken shed every time so another problem solved. I will leave it blocked for a while until I am sure she has forgotten all about it.

We are continuing to get plenty of eggs and the girls seem to be handling the cold okay for now. Dandelion and Cinnamon spend time in the shelters when it’s cold but the rest of the girls don’t seem bothered by the cold which is really good to see.

The silky girls and the amigos remain active during the cold so I am pleased that the girls from my  latest breeder seem to be more robust. She did say that she continues to breed during the winter so we wondered if that makes them hardier. I have no idea if that is the case but if it is that bodes well for the future.

We have been a bit busy this week with an appointment to the accountant, a dentist check up for me, an M.O.T. for one of the vans and catering a funeral for tomorrow, so I haven’t managed to take any photos of the girls. I always think a post with no photos at all is rather dull so on the way back from locking the girls up tonight I stopped to take a photo of one of our snowdrop patches.

Snowdrops at dusk

These were completely buried under our recent snow but seem none the worse for that.

We have been watching the forecast as we were due more snow which was a worry with the funeral tomorrow but the forecast is now saying sleet and rain so I think we are going to be okay.

I know we mustn’t wish our lives away but roll on spring/summer and better weather. Like the chickens I prefer warmth and sun.

Recently there has been the usual surge of hormones that comes with the start of egg laying and it always causes spats to take place.

Dandelion picks her battles carefully but Cinnamon does not. Cinnamon was over confident and rushed around picking fights with all the amigos. They cottoned on to her game and started retaliating two at a time. Two amigos would fight back together and corner Cinnamon until she had to back down.

This has really knocked her confidence and she has since taken to hanging back away from the flock. It has been really hard to see our confident little girl suddenly become nervous and hanging back from the treats.

If only she hadn’t kept pushing her luck I feel sure she would have maintained her joint top serama position. Now with her obvious loss of confidence all of the amigos have taken to chasing her away.

Dandelion on the other hand picked just a few fights and therefore came off better. She has maintained her top serama position.

A few days ago Dandelion had a spat with Smoke who is top amigo. The pair of them were really going for it when Ebony spotted them. Ebony ran over and broke it up once again. She had three attempts before she separated them and then grabbed Smoke by the wing as if admonishing her. When it was all over Ebony returned to scratching in the soil as if nothing had ever happened.

Dandelion kept her top position. It’s a pity Ebony hadn’t been around when Cinnamon was picking fights all over the place.

One thing that is certain though is that Dandelion and Cinnamon remain firm friends. They dust bath together and sit together whether in the sun or the shelter. I have also noticed that Cinnamon sticks close to Speckles when in the run. She knows that Speckles will always protect her and will chase away the amigos.

There are strong relationships within the flock. The three bigger girls along with Dandelion and Cinnamon will often be grouped together almost like a flock within the flock. The two silky girls are also always together. The amigos are sometimes together and sometimes spread out but there are definitely three groups within the flock.

Cinnamon and Dandelion sitting in the sun

Dandelion and Cinnamon in the large shelter

I wonder if once Cinnamon starts laying again she will regain her confidence and her status. One thing that seems certain in the chicken world is that pecking order may change but friendships borne out of being together over time become lasting friendships. The girls that have been together longest or have come in together have strong bonds.

When I lift Smoke out of the nest box she will stay in position on the patio for a while so I am now putting her straight into the run. When I do this she holds up her wings and tail and makes herself look as big as possible.

Broody Smoke

She does look hilarious! Unfortunately she does attract pecks from Dandelion and the silky girls. On the other hand though she chases away the rest of the amigos. I think it’s those angry, broody, hormones.

I am pleased to see that when I have taken her out she has plenty of water, some spinach and some pellets. It’s good to see her eating and drinking while out of the nest box.

I am guessing we are in for three weeks of this. I am used to having shut broody girls out of the nest box in the past but that’s no longer possible. Oh well, what will be, will be!

I now have no doubt that Smoke is broody.

Smoke didn’t lay yesterday so she went into her favourite middle nest box first thing this morning as I expected. She was making the, chuff chuff, broody sound as she went in. An hour later she was still in there. I decided to leave her for two hours and then lift her out. Spangle was also in and out of this nest box causing Smoke to shout at her.

After two hours I lifted Smoke out and there were two eggs. Her own bigger, round, egg and Spangle’s narrower, darker, egg.

I put Smoke on the patio and she sat with her tail raised up. She made no attempt to move when suddenly the two silky girls attacked her. They pecked her and pulled at her with their beaks which sent her running. This wasn’t nice to see and I haven’t seen a broody girl get this treatment before.

Smoke did a big broody poop then perched in the sun and preened alongside the silky girls surprisingly enough. After half an hour she returned to the nest box.

I lifted her out again and put her in the run this time. Once again she just sat in the same position until Sienna and Dandelion lightly pecked at her and sent her on her way. Fifteen minutes later she was back in the nest box.

I decided to leave her be as it’s going to be impossible for me to break the broody girls with nine seramas in the flock. I can’t close the nest boxes in case other girls need to lay. This year I am just going to have to let it take it’s course.

Smoke in the nest box with her tail raised up

Smoke on the patio with her tail in a v shape

Smoke and Spangle’s eggs

I can’t believe I have the first broody before they have even all started laying. Smoke is the best layer too. She has laid thirty three eggs so far since she started in December.

In the summer I will try to dissuade Ebony and Flame from going broody as last summer it only took the removal of their eggs to do this. Speckles has never gone broody. The seramas I will just leave to their own devises apart from lifting them out peiodically to take a break. There  should be enough girls laying not to matter if some of them take a break.

Yesterday we had our first, four egg day, of this year. Up until then we had been getting two or three eggs a day most days. Jasmine has only laid one egg so far and that was six days ago so she hasn’t properly got started yet. This means that four eggs is a full house at the moment.

At the moment I can still tell the eggs apart but I am aware that may not last much longer. Ebony’s are obviously easy as they are the only large size eggs.

Smoke’s are easy as they are the largest and roundest of the little girls’ eggs plus she sits in the nest box for the longest and so is easy to spot when laying. Spangle’s are distinct as they are beige and narrow. Marmite’s are in between these two sizes and pale.

Side by side the difference in the width of the eggs doesn’t show up in a photo but it does show up in the egg stand because Spangle’s narrow egg drops through the hole.

Egg stand – four egg day

From left to right is Smoke’s egg, Spangle’s egg, Marmite’s egg and then Ebony’s egg. As I had seen all four girls in the nest box and had four eggs that day it was certain whose the eggs were even without me identifying them.

Since I have blocked the top of the store cabinet Spangle has been laying her egg in the nest box which is good.

I have decided to do an extra egg count at the end of January as I think that beyond that it will get really difficult to tell the eggs apart. By my end of year egg count I doubt I will know which girl laid which egg.

It is good fun still being able to name the eggs so far and it has been great seeing more girls start laying. Vanilla and Sienna both look ready to start soon as they have lovely red combs. I love having plenty of eggs and in the summer we should have loads.

For the last three days I have thought that Smoke might be going broody and yet for the last three days she has laid an egg.

I would notice that she had been in the nest box for a long time. At first all morning and then as her egg got later it would be all afternoon.

When I checked on Smoke she behaved like a broody. She puffed herself up, raised her tail, made an angry sound and went to peck me when I lifted her from the nest box.

When I lifted her each time there was her egg. Her eggs are distinct as they are larger and rounder than any of the other little girls’ eggs.  I sat her on the patio and she sat for a while like a broody girl does. After that though she went to the food dish and then out into the run as usual and didn’t return to the nest box.

Smoke with an angry gleam in her eye

Smoke in a broody pose

Smoke with her somewhat ragged tail feathers raised up

It’s as if she is almost broody but not quite. It is most odd. I will update as she goes on.

Late this afternoon it started snowing.

It had just started snowing

Outside our kitchen window

I love the contrast of the red berries and the snow.

The back garden half an hour later

It very quickly covered the garden but luckily an hour later it had stopped. I say luckily as it doesn’t take much snow to cause chaos on the road outside our house.

It does look pretty though.

Edit

It is now just gone five o’clock and the snow is coming down thick and fast. Oh dear!

It is now just gone half past five and there is a stationary queue of cars outside our drive.

The road outside is now at a stand still

I have on occasion seen Spangle fly on to the top of the store cabinet and then fly down to the run from there. She is the only girl that I have seen do this. The space between the top of the cabinet and the roof of the run is quite small.

Recently on a handful of occasions I have gone in to give the bedtime corn and when I have opened the store cabinet door Spangle has surprised me by flying down to the run. I hadn’t noticed she was there until she flew down.

Yesterday this happened again but this time she had her corn and then flew back up there again. She settled down to sit up there and I wondered what she could be doing up there.

Spangle is on top of the store cabinet

What is she doing up there!

She is now sitting up there

I decided to take a patio chair in to stand on and see what she was doing.

I climbed on a chair to see what she was doing

To my surprise there was an egg up there. The top of the cabinet is filthy! I lifted her down and removed the egg. I then swept the dirt and dust from the top of the cabinet.

A minute later Spangle was back up there again. She has never repeated going up there before. It was getting near to bedtime so I lifted her down again and put my broom up there to put her off while I went to look in the shed for something to block it with.

I put a broom up there to block her but that didn’t work

I lifted her down again and blocked it with a few items.

It’s now blocked with a box and a log

Spangle tried to fly up again and just dropped back down. I couldn’t understand why she was so determined to get back up there. I waited a few moments to make sure that she had given up.

I checked back a little later and the girls had gone in the shed. I always check the nest boxes just in case and there was Spangle’s, still warm, egg. I know Spangle’s eggs because they are a darker colour than the other girls and narrower.

This was obviously why she was determined to get back up on top of the store cupboard, She must have laid her egg up there a day or two earlier and was determined to get back to her new egg laying spot. Once I blocked it she must have gone straight to the nest box and laid her egg.

As it’s been so cold it doesn’t matter that the egg may have been there a day or two but it was filthy from being laid in the dust and we didn’t fancy eating it. Instead I scrambled it in a little olive oil and water and put it in the fridge to feed it back to the girls the next morning.

Scrambled egg for the girls

Spangle gets to eat her own egg – scrambled

Notice how red those combs are.

I am hoping that now the store cabinet is blocked off Spangle will return to laying in the nest boxes. There always seems to be some drama going on with these girls. They always manage to surprise me with some new behaviour. They are funny girls!

I thought a fish treat would be good for the girls as a bit of extra protein to help those feathers through for some of them. It also gives me a chance to get a group photo as they all come to the patio area for some fish. I put six small dishes on the patio.

Fish treat

Salmon was just hidden behind Sienna in this one.

The whole flock together

All twelve girls in shot.

The girls love the fish

I love seeing all the girls together. They are such a pretty flock.

We have our laptop on a corner of our kitchen worktop. Probably not a conventional position but it suits me. I pass it every day from any room to the cabin outside the back door which is our catering work space or from there to the front door if off on my deliveries.

It means I can constantly check if there are any new lunch orders and I can confirm them promptly. It also means I can write my blog or read blogs while keeping an eye on cooking our evening meal.

I also prefer to stand as both my husband and myself have spent our entire working life on our feet and we feel it’s good to continue that way. I am not comfortable sitting apart from eating meals and watching television in the evenings or reading in the sun in the garden in summer.

I hadn’t realised how low it was though and at Christmas when oldest son and I were working on a project together he commented that he didn’t know how my back could take stooping down to look at the screen. I admitted that it was sometimes uncomfortable.

My son said that the screen should be in line with my eye level and the keyboard should be on a level of my elbows held horizontally.

His job is in I.T. self employed and working from an office space in his home. He has a standing desk for a similar reason. He doesn’t want to spend his days sitting down at a desk.

This started me thinking that I should do something about this as I spend a lot of time on the laptop. I searched on line and found a simple stand which was inexpensive and adjusted to three heights. You alter the height by leaving the legs off for lowest height, slotting them in one way round for middle height and slotting them in the other way round for maximum height.

I decided to try it on maximum height as this fitted in with my son’s advice.

Our laptop on the kitchen worktop

I have a past flock as my screen saver. Sadly all those girls have gone now, the last one, being Emerald last summer.

Our laptop on the stand

The cooker is to the left and then my food preparation worktop to the left of that, so away from this corner, which only serves to house the vintage bread bin which stores potatoes and the utensils container and of course the laptop.

Yesterday was the first full day of using it like this and I am already getting used to it. At first the key board felt high as I have been used to having my hands down at hip height up until now. It is great though being able to watch the screen while standing perfectly upright rather than stooping.

I am amazed that I have managed for years like this without coming up with a solution. I think this will make a huge difference to me. Already I am very happy with the change.