Carol's Chickens

Once again Speckles went straight to the grit this morning. I really felt that today she was going to get her first egg of the year laid and I was right. I checked the nest box mid morning and there was a long, pointed, white, egg. I think the shape shows that this egg has taken a couple of days to be laid.

I wanted to be able to do a comparison in size of the little girls’ eggs and Speckles first egg when I thought that she was going to lay yesterday morning. As she didn’t get the job done yesterday and we wanted to eat the little girls’ eggs for Sunday breakfast I came up with a plan for a comparison. I took a photo of the five little girls’ eggs in small round dish and decided to photograph Speckles egg in the same dish once she finally got it laid.

Five little girls’ eggs in a tapas dish on Sunday

Speckles egg in the tapas dish on Monday

Speckles egg next to a medium shop bought egg

Speckles egg and the medium shop bought egg in the egg stand

For a bantam Speckles lays a huge egg. I bet she was glad to get that laid.

Egg laying brings a rush of hormones to the girls and sometimes changes their behaviour. I have seen firm friends suddenly have little spats once one or both start laying. Honey and Amber, my  bantam vorwerks, were inseparable little friends until the egg laying started and then suddenly they raised their ruffs to each other and had a few little spats.

When Freckles started laying last year she suddenly started plucking at Rusty’s head feathers. She effectively gave Rusty a haircut as she snipped her head feathers rather than pulling them out. Thankfully this didn’t last long.

The day Freckles laid her first egg this year she started to do the same thing to Apricot. She has given her the same haircut. I hate to see this and am really hoping that like with Rusty this will soon pass.

Apricot has a hair cut

The dark head feathers, which in silky feathered girls, are more like hairs have been snipped. This was exactly how Rusty looked but it didn’t get any worse so I am really hoping that the same will be the case this time.

I have said in the past that I wondered if once Speckles started laying again the mother hen relationship with the little girls may finally change. I was right. Last week we remarked how unusually unselfish Speckles was still being with her little girls. She even dropped bits of chopped grape in front of them which is unknown for most hens.

Yesterday for the first time she went for Apricot and even pulled a few feathers from her back. Today she briefly pinned Cinnamon down. Later when I hand fed the girls some spinach she was taking it aggressively and pecked Freckles on the head when she got in her way. Cinnamon came to take some and she glared at her causing Cinnamon to run away.

This afternoon when I gave out the bedtime corn it was the first time that Speckles didn’t call the little girls over and drop corn in front of them. Speckles just got stuck into the corn along with the other girls.

I think her mother hen position has come to an abrupt end. She has been in this role since Peaches and Barley, the other two bigger girls, left the flock last May. She has played at being a mum to the little girls for ten months which is much longer than any real mother hen would do. It’s quite sad to see this change but it is natural. I think there may be a little less harmony from now on but I guess she couldn’t be mum forever.

This morning I let the girls out and gave them the morning sunflower hearts then Speckles went straight to the grit. She then went into the nest box and started picking up pine shavings and placing them on her back. I knew this meant that she was getting ready to start laying.

Speckles is back in the nest box

Speckles is placing pine shavings on her back

Chickens do this from their instinct in the natural world to hide themselves while vulnerable while laying their egg. We always smile and say that we can no longer see whichever girl has a little heap of shavings on her back.

This is a sure sign that an egg will be arriving soon. I really expected to find an egg when I went back to check but Speckles was back out in the run and there was no egg in the nest box. It seems that she is just practising but I am expecting an egg from her very soon.

Today the rest of the snow has melted and it has been so nice to have higher temperatures. The soil in the run has softened again and the patio area seems so light. We connected the automatic door opener again and everything seems back to normal for now. Perhaps spring is finally on it’s way.

It was so good to go out this morning to find that the snow was already starting to thaw. I let the girls out, poop picked the chicken shed and then closed the shed door for the first time in days. I returned the food and water dish to their usual spot on the patio.

The patio area was dark and gloomy from the snow on the roof but the run was light. I decided to dig the top part of the run for the girls to go out in. I soon realised that they wanted to go to the bottom part of the run where it was lighter still so I ended up digging the whole run to get rid of as much snow as I could.

I then set about clearing the snow from the patio roof. Because its corrugated plastic it isn’t an easy job. We keep a section of drain pipe with a bend on the end for this. I went up the step ladder and had to clear each groove individually with the bend of the pipe. I started  at half way across the width and pushed the snow to the far edge. I then went back to the half way point and pulled the snow towards to me.

Once I had finished clearing the roof the patio area was much lighter. It took me an hour to complete all these jobs.

When I went back up to the chickens a little later Speckles was missing. I then noticed that Emerald was looking in the nest box so I lifted the lid and there was Speckles settled in the nest box. More eggs on the horizon?

I went back indoors to get my camera but as soon as I lifted the lid Speckles rose up towards me.

What are you looking at!

The photo is out of focus because Speckles was moving but you get the gist. Notice how red her comb is now. As I had disturbed her she promptly left the nest box and Emerald went in.

Emerald takes a look at the nest box

I think at this stage Speckles is just getting familiar with the nest box in readiness to start laying soon. When I next went up to the girls Speckles and Emerald were having a dust bath.

Speckles and Emerald have a dust bath

It must be so nice for the girls to have a proper dust bath again.  They had been using the space under the shelters at the beginning of the bad weather. When most of the run was frozen the area inside the shelters stayed unfrozen which is another handy bonus of the shelters.

However after being confined to the patio area and chicken shed for the last couple of  days it must have been good to get out into the run for a proper dust bath.

The next time I checked on the girls Freckles was in the nest box and Cinnamon was in and out of the other nest box.

Freckles in the nest box

Cinnamon in the other nest box

And coming out again

Shortly after this Freckles laid her typically, round egg, the second this year. Freckles is a no nonsense girl when it comes to her egg laying. She settles in the nest box and quite quickly gets the job done. Cinnamon however likes to spend a bit of time deciding which is the best place to lay her egg. She will be in and out several times before settling down.

Notice how red Freckles and Cinnamon’s combs are. In fact all the girls’ combs are getting more colour. Even Dandelion’s comb is getting some colour and Emerald’s tiny comb has turned from white to pink.

Dandelion’s comb has a bit of colour

Emerald’s comb is pink

When I next checked the girls Cinnamon had just laid her egg. I think she had been waiting to have the favourite nest box, nearest the chicken shed, which all the eggs have been laid in so far this year.

Cinnamon has just laid her egg

Freckles has now laid two eggs and Cinnamon three. We have five little eggs for Sunday breakfast tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting to get enough for breakfast quite so soon. It will be a lovely treat.

Not to miss out Apricot, even her comb is a peach colour.

Apricot’s comb is a peach colour

The snow is thawing fast and dripping in to the run. The garden path is slushy and dirty. Rain is forecast tonight and tomorrow so the snow will soon get washed away. It is so nice not to need to worry about defrosting the chickens’ water.

Tomorrow will be day five on the tylan so I will make it the last day. Dandelion seems back to normal today so I think the girls are going to be okay and I think we will soon be getting more eggs. Everything is getting back to normal, hurrah!

During the night we were woken up several times by howling winds. This was the scene when I went out this morning.

This morning

The forecast was for snow from one o’clock in the afternoon until one o’clock the following morning. I therefore decided that there was no point getting rid of the snow on the chickens’ patio roof. The forecast for Saturday is four degrees and for Sunday it’s eight degrees, heaven! With this in mind I decided to clear the snow tomorrow. Just one more day to hang on in these conditions.

I was a bit worried about Dandelion as she refused to eat the tylan mash or drink the tylan water. She would eat sunflower hearts and corn but was refusing anything else. Without the mash or water she isn’t getting the protection of the tylan and she is the one that needs it the most. I decided to warm the mash and put some chopped grapes on top to encourage her to have some.

I gave the girls some chopped grapes on top of their warmed mash

Dandelion ate the grapes from the top of the mash. In the photo above she has a bit of grape in her beak.

Dandelion hides her head in her ruffles

Dandelion spent some time like this and I considered bringing her indoors for the day. I thought it over and decided against it. I felt it would be more of a shock to her to take her from cold to warm and then put her back out in the cold again. As this is the last really cold day and she is eating some seeds, corn and grapes, I decided that it would be best to hang on until tomorrow. If she can get through today she will be through the worst of it.

Later in the afternoon Freckles was scratching in the run just beyond the patio so I dug over the top part of the run to give them some space without snow. It is so gloomy in the chicken shed because of the snow on the roof that the girls had all moved out towards the run. I put their dish of mash at the edge of the patio and was pleased to see that Dandelion had some. She looked okay and I felt that I had made the right decision.

The next time I went up all the girls were in the big shelter out in the run. I think the patio area was so gloomy that they were drawn to the shelter for more light. It began to snow again and they went back towards the chicken shed.

Three o’clock

I am so glad that we were back from delivering our lunch and doing our shopping before the snow started again. The traffic outside our front window was at a crawl by three o’clock. I think that I will get the chickens in half an hour early today as it’s so dark in the run now.

I look forward to tomorrow being a better day and I am sure the chickens will be very pleased if they can get back out in the run again.

At the moment each day seems to get worse than the day before despite the forecast showing that it was going to improve a little. I think this is because although the temperature today was similar to yesterday the conditions were much worse.

Yesterday there were some sunny spells and the snow started and stopped throughout the day. Today there has been no sun and it has snowed all day. There has also been a bitterly cold wind. The snow has swirled in all directions meaning that despite the run being roofed the snow has blown in through the sides. The entire run was covered in a layer of snow.

I dug over the top part of the run first thing this morning and an hour later it was covered again. I decided it was a waste of time digging it.

The entire inside of the run is covered with snow

The girls confined themselves to the patio area. They seemed reluctant to step out into the snow covered run and I don’t blame them. My husband and myself both agreed that it would be best to hook the chicken shed open to encourage them to use it to shelter and to scratch in.

I have decided to leave the chicken shed door hooked open

The girls are staying in the chicken shed

I put the water, the mash and the pellets just outside the chicken shed. I didn’t want to put it inside the shed as it would get filled with pine shavings. I also added some apple to keep the girls occupied.

I kept returning to defrost the water. I had made the mash with the tylan water so I brought it in several times during the day and stood it in a bowl of hot water to defrost it and warm it a bit. I then put it in the shed for the girls while I supervised and once they had had a good feed I put it back outside the shed.

Having some warmed mash

The girls seemed to appreciate this. I have given them extra sunflower hearts and corn while the conditions are like this. The main thing is to make sure that they eat and drink and stay sheltered. The mash and apple help with extra moisture and the shed is the best place for them at the moment.

When I first decided I wanted seramas I tried to come up with ways of restricting them to the patio area and chicken shed in bad weather. Nothing successfully kept them to this area. I now realise that they are smart enough to know what is good for them and they have kept to the chicken shed and the area just in front of it all day today. It has made poop picking really easy as it was all in the shed.

During the afternoon Cinnamon laid her second egg of the year in the nest box closest to the chicken shed. I had thought these conditions might delay egg laying but it seems not.

Tomorrow is forecast to be the same as today so I will do the same as I did today and leave the chicken shed open for the girls. There is supposed to be an improvement in the weather at the weekend. I really hope so. If the girls can get through the next few days I think they will be able to cope with anything.

In the newspaper it said that today was the coldest March day since records began. I say it again, roll on spring!

It was minus six degrees last night and today never got above minus two and in fact most of the day was minus three or four.

First thing this morning

An hour later

This was the best of the day. It looked beautiful in the morning sunshine but was deceivingly cold. Later the sun disappeared and it snowed more heavily throughout the day.

The main problem today has been keeping the chicken’s water defrosted. Every few hours throughout the day I had to defrost it again. The girls are holding up surprising well though. I am pleased with how well they are coping.

The chicken’s patio area is a bit gloomy because of the snow on the roof. I thought about trying to clear it but it is forecast to snow again tomorrow and Friday so I decided to leave it for now.

The good news is that this is supposed to be the coldest day and it will gradually improve over the next few days. By the weekend things are looking to return to more normal temperatures. It can’t come soon enough for me.

I had a light bulb moment last night. I decided to disconnect the automatic door opener for the duration of this cold spell and open and close it manually. This has a few advantages. The girls were coming out at quarter to seven but I am going to let them out at quarter past seven. This gives them an extra half an hour to stay warm in the mornings.

This also means that instead of defrosting the frozen water container I can empty it when the girls go in at the end of the day and fill it in the morning from a watering can which will be easier for me and will also save me worrying about the girls coming out to frozen water.

This morning I decided to give the girls some warm mash as a little boost. It doesn’t stay warm for long but it must be quite nice for them when I first put it down.

A dish of warm mash for the girls

Emerald joins the girls

Mid morning I noticed that Dandelion had a slight crust above her right eye. I made the decision to start the girls back on tylan as a precaution. Now that I am manually opening the door it will be easy to mix up their water and put it in place before I let the girls out.

I hope that this may be the last time this winter that I will need to this. It will give me peace of mind during this really cold spell to know that they will be protected.

For the last few days Cinnamon has been very vocal and has been looking in the nest box. At lunch time today when I checked there was an egg in the nest box. There were also two little dips in the chicken shed so I am sure that this egg is Cinnamon’s first egg of the year. She always likes to try several places before deciding where to lay her egg.

Cinnamon’s eggs are also a different shape to Freckles. Freckles eggs are quite round whereas Cinnamon’s are oval and usually quite big for such a little girl.

Speckles egg on the left and I think this must be Cinnamon’s egg on the right

This afternoon we had a sprinkling of snow. The flakes were very small and round. They reminded me of polystyrene balls. The first few flakes are on the napkin, above, that the eggs are on for the photograph, which I took on the table below before the snow got properly started.

Fine flakes of snow on the garden table

A light dusting of snow

I will be keeping to this latest regime for the duration of this cold spell and I am hoping that the girls will come through it ready for warmer weather. Having two girls laying is encouraging.

To my surprise Dandelion is coping well with this latest cold spell. I really expected her to have eye bubbles again but so far she is fine. Although her comb is very pale Apricot also has a pale comb and Dandelion’s face is a good red colour.

Dandelion this morning

The next three nights and following days are going to be the coldest yet. We are forecast minus five or six degrees for the next three nights and barely above freezing during the day.

I am ready to put the girls back on tylan if I see any bubbles in Dandelion’s eyes. I  feel that if she can come safely through the next three days she will probably be in the clear.

I think the girls are coping with cold but dry weather better than the earlier cold but damp or wet weather. We have been having sunshine despite the cold and the girls make the most of sitting in the sun although today there have been light snow flurries.

The girls haven’t been spending as much time in the shelters as earlier in the year. I have to trust that they know best and that they will be okay. I will be very relieved to come out the other side of this cold spell.

I will be out early defrosting the water for the next three mornings. The girls are also going to bed a bit earlier which again is a sign that they know best. Before the cold spell they were going in at quarter past five but now they are in by five o’clock.

I think we will all be glad when we get into some warmer weather. I really hope this cold spell is the last of it for this year. It’s felt like a long, cold, winter.

I had a booking for a lunch delivery today. I know, it’s a Saturday, a bit of a pain but it can’t be helped sometimes. I got back at twelve o’clock and my husband told me that Freckles was in the nest box.

I grabbed my camera and went to have a look. Perfect timing. I could see that she was just about to lay her egg. She was stood up with a look of concentration on her face and a slight whistling sound coming from her beak. All very familiar and I closed the nest box to give her some privacy.

A few seconds later she came out of the nest box and when I lifted the lid there was her egg. Well done Freckles!

Freckles is just about to lay her egg

Well done Freckles!

Freckles first egg of the year next to a, medium sized, shop bought egg

This is a week earlier than she started laying last year but last year she had only just matured. This is a good sign that all is properly well with her. I was so pleased by this.

I just wish I could feel happier about Dandelion. The tip of her comb is very pale and I am certain that the really cold spell that is forecast will not be good for her.

I intend to ring the vets on Monday and order some more tylan so that I have plenty in stock. I will start to treat with it again if Dandelion gets eye bubbles once more and I will perhaps continue to treat throughout the cold spell. If I can just get her through this cold spell then maybe the weather will improve and she will get back to normal again.

I have to stay positive though because for Freckles, laying an egg, means that she is back to full health again. It will be so nice to have our own little eggs again.

Cinnamon has become more vocal in the last couple of days and this morning I held my hand behind her and she too squatted for me. It may be a race to see who lays first between Freckles and Cinnamon.

I went to get my camera to take a photograph of Cinnamon and when I returned she was checking out the nest box.

Cinnamon checks out the nest box while Dandelion looks on

Freckles joins Cinnamon in the nest box

Cinnamon’s face and comb are as red as Freckles

At the moment I think they were just enjoying scratching and pecking  in the nest box more than anything else but they are definitely getting ready to start laying again soon. We are forecast a very cold couple of weeks though so I am not sure if that will delay the start of egg laying.

I dread another cold spell because I always worry that it will set Dandelion back again with the bubbly eyes. I may need to give another dose of tylan yet again. It’s forecast to get as low as two degrees during the day and down to as low as minus five at night. That also means having to defrost the chicken’s water in the mornings.

I was really hoping for better weather soon and this is really cold for the end of February and beginning of March. It is forecast to last for a couple of weeks and there will be bitterly cold winds as well. It’s a shame when egg laying seems imminent to have the worry of another cold spell but Dandelion has come this far so I will keep a close eye and treat again if needed.

I can’t wait to get the cold weather behind us and and start to relax about Dandelion and eggs would not only be a welcome bonus but also a sign that all is right with the girls.