Carol's Chickens

Yesterday afternoon my husband was going over to the farm where we get our disposable supplies from and where we re-homed Pepper and Dotty. He asked me if I would like to go with him and see if I could find them on the farm.

I  went along armed with my camera.

My husband went to collect our supplies while I set off to look for Pepper and Dotty. At first there didn’t appear to be a chicken in sight. I checked the barn which was empty. I could see by the amount of feathers in the yard that there is some serious moulting going on.

I went to the orchard which seems to be the chickens favourite place on the farm. At first I couldn’t see any chickens but then I spotted Pepper emerging from the undergrowth. Then Dotty appeared from under the yew tree.

I called to them and crouched down to try to get some photos while cursing myself for not thinking to bring some treats. Soon they came close to me and I was able to get some photos.

Pepper

Dotty

I don’t suppose they remember me but there again they did let me get close to them which the other chickens and the cockerel didn’t.

The feathers have grown back on Dotty’s head whereas when my husband last saw her, her head was still bald. She is moulting and has lost most of her tail but I remember her looking just like this last year.

Dotty

Pepper with some of the other hens

It was good to see Pepper mixing easily with some of the other hens.

Pepper and Dotty together

They still seem to stick together which is rather nice. I love Dotty’s crossed legs.

Pepper in the foreground and Dotty in the background

Pepper has her bottom feathers back in so despite the moult they do seem to have got their missing feathers back which is a really good sign.

Claude the cockerel

This was closest I could get to Claude the flock’s cockerel.

Some of the geese on the farm

I felt so happy to see them free ranging happily on the farm. I feel this environment is much more suited to them and how ever long a life they have here it will have been a happier one than in an enclosed run.

It is so good that they are together too as it would have been heartbreaking to have them separated. Seeing them again reassured me that I had done the right thing re-homing them on this farm. They looked so happy scratching in the meadow and grazing on the grass.

A few days ago we attempted once again to get some photos of Emerald helping herself to the corn.

Emerald sees the corn tub coming out of the cabinet

Emerald helps herself to some corn

We didn’t get many good photos so yesterday we decided to have another go.

Again Emerald helps herself to some corn

Emerald has the corn to herself but not for long

Emerald has always been the only one to do this but then I usually only let her have a few seconds before I move away with the tub and sprinkle the corn out in the run.

Today I held the tub for longer than usual while my husband was taking photos.

Amber decides to join in

We can both fit our heads in the corn tub

Amber is enjoying the corn

Honey decides to join the party

At this point I decided to sprinkle the corn and let the other girls join in as it seemed a bit unfair to let this trio have the corn to themselves for any longer. They are such cheeky little girls.

When I poop pick the coop each morning Honey and Amber always come into the coop to inspect my work. When I sweep the patio area at the end of each day they like to help. Everywhere my hand brush goes they go too.

I think they think I may turn up some tasty titbits for them. Sometimes I have to gently move them off the square I want to brush. They follow my brush until I have completely swept the patio.

When I start to sweep up the girls flock around me

Honey would like to help

Amber would like to help

Honey and Amber are my best helpers

They help me sweep up every day

It does amuse me how it is this same pair of girls that do this every day. They seem to enjoy me sweeping up.

Yesterday afternoon Honey and Amber were sharing a dust bath. They looked so cute squashed into one hole that I thought I would take a photo.

As so often happens it didn’t go to plan. As soon as I opened the gate Honey raced over to me so the moment was lost.

I crouched down by Amber in case Honey decided to rejoin her and Peaches rushed over to me photo bombing the shot.

She was so close that the camera couldn’t focus and I wasn’t going to include the shot as it’s blurred but my husband thought I should as it is funny.

Peaches could you get any closer to me!

You can see Amber’s tail sticking out of the dust bath behind Peaches and as usual Barley is not far away.

It’s such a shame it’s blurred. Peaches does like to come in close and is often too close to photograph. I find my self backing up with her following me. She does make us laugh though.

When I go to the cabinet to give the girls their late afternoon treat Emerald jumps to the coop roof then the top of the cabinet.

If I hold out the open treat box to her she will dip her head in and help herself. She is the only one to do this. Peaches and Barley sometimes also jump to the top of the store cabinet but when I offer them the box  they jump down from the cabinet as if they are afraid of the box (they have a lot to learn yet).

The rest of the girls hang around my feet waiting for me to throw the sunflower hearts out to them.

Today I decided to try to photograph Emerald helping herself to the sunflower hearts. What I should have done was to get my husband to take the photos while I held the box as usual. Stupidly I decided to do it myself and so that I could stand back a bit to take the photos I put the box on top of the cabinet.

I missed the shot of Emerald with her head in the box but got these two instead.

Emerald would like to help herself to the sunflower hearts

The trouble is she will try to stand on the edge of the container

I think you already know what happens next. The box tips up sending sunflower hearts every where!

Luckily the box was almost empty. I swept some seeds back into the box and swept the rest off of the cabinet onto the patio for the girls.

I really should know better by now! I will get the shot I wanted another day.

Topaz seems to have completely stopped dropping feathers at the moment and the quills on her neck are unfurling.

I went in the run and bent down to take some photos of Topaz. Peaches and Barley immediately jumped on my back so I passed the camera to my husband.

Barley and Peaches on my back

I wonder what Barley is looking at

They seem quite happy on my back

If I become more upright to gently tip them off they counter balance and move up to my shoulders. They now jump on me every time they can as if they are really pleased with this new skill.

Anyway back to Topaz.

Topaz’s pin feathers are really growing in now.

Topaz from another angle

The quills are beginning to unfurl.

Their was another development from Topaz today. I went in to the girls just as she came out of the main coup shouting. I checked the nest box and to my surprise there was an egg. It was still warm and bigger and rounder than Sparkles eggs. I think Topaz must have laid it.

Sparkle laid her egg in the little coup a little later so I am fairly sure it was Topaz that laid it. Honey laid the day before yesterday and before that six days earlier so it’s unlikely to be hers. Hurrah for Topaz!

Maybe she will get into her stride now and make up for the shortfall of eggs. It will be interesting to see when her next egg will be laid.

For the last few days Peaches has been jumping on my back whenever I stoop down. Today Barley joined in as well. Every time I went in to poop pick they followed me around and kept jumping on my back. They especially seem to like it when I am near the ladder as they jump from the ladder to my back and back to the ladder repeatedly.

I decided to see if my husband could capture this on camera.

Barley on my back

Barley is interested in my hair

They both like to gently tweak my hair. Maybe they are intrigued that I have hair instead of feathers.

Because I wasn’t quite in the same position as when poop picking Peaches tried to jump on too but slid off (I wasn’t bent over enough to give her more of my back). You can see her in the background at the water.

When I was bent fully over by the ladder they both jumped on me at the same time so we may try to get a photo of that another day.

I wonder what makes them want to do this. I love it though as I enjoy them interacting with me.

The funny thing is my big girls used to do this. But when they were chicks I would sit on my little chair on their patio area and they started by jumping on my lap then my arms, shoulder and back and sometimes even my head (not ideal).

The little girls never did this though so although I spend as much time with them as I can I never bothered sitting on the little chair. I instinctively knew they wouldn’t sit on my lap. This makes me wonder why these two are the only ones of the little girls to do this. I wonder if it because I got them younger (only six weeks old) or if it is just their nature.

Whatever it is it makes me smile. As I have said before it is all on their own terms. They run to me, they follow me, they like to get on eye level with me and now they like to jump on me and peck at my cloths or tweak my hair but they do not want me to touch them. If I were to reach out to them they would be off.

It’s fine by me though. The fact that they don’t want to be touched makes it all the more special that they want to touch me.

Barley’s comb is flopping further over now and is definitely to the right whereas Peaches flops to the left. I am actually really pleased with this unexpected development as it now means I can tell them apart instantly and when they are not together. It’s also quite nice just having one of each.

Peaches left flopping comb

Barley’s right flopping comb

Right and left flopping combs together

So we can easily tell that Peaches is on the left of the photo and Barley on the right standing on the block with Toffee getting in on the act in the background.

Peaches is the more bold of the two and has just found a new game of jumping on my back when I am crouched down.

A few days ago she was on the storage cabinet and I was stooped cleaning a splat from the patio when she jumped from the cabinet to my back. I thought that she was probably just using me as stepping stone down from the cabinet.

But today when I was bent over poop picking the run she jumped on my back three times. When I returned later to take the photos of their combs I crouched down to get on their level and she jumped on my back again.

She has also taken to pecking at my dress or skirt especially if it has a bright pattern. I love this interaction with her as I know that none of my girls like to be picked up or stroked (it’s okay to touch them if they are “helping me” clean up and I have to move them out of my way) but I like that they come to me on their own terms.

Other news today is that after five weeks of not laying Amber laid a soft shelled egg again today. I only know this because she had been more vocal for the last few days which she always does when an egg is due and she had sat in the nest box for a while but didn’t lay.

Then at lunch time when I returned from my deliveries I found wet patches on the patio that turned out to be egg yolk and egg white when I wiped them up and I found the remnants of a thin shell in the run. The good news though is that Amber no longer looks unwell when about to lay so I am thankful that she looks so good at the moment.

With eggs so thin on the ground at the moment it’s a shame that we never get Amber’s egg but I am sure the girl’s enjoyed it. I think she probably laid it from the coop roof and it fell to the patio and smashed. This isn’t the first time this has happened.

Luckily they have never attempted to eat a properly shelled egg but a broken one is of course just too tempting. I don’t think Amber will ever lay properly but after two years of this I am just thankful that she is still with us and she seems happy and is no longer looking unwell before laying so I am content with that.

For the last few days Topaz has been going into the nest box as if practising egg laying again. This is exactly the same procedure she went through weeks before laying the few eggs that she did.

Given that she has just come out of being broody and is now half way through moulting it seems very unlikely that she will start laying eggs just yet. Has anyone told her that though!

Topaz in the nest box

Topaz is looking scruffy

She has lost the feathers around her face

Does my tattered Topaz really think she is ready to lay eggs! It seems that while being so far, next to useless at egg laying, my princess still thinks she could lay an egg. I wonder if this girl is a bit deluded!

I feel like I am becoming obsessed with Peaches and Barley’s combs at the moment but a comb is such a good way of recognizing a chicken. In fact it is thought chickens of the same breed will recognise each other by their combs.

Honey and Amber used to look as similar to each other as Peaches and Barley do now but today a glance at their combs would set them apart even if nothing else did.

Peaches comb flops to the left

Barley’s comb looks as if it may flop to the right

It may be too early to tell yet but Barley’s comb does have a very slight curve to the right at the moment.

I would love it if their combs flopped opposite ways as I would easily be able to identify them.

I wonder if there is a common way for their combs to flop. I wonder if it’s like being right handed and is more likely one way than the other but not impossible to flop either way or is it fifty fifty. It’s something I haven’t thought about before but will do some research.

My Bluebell (adopted by Jackie and now re-named Blossom) is a chalk hill blue and her comb flops to the right.

This seems to suggest it is possible that Barley’s may also flop to the right. I would be interested if anyone has any thoughts on this.

As far as Barley is concerned only time will tell. Watch this space.