Carol's Chickens

Last night after the bedtime corn, Butterscotch went to her usual roosting spot on the top rung of the ladder and stayed there this time.

This morning when I went out to the girls she was already in the little coop nest box. I lifted her out and sat her on the patio then threw out the morning hand full of corn. She ran to the corn then returned to the nest box.

Butterscotch is a committed broody unlike Topaz. The good thing is that she will probably lay well between bouts of being broody unlike Topaz who doesn’t lay beyond her first clutch of the year.

Butterscotch has already laid more eggs in three weeks than Topaz has laid in two years.

Anyone who keeps chickens will know all about hens going broody. Jackie recently sent me a link that someone had sent her about broody hens. He called it ” Broody hens, the ultimate guide with sixty one common questions answered” and described it as detailed information in six thousand words! Phew!

I read it all … Heavy!! It didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know and it didn’t touch on the conundrum that is Topaz.

But I am just going to answer the question my mum asked me yesterday for other non chicken keepers like her. She asked me why a broody sits when there is no egg to sit on.

It is a surge of hormones that causes a hen to go broody. To be successful in hatching eggs the hen must be committed (unlike Topaz) and the instinct must be strong.

There is no thought process to this. Butterscotch doesn’t wonder where her eggs are. If she was capable of thinking the process through she would know that even if there were any eggs, after a night roosting on the top rung of the ladder, her non existent eggs would now be cold and therefore could not hatch. She would also be able to suss out that yesterday when I closed the coops and she couldn’t get back in, there was no point in sitting next to the coop instead because the non existent eggs were not outside the coop.

There is no such logic from a hen she is just programmed to sit and sit to give any potential eggs the best chance of hatching.

I can’t believe that this summer I briefly considered giving Topaz away. My reasoning behind this was that she often seems angry while being perpetually broody and she may be more fulfilled if she had the chance to sit on some eggs. But unlike Butterscotch (who would probably make a great mum) Topaz doesn’t commit. She will sit on any of the girls eggs until I remove them then she will give up. She will sit in the nest box until she hears me come through the gate at lunch time. She knows I bring some fruit at this time so she leaves the nest box to peck at the treats and forgets about being broody.

Topaz would probably be a terrible mum. Like people some hens are really good mums, some manage it okay and some are not so good at it. I realised that Topaz is my unique girl and belongs here with her flock and it wouldn’t be the right thing for her to go somewhere else. I just needed to figure it out.

I am stuck with, I mean that in the nicest possible way, a hen that doesn’t lay eggs despite being in the peak of health but she is probably as happy a hen as she can be. This is the way life is for Topaz.

So there you have it, two different type of broodies. Many chicken keepers have broody hens like Butterscotch but I still have yet to come across anyone else who has a girl like Topaz. If any one does have a “Topaz” I would be interested to hear from you.

Today we made some new nest boxes for the chicken shed from some wooden wine boxes that we had.

A wooden wine box

Butterscotch was in the nest box in her trance like broody state so I picked her up and tried her in the wine box to see if it was big enough.

I tried Butterscotch in it for size

She allowed me to pick her up and put her in the wine box then pick her up again and return her to the nest box without moving a muscle.

We set about adapting the wine boxes

One of the new nest boxes

The other new nest box

We put one each side of the shed because we didn’t want them under the perch or ladder where they would get pooped on but we didn’t want them to restrict the ladder being lifted up for cleaning either.

I tried butterscotch in the new nest box

As butterscotch was so easy to move I decided to try her in the new box. I shut the shed door and to my surprise she stayed put in the new box. At lunch time she came out on her own.

I closed the little coop nest boxes so that she would stay out for a bit and she actually stayed out for an hour, eating, drinking, pooped, scratched and preened. She then walked all round the little coop nest boxes as if trying to work out where the door had gone. Finally she sat down next to the little coop nest box so I opened them up again and she went straight in. I didn’t want to stress her.

We decided the new nest boxes needed a bit of wood on their front to make the girls feel secure.

A little improvment

And the other one

The girls came in to investigate.

Honey takes a look

Peaches takes a look

Peaches did jump into the new nest box but she had jumped back out again before I managed to click the camera.

I am not sure that this will help with Butterscotch at the moment but I think it will help in the spring and it will give the girls plenty of time to get used to the new boxes. Also I think Butterscotch being my biggest girl, followed by Toffee and Topaz, may find the new boxes a bit small but I think the rest of the girls will fit in them easily and Peaches and Barley have already laid an egg each in the shed before now so they may take to the new boxes.

I will tempt Butterscotch out of the nest box with sunflower seeds again tonight at five o’clock and then close the little coop nest boxes. That way she can either roost on the ladder or go in one of the new boxes. I will report back tomorrow to update on how this works out.

That wasn’t quite the end of Butterscotch’s first broody day. We went up to check on the girls after our evening meal as we always do. I looked in the shed and thought “uh oh, where is Butterscotch?”. She was missing.

I checked the nest box and sure enough she was back in there. I lifted her out and put her just inside the pop hole. She just sat on the floor of the shed for a few minutes then she suddenly came back out shouting her head off.

She rushed over to the pellets and proceeded to alternately shout and eat. It went BOC BOC peck, BOC BOC peck, BOC BOC peck. She had a good feed and some more water.

Meanwhile we decided to put the nest box in the shed as a temporary measure. We thought that perhaps if she got used to it being in there we wouldn’t have to disturb her at bedtime.

The nest box is now inside the shed

Butterscotch makes her way back in

Butterscotch jumped on to the nest box

I should have known that simply putting the nest box in a different place probably wasn’t going to work. She never attempted to look inside it but simply used it as a stepping stone to the ladder.

On the top rung of the ladder and still shouting

She continued to shout for a bit then settled down on the top of the ladder.

This morning she was once again out in the run until I had given out the corn. Then she promptly went back into the nest box again.

We have decided to postpone our day out today. Richard suggested that a bank holiday weekend will be busy and we may be better going for a day out another time, plus he has a D.I.Y. project on the go, maintaining the bedroom doors and windows. But mainly we can keep an eye on Butterscotch and we are going to install some nest boxes inside the chicken shed.

This may help Butterscotch for now and will ease things along in the spring when the egg laying starts again.

Butterscotch has just laid twenty eggs in twenty three days with her last twelve eggs in twelve days. Yesterday by late afternoon she was sat in the nest box when I realised that she had been in there rather a long time. I decided to lift her to see if she had laid her egg.

She had indeed laid her egg and she also pecked my hand which was something she hadn’t done before. Uh Oh! I thought. Was she going broody? As it was nearing bedtime I decided to force her out and she shouted loudly. I distracted her with sunflower hearts. She calmed down then a little later made her way back to the nest box. I closed both nest boxes as it was nearly bedtime and I thought there was just a chance that if I kept her out until bedtime she would have got over it by morning.

When I went in this morning all the girls were out in the run. I gave them their morning corn and as soon as it was gone Butterscotch went into the nest box. As she had laid her egg late afternoon yesterday I knew it was too soon for her to lay this morning and therefore, yes, she has gone broody.

Butterscotch in the nest box

Butterscotch growling at me

She growled at me which is another sure sign. Her growl sounded like a snore.

I have read a lot about broodies and some people like to get them out once a day for food, water, poop and possibly a dust bath. Other’s say that this causes them more stress and if left alone they will do this on their own.

Last year when Topaz actually committed to being a proper broody I got her out at lunch time each day. She would puff herself up and come out shouting with anger. She would peck me if she could and peck any girl who got near her. This went on for three weeks before she suddenly snapped out of it.

Butterscotch is even louder than Topaz when she shouts. I have decided to try to do it differently with her. I am going to leave her be and just keep a close eye on her. I am hoping that she will be smart enough to come out when she needs too. The patio area where the nest box is, is in shade and is cool so I don’t need to worry that she will over heat.

I checked on her at lunch time.

Honey checks on Butterscotch

My girls are so nosey that when ever I check the nest box they do too. Honey took a look in  the nest box and Barley also came over to see what was going on. Butterscotch had her head tucked down into her breast and was in the trance like state that they enter when broody.

A few hours later I checked on her again as did the girls.

Peaches, Barley and Honey check on Butterscotch

Peaches and Barley keep an eye on Butterscotch while Topaz and Honey discuss the situation

Barley goes in for a closer look

Barley nudged past Butterscotch on her way back out and Butterscotch growled at her. I thought we had better give her some privacy.

At five o’clock I went in to give the pre bedtime sunflower hearts and tempted Butterscotch out of the nest box with them. She joined the other girls pecking at the seeds.

Butterscotch joins in with the seeds

She then had a peck at some apple

Then a drink of water

She then went to the other water dish for another drink

Butterscotch drank loads of water. She then went off into the run and did an enormous broody poop before having a frantic scratch.

She has a quick scratch

A quick jump up to the table on her way back

I have no idea why she needed to jump on the table but she soon made her way back to the patio. By now all the girls had gone in to the shed and Butterscotch went back to the nest box but I had closed them both. She hovered by them for a few minutes then went in to bed.

Butterscotch is off to bed

I think I will continue with this routine as long as she doesn’t appear to be losing condition. Some days I will be out during the day (for work) and tomorrow we have planned a day out so this will fit in with our day. We will make sure we are back before five o’clock to make sure she has food and water before bedtime.

I guess we were lucky to get twenty eggs before she went broody. If she lays this well in between going broody we will count ourselves lucky. Time will tell how long this broody phase will last.

Peaches moult seems to have speeded up whereas Barley is just losing the odd feather. I took this photo of them together for comparison.

Peaches and Barley

Peaches is looking really tatty

Poor Peaches

Barley actually looks quite pristine in comparison. This is their first moult so I didn’t know how quickly they would moult. Peaches wouldn’t win any beauty competitions at the moment. I am sure she will soon be back to her beautiful self.

At the moment I give the girls their bedtime treat of a hand full of sunflower seeds at five o’clock. From about half past four the girls are all lined up at the the bottom of the run waiting for me. When I go up at five o’clock they follow me up to the gate with great excitement.

They soon hoover up the sunflower seeds and then scratch for about fifteen minutes more just in case they have missed any. After this they have a quick top up on pellets or water and then make their way into the shed. They all want the top perch and all the original girls settle on the top perch with Speckle sometimes making it and sometimes being chased down to the top rung of the ladder.

Butterscotch however doesn’t join in with this rush to try and get to the top perch. Butterscotch stays out in the run wandering around and scratching and pecking. She has an hour of peace every evening alone in the run. I think that she knows she isn’t going to get to the top perch so she doesn’t rush herself but instead enjoys this extra hour in the run with no one to give her any hassle.

At half past five all the girls are on the top perch except Butterscotch

Speckles is tucked in at the back on the right hand side behind Topaz and is only just visible.

Butterscotch wanders around the run pecking at the ground

At six o’clock Butterscotch is still out in the run

At half past six Butterscotch heads towards the patio area

She strides towards the shed

It’s her time to go in

Butterscotch takes her usual place on the top rung of the ladder

It’s the same pattern every day with Butterscotch going in an hour behind the others. There is never any danger of her not making it in time as the automatic door won’t close until over an hour later. Butterscotch is smarter than she looks and I think she probably finds this the best hour of her day. What a clever girl she is.

Speckles is moulting and has lost her tail but despite finding loads of her feathers she doesn’t look much different apart from no tail. Her feathers must have been coming through underneath the loose ones.

This morning I put six dishes of mash in the run and spaced them apart around the run to give Speckles a chance to get some. She is still nervous of me and the camera so this was the closest I could get before she ran.

Little “no tail” Speckles having some mash

Honey is our eldest girl at two and a half years old and she hasn’t started to moult yet. I think it will be soon though as her first egg of the year was a soft shelled egg and she laid another soft shelled egg yesterday. Her egg laying had slowed down over the last few weeks so I think she has come to the end of her egg laying for this year. All her other eggs have been fine so I think it’s because of the start up and wind down that this happens to her. I have read that this is sometimes the case.

Honey hasn’t yet started to moult

Topaz hasn’t started to moult yet but then she doesn’t lay eggs either. Topaz is a conundrum, she laid eight eggs in spring and nothing since then. She is a perpetual broody, sitting on all the girls eggs until I remove them, but not committing to it. Because of this she doesn’t lay eggs but always has a bright red comb and wattles and will probably live to a ripe old age, laying one clutch of eggs per year, but laying into old age and not experiencing egg laying problems. That has been the pattern last year and this year but it will be interesting to see if it continues this way next year.

Topaz hasn’t started to moult yet either

Toffee and Emerald have already completed their moult which they started a month earlier this year than last year.

Toffee is looking good

Emerald is looking good

Butterscotch is an amazing egg layer. She has just laid eight days in a row and has now laid fifteen eggs in eighteen days. As she was hatched late last summer I am hoping she won’t moult and will continue to lay through the winter. The fluffy under feathers showing on her back are from Honey pulling the outer feathers during integrations and nest box disputes. This is no longer happening and she is fluffy enough to still look good and at least has no bare patches.

Butterscotch

Barley laid her last egg four days ago and has just started dropping feathers but doesn’t look too shabby yet.

Barley

Peaches laid her last egg eight days ago and has already lost her tail.

Peaches

It is the first moult for Barley and Peaches and as usual they are pretty much in unison with a only few days between them starting to moult.

It is quite good to have a staggered moulting as I am already picking up as many feathers as poop each morning from the chicken shed.

Peaches and Barley kept our egg supply going last winter and this winter I am hoping that Butterscotch will keep going for us. All the eggs on my egg roller are now Butterscotch’s eggs.

It is lovely seeing the girls get their smart new feathers back but we have a bit more shabbiness to get through yet.

We noticed this trick some time ago and I wanted to get a photo of the girls in action to do a post about it but have never managed to have my camera with me at the right time so I thought I would just post it anyway.

We have two stations for water and for a while I wondered why the galvanised water container was always dirty in the drinking part while the china water bowl always remained fairly clean.

This water bowl stays pretty much clean

The trough part of this is often dirty

Then we noticed that the reason for this was because Peaches and Barley would be scratching in it and flicking the water out. That also explained why it was often wet around the base. We thought they were just being silly.

Then we realised that they were rolling the spilt pellets into the wet patch and making their own mash.

The feed bowl is next to the water container

If there were no spilt pellets they would scratch some out of the food bowl then roll them into the wet patch to soften and then eat them. Now that is a clever trick! I wonder how they learned that. They love mash and now they can make their own. It’s only these two girls that we have ever seen do this.

If I ever catch them at it when I have my camera I will take photos and do another post. They are a smart pair of girls.

Peaches and Barley have just started their moult and their eggs have dropped to one, from either one or other girl, about every four days with the last one laid two days ago. I think we may not get any more from them this year as today I found quite a few feathers from them in the run.

That leaves only two girls laying (Honey and Butterscotch) and two large nest boxes between them so you wouldn’t think there would much of a problem there. Wrong!

This afternoon Honey was in the left nest box and Topaz (the perpetual broody) was in the right nest box all fluffed up. Butterscotch who lays nearly every day wanted to lay her egg. She stood outside the nest boxes shouting very loudly.

Honey is still laying an egg, on average, every three days and I knew she was due to lay so didn’t want to disturb her. Topaz however doesn’t lay at all so I thought it would be best to move her out to allow Butterscotch to go in.

Topaz was angry and shouting and trying to return to the nest box so I distracted her with some grapes.

A little later Butterscotch was once again shouting loudly and when I back to check Topaz was back in the nest box and Butterscotch was pacing outside. I once again removed Topaz and allowed Butterscotch to go in.

There was a bit more shouting then it went quiet so I went in to check on them.

Butterscotch has had to share the nest box with Topaz

Honey is still in the other nest box

Butterscotch is settled whereas Topaz is giving me the angry eye

Topaz made it known to me that she didn’t appreciate me taking photos. I left them to it.

I was surprised that Butterscotch would choose angry Topaz to share with until my husband reminded me that a few days ago Honey had pulled feathers from Butterscotch when she tried to share with her. Maybe she is smarter than we think. Topaz is all bark and no bite (or should that be peck!) whereas, normally gentle Honey, will pull feathers from Butterscotch in a nest box dispute.

A short while later Butterscotch was shouting as she always does when she has laid her egg. Topaz was sat on Butterscotch’s egg and all fluffed up. I moved Topaz to take away Butterscotch’s egg and set her off shouting again.

Once the egg was removed and both Butterscotch and Honey had left the nest boxes, Topaz left too and all was peaceful again. Honey hadn’t laid after all but she often does this. Sometimes she doesn’t seem to know when she is going to lay and will go in the nest box for a period of time for a couple of days before finally getting her egg laid.

If there is this much fuss with two girls laying I wonder what it will be like when they are all laying.

Up until recently we had a third nest box in the coop. I think next year when they all start laying again we will put another nest box or two in the chicken shed but we will leave it until spring because I think before long Butterscotch will be our only girl laying.

I thought it was about time that I introduced the new girls to yogurt. I put it in four little dishes and put three on the patio area and one on the wooden block to try to encourage the new girls to try it.

Four dishes of yogurt

Butterscotch tries the yogurt

Butterscotch likes the yogurt

Speckles tries a splashed bit of yogurt

Speckles didn’t quite have the courage to try it from the dish but did manage to peck at some of the splashes.

Speckles takes a look

Speckles always peeps over the patio like this before mustering up the courage to jump up to the patio.

Speckles is ready to run

She makes it but doesn’t have the courage to try one of the dishes. You can see by her body language that she is always ready to run.

Speckles is very speedy and will often run when any of the girls even look at her. She is too nervous to take treats from dishes but she does get her share of the treats. Speckles will run up to the patio and take a bit of spinach or a bit of apple and run off with it. She is also very quick to the sunflower hearts or corn and she will return to the treats in dishes when the other girls have had enough and moved away, so she doesn’t miss out.