Carol's Chickens

It was so nice to have no frost this morning and a mild day. There was a bit of sunshine throughout the day and a short shower in the late afternoon.

I wanted to take some photos of the girls enjoying the change in the weather. Seeing the craters in the dry area I could tell the girls had had a dust bath but I missed that.

The girls perched together above the ladder in the sun but I have already taken loads of photos of that recently.

What really strikes me about the flock at the moment is that it is made up of two pairs and two single girls most of the time. Emerald has become a bit of a loner since Toffee went and Speckles has always been a bit on the outside probably because she came in with Butterscotch who was also a loner.

Peaches and Barley have always been a tight pair and Rusty and Speckles have also always been a very close pair.

Peaches and Barley have some apple together

Whatever one of these girls do the other will just have to do too.

Rusty and Freckles peck at shavings together

Likewise these two always do everything together.

Emerald often struts across the patio on her own

Speckles is often on her own too and likes this spot on the wooden table

Speckles comb and wattles are getting quite red.

Fluffy bottoms

I loved this moment when the whole flock came together around the apple slices and the food dish. They all have such adorable fluffy bottoms.

There was a sudden shower and these three headed for the shelter

Whenever it rains these days these three girls will go straight to the shelter. Speckles always seems to get right inside the shelter and Peaches and Barley also like to perch here before bedtime.

Speckles is looking good

Emerald is in the food dish

Emerald has such lovely glossy feathers. She is still dropping the odd feather.

The little girls peck together

It’s difficult to get good photos of Freckles white feathers and just as I clicked this photo Rusty pecked at the ground.

Look up Rusty

Rusty looked up but Freckles white feathers lose detail. You get the gist though. You can see the pattern of how they are among the flock. Two inseparable pairs of girls and two single girls but altogether a happy flock.

I am so happy that we have at last reached the end of this freeze after two long weeks of it. Today’s temperature has reached a balmy 4 degrees with a forecast of 9 for the weekend and 12 next week, hurrah! There are no more freezing overnight temperatures forecast for the next week.

We have one casualty from the recent frosts.

A casualty of the frost

These terracotta pots contain our hostas. I am not complaining as we have had these pots for many years and it’s not the end of the world to buy a new pot.

I am just so grateful that this is the only casualty. I was so worried about how the little girls would cope with the winter and they have been absolutely fine. I think if they can withstand the past couple of weeks they will be fine with whatever our weather has to throw at us.

My little flock of six have come through the freezing temperatures looking non the worse for the experience. All I can think now is roll on spring.

It’s still so cold that I keep feeling the need to treat the girls. Today there was a bitterly cold wind and there was no sun for the girls to perch in.

Tomorrow is forecast to be the last frosty morning and then the temperature is supposed to rise a bit. I can’t wait!

Some fish for the girls

Emerald didn’t seem interested in the fish and was still scratching in the soil in the background. You can just see her tail behind Peaches.

Emerald is still in the background

Emerald briefly joins in then returns to digging again

I am still leaving the shed door open each day but the girls only go in a few times a day for a quick scratch in the shavings. Peaches and Barley have been perching in the shelter at times.

The daytime temperature didn’t rise above -1.5 today with occasional flurries of snow. Despite the temperature not being as low overnight as we have had it feels colder because of the low daytime temperature. Bring on warmer days is all I can say!

Just two more freezing days forecast then the temperatures are supposed to return to normal for us. hurrah! I have been worrying about the little girls in the cold but they seem to be coping absolutely fine with it.

We have been having a lovely open fire each evening which is really comforting when it’s like this.

Open fire

In an old Edwardian house like ours with the original windows and wooden floors a bit of extra heat is very much needed at the moment and there is nothing nicer to look at than a roaring fire.

The people that would have originally lived in this house would have had a fire going in most of the rooms including the bedrooms. It must have been quite a job keeping them going.

We use the fireplace in the dining room occasionally when we have family round and it is extra cold but mostly we just use the one in the sitting room. It is a real pleasure at the moment and we wouldn’t be without it.

It’s still freezing here and forecast until the end of the week when it will be warmer but wet! Hurrah! We seem to alternate between freezing to milder and wet. I hate wet but I think I may hate freezing even more.

I tried to get some photos of the girls today but they all turned out rubbish so I am going to put out the bedtime photo. They are such good girls, going to bed half an hour before the automatic door closes, and the little girls always go to their own perch. They never attempt to join the bigger girls and quite frankly I don’t blame them one little bit.

Bedtime

Just look at my little angels. Poor Speckles often gets her head pecked which is probably why she is facing the other way. I don’t understand why Peaches and Barley have to be so mean to her. What has she ever done to them!

I heard Speckles whimper and looked in to see her having her head pecked. Often she ends up at the other end of the perch and I feel so sorry for her. She in turn takes her frustration out on the little girls during the day, giving them a quick peck as she passes them. Luckily they don’t take much notice.

The pecking order has to be maintained even in the happiest of flocks. I often refer to them as “the mean girls” when this happens but I know it is just part of life in a flock. As long as it is no worse than a swift warning peck I think it’s okay.

As I said though, look at this photo and they are my little angels! Just got to love them.

Today is a big birthday for my lovely husband. Today he becomes an O. A. P. I will be cooking his favourite meal tonight of rib eye steak, crispy potato wedges, mushrooms,  baked tomatoes and salad and we will have a celebrational glass of fizz.

We celebrated with a meal out on Saturday with friends and they gave him this delightful card.

Birthday card

We have been together for eighteen years and married for ten years.

Our wedding photo

This was taken at my eldest’s sons wedding two and a half years ago

I am so proud of my lovely husband and hope to be celebrating for many more years together. Happy Birthday Darling.

I had really hoped for a mild winter for our first winter with seramas but instead we are having the longest cold spell for many years. For the last five days we have had frost and frozen chicken waters in the mornings and it is forecast to continue for the next four days.

In the past we have had frosty nights and mornings but with milder days but this time the day time temperatures are staying really low so it feels much colder. The ground remains frozen all day.

This morning I knew it was even colder as the chicken’s water was frozen solid and I had to run the dish under the hot tap to get the ice block out. Our van gave the temperature as -6 when my husband went out to get the Sunday papers.

If the little girls continue to be okay in these conditions then I don’t think I will ever need to worry about them in winter again.

I am leaving the shed door open to give them respite when they need it and there is morning sun on the perches above the ladders which they are taking advantage of. The pattern is set at the moment with them perching in the sun in the mornings and scratching in the shed in the afternoons.

I am also giving them warm mash each morning, warm water in the drinking dishes and a bit of extra corn at bedtime. I think this is all I can do to help them.

Yesterday afternoon

All the girls were busy pecking in the shavings

The little girls stayed in there after the bigger girls had left

This morning

All the girls perch together in the morning sun

The photos are a bit hazy as I was looking straight into the sun. I am grateful that despite the cold there is at least some sun in the mornings. You can see from the background how frozen the ground is.

I know other countries have a lot colder weather than this but for us this is unusually cold. We are really fed up with it now and can’t wait for it to change. The little girls seem to be handling it well though and I am really pleased about that.

I would love to add some more seramas to the flock but will wait for much better weather before thinking about that. I just want to get the girls through this cold spell and am looking forward to when we get back to normal temperatures.

In the summer we redecorated our sitting room. We put up a dado rail and painted underneath it a slightly darker colour than above it. I was afraid to go too dark and settled on a subtle change of shade.

Since then we have regretted not going for a bolder colour. We decided that as it would be an easy job to repaint below the dado rail that we would try a darker shade. The job only took a couple of hours to complete.

The sitting room before repainting below the dado rail

There wasn’t much contrast between the two shades

We began painting

The first wall is finished

There is a much better contrast between the two shades

The finished room

T.V. corner

Window

Curtains closed

I am really pleased with the result and think it is a much warmer colour. My husband thinks we could go bolder still. We are going to live with it for a while and then decide. At least we know that if we want to try another shade it is a quick and easy job to do.

The contrast is much more noticeable than it was before. I am really pleased with it.

We should be careful what we wish for! I was so fed up of wet days with it raining non stop all day that I really welcomed the first dry day in a while. Since then it has been really cold and frosty. The chicken’s water has been frozen each morning. It’s been -2 or -3 over night and a high of only 4 or 5 during the day.

It has been so cold that the frost hasn’t disappeared during the day. We are used to having the odd one or two days like this but it has been like this for the last four days and is forecast for the next five days. We are not used to long spells of frost and are fed up with it now.

I worry about the girls in these temperatures, especially the two little girls. Luckily the perches above the ladders get the sun for the first half of the day and all the girls spend the mornings perched in the sun.

By this afternoon the sun had dropped. I had read that the little girls would look hunched and miserable if they were cold but the entire flock looked pretty hunched and miserable. I decided to hook back the door of the chicken shed so that they could go in there for a scratch around and a bit of respite from the cold.

They all immediately went in and scratched in the shavings. I will leave the door open all day, every day, during the rest of this cold spell.

They didn’t stay in there long but at least they will be able to go in whenever they want. With the door open it lets the light in and makes the shed more appealing. I don’t think they would perch in there during the day but they do like to have a scratch and it could give them a break from perching in the run.

I opened up the chicken shed

The girls scratch in the shavings

They are in and out of the shed

They take turns in and out of the shed

If nothing else this provides a bit of entertainment for the girls on bleak days.

At least if the little girls can manage this weather then I know that they will be okay with our winters because it doesn’t get much colder than this and not often for as long as this. I will be very glad when the weather changes as I am sure the girls will too.

It was six weeks today that Pebbles went. The girls all look healthy and there is no wheezing or sneezing so I think we can cautiously breath a sigh of relief that we have come through this now.

I talked recently about the passage of time and how sometimes time seems to fly by and sometimes it seems to drag. The six weeks until the flock are past contagion from mycoplasma seems to have taken forever. However something in the food cupboard made me realise how time can seem to have flown by.

I made some batches of turkey stew for the freezer to use up the left overs from Christmas. We have been having the stew with potatoes but I thought that dumplings would ring the changes. I like dumplings but my husband isn’t keen so it’s not something we have often.

I said that I would see if there was some suet in the food cupboard. My husband said to check if it was still in date because it’s been a while since I have used it. I said that I clearly remembered buying the suet to make a recipe for a meat cobbler that I had seen in a magazine. In the event I decided that I preferred dumpling mix steamed rather than baked so I didn’t make it again.

I was shocked when I retrieved the suet and checked the date. The use by date was January 2011. It was six years out of date! I could not believe it had been that long since I bought it and used it for the magazine recipe. Surely that memory couldn’t have been from six years ago! Needless to say the suet was thrown in the bin although I have to say it actually looked fine. At the great cost of eighty pence I bought some more today.

Anyway I digress. In the photo below Rusty and Freckles were four months old. I wrote a post about the fact that Caramel and Pebbles had red faces but Rusty and Freckles had white faces. I hadn’t realised at the time that this was because Rusty and Freckles hadn’t matured.

Rusty and Freckles at four months old

In the photo below Rusty and Freckles are seven months old. They now have red faces too.

Rusty and Freckles at seven months old

We were told by the breeder that silky feathered hens take much longer to mature than straight feathered hens. This has proved to be true because Freckles hasn’t changed much but Rusty has changed a lot. Neither of them are laying yet so I know that Freckles isn’t older or she would probably be laying by now. They both still twitter away like young hens.

I wonder when they will start laying as I find it hard to imagine. They still seem so chick like. They are so adorable that as long as they stay healthy I don’t mind waiting for eggs.