Carol's Chickens

This summer at the beginning of July I discovered the dreaded red mite in the coop. After two and a half years without encountering them I had grown a bit complacent and hadn’t been checking for them so thoroughly.

I was horrified to find quite an infestation and we proceeded to take the coop to bits to treat it. Luckily my friend Jackie lent me her plastic dog kennel as a temporary coop for the girls. This enabled me to spray the coop every three days for three weeks to break the mite and egg cycle (or so I thought). I sprayed with mite kill, cleaned the coop, sprayed with mite protector, put the coop back together and dusted with D.E. then when I felt sure it was all clear I reinstalled the girls and returned Jackie’s dog kennel.

I had also dusted the girls in mite powder and sprinkled mite powder in all their dust bathing holes. I have continued to do this on a regular basis since and made sure that I checked the coop regularly too.

In September when checking by removing the nest box I discovered red mite again. This time I had caught it early and it was just an area around the nest box. We checked periodically by removing some roof slats that they hadn’t got that far. They seemed to be contained to this one area as I didn’t find them anywhere else.

This time I wanted to treat it without removing the girls as the weather was cooler and the infestation very small. I thought catching it early would make it easier to deal with. I sprayed with the mite kill every morning and dusted with D.E. at the end of the day. I continued to put mite powder in all the dust bath holes. It appeared that I had got rid of them fairly quickly but I decided that I must be much more vigilant.

I started a habit of taking off the nest box once it was dark every evening and inspecting with a torch. I was shocked to find that each time I checked there would be a few red mite which I squashed with my fingers. I started taking off the nest box twice a day, every single morning just before it got light and every single evening after dark. I felt sure that if I were to stop doing this the numbers would soon build up again.

I always found a few, varying in numbers from one or two to six, eight or ten and sometimes none then the next time a few again. I believe there were a small number remaining in the crevices around the nest box and coming out at night or eggs hatching and coming out at night.

I think that after the initial infestation there may have been some mites or eggs in crevices that were to emerge at a later date and that although on the surface I thought I had got rid of them there were still a few there which would build in numbers again.

I got to know red mite quite intimately as this continued for three months. My friend Jackie remarked on my patience, which was being tried. There were many times that I really felt I would never be free of them completely and I often researched plastic coops and nearly gave in a few times and got ready to buy one.

I wanted to avoid this if possible because of many reasons such as: the extra expense, I don’t like the look of them as much as wood, it would have to be big enough for eight girls but come apart into small enough parts to fit through the gate of the run, it would have to be compatible with my automatic door opener and lastly my main concern was that they can be prone to condensation which runs down plastic rather than being absorbed in wood.

I was determined to keep going for as long as I could and decided not to make a decision until spring.

I held off writing this post as I thought it would  be tedious and wanted to put off writing it until it had reached a conclusion.

I came to know that just hatched red mite are the size of a pinprick and are grey when they haven’t had a feed and red when they have. Fully grown mites are about the size of a flea and are black when they haven’t had a feed and of course red when they have. They pop when they are squashed. I was pleased when I squashed them before they were red meaning I had saved the girls from them that night.

I also discovered that spraying with mite kill only works when you spray it on them. Spraying the coop where they are not visible is a waste of time. Sometimes I cleaned the coop and sprayed it thouroughly then in the evening did the checks and there were still red mite. I also discovered that mite protector doesn’t work at all and is a waste of money. Another thing I saw, which was a real let down for me, was that they walked across D.E. I still can’t help myself sprinkling it every where but I have seen them cross it.

I did endless research on red mite and one long standing chicken owner and advisor said that when you get red mite in a wooden coop it is nearly impossible to get rid of them completely. She said once you had got rid of the initial infestation you needed to manage them to keep the numbers down. Her advice was to do what I was already doing.

The other  misconception is that they don’t thrive in winter when actually they do it’s just more likely that you will see an outbreak in summer when conditions are ideal for them. They can also live for six months without a feed. I had considered removing the nest box and replacing it with something temporary but this made that a useless exercise.

So I decided that all things considered I would just keep on going. It was tedious and time consuming but I developed a compulsive habit of checking twice a day and squashing any I found and reporting to my husband that there two tonight, six tonight, none tonight, one tonight and so on and so on for three long months.

Then a week ago there were none in the evening and again none the next morning. Too soon to get my hopes up. None the next evening and none the next morning. None the following evening, morning and evening. Could this be it! I was not holding my breath. For a week I continued to check with my torch twice a day. I also checked all the perches each time.

After a week of finding none I am quietly confident that my patience may have paid off and I may have cracked this. I will never be complacent again though. I am now just checking once a day but if I find so much as one it will be back to twice a day and I will always make regular checks from now on. I think though that I may have finally won this long standing battle.

Peaches and Barley are six months old now and are grown up egg laying girls. I therefore felt it was time to add a current photo of them to the pages: “Meet the flock“, “The history of my flock” and “Some information about my bantam breeds“.

These pages have this photo of them at two months old.

Peaches and Barley at two months old.

Peaches is on the left and Barley on the right and they are so cute!

Peaches and Barley at six months old

Barley is on the left and Peaches on the right and they have changed so much. They now have amazing combs and wattles. They are still really cute but do look very different now they are all grown up. They are two beautiful girls.

I have posted recently about how close and in synch Peaches and Barley are. I have been trying to get a good photo of them together to add to my “meet the flock” page as the photograph on the page at the moment is of them at two months old. I always intended to add another photo of them once they had started laying eggs and were therefore all grown up.

I haven’t managed to get the right photo yet but while trying I got lots more photos showing how together they are and so couldn’t resist another post dedicated to them.

Peaches and Barley synchronised as usual

I wonder what is so interesting about the fence

These two are like a pair of love birds

They are so adorable

Two little fluffy bottoms together

Peaches is on the right and has remained slightly bigger than Barley although Barley has a bigger comb than Peaches. I have no idea what they are finding of interest but whatever it is they are in unison every step of the way. They were together on top of the cabinet for about ten minutes. They just make me smile.

Sometimes after the moult the girl’s feather patterns change. Last year after the moult Amber’s feathers came back in with a lot more black speckles on her back. This year Honey’s feathers have come back in with black speckles on her breast where there were none before.

Honey now has speckles on her breast

I quite like seeing their feather patterns change and find the speckles quite pretty.

Meanwhile Amber’s neck feathers have very nearly filled in.

Amber’s neck is almost filled in

This is the best Amber has looked for a long time and I am hopeful she will be fully feathered at last. Even if she doesn’t get any better than this at least she no longer has patches of bare skin showing.

Finally Sparkle has got her fluffy bottom back.

Sparkle has a fluffy bottom

Topaz is two toned

Topaz now has light and dark gold feathers. I am not sure if she will stay two toned or if the dark ones will gradually drop out. I don’t mind either way as looks pretty like this.

Emerald has a white tipped feather

Emerald now has a white tipped wing feather. She has such glossy black feathers shimmering with green and purple but this is the first time she has had a bit of white.

It is always a lovely surprise to see how their new feathers look and I am so pleased to see them all feathered again.

At the beginning of this winter we had rats coming into the run again. It took a while to track down where they were coming in. The good news is that they haven’t managed to dig in this year. Last winter we put tiles down vertically then chicken wire horizontally with another layer of tiles horizontally over the wire then a layer of soil on top. This seems to be working well.

After searching every where I found that a hole had been chewed through the fence behind the coop. I blocked the hole with weld mesh and a heavy paving stone in front of the mesh.

My temporary block of the hole in the fence

The problem we have is that the neighbouring garden has decking behind this fence. This has two main drawbacks. The first is that rats love to nest under decking as it is safe and sheltered for them. The other thing is that as the deck is right up against the fence with no barrier, the fence is constantly sodden and the wood becomes rotten and easy for rats to chew through.

When we built the chicken run three years ago we replaced the rotting fence with new panels even though it is the neighbours fence. It has only taken three years to return to this condition again.

After I had blocked this hole I put rat poison in the small gap under our water butt where nothing else can get at it and it disappeared then slowed then stopped being taken meaning we had got rid of this wave of rats.

A few days ago we noticed that a new hole had appeared overnight in the fence, this time in the open where it was easily spotted. I blocked it with weld mesh and a brick.

Another temporary block of a new hole

You can see by how dark the fence is that the wood is sodden.

The next morning I went into the run to find that the hole had been extended over night to beyond the brick. It was time to do something more permanent .

The extended new hole

The rounded bit on the left is the new part of the hole. I think what we can see beyond the hole is rubble that had been put under the decking.

We have new neighbours that have moved in recently and we don’t want to mention this to them. They are a really nice couple (understanding of our chickens) and have just had to have a new boiler shortly after moving in. We don’t want to bother them with any further problems.

My husband came up with a plan. He suggested as we still have some chicken wire that we staple chicken wire to the fence. He would then nail some thick planks of wood in front of the chicken wire. This would make it very difficult for the rats to chew through.

First we stapled the wire to the fence

Then we nailed a couple of planks to the fence in front of the chicken wire

Bottom plank nailed in place in front of the next panel

Top plank nailed in place

The entire patio area fortified

I then put poison under the water butt again and it is disappearing each night. I am hopeful that we will soon be rid of this latest batch of rats. I am also hopeful that this will stop the fence being chewed in future and will also add strength and a dry layer on our side.

So that is the latest of our seemingly never ending improvements to our run and I am sure it won’t be the last!

A few days ago I did a post about how close Peaches and Barley are. Today while all the girls had a dust bath this was demonstrated again. All eight girls were having a communal dust bathing session but they were all evenly spaced out except for Peaches and Barley.

Peaches and Barley always dust bath together just like they do everything together. They roll over each other and flutter their heads under each other and preen each other. They couldn’t get any closer.

All eight girls are dust bathing

Peaches and Barley are the only ones dust bathing together

The other girls are all spaced out in their dust baths

Peaches and Barley writhe around together and preen each other

Amber in her dust bath

Emerald in her dust bath

These two couldn’t get any closer

It is so lovely to see this close bond between these two, they really are best friends.

Yesterday morning Barley went into her favoured nest box (right hand little coop) and laid her fourth egg.

Peaches meanwhile spent all day scratching around in all three nest boxes and chucking pine shavings out every where. I wondered if we were going to get an egg each from these two.

By late afternoon Peaches had settled in the right hand little coop. When I next checked there was her first egg, hurrah! Two eggs in one day. It was shorter and rounder than Barley’s egg and I am glad to say it only had the tiniest streak of blood on it, hardly noticeable at all.

Barley’s egg on the left and Peaches first egg on the right

Well done peaches! Her first egg is exactly two weeks behind Barley. It will be so good to have these two girls laying through the winter months. My two youngsters are proper grown up girls now.

While photographing the girls over the last few days to get up to date photos of their new feathers I realised just how inseparable Peaches and Barley are. Every set of photos had these two girls side by side or head to head.

Peaches and Barley

Always together

In perfect synchronization

They peck at the spinach together

They are never far apart

If one girl does something the other must join in even if it’s just pecking at the pine shavings

They are together at the food bowl

They are together at the water bowl

They always roost together which ever perch they choose

They are so much more together than any of the other girls in my flock. I think it’s because they have been together from hatching and hanging out with their mum to joining my flock at six weeks old. They are now six months old and they are totally bonded to each other. They remind me of Pepper and Dotty which is why it was so important to me to re-home those two together.

Honey and Amber are the next closest pair but they are not inseparable like these two and although they used to spar when little I have never seen them peck at each other ever, again, like Pepper and Dotty. Honey and Amber peck each other to show who is currently top of the two of them and occasionally fight and fall out.

I can’t imagine that happening with these two. They are so sweet in their total togetherness.

This winter the moult seems to have taken forever but I think it’s probably because I have eight girls this winter as opposed to five last year.

Over the last three or four days I have been trying to collate some photos of each flock member to show where they are at during this moult but they haven’t been terribly cooperative. I have many ridiculous shots so thought I might start with one out take.

An out take

Yes, this is what I am up against. Just as I click the girls either turn away, rush too close (Emerald) or simply jump (Peaches). As it was such an action shot I couldn’t resist including this one out take!

The other thing that I realised when looking through the shots was how together Peaches and Barley are. Every set of shots had them totally synchronised unlike any of the other flock members. I decided that will be my next post as there are so many photos.

But I will start off with my star pupil in front of a camera.

Barley is always up for a close up

Peaches

Peaches is not the attention seeking poser that Barley is so this is the best I could get. Being the youngsters they only had their baby moult so are looking pretty pristine.

Sparkle’s now fluffy bottom

Sparkle was the last to moult but isn’t looking quite so shabby now

Topaz still has a ragged tail

Topaz is also two tone. Her new feathers have come in much lighter than before and the darker wing feathers are the old ones which are still falling out.

Amber is still missing a few neck feathers

I was so frustrated that Topaz pulled out some of Amber’s pins from her neck but she is looking much better and only has a small gap now. I think I can see some new pins on her neck so am now quite hopeful that she may actually become fully feathered after all.

Amber has all her head feathers

Honey has all her feathers and her tail feathers have grown

Emerald is still losing feathers

Toffee looks good

Toffee seems to be completely finished whereas whenever I think Emerald is finished she loses another wave of feathers.

All in shot

I couldn’t resist ending with this one as once again despite all doing their own thing all the girls are in shot together and they are all looking so good now. It’s great to see all the new feathers and very special to me this year after the feather plucking problems of the past. I am so proud of my beautiful girls.

Barley has laid her first three eggs this week. We were hoping for another so that we could have two each for Sunday breakfast but never mind, it’s not the first time we have had one and a half eggs each for breakfast.

I usually poach our breakfast eggs but as these were Barley’s first I thought I would fry them and get a photograph.

They had good hard shells and lovely coloured yolks. They are a little bigger than Sparkle’s eggs were, with the same size yolk, but more white. Sparkle’s eggs have the smallest amount of white I have seen on any eggs.

Just to give perspective this is my smallest frying pan at only eight inches across.

Barley’s first eggs

A lovely addition to our Sunday breakfast

They were lovely and here is the lovely girl herself.

Barley, my little poser

I have been trying to get photos of all the girls over the past few days as I want to do a post showing them pretty much feathered up again. However it’s not been easy as they don’t stay still and often just as I click they will turn away. Barley though is easy to photograph. I have never come across a chicken that is such a poser.

Wherever I am Barley is there in front of me and whenever I point the camera she poses or photo bombs the shot and she is beautiful! Just look at her magnificent comb and wattles.

Thank you for our breakfast Barley.