Carol's Chickens

This morning the girls all seemed to want to lay at once and were doing a lot of shouting about it. Dotty went into the nest box and was joined by Honey but Bluebell kept going in and trying to get Honey out. Pepper would go in the little coop and Bluebell would go and watch her too and generally everyone was making an awful fuss.

At this point we had to go out as we had food to deliver to a party and I decided the girls would just have to get on with it and sort it out.

We returned a short time later and I went up to check on them. There were four eggs. Pepper and Bluebell had laid in the little coop and Dotty and Honey had laid in the nest box. All was peaceful and I was pleased that they had sorted it out without any further egg disasters. A good result, I thought.

A little later when I went in to them, I automatically checked the nest box again and to my surprise there was Amber’s egg. This is only our second ever five egg day.

Our second five egg day

I know I had already taken a photo of our first five egg day but I couldn’t resist a photo of our second five egg day too. We have Dotty’s slightly darker egg on the left, followed by Pepper’s egg, then Bluebell’s then Honey’s and Amber’s on the right.

Well done girls, what a great egg laying day!

Yesterday Bluebell laid her egg first thing in the morning, in the little coop. I kept hearing a lot of shouting after Bluebell had laid and went up to find Honey on the coop roof shouting and Bluebell blocking the coop door. It seems that lately when Honey wants to get into the nest box, Bluebell stops her going in. This seems so mean and I don’t know why she does this especially as she has already laid her egg. It seems that Bluebell just doesn’t like Honey going in the nest box.

I shooed Bluebell away and hoped Honey would go in the nest box but at that point we had to go out. When we returned there was a lot of shouting and I rushed up to see what the matter was. Honey was on the coop roof, shouting as loudly as such a little girl can and looking down to the patio. Honey must have laid her egg again from the top of the coop roof and again it had rolled down to the patio and smashed. I wasn’t so quickly on the scene this time as I had been out, and all the other girls were gathered round Honeys broken egg, pecking away at it.

I shooed them away and quickly cleared up and washed away any trace of it. I felt sad for poor Honey not being able to get into the nest box and now think this is what probably happened last time. I also really hope this doesn’t lead to egg eating problems.

Later on Pepper laid her egg in the little coop and while the girls were distracted with frozen peas in a tray of water, Amber sneaked into the nest box and laid her egg.

It seems that there is always a new problem to deal with. With two separate nest boxes, both big enough to take several girls at once, it shouldn’t be a problem. But there seems to be a power struggle going on with Bluebell and the little girls. Bluebell has been roosting on the little chair before I put the girls to bed and this also seems to be just to stop them roosting there. It seems that Bluebell feels she must stop the little girls whenever she can. It’s a shame she can’t see that they accept their place at the bottom of the pecking order and are no threat to her position. I suppose a chicken has to do what a chicken has to do. She is not listening to me that’s for sure!

I have just noticed that this is post three hundred. I have had chickens now for one year and one month and can’t believe that I have written three hundred posts!

Yesterday it was really hot again. It reached ninety degrees once more but is forecast to be cooler over the next week. The girls were hot, shouting about their egg laying and coming out of the nest box with their wings held out. I decided they needed the tray of water with frozen peas to cool them them down.

Frozen peas to cool the girls

Honey is the only one brave enough to step into the water

Honey stepping out of the water

After the peas had gone I left the tray of water for the rest of the day. At one point when I checked on them the two little girls were beside the tray drinking from it.

Later my husband called me as Pepper was stood in the tray of water. By the time I got there she had stepped out so I missed seeing her in the water, but I could see by her muddy feet that she had been in it. It will be good if they realise that they can stand in it to cool off.

A little later when I checked on them again, Honey was in a dust bath,

Honey in a dust bath

I have mentioned before that Dotty likes to jump on my back whenever possible. In the morning and evening I wear my “chicken” cardigan which protects me and doesn’t matter if it gets muddy. Because it’s been so hot I wear sun tops during the day. They have shoestring straps and leave my back bare. Because of this I try not to turn my back to Dotty in case she scratches me but sometimes she is too quick for me. It has amazed me how gentle she is and she has never broken my skin. It is as if she senses bare skin and is extra careful.

Today when she did this my husband was with me to see her on my back. I remarked how gentle she felt and my husband said that she was down on her haunches instead of up on her claws. She gently allowed herself to drop to the ground. I was glad he had seen this so that he could see how different she behaves when I have a bare back. It is heart warming to see that she is so careful not to hurt me.

Dotty has such a lovely nature and it’s a shame she looks so odd with her bare neck, but hopefully after a molt her feathers will grow back in.  She has the most sing song voice of all the girls and makes such a happy sound. When I give treats even my husband comments on her happy song.

The other result of the hot weather is that we are having our best year for courgettes in many years. The last couple of summers have been cool and wet and most of our courgettes rotted or remained tiny. This morning I harvested these three.

Courgettes

A handful of courgettes

I know this is deviating from chickens again but I couldn’t resist!

I had a change of heart and decided the series of photos of Honey and Amber drinking together, were too cute not to show. So here is the whole series.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

These little girls are so cute! Honey is in the foreground and I love the way she looks across at me between each sip. I love their little red combs and there comical little feet.

It’s been really hot followed by storms and then a really wet spell. Because of this I haven’t been taking photos and haven’t had much to say about the girls.

The little girls egg laying has improved, possibly because of the cooler weather and practise. Honey has now laid an egg two days in a row, three times. In between she lays every other day. Amber’s egg laying is a bit more erratic, she has anything from one day to five days between eggs. Both girls are now laying in the nest box and their eggs have normal, hard shells.

The two little girls are a very close pair. They sit together, dust bath together, roost together and will often both eat and drink together especially at the lead up to bedtime.

Honey and Amber at the food dishes

They were side by side at the dishes, taking a dish each, They then moved across to the water and proceeded to drink together. They were perfectly synchronized.

Honey and Amber have a drink of water

Up

Down

Up again

I quickly snapped a series of photos and thought they would work really well in a flicker book (you flick the pages quickly and the pictures look like they are moving). I have only put in a few though, or they would be too repetitive. They are funny to watch, such cute little girls!

This morning Honey was spending time on the top of the storage cabinet or on the coop roof. I wasn’t sure if it was because something had spooked her. Occasionally all the girls give the alarm call when one of the neighbourhood cats gets too close, sometimes on the roof of the run.

A little later I heard one of the girls shouting and went to see what the problem was. I was surprised to see that it wasn’t any of the big girls as they were all in the garden area and were quiet. It is usually the big girls that do all the shouting. Honey was stood on the coop roof shouting at the top of her little voice. I first thought that perhaps she had been attacked but as I got closer I could see her looking down at the patio. I looked at the patio where she was looking and there was her broken egg.

She must have been on the coop roof and got caught out again. Her egg must have rolled down the coop and dropped to the patio and smashed open. She was obviously distressed by the egg breaking.

I quickly removed it and mopped up as the other girls came to see what was going on. I kept them away and washed every trace of egg from the patio. This is the first broken egg we have had. It was so fortunate that I was around and came as soon as she called. Any longer and the other girls may have found it and that can lead to egg eating problems.

I reassured Honey that everything was okay (I know they don’t understand my words but I also know my tone of voice gets some sort of message across, the same as theirs does to me) and Honey happily joined the other girls in the garden area. Crisis over!

How lucky that I was there and that I respond to their calls. It reminded me that there is often a reason for them calling out.

In the afternoon  when I went in to them, Amber emerged from the coop. I checked the nest box and there was Amber’s egg. I was really pleased that Amber had managed to get hers laid in the nest box, hurrah!

I was surprised that none of the big girls had laid, then something caught my eye just inside the coop door. There was Bluebell’s egg. I have never known Bluebell lay there before. I can only imagine that she hung on until the last minute because of the heat and then laid as soon as she went in. What an eventful egg laying day!

Yesterday was even hotter than the last few days! The air was still and heavy and we were due storms during the night. I had given the girls peas and apples in a tray of water but the run was dry, dusty and barren. We dug part of it over and poured water on it but the girls were lethargic.

We have had a really good crop of peas this year from our veg plot but they were now over and the plants were ready to come out. We decided to pull them out and put them in the run for the girls.

They loved them! The newly dug ground was forgotten as they piled into the pea plants. They scratched and pecked and pecked some more. I worried it would be too much and they would overfill their crops. They had so much fun.

They all get stuck into the pea plants

They were having a lovely time

The damp and recently dug ground behind the pea plants is ignored

Eventually they lined up in their usual spots ready for bedtime. We were forecast storms over night. I put the girls to bed and felt happy that when they come out in the morning, storms or not, they could get stuck into the pea plants again. There would be no need for their usual mid mornings greens, these will keep them happy all day whatever the weather brings.

Today was really hot again. I decided to try apples in the tray of cold water to give the girls variety. They didn’t like it as much as frozen peas but I think that’s because it takes more work to get the apple.

They all have a peck at the apples

Amber soon works out that it’s easier to take the apple out of the water

When I went back a short while later, there were only a few bits of apple still in the water. I think I will stick to frozen peas and sweetcorn.

Yesterday afternoon when I went in to the girls, both little girls were in the nest box. They came out for some treats and I found Amber’s egg in the run and Honey’s egg in the nest box. This egg laying lark still catches them out.

After the treats Honey returned to the nest box. I really don’t think she knows when she has laid her egg. It was hot and I tried to move her out but she was determined to stay. She even let me stroke her whereas she is normally very skittish. A little later I checked again and she was out.

Ambers egg had cracked on the end where it hit the ground. Both little girls eggs had normal shells though. I will use the cracked egg for scrambled eggs for the girls and will continue with limestone flour for a few more days. Will the little girls ever get the hang of egg laying!

Yesterday Pepper appeared to have hiccups for a while. As I have never heard of this before, I researched on the internet and chicken forums and found that other chicken keepers had experienced this too.

They described exactly what Pepper was doing, it looked like a sneeze but sounded like a hiccup. It didn’t seem to distress the hen and she returned to normal after a short period of time.

I then found a video clip of a hen with hiccups and it was exactly what Pepper was doing yesterday. I was reassured that I was not alone and they said it was harmless.

Hiccups are a spasm of the diaphragm and birds don’t have a diaphragm, so technically you could say they can’t hiccup. Birds have an air sac which draws air in like bellows in a blacksmiths fire pit. Birds can get spasms of their air sac from time to time so this could be classed as hiccups.

Either way I know  that what I saw Pepper doing yesterday, looked like hiccups and the video shows another hen doing the same thing so I therefore conclude that chickens can get hiccups.

Yesterday I was still trying to fine tune the fishing for peas or sweetcorn. But before getting on to that, I went out to the girls first thing and everything was as normal but at seven o’clock I could hear one of the girls sounding the alarm. I rushed out and it was Dotty shouting. Pepper looked to be in trouble, she was sat when I first went out but as I approached she stood up. She looked like she was sneezing but at the same time sounded like she was hiccuping.

I was alarmed as I have read other blogs recently with respiratory problems in their flock. I checked that her eyes were clear and no mucus from anywhere. I got my husband to look as well and he said it seemed that she had something stuck in her throat perhaps. I said they only had pellets at this time of day and he said we can choke on a cup of tea sometimes or maybe she has swallowed a fly. As we watched her she was doing it less often and walking around not seeming distressed by it. I decided to leave her and return to check on her within half an hour.

When I went back out she was completely back to normal. I can only think she had something stuck or indeed had swallowed a fly or can chickens get hiccups? That is what it sounded like but I haven’t heard of it before. I will research it and get back to this if I can find any information on it, anyway what a relief, she was fine.

So in the afternoon I tried out my idea of sinking the plastic box into the ground, then poured in water and added frozen sweetcorn.

The box sunk into the ground

Honey perches on the side of the box

The big girls just reach for the sweetcorn

Honey steps into the water

I soon realised that sinking the box had no advantage as the girls could reach the sweetcorn easily without stepping into the water. Once again only Honey stepped into it. When I came back an hour later the box was full of soil that had been scratched in. I decided it actually worked better just on top of the soil so will just do that in future. It would need a much wider box to encourage the girls to paddle in it.

It is still fun for the girls though and cools them down so I will do this every day that it remains this hot. I will be looking out for anything  that is shallow and bigger but in the mean time this is fun and cooling for the girls and that is all that matters really!