Carol's Chickens

This afternoon when I went up to see the girls, Pepper and Dotty came running to greet me but there was no sign of Bluebell. I knew she wouldn’t be in the coop because she had already laid her egg earlier.

I went to investigate and found her having a lovely time in the dust bath. If you have never seen a chicken having a dust bath you would be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with them. They close their eyes and twist and writhe around. Suddenly Bluebell opens her eyes and casually looks up at me.

Bluebell having a lovely dust bath

Being watched

I love the way the other girls go over to see what is going on. A chicken and her flock members are never far from each other.

I said right back at the beginning of this blog that the dominiques have a pea comb. Recently Pepper’s comb has been getting very dirty so I did some research to see if anyone else has this problem. I didn’t find anything about dirty combs but what I did find was that I was mistaken about the pea comb. The dominiques actually have a rose comb. The difference is that the rose comb ends in a backward facing spike while the pea comb has no spike, just a rounded blunt edge. I am surprised that I haven’t realised this before as I have read loads about the dominiques.

My research about the dominiques comb stated that it should be fairly smooth which Dotty’s is but when I looked at lots of photos of dominiques, some had more knobbly combs like Pepper’s. Pepper’s comb has some deep grooves in it which is where the dirt collects.

Pepper’s dirty comb

This photo shows how black Pepper’s comb has become since we last washed it. I decided to wash it again last night and this time put some vaseline on it in the hope that this will protect it a bit from the dirt.

Pepper’s comb after it’s wash

Pepper’s comb looking much cleaner. It remains to be seen if it stays that way.

Dotty’s smoother comb

This photo shows Dotty’s comb which has less notches on it and stays much cleaner. It also shows her bare neck where Pepper has pulled the feathers out.

I have researched anti-peck sprays and read good reviews about them. They have a bad taste and smell and everyone that had used them said that it really worked at deterring the pecking. It can also be applied with cotton wool rather than spraying which would be better for the neck area as you don’t want to get it in the chickens eyes.

They cost between five and twelve pounds and there are many brands. My son, Steve, who is my I.T. guy has ordered a spray for me. I hope it comes quickly and we can stop this feather picking habit as soon as possible.

Seeing Pepper and Dotty beak to beak yesterday, brought back memories of when I first had them at only a month old.

Dotty and Pepper beak to beak yesterday

Pepper on the right and Dotty on the left.

Dotty and Pepper beak to beak at a month old

Pepper on the right and Dotty on the left (they even seem to keep to the same position)

Dotty and Poppy beak to beak

Dotty in the foreground and Poppy facing the camera.

Poppy turned out to be a roo and had to be returned to the farm where I had got her from (they were going to breed from Poppy) and I then bought home Treacle and Bluebell. Pepper and Dotty have been really close since these early days and this early behaviour still exists between them. I love that I can look back at them at only a month old and yet see this behaviour replicated now when they are adult. These two girls are still a tight pair and I don’t think this early bond will easily be broken.

I sometimes scramble some of the girls eggs in a little olive oil and water and give this to them, to give back some of their own goodness and a little protein boost. They love scrambled egg and like the tuna, they fall on it as if they haven’t eaten for days and it’s gone in about a minute.

When they have finished Pepper and Dotty gently peck any specks of egg from each others beaks. They look so sweet, they used to this when they were babies.

Scrambled egg

Cleaning each others beaks and combs

Pepper is on the right, Dotty on the left.

Beak to beak

I always think this looks like a chicken kiss. That’s Pepper on the right and Dotty on the left again.

Just when everything settles down nicely, a new problem arises. A few days ago I noticed that when Bluebell stretched her neck she had a bare batch on her neck. I then noticed that when Dotty stretched her neck she too had a bare patch. Pepper was as fluffy as ever.

My husband then said he had seen Pepper pulling neck feathers from Bluebell and Dotty while they sat in front of her just letting her do it. Their bare patches were getting bigger and I then saw Pepper plucking feathers from them but only from the window and couldn’t catch her in the act which makes it difficult to do anything about it.

This morning however when doing my early morning clean up I saw the three of them sitting together under the bush and Pepper was plucking their necks. They just sat passively and let her do it. I told her off and pushed her away. This is so frustrating because they were all looking pristine and healthy and now Bluebell and Dotty are looking scruffy and bare in parts. Pepper has never ever pecked at Dotty (they were babies together and have always been tight) but this isn’t a bullying thing it’s more of a habit. They sit together as if Pepper is preening them. It’s difficult to stop her doing this because we can only stop her when we are with them.

I thought of using the blue spray on their necks but think it probably won’t make any difference as it’s not the bareness that’s attracting her but the feathers themselves. I know it’s not lack of protein (they can eat feathers for protein) because I give them plenty. As well as daily greens and some fruit I alternate between giving them scrambled egg, tuna, dried meal worms, sunflower hearts and digging them worms from the veg plot.

I have heard of this happening to others but I don’t know how to stop it. You can fit a chicken saddle or apron to protect a chicken if pecked on their backs but there isn’t anything to protect their necks. I can hardly give them a scarf or neckerchief. We have freezing temperatures at the moment too which isn’t a good time to be bare.

I have also read that when the feathers molt, new one grow back in but when feathers are plucked they don’t regrow until the next molt. They won’t molt until next autumn so that’s a long time to be bare.

Dotty’s bare neck

Bluebell’s missing neck feathers

Dotty’s bare neck close up

Bluebell’s bare neck close up

I took these yesterday with difficulty because it’s hard to catch then stretching their necks. Every time me or my husband have been out to them this morning Pepper has been plucking them. I wonder how bare they will get before she stops. This is really upsetting. It has started since we lost Treacle and I don’t know if that has triggered it. Treacle was a more aggressive top hen than Pepper when it came to pecking the girl’s and showing who was boss but she never plucked feathers. I am finding this really sad to see.

Pepper is not the easiest girl to get a photo of but this morning I managed to get a few snaps of her face and her comb looks much better. It’s not quite perfect but I am pleased that it is much cleaner and that it proved to be just dirt.

Pepper yesterday before I washed her comb

Pepper today after I washed her comb

Pepper Today

Pepper’s comb looks much better

I am really pleased with the result and can now add washing a chicken’s comb to my list of new experiences with my girls.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a dark smudge on Pepper’s comb and thought it was the spiky feathers she has at the edge of her comb. I then noticed that it was a bigger splodge and thought, that with all the digging and scratching she has been doing since the ground has dried out, it was probably dirt.

A black mark on Pepper’s comb, a couple of weeks ago

Today Pepper looks like she has a dirty comb

Here is Dotty’s comb for comparison

I know from reading about chickens that they can get frost bite on the tips of their combs which can turn the tips black. It hasn’t been so cold though in recent weeks plus the dominiques are very cold hardy and have pea combs which because they are small are far less vulnerable and Bluebell who has a large floppy comb (more vulnerable to cold conditions) has no black on her comb.

I could only conclude that it must be dirt and that as the run is now covered for the winter months, they are not exposed to rain, so there is nothing to wash it off. I couldn’t help but worry though, I don’t want to miss something that could be a potential problem.

Pepper is happy, active, eating well and laying an egg most days, so I know it’s not bothering her. I decided that the only way to find out if it was dirt was to try to wash it off.

Just before their bedtime me and my husband went in with a bowel of warm water and a new washing up sponge. I picked Pepper up and handed her to my husband to hold. I dipped the sponge and rubbed gently on her comb. She was very good, chickens don’t like their heads touched, but as I gently stroked her comb upwards she accepted it. A lot of dirt came off on to the sponge. I couldn’t get all the dirt out of the deepest crevice in her comb but didn’t want to risk her getting stressed.

My husband thinks that perhaps when she has had yogurt and it has splashed on her face and comb, the dirt form scratching and digging, has then stuck to it.

She looks a lot cleaner and at least I now know that it is just dirt. She is such a sweet girl and didn’t hold it against me. She was still happy to be close to me while she continued her bedtime routine and seemed none the worst for her experience.

I will try to get a comparison photo soon but Pepper is the most difficult of the girls to photograph.

I certainly didn’t realise before having chickens how intimate I would become to them. I never imagined washing a chickens comb or any of the up close and personal experiences I had with poor Treacle, but I didn’t know I would love them so much either! I watch them closely and find them so cute and funny. I love their funny ways and characters. I love that they perch on me at any given moment and follow me even when I am on the other side of the mesh. I also think they look so beautiful. These girls have worked their way firmly into my heart.

Dotty is our last girl to start laying eggs. She is a month younger than the other girls and they started laying at eight months while Dotty started laying at nine months. She has now laid thirteen eggs in the last seventeen days, including one with a double yolk. Pepper who is the same breed (dominique) has been laying for seventy three days but despite this Dotty’s eggs are already larger than Pepper’s.

Dotty’s larger egg on the right and Pepper’s on the left

These eggs were laid yesterday. Dotty has laid bigger eggs right from the start. Maybe her slower maturing has something to do with this or maybe it is just because she is different. I find this quite interesting. I thought when I first got these girls, that being the same breed I may not be able to tell them apart but in reality they are quite different and both me and my husband have no trouble telling them apart.

They look different, sound different and have different personalities. Pepper is top hen and is a gentle leader. She is lower to the ground, wider, has a paler face with smaller wattles and a gentle expression that matches her gentle personality. She likes to jump on my back or my lap and is a quiet girl.

Dotty is taller and more upright, she has a brighter red comb and wattles with longer wattles, her comb and wattles almost complete a circle shape around her face. She has a black mark on her beak and a naughty expression to match her cheeky personality. She likes to jump on to my shoulder and liked to steel my earrings until I was forced to remove them. She rarely goes “boc boc” like the other girls but has her own happy song which she sings in my ear from my shoulder or sings while eating treats. It’s difficult to describe but is something like a tuneful “dah dah dah-DAH”, with the last “DAH” being a higher tone and the phrase being repeated a couple of times.

At the moment I can even tell their eggs apart although that may change in time. Dotty’s are larger and more pointed.

Bluebell is a different breed (chalkhill blue) and lays blue eggs about the same size as Pepper’s and quite round in shape. Bluebell has been laying for seventy nine days and lays almost every day. She is the most nosey and the brightest but is bottom hen as she has never ever pecked at another hen. She prefers to perch on my arm or sometimes jump from my arm to my shoulder. Bluebell is the loudest girl and if she wants to get in the nest box when another girl is in there she shouts about it. She also shouts to let everyone know she is about to lay an egg She goes “boc boc BOC”, repeated several times with the last “BOC” louder and longer.

Yesterday my husband decided to dig over our vegetable plot and therefore needed to find a new home for the trays of grass that I was overwintering on the veg plot. He rummaged through the shed and found some planks of wood and some brackets (it comes in handy that he never throws anything away!). He fixed the shelves to the outside of the chicken enclosure, sloping them downwards slightly to allow for water to run off.

Shelves for the trays of grass

The grass trays on the shelves from another angle

They are just to the side of the gate so will be easy for me to take in to the chickens and my husband thinks they will get less waterlogged being up off of the ground, plus he likes everything to be tidy!

They don’t look all that healthy at the moment but if they don’t make a comeback by the beginning of summer, I will buy another turf and redo them. Even if I bought a new turf every year it would still be worth it as the price of one square of turf is not much and last summer it gave the girls some grass every day. I would give them one tray a day and by the time they had eaten the grass in the last tray, the first tray had regrown ready to go back in to the girls.

Yesterday and today, between me and my husband, we dug over the veg plot and dug in our chicken compost. As we dug up worms we tossed them into the chickens. The girls were lined up behind the weld mesh that separates them from the veg plot and were in a state of excitement waiting for the worms. They had quite a feast and got a bit of exercise running after worms and running after each trying to steal them. It was a fun afternoon for us and the girls.

That’s it! I am now giving up wearing earrings for the time being. I have two piercings on each ear and was wearing a small gold stud with a tiny diamond earring below it in each ear.

I switched the gold stud for a tiny ruby but last night Dotty jumped on my shoulder and took a peck at the ruby. I managed to save it and decided to take the top pair out as she hadn’t yet ever gone for the bottom pair.

Tonight she jumped to my shoulder and as fast as lightening took my diamond stud. Again, I briefly felt the tiny earring back but then it was lost. I searched with a torch but couldn’t find anything and think Dotty must have swallowed the diamond too. She has now swallowed two gold studs and a tiny diamond stud and I am left with one odd gold stud and one odd diamond stud.

I have now removed my earrings and decided to leave them out for a while. Only Dotty has done this and it’s been my right ear each time. That’s an expensive collection of grit she has in her crop! It’s a good job I love these girls.

Today I wanted to take some close ups of the girls and capture their faces. This is incredibly difficult as they always move just as I click and unlike other pets won’t look up when you call their name. Many of the best ones were blurred as they moved when I clicked, chickens are not still for more than seconds!

Bluebell is the easiest to photograph and Pepper is incredibly difficult, it’s almost as if she is camera shy. She won’t look to camera and always dips her head or turns away as I click. I did my best!

Bluebell

Bluebell

I managed to capture Bluebell from each side of her floppy comb.

Dotty

Dotty

This shows the black mark on Dotty’s beak, she also has longer wattles than Pepper.

Pepper

Pepper

It was such a shame that Bluebell turned her head away just as I clicked but I have included it because it is a rare one of Pepper’s face.

I think there is so much character in these faces.