Carol's Chickens

Since we have had the new top to the run and have put the new plastic sheet over the corner, the rain seems to run off and blow back in. This is making the edge that borders the veg plot very wet and muddy. I decided to buy just one more bag of wood chip, I know! When will I ever stop buying stuff for this run?

I did a poop pick, then forked over the corner that has no wood chip. The girls know when they see the fork that there may be worms and gather round. I thought some worms would help boost Treacle but Pepper and Bluebell are so quick that they got all the biggest ones. Treacle did get a few smaller ones though. Dotty always seems distracted somewhere else and doesn’t get so excited by the worms.

I then put a strip of wood chip at the edge that borders the veg plot, leaving a smaller triangle uncovered for future worm hunting. Next I sprinkled the rest on all the parts that get the most muddy.

Treacle and the new wood chip

The wood chip is now on the outside strip of the corner leaving a triangle free for the girls to scratch in. I fork it over every few days to see if there are worms for the girls and to stop it getting compacted.

Corner of the run

Pepper is scratching in the remaining uncovered triangle. Seeing this photo shows how well camouflaged the dominiques are. Pepper blends into the earth.

Treacle preening

Treacle is still not her usual self but she was preening her feathers this afternoon which is a good sign. I gave the girls some greens and some tomato this afternoon and when Treacle saw the tomato she actually sprinted up to it. I haven’t seen her eating pellets though and she isn’t as enthusiastic as usual. I did pick her up this morning to feel her crop and it felt normal.

Pepper has some blue feathers

It’s difficult to see in a photo but Pepper has some blue dye on her wing feathers, she must have snuggled up to Treacle overnight and it rubbed off on her.

Blue Treacle

This photo shows Treacle’s missing  feathers. It looks like someone has taken a bite out of her silhouette, it also shows the natural blue sheen on the feathers on her back making the blue spray quite a good match for her.

This evening at bedtime I spent some time sitting in with the girls to keep an eye on Treacle. She soon jumped onto my lap and stood there for ages while I stroked her. Chickens don’t bare a grudge and despite spraying her three times two days ago, she was still happy to come to my lap several times and seem to like having a bit of attention. Bluebell soon jumped onto my lap as well so as not to miss out.

I noticed Pepper’s crop looked quite large so I picked her up and felt her crop. It wasn’t hard or squishy so hopefully is just full.

The final thing to update on is the rat situation. I think we have got rid of them at last!! Since we had recent works done to the chicken run they have not been able to get in, finally. However they had chewed a hole into the big shed behind the chickens so we put poison down as only the rats could find it in there. It went very quickly at first, then slowed, then stopped. I hope this means the end of them. It’s been a long hard battle but we I think we have finally got there and we haven’t seen any further evidence of them.

About a week ago I noticed Treacle was going through a partial molt and had a bare patch on her bottom and smaller bare patches under her wings. She had a small scab under her wing which healed really quickly but her bottom was clear. A few days later I noticed she had some scabs on her bottom. We have seen Bluebell peck at her bare patches which is really odd because Treacle is top hen and Bluebell is bottom hen and has never pecked before. I can only think that as Treacle and Bluebell are always hanging out together that Bluebell finds the bare patches irresistible.

Treacle’s bottom with a couple of red scabs

I have read that a Genitian purple spray can be used to cover the bare skin and redness that attracts pecking and it is also an antiseptic (you must make sure to avoid the chickens vent). I went to the vet based in our local pet store and asked if they had this. He said he could order in for me, a similar product but that it is a different brand, called Terramycin and that it would be in the next day.

Since Treacle has been molting she has stopped laying eggs. She was laying every other day up until the molt but hasn’t laid an egg for seven days now. Bluebell lays most days and Pepper every other day, Dotty hasn’t started yet. Other than not laying eggs Treacle seemed okay until the pecking started then she didn’t seem her usual self. I have increased the protein to help Treacle with her molt, giving sunflower hearts or dried meal worms. She is not as enthusiastic about the treats and is not eating as much as usual. She wanders off on her own and just doesn’t seem her usual self.

I had read that scrambled egg is good for them, made with a little olive oil to stop it sticking and a little water, it gives them some of the goodness of the eggs back again. I made some from two of Bluebells eggs and put it in the white ramkins that I give them their weekly yogurt in. They rushed over with great excitement because they thought it was yogurt and then there was disappointment. They didn’t want to know. I sprinkled some corn on top to encourage them and with that they tried a little. They ate about half so I put the other half in the fridge and offered it to them again the following morning. Much to my surprise they wolfed it down. Treacle who would usually be first to any treat was last to it and only had a little bit which worried me, as it shows that she is not her usual self.

Eating some scrambled egg

Scrambled egg

While in the pet store I also bought some apple cider vinegar and some poultry spice to try to give Treacle a boost. Apple cider vinegar added to their drinking water is supposed to maintain inner health and a healthy appearance. It should not be used in galvanised drinkers so I put it in a heavy china bowl (the red spotted bowl in the photo above). The poultry spice is supposed to improve all round condition and help them get quickly over a molt.

They drank from the water with the added apple cider vinegar as normal. The instructions on the poultry spice suggested sprinkling a teaspoon over their pellets. They didn’t like it at all and refused to eat their pellets (the poultry spice does has a strong smell, a bit like Indian spices). I sprinkled another layer of pellets over the top but they didn’t eat as many pellets as usual which is not helpful.

I decided to abandon this idea and fill the feeder with fresh pellets as I don’t want them to stop eating them. I then decided to try adding the poultry spice to their weekly live,  natural yogurt which they love. Cracked it! They wolfed it down and Treacle looked more her normal self, pecking Pepper and Dotty away from the yogurt so she could get more. Result! From now on I will add this to their yogurt each week.

The next day I collected what the vet refers to as “purple spray” I have to say I would describe this brand of it as “blue spray”. Spraying Treacle’s bare patches with this proved much more difficult than I thought it would. I thought it would take two so my husband came up to help me. I put on my scruffy chicken skirt as the girls have muddy feet and sat on my little chair. I thought it best to let Treacle come to me and as good as gold she jumped onto my lap. My husband held her while I sprayed but the problem was that while she was sat on me, I couldn’t see the bare patch on her bottom as her feathers were covering it. As soon as I put her down I could see the bare patch again. I had sprayed her feathers but not her bare bottom.

I left her to calm down as she wasn’t best pleased at being sprayed then went back later for another go. This time I grabbed her and tried again. Once again when I put her down I could still see her bare patch. I decided to have one final go after they had gone to bed as I didn’t want to stress her any more. My husband came with me to shine the torch and I lifted her from her perch onto my lap. I sprayed as best as I could and put her back in.

In the morning I could see that I had still missed her bare patch but the scabs were covered so I hope this will be enough to deter pecking. I feel the only way to target the bare patch would be to go up behind her and spray but she wouldn’t allow that. I don’t want to stress her so will leave it at that for now.

Treacle’s blue bottom

Blue feathers

The blue actually blends in quite well with Treacle’s dark feathers which have a blue/green sheen to them normally. I may not have covered all the bare skin but hopefully this will do the job. We haven’t seen Bluebell peck at her at all today.

I just hate to see her under the weather and really hope she perks up soon. I don’t know what else I can do for her, I will be keeping a close eye on her.

A few months back I removed Pepper’s leg ring after reading that someone had a problem with mud being trapped under a leg ring and causing a sore, something I didn’t want to risk happening to Pepper. I knew that Dotty being a month younger than Pepper would make her easy to recognise while immature but wondered how I would tell them apart when she was fully grown. I know that their personalities are quite different but want to be able to visually tell them apart at a glance.

I have noticed that Dotty has different feather markings. She has some plain feathers that are a more brown colour on her wings but I know from past experience that you can’t rely on feather colours as when they lose feathers, they often regrow a different colour. Pepper used to have pale wing feathers but lost them and they came back in without the pale colour. I then noticed that Dotty has a black mark on her beak whereas Pepper doesn’t. I think this may be the best permanent visual way of telling them apart.

Dotty has darker wing feathers and a little black mark on her beak

Pepper has no dark wing feathers and no marks on her beak

This shows more clearly the little black marks either side of Dotty’s beak

Bluebell

Treacle

Treacle has being going through a partial molt and has a bare bottom at the moment. Her dark pin feathers are already showing though, so she should be feathered again quite soon. The other three girls have maintained their fluffy bottoms.

Treacle has a bare bottom

Fluffy bottoms

We had a bag of sand left over from the concreting last weekend so I decided to add it to the corner without wood chip which I leave for the girls to scratch in. I hope it may improve the drainage and feel it certainly can’t do any harm.

Sand added to the corner and lightly forked in

Bluebell is a terrific egg layer, she laid fifteen days in a row then missed one day, laid ten days in a row then missed one day then laid five days in a row then missed one day. For this time of year that is amazing. Treacle and Pepper were laying every other day with two or three days in a row sometimes but recently since we have had freezing temperatures, Pepper has missed two days and Treacle has just missed three days. I put Treacle’s extra missed day down to a partial molt as well as the cold.

I held my hand over Dotty to see if she would squat but not yet. I don’t think she will be too long now though, she is growing up at last.

It’s been a week since the wooden box has been filled with concrete and every day since then, the ground has been snow covered or frozen. I have been frustrated at not being able to finish off the run because of both the conditions and also being really busy. This afternoon though, we finished work early and there has been a thaw. The thaw had caused the run to be really muddy as the wood chip had got dug in with digging the trench for the gravel board and now with snow and ice melting, water was oozing up when ever me or the chickens stepped in to the run.

I poop picked first then forked over the corner of the run that I leave clear for the girls to scratch in. They were right with me to see if I turned up any worms for them. Then I took out the wooden stepping blocks and dug over and smoothed out the piles of earth in front of the patio. The girls got a few worms when I lifted the wooden blocks so were very happy helping me!

Then I placed the wooden blocks back where I wanted them and tipped the bag of wood chip onto the soil. I raked it roughly in to place but could see the girls were eager to help spread it around. They had a lovely time scratching in it.

Scratching in the new wood chip

Beaks down

Bluebell shows her fluffy bottom

Step

I decided not to bother putting the steps back but instead to use the two wooden blocks. Both the chickens and me find the block an adequate step down into the run.

I feel so pleased to have got this done. I hope this will once more help to keep the mud at bay and the girls happy.

Last night when I went in to do the bedtime routine, I thought it would be a good idea to take another look at Treacle and make sure everything is okay with her. I sat on my little chair for the first time in ages so that I could have her on my lap. Treacle soon jumped onto my lap and I started to inspect her. I couldn’t find the scab that I had noticed a few days ago. The bare patch seems to have feathered in now and I couldn’t find anything. I haven’t seen Bluebell peck at it either so I can only conclude that she is fully healed and feathered and it isn’t a problem, thank goodness.

At this point Dotty wanted to jump on my lap and landed on top of Treacle causing her to squawk. I lifted Dotty from Treacle and Treacle jumped down. Dotty settled on my lap and I stroked her sides. She stayed for ages and seemed to like the attention. What a changed girl Dotty is. At one time she didn’t interact with me at all, but here she was sitting being stroked and looking like she was really enjoying it. I am amazed at how much Dotty has changed as she is growing up.

This morning I uncovered the cement and it was dry. I had a sweep and clean up and took some photos.

Cobbles in cement where the jasmine used to be

This was a heap of cobbles on top of earth where the jasmine had been planted. Its now concrete with a few cobbles pushed in. It’s not an attractive photo but it’s to show that rats won’t be able to get through here. I think this will look better when it dries and lightens, it should blend in more then.

The box has gone

Instead of the wooden, earth filled box, we now have patio slabs over concrete. Nothing is going to get through here again and it has the added advantage of being much easier for me to clean. I can now sweep or sluice straight over the edge and the girls won’t scratch or walk mud onto patio.

No more wood

This is the view from the other side. The wood has gone and in it’s place is a concrete gravel board. It has been sunk into the ground, then a layer of concrete has been put in front of it, then a layer of earth over the top. The box has been filled with rubble, then a layer of weld mesh and chicken wire, then a layer of cement, topped with patio slabs. Nothing is ever getting through this again.

Concrete gravel board

Stepping block

For now I have put this block here as a step. I want to level the soil again and top with wood chip once more but can’t do anything until the weather changes. At the moment the ground is frozen and snow covered with more snow forecast. When I am able to work on this again I will decide whether to put the wooden step back or just use these blocks to step on.

Yesterday evening while in with the chickens, hearing a rat gnawing at wood outside was a bit like something out of a horror film. Today though I am feeling more positive. They can’t get in to the chickens now that we have blocked them with concrete and even if they try to chew through the wooden fence it will take time. So the next plan of action is to put poison in the shed, then unblock the hole to the shed and let them go in and take it. We will try to get rid of them as I feel that if we get rid of them and new rats come along in the future, they probably wouldn’t go to such great lengths to get in when there is no food being left out. We think the rats currently here are so determined because they were getting in and getting food in the past.

This morning when I let the girls out, Bluebell had already laid her egg. Pepper soon followed then Treacle. After the stressful day yesterday, which was a no egg day, today we have a three egg day!

We lifted the plastic cover from the concrete and found it wasn’t fully set yet, so we decided to leave it covered until tomorrow and I will take photos then.

The problem now is that the girls won’t go out into the snow so have confined themselves to the patio. It was quite dark on the patio because of the snow on the corrugated roof, so my husband used the step ladder and a broom to remove as much as he could reach.

I cleared a path through the snow and cleared the area under the umbrella but the girls were still not interested. I threw a few dried meal worms out and they ran out and cleared them up then returned to the patio. This means I have to keep poop picking the patio as it gets messy with them spending the whole day there. We have more snow forecast tomorrow and another week of freezing temperatures so I worry that if the snow doesn’t clear the girls are going to just stay on the patio.

In the afternoon I threw some sunflower seeds out into the garden area to encourage them out and grabbed my camera.

Searching for sunflower seeds

Tails up!

There must be more sunflower seeds here somewhere

We like to stay close together

Maybe the girls will be a bit braver tomorrow!

This morning our guy (R) was due to come at quarter past eight to concrete the soil box that the rats have been digging through.

I usually go and poop pick the coop at half past seven, although the automatic coop door doesn’t open until eight o’clock. I open it manually, do my chores with the handy head torch my eldest son bought me for this job and the coop door opens as I have finished. This enables me to get the job done half an hour earlier and gives the girls half an hour extra out of the coop.

This morning I needed to get the cleaning up done earlier so went out at seven o’clock and put the flood light on. The coop door opened and the girls came out but wouldn’t venture from the floodlit patio area as the garden area was still in darkness. I did my chores and left the light on so that the coop door would stay open and the girls would have light. They were unnerved by the partial darkness and all went up to sit on the coop roof. I won’t do this again as it’s probably not good for them but as it was only half an hour until the coop door would normally open, I left to do my indoor chores before R arrived.

I went back out at eight o’clock and turned off the floodlight. The coop door then closed. I shone my torch on it and it opened again and stayed open.

At quarter past eight R arrived and so did the snow. We really didn’t need this but he only had a couple of hours to give us and said we could get done before the snow settled.

Between R and my husband they knocked out the wood from the box, dug a trench and put in the concrete gravel board, dug out the box and filled it with  rubble, then a layer of concrete, then laid the slabs we have on top. We pushed cobbles into the concrete where there were gaps either side of the slabs. We also removed the cobbles from the spot the jasmine had been planted, dug some earth out and filled that with concrete too, then pushed cobbles into it. We put the rat cage over it to keep the girls from it.

By now my husband had to go off and do his deliveries and me and R finished up. R grouted between the slabs then we covered the whole area with bin bags weighed down with wood and cobbles to keep it dry and keep the girls away from the concrete. We have to leave it covered for twenty four hours to set. By now it was snowing hard and the girls made no attempt to leave the roofed patio area all day.

The concrete is covered and the snow is settling

I will photograph this again tomorrow when it’s uncovered.

The snow was coming down thick and fast and at eleven o’clock and again at three o’clock I went out and cleared the plastic roof over the run. It looked fine but I worried about the weight on it so stood on a step ladder and used a broom to push the snow off. By this time the snow had started to slow and by four o’clock it had stopped.

The snow covered garden with the chicken run at the top

The snow filled run from outside

The snow covered run from inside

I think this was quite a stressful day for the girls. It was the first day since they have started laying that we had no eggs. They confined themselves to the patio all day because of the snow and spent a lot of the day on top of the coop.

Bluebell and Dotty on the nest box of the coop

It had been a difficult day all round, my husband was stuck in traffic for hours because of the snow, but it wasn’t over yet. I went up to do my clean up and make sure the girls all went in the coop at bedtime. I could hear scratching or gnawing. I thought perhaps a rat had got trapped inside the patio area and was trying to get out. I shone my torch every where, behind the storage cabinet, behind the coop, inside and under the coop but nothing. I then thought it must be outside trying to get in.

I went indoors and asked my husband to come and listen to the noises and investigate with me. We decided to get the girls in the coop then investigate by torchlight. I said that it sounded like it was coming from the big shed which the patio area is joined to. My husband went into the shed to investigate. To our dismay, the end side of the shed that forms the border to next doors garden had a hole chewed through at floor level and rat droppings inside it. We are not sure if they chewed through here thinking they were getting into the chickens or if they would next try to go through the joining wall between the shed and chicken run. For now my husband has blocked this new hole with bits if wood. It’s a constant round of blocking each new entry point.

We are gutted! We have worked so hard and spent so much money making this rat proof and now feel if they will chew through the wooden fence then what do we do next. My husband said we need a concrete bunker to keep the rats out and will have to clad all the fenced areas. We are at our wits end with this. We thought this time we would keep them out and are feeling really depressed right now.

A few days ago I noticed Treacle had a small bare patch around her vent. The skin isn’t red, it’s a normal, white skin colour but I made a mental note to keep a close eye on her. Today we noticed that Bluebell pecked at a spot under Treacle’s wing a couple of times. On closer inspection there was a very small bare patch under each wing. I decided to pick her up for a close inspection before bedtime.

I held Treacle on my lap and inspected. There was no sign of anything around her vent and it was clean and normal, but under her left wing was a scab about the size of a small finger nail. I couldn’t find any sign of anything else and concluded that she had injured herself or been pecked and the red scab was causing Bluebell to peck at it. Treacle is her usual happy, busy self with no outward sign of any problem or stress and is laying eggs as usual.

I then researched lice and mites and read that one of the signs are scabs. I started to worry, despite the fact that I keep everything very clean and dust with D.E and have a dry dust bath of ash with a little D.E. added, which they use frequently. The information said that you need to inspect for mites after dark by torch light as this is when they will be active.

I knew I couldn’t rest until we had checked so asked my husband to come and look with me. I opened up the side panel of the coop and lifted Treacle on to my lap while my husband shone the torch on the area under her wing. We both agreed it looked like a scab from an injury perhaps on a twig of the bush in the run or a peck and looked pretty well healed already. There was no sign of lice or mites or any other scabs.

Treacle was very well behaved, I talked soothingly to her and stroked her while giving her a good look over. Treacle didn’t seem to mind and I put her back on her perch and closed the coop. It all went easier than I thought it would.

I have read that there is a product called Gentian, which is a bright purple spay and acts as an antiseptic but also stains the skin to hide redness and deter pecking. I will see if I can get some tomorrow but we both agreed that it looked as if it had already healed with no sign of any fresh blood so If I can’t source it, I think we will just keep a close eye on her. If I can get some it will be useful to have in case it’s needed in the future. I feel happier now that we have both had a look at her and will be watching her with care over the next few days.

The other three are all fluffy and fully feathered with no sign of any problems. I have read on a few blogs of hens losing feathers or moulting very late on in the year. I hope this all that is happening here.

Among the many time consuming and expensive improvements to the chicken run, I have also made some small and inexpensive improvements recently. I found that as the girls are in the coop such a long time at this time of year, I was crouched in front of it poop picking in the morning for a longer stretch. This was making my back and hips ache. I decided I needed a mat of some sort to kneel on. I then found the perfect mat, it’s a rubber exercise mat and was on sale for six pounds. It was full length so I cut it into four mats. I now kneel on it each morning to poop pick the coop and this simple mat has made my life easier, no more aches.

When changing the wood shavings in the coop, I noticed that the wood floor was getting a bit wet. I  decided to put the metal tray from the rat cage we have (we use it as a transport cage if needed), over the coop floor to protect the wood. This also means I can pull the metal tray out to change the shavings, making this job easier too.

Once I had done this the temperature plummeted and it’s been well below freezing at night. I started to worry that a metal floor would be colder than a wooden floor so my next improvement was to put a layer of cardboard over the metal tray then cover with a thick layer of shavings.

This seems to work well as this morning I found poop picking easier and no wet patches on the cardboard yet. When it gets wet I will replace it but am hoping it will only need replacing when I renew the shavings so shouldn’t be a problem. It makes a change for the improvements to be easy and to cost very little.

The other change happening at the moment is that Dotty is finally growing up.

Dotty’s comb is growing at last

This photo shows the beginning of Dotty’s comb and wattles, where there was no sign a few weeks ago. I have also noticed recently that Dotty doesn’t seem to stick with the other girls so much at the moment, she is often a bit apart from them. There is no pecking or bullying, she just seems to like doing her own thing and seems just as happy. I think it’s because the other three girls are all mature egg laying ladies now and she has got left a bit behind. It will be interesting to see if she changes again when she starts to lay.

We had some snow during the night last night, and more during the day today. This is the chickens first experience of snow. The step down into the garden part of the run had a light covering of snow on it this morning. The chooks headed towards it saw the snow and did an about turn. I could almost read their thoughts “I am not standing on that!”.

I brushed the snow from the step and immediately the girls headed out to the garden. During the day as the snow started falling again they retreated to the patio area. I could see they were not impressed. I would have liked to take a photo of them in the snow but they were not having that!

Snow in the run

This photo shows how well the plastic covering plus the umbrella are keeping the corner area dry. We hope in summer to take the plastic covering off and just keep the umbrella for wet summer days. We just hope this summer won’t be as wet as last summer.

We feel we got the top of the run improved just in time. The chicken net may have drooped under the weight of snow but with the chicken wire over thick wooden struts, we feel it’s strong enough to withstand snow.

As we had more snow during the day, it piled up on the corrugated plastic roof of the patio area and made it quite dark. The floodlight we put up at the weekend came in useful when I went in to do my afternoon sweep up.

The girls usually go to bed at half past four but I suddenly realised it was nearly five o’clock and they hadn’t gone in because they were still pottering about on the floodlit patio. I turned the light off and the sudden darkness confused them. The automatic coop door closed and the girls went behind the coop under the nest box. I know that chickens can’t see in the dark so I held the coop door open and shone my torch near it. One by one they filed in and I closed the door. I will try in future not to plunge them into sudden darkness.