Carol's Chickens

After a few dry days, last night it rained all night and the forecast is more to come and possible snow. Today we put another plastic cover over the garden corner of the run and secured it with batons. We chose a thicker plastic this time and instead of the makeshift bamboo canes to hold the inside edge, I threaded some stiff wire through the plastic before we put it over the top.

I then secured the open edge by threading garden wire through the stiff wire and round the chicken wire roof. This time instead of trimming off the bit of plastic hanging over the side of the run we decided to leave it for a while and see if it helps to keep the rain out of the side a bit. It doesn’t look very attractive but may be worth it if it keeps the run drier.

I then poured some water from the watering can over the top (standing on the step ladder) to see if it would pool. Because the wooden struts have given the top more of a slope it didn’t pool so no need to make drainage holes this time. However it did appear to drain back into the covered area which was rather disappointing but my husband thinks that as it was a windy day the water may have blown back in. We won’t be able to tell how well this works until we get the next rain.

We do feel happier that if it snows the roof is now sturdy enough to hold up under a bit more weight.

The plastic cover from the outside of the run

The plastic cover from the inside of the run

We now have the top rat proof but yesterday my husband saw a rat run under the wooden step during the afternoon and Dotty was shouting at it. Then this morning I found another cobble pushed out and a tunnel underneath. I am still amazed at the strength they must have to push the cobbles out! We decided that we must do something as a temporary measure until our guys can come back to concrete the box.

My husband dug a trench in front of the box and put a vertical layer of spare roof tiles in front of it. He then put a layer of wooden planks in the bottom then filled it back in with soil. He then took out the cobbles and small slab from the top of the box and put a layer of tiles under the slab instead of the cobbles. We feel this should keep them out until we can get it filled with concrete which should be the last job needing to be done we hope!

My husband then decided it was time to put my Christmas presents in the run. He fitted the flood light in the run for me.

Floodlight

He fitted the plant holder, it just needs some pots and plants but those will come later.

Plant holder

We then added the antique boot scraper my husband bought me for Christmas.

Antique boot scraper

Lastly we put the boot cleaner just outside the run.

Boot cleaner

As for the chickens, they are not at all bothered about all these improvements. As long as I turn up with some treats they are happy.

Dotty finally seems to be growing up at last. In the last week suddenly her wattles have grown, her face has got a more red colour and finally her backward spiked comb is starting to show.  She still loves to jump on my back or shoulder at any chance she gets. I wonder about this behaviour because when Treacle was almost mature, she too wanted to jump on me all the time. These days Treacle and Bluebell just jump on me sometimes and Pepper looks like she really wants to but can’t quite pluck up the courage, but Dotty who at one time didn’t interact with me at all, is always jumping on me. I wonder if it’s something to do with the pre grown up stage but I don’t have a clue why this should be.

I also saw Dotty take the grit today and now wonder if she may start to lay this side of spring. Our baby Dotty (at eight months), seems to be growing up at last!

Yesterday the guys came back to finish putting up the rat proof chicken wire on the roof of the run. Although we haven’t actually seen a rat in the run recently, I know they are still getting in. I take the food out each day at dusk and sweep up any spilt pellets so that there is nothing for the rats and yet still they come in.

A few days ago I lifted the slab that the water drinker sits on and found a tunnel underneath it. I filled it and blocked the gap at the side of the slab with cobbles. Yesterday one of the cobbles had been pushed out and a new tunnel was underneath. I couldn’t believe the strength and determination that they have!

We feel all the efforts to stop them getting in from overhead will be wasted if we can’t stop them digging in. The box at the end of the patio is now the problem area and needs to be dealt with. The guys suggested taking the wooden front off and replacing it with a concrete gravel board then digging some earth out of the box and filling it with quick drying concrete. This will keep the rats out and also help with keeping the mud off the patio area and make it easier for me to clean. No more lifting the slabs each time, I will be able to sweep and wash straight over the edge into the garden area.

The other thing we need to do is somehow replace the plastic that was over the corner of the run to help keep out the rain and combat the mud. The guys suggested they could fit more corrugated plastic sheets in front of the patio area. We are having a think about this for now. We are worried that this would be more difficult to remove again in summer when it would make the run too hot. Also it will be more expense and we feel we have thrown so much money and time at this project! We need to draw a line somewhere.

I think maybe another baton and plastic sheet would be the way to go. It was working quite well and will be a less costly option. We will give it some thought and continue with it at the weekend. It really is a never ending job.

New top over the run

We now have a double layer of chicken wire over the top. This should keep everything including rats out and is a much stronger top as well.

Cobbles that a rat pushed through

This is the latest rat entry point. Yesterday one of these cobbles had been pushed out overnight and there was a new tunnel underneath it. We think the rats are living under next doors decking which is on the other side of this fence and that’s why they are so determined to keep coming through here.

Raised box from the other side

This is where we are going to replace the wood with a concrete gravel board. Our guy says he has one spare on his allotment and will let us have it. The guys will then fill the box with quick drying concrete and slope it down towards the garden area so that I can sweep and wash everything away easily. This will be a great improvement for me when trying to keep the patio area clean. So the job still goes on and on and on!

Today our guys came back to do further works to our chicken run roof. We now know that rats can get through the chicken net as we have seen them escape through it. It’s flexible enough for them to stretch a hole big enough to get through. We knew that covering the whole outside area with chicken wire was too big a job for us so had the guys who built our run come back to do the job for us.

First we closed off the patio area with weld mesh and chicken net to keep the chooks confined to the patio while the garden area was without a top. These girls are really good at flying up high and we didn’t want to risk them getting a fright and flying out.

At first when the work noise began the girls flew up on the cabinet and sat together there for a while but once used to the noise they settled back to the patio area and consumed the treats I gave them. Over the course of the day they had tomato, lettuce and apple.

After lunch when they like a snooze on the big perch, they all headed up to the roof of the coop instead.

The girls settle on the roof of the coop

The struts go on to hold the chicken wire

Side view of the struts over the top

The chicken wire is put over the struts

Before the project was properly finished it got too dark to go on so the guys are coming back next Wednesday to complete the job, as that is their next available time slot. However the chicken wire is on and nothing can get in or out of the top, it’s just a case of fine tuning and tidying. I will post again when it’s properly finished, but am just relieved that the bulk of the work and disruption to the girls is done.

The chickens have no idea that the disruption is for their own good but you can’t explain to a chicken the benefits to them of keeping rats out. I did find my constant presence and chatting to them did help to keep them calm though. I talked them through it even though they have no clue what I am actually saying but overall I thought they coped really well and Bluebell even laid an egg. Bluebell really is an outstanding egg layer!

We were also able to gift our first half dozen eggs to show our appreciation for keep coming back to this never ending project!

Today I managed to get some better photos of the girls. I had given them some yogurt and was going to photograph their yogurt covered faces but by the time I went back they had cleaned up, however I managed to get some good shots of their combs.

Pepper’s wattles

Pepper’s pea comb and spike

Dotty still has no comb

Bluebell’s floppy comb and Treacle’s large comb

They still love yogurt

Treacle, Bluebell and Pepper are eight months old and all three are laying eggs now. Dotty is seven months old, not laying and still has no comb. I have felt for some time that she is in a time warp, remaining a baby (or teenager!). I had a theory that it was because she was born later in the year, it seemed to hold back her growing up.

On reading the natural history chicken book that my son bought me for Christmas, it seems that I was on the right track. It says that chickens maturing in Autumn or Winter will start to lay eggs later than chickens maturing in Summer. Chickens usually start to lay at five to six months. Treacle started to lay at seven months, Bluebell at seven and a half months and Pepper at eight months. Dotty is now seven months and still a lot less mature then Pepper (who is the same breed). She has no comb and still makes baby sounds. I don’t expect her to lay until spring but you never can tell with chickens, they have a habit of surprising us!

It’s new Years Eve and exactly six months since I got my chickens. I can’t imagine life without them now.

The dynamics of the flock have changed for the better since Treacle became top hen upon maturity.  This changed Dotty’s behaviour (as Treacle keeps her in her place) and she no longer bullies Bluebell. With that change, I no longer use the water spray or have any need to tell Dotty off and finally she will now allow me to stroke her.

Dotty likes to jump on to my shoulder at any given opportunity, either from the ground or from the coop roof, but only recently would allow me to stroke her. Treacle and Bluebell jump on to my shoulder too but not as frequently as Dotty. Pepper always looks like she wants to jump up, but doesn’t seem to know how to, or loses her nerve at the last moment.

It’s now been a month since I took the jasmine out of the run after realising that it was the cause of the musty tasting eggs. The process of the eggs improving has been really gradual and it is only now that we feel there is no trace of the musty taste at all. Recently it was such a slight hint that we were able to eat the eggs with salt and pepper but now feel they are completely normal tasting and can start to give some out as gifts.

Treacle was the first to lay and has laid twenty eight eggs in forty five days. Bluebell was the second to lay and is now the most prolific with twenty three eggs in twenty nine days and has not missed a day in the last fifteen days. Pepper was most recent and has laid seven in eleven days. We have had five days so far with three eggs a day. Dotty is a month younger and still has no comb yet so I don’t expect her to start laying any time soon. We have now had a total of fifty eight eggs in one and a half months.

We are still constantly improving the run. We knew we needed to cover the whole of the top of the run with either weld mesh or chicken wire to keep the rats out as we discovered that they could squeeze through the chicken net. We decided this was too big a job for us and have the guys who built the run coming back in four days time to do this for us.

We also keep discovering new dig holes where the rats are still coming through next doors decking and finding a way out by the step or the boxed area. When I recently moved the slab the water was on I found a tunnel underneath it. We keep blocking each hole up as a temporary measure but as soon as we have stopped them from being able to get in from above we will do something more permanent to stop them digging in. I remove the food at night but that doesn’t seem to stop them although I haven’t actually seen a rat for a long time it’s only discovering tunnels that alerts me to their continued presence.

I also had quite a few chicken related gifts this Christmas. I had this little character from my husband:

Christmas chicken

I also had a lovely natural history chicken book from my eldest son and his girlfriend and some fine bone china tea cups featuring chickens from my youngest son and his girlfriend amongst many other gifts.

My husband also gave me some very practical chicken related gifts, an antique boot scraper for the run and a boot cleaner to go with it, plus a floodlight so that I may be able to do my morning chores earlier and my last sweep up later during these short winter days and also a wall planter to go in the run. I have been very lucky this Christmas. We are going to put all these items in the run once the rat proofing is complete.

Finally as a look back over the last six months I thought I would include some photos to show how much the girls have changed as they have grown up. This was taken in August:

We like to sit close together

It’s really tricky to get a photo of all four together these days as they are always on the move. I took these today:

Eating tomato

Scratching together

Not the best photos but they do show how much they have changed. I look forward to my New Year with the girls.

Today my egg skelter arrived through the post. I decided that I would really like an egg skelter now that we have our own eggs, as it means we can store them in order of when they are laid and we will always take them in the correct order, for our own use or to give as gifts. It fits sideways on a shelf in the fridge, so doesn’t take up too much room and will hold about twenty four eggs.

I know not every one agrees with keeping eggs in the fridge but what I have read is, that fresh eggs will keep for three times as long in the fridge and if you know you are going to use them fairly quickly it’s fine not to fridge them but as my eggs will build up and I will be giving some away as gifts, I want to know that they will last as long as possible. The trick is to take them out of the fridge to reach room temperature before cooking for the best results.

My egg skelter

I am really pleased with this purchase and every time I go to the fridge and see the different coloured eggs on the skelter it makes me smile. I took this photo, this morning, after using up most of my egg supply for our family Christmas breakfasts and today is my fourth, three egg day, (two days in a row) so the skelter is already filling up quite quickly.

We recently put down two bags of wood chip to try to keep the mud down. We put wood chip in the raised garden box at the end of the patio but soon found this was mistake as the girls scratched and walked wood chip all over the patio area, giving me even more mess to clean up. I decided to scoop up as much of the wood chip out of the box as I could and throw it onto the garden area. I then forked in the rest.

The wood chip in the garden area is working quite well at keeping the mud down. During the recent constant rain there have been no more puddles forming and my boots don’t get so clogged up.

I had a good clean down of the patio area with water, my rubber broom and my rubber squeegee on Christmas Eve, so that it’s nice and clean for the girl’s at Christmas.

Christmas Day, I found that they had walked the mud from the box all over the patio again and had really muddy feet. I was trying to add drier soil to the box and compact it to stop it being so muddy when suddenly I had another of my light bulb moments. I realised that if the box of soil/mud was the cause of mud constantly being walked over the patio, then what I needed to do was to cover the box with something to stop the girls walking through the mud.

We had some spare patio slabs so I decided that I would set to work on it on Boxing Day.

On Boxing Day I cleaned the patio down again then put the three slabs over the box. For the remaining smaller gap I found a smaller slab and brick from another part of the garden.

The box of soil is now covered with paving slabs

The girls take a drink

I am really pleased with this simple improvement as when I went back later the patio area had stayed much cleaner and the girls feet were not so clogged with mud. When I clean down the patio area I can lift the slabs to get rid of the water. Luckily the run slopes downwards so although I have had a problem with the mud at least it doesn’t ever flood.

Today was also the second three egg day with Pepper laying at first light, Bluebell laying mid morning and Treacle laying at lunch time. Treacle’s egg was a surprise egg. It was much paler than her usual eggs with a spot of pigment on one end.

Treacle’s latest egg on the bottom right of the egg box

Treacle’s usual colour of egg is top centre of the egg box. Pepper’s pale pinkish brown is in the bottom middle with Bluebell’s bottom left. I have read that the pigment goes on last when the egg is laid and if it is held here longer it can have more pigment added and if it is rushed past it can have less pigment added. I can only assume this one rushed past. It is adorable!

This is my first Christmas with chickens and Treacle laid a Christmas egg first thing this morning. I have been collecting eggs for our Christmas breakfast and breakfast for the family in a few days time. My egg box is so pretty.

My Christmas egg box

Yesterday was the first day we had three eggs. Treacle laid before first light, Bluebell laid mid morning and Pepper laid at about mid day.

We have had so much rain recently that the run is becoming a quagmire despite part of it being covered. The plastic covering over the corner of the garden part of the run gives the girls an area where they are dry from above and keeps the big perch dry but the water still drains underneath and the ground is still wet. Despite this it is drier than the other half of the run where without cover it is just mud.

Last time I put down wood chip I made the mistake of digging it over regularly because I felt the girls had no where to scratch for worms and bugs. This meant it was soon dug in and rendered useless.

This time I have a cunning plan! I will leave the triangular covered part beyond the perch as it is and continue to dig it over regularly for the girls to scratch in but put a thicker layer of wood chip over the rest and as it compacts I will resist the urge to dig and see if this helps to keep down the mud.

The girls loved the layer of wood chip especially when I threw out a few dried meal worms.

Wood chip to scratch in

This is fun

I really hope this improves things. The triangle to the left of the picture has no wood chip and I have just forked it over. When I used to bring the “scary” fork into the run the girls used to scatter. Now they know the fork means the possibility of worms and follow it around. I now have to be super careful not to let them get too near the prongs. They chased each other round after a few fat worms which was hilarious to watch.

One other thing I must mention. Someone on the “Down the Lane” forum said that an instinct made her check her chickens legs as they had leg rings on and with it being so muddy she was concerned. Rightly so because she found the beginning of a mud sore and removed the ring and treated the sore. This made me immediately go and check Pepper as she has a leg ring. I picked her up and inspected her leg. It was absolutely fine but I decided to remove the ring anyway just to be on the safe side.

Originally I put the leg ring on Pepper as her and Dotty are both dominiques and although Dotty is a month younger I thought when they were both fully grown that I may not be able to tell them apart. Six months later I realize that they are such different characters that I am quite sure I will always be able to tell them apart. Anyway my husband says it’s simple, he says the chicken on your shoulder is Dotty! Dotty jumps to my shoulder at any possible opportunity!

I have had the feeling for days now that Pepper was ready to lay her first egg. Yesterday morning I was sure it was time as she was strutting around shouting and in and out of the nest box, scratching about in there like Treacle and Bluebell had at the start of their egg laying. She then went in the nest box and settled in there but at that moment Bluebell decided it was time to lay her egg. At first I thought maybe she was just keeping an eye on Pepper as she kept going in the coop and watching over her, but then she decided to get in there with her. I found it so sweet seeing them sharing the nest box.

Bluebell joins Pepper in the nest box

Pepper sits tight

Bluebell tries to sit too

Who is going to get the best position?

I left them to it and when I returned a little later this is what I found.

Pepper’s and Bluebell’s eggs together in the nest box

Pepper’s egg is the one at the bottom of the picture and although it doesn’t show very well in this photo it has a delicate pale pink tinge to the colour. Bluebell’s egg was still warm so Pepper managed to lay her egg first.

Pepper’s egg is on the left and Bluebell’s on the right

These eggs are pastel pink and blue and so pretty but my camera is not good enough to show their true colours.

Treacle’s egg is on the left, Pepper’s in the middle and Bluebell’s on the right

They are so beautiful. I held this post back until this morning so that we could taste Peppers egg and I am pleased to say it tasted normal, hurrah!