Carol's Chickens

We have had so much driving rain that the outer half of the patio gets wet and muddy, especially with me and the girls walking mud onto it. The other really wet patch that has been annoying me for some time is around the water drinker. This is due to Treacle scratching in it and flicking the water out. Treacle not only scratches in dirt and pine shavings but she scratches on the patio (where there is nothing to scratch!) and in the water. This means this area is permanently wet and difficult to clean.

Wet patch around the drinker

I decided it was time to move it and now wonder why on earth I didn’t think of that before. I put a spare slab we had over the earth box that borders the outside area and sat the drinker on that. This means I can sluice down this slab straight into the soil.

The drinkers new position

Pepper checks it out

As you can see the patio is pretty muddy. I decided it needed a good scrub and as we had to make one of our frequent visits to our local D.I.Y. shop, I bought a stiff rubber bristled broom and a floor squeegee to dry the patio as best I could.

I picked up, swept up, then set to work sluicing it with water, scrubbing then drying with the squeegee. The only problem was that although it worked quite well, it did leave channels of water in the gaps between the tiles. I dried these with kitchen paper. It’s not perfect but a lot better than it was.

The patio after it’s clean up

You can also see how developed Bluebell’s comb is in this picture.

Pepper’s under developed comb

This was before the clean up and shows how under developed Pepper’s comb is. Pepper has what is called a pea comb. It will look like a row of pink peas with a backward spike at the end. You can just see the spike forming.

I am quite pleased with the way the squeegee gets rid of the excess water after cleaning and am really pleased with the new position of the drinker. This should help the area where the feeder is to stay dry now. This was the most simple improvement but sometimes it takes a while to have that light bulb moment.

On an entirely different subject, I have moved the grass trays to the empty veg plot for the winter. Despite putting plenty of drainage in the trays, because they are quite shallow, they are still waterlogged. The grass is sparse and my husband is not sure if they will survive but I am hopeful. I am planning to help them along with a packet of grass seed sprinkled over them in spring.

The trays of grass

It worked so well in the summer being able to give the girls a tray of grass each day. By the time they had the last one the first one had regrown ready to go in again. I have nothing to lose by keeping them so will see how they fare. It hasn’t helped them having so much rain either, everything seems a battle against the rain at the moment. The long forecast is more rain but the next few days are supposed to be dry so I am hoping everything will dry out a bit. I can but hope!

My little chicken flock like to help me with my morning clean up. As I move around picking up the poop, they follow me. Yesterday as I ducked under the big perch to clean up in the corner, I had Dotty watching from the perch above me, Pepper facing me and trying to see what was in my gloved hands, Bluebell pecking at my sleeve to make sure I knew she was there and Treacle on my back helping me most of all! It’s so much easier to clean up a chicken run with a helpful chicken on your back!

Lately at any time that I bend down, Treacle is on my back or shoulder in an instant. Sometimes I am cleaning or sometimes I am talking to Pepper or trying to take a photo and she is straight on to me. My husband says she seems to think she is an overgrown parrot! It makes cleaning up quite tricky.

Pepper also looks like she really wants to jump up too. Pepper now pays me more attention than the other three and as she used to be so skittish, this is so lovely and she is such a sweet girl. Tonight she looked like she really wanted to jump on me so for the first time in ages I sat on my little chair as I thought perhaps she needs a proper lap to sit on rather than me just crouching down. You would have thought it was feeding frenzy at the zoo except without the food! Treacle was straight on my lap followed by Bluebell. I stroked these two and they filled my lap. Dotty didn’t know where to go so jumped on to my head (not ideal, luckily she is the lightest) and poor Pepper just didn’t know how to get up too. She kept rocking as if about to jump but couldn’t find a space. Where is the camera man at these priceless moments?

The thing I love about this sort of crazy interaction with my girls is that there is no treat on offer, they just seem to want to be on me and I love that. I never thought I could love these chickens so, so much! I love that they all have such different personalities and they want to be around me. I know they are always looking for a treat but they follow me around for half an hour every morning while I clean up and they want to sit on me every evening before bedtime (Treacle wants to be on me any time she possibly can), Pepper wants to talk to me face to face at any time and oh, it’s so wonderful. I love these girls so much.

Treacle seems to have suddenly matured over the last month. As she has matured she has taken her place as top hen and she has grown much more vocal. Treacle used to be my quiet hen, quiet because she was not very vocal. Now Treacle has become more talkative, and having found her voice, it is a loud voice. When I go up the path towards them I can instantly recognise the difference between Pepper’s very vocal but slightly mournful “boc boc” and Treacle’s very loud and clear “boc boc”

Treacle’s comb and wattles have also become much more developed.

Treacle’s comb and wattles have suddenly matured

Because Bluebells comb matured first, I thought she would be the first to lay eggs and had heard that when they are almost ready they will squat when you hold your hand over their back. I have tried that many times with Bluebell and she just side steps out of the way. When trying to stroke Treacle recently I accidentally hovered my hand over her back and she went down into a squat. Now I know what people mean when they say that. Every time I hover my hand over her back she squats. Maybe Treacle will be the first to lay eggs.

I think they may wait until spring though as the days are getting shorter. I have also heard that pure breeds lay about a month later than hybrids and are less likely to lay through winter. Treacle is a longtown brown and will lay dark brown eggs, Bluebell is a chalkhill blue and will lay blue eggs and Pepper and Dotty are dominiques and will lay light brown eggs. I have had my girls for five months now and I think Dotty is six months old, Pepper seven months (because I was told there was a month between them), and Bluebell and Treacle eight months. I was told that Treacle is a slower developer and would lay at about a month older than the other girls but that once she starts to lay she is a really good layer. I would put Bluebell and Treacle at a month older than the other two because their combs and wattles were always more developed and if Treacle develops later that would explain why her comb has taken a month more than Bluebell’s to look fully mature.

I am now assuming that Dominiques are also slow developers because Pepper’s comb is still not mature and Dotty actually seems to be stuck in babyhood. She must be six months old because I have had her for five months and was told she was one month when I first got her and yet she still uses her baby twitter rather than a grown up “boc boc” like Pepper and her comb is not at all developed. She is feisty and greedy yet doesn’t seem to be growing up.

Dotty still has no comb and still looks like a baby

They all look happy and healthy so I think they will all develop at their own pace and although I would love to have some eggs, I love the girls so much that I don’t mind if I have to wait for a bit.

I put in the new, bigger, round, dry dust bath about a week ago. At first I could see foot prints in it but no evidence of it being used as a dust bath. Then I could see by the dust sprinkled outside of it that it was being used but didn’t manage to catch any of the girls in it.

This morning we went up to the girls and Treacle was having a great time in the dust bath. She was completely covered in dust and writhing around, sometimes with eyes closed and purring with delight. If you didn’t know how much chickens like to dust bath you would be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with her.

Treacle in the dry dust bath

Writhing around in her dust bath

Eyes shut, head down and purring

Treacle dusts Bluebell

The other girls mill around her but at the moment they are not getting a look in, she is staying put. Bluebells back is sprinkled with dust from Treacle. Treacle is loving this and as we had to go, we didn’t see her get out. later in the day she still had dust on her fluffy butt feathers. I think we can call the new dry dust bath a success.

Yesterday I gave the girls watermelon for the first time. I have read on other blogs how much chickens like pumpkin and thought as they are always half price after halloween that I would wait until then to get them one. This is the first year I haven’t seen them on sale after halloween in any of the shops. Not a pumpkin to be found anywhere. I was kicking myself for not buying one earlier so instead looked on the sale fruit and veg shelf and bought the girls a slice of watermelon.

Treacle, Pepper and Dotty came straight over to try it

Bluebell joins them

It’s unusual for Bluebell not to come straight away but she was having such a lovely dust bath under the bush that she couldn’t tear herself away at first. When I returned a little later there was just the empty skin left. I think I can safely say that they like watermelon!

Last night it rained all night, frequently waking me. It was hammering down and I was worried about how the new plastic cover was holding up and whether the water was draining through the holes I had made.

When I went out at seven in the morning I was really pleased to see that the drainage holes had worked and the plastic was flat with no pools of water on it. If it can take that much heavy rain it should be okay.

I am disappointed that the run is not drying out though. I think if we had put the cover over dry earth it may have kept it relatively dry but we put it over a quagmire and I am beginning to wonder if it will ever dry out. The problem is we have had rain most days and it is forecast to continue wet over this month. If it would only stop raining for a bit it might dry out but there seems little chance of that at the moment. The water also drains down under the plastic cover as the run slopes down but at least it gives the girls an area out of the rain to walk on even if the ground is not yet dry. I think it’s the best we can do for now. We just need to wait for it to stop raining!

Dotty’s latest thing is jumping on to my shoulder. Tonight when I was in with the girls before bedtime I could tell Dotty was going to jump from the ground to my shoulder again. She circles me while looking up and twisting her head and neck. It’s as if she is working out the best angle to jump from. At that moment my husband came up and saw what she was doing so went back indoors for the camera. By the time he returned she had jumped to my shoulder.

Dotty on my shoulder

Dotty is about to jump down

My husband just managed to catch her on my shoulder. She seems pretty pleased with her new trick.

I decided we needed a bigger dry dust bath as Treacle looked so cramped in the old one and sends most of the dust out. I bought a washing up bowl, it’s bigger, deeper and being round, a more suitable shape. I filled it and took my camera to see what the girls would make of it.

New bigger dust bath

As usual Bluebell was the first to go and look at it as she is the most inquisitive. I went back later and there were foot prints in it so they have stood in it but not dust bathed yet. Oh well, these things always take time. I am sure they will use it more quickly this time. I will photograph them when they perform for me.

Lately I have noticed Treacle rising to top hen and there is now no doubt that she has taken over the position from Pepper. I noticed that Treacle would peck Dotty (up to now the bully) and I would hear a yelp but Dotty didn’t seem too bothered. When I watched them more closely, I realized that the short yelp sound was Treacle not Dotty, Treacle would make the sound as a warning accompanied by a quick peck. Dotty started to behave herself and as a side effect seems to have stopped bullying Bluebell so much.

Treacle pecks Pepper to show her she is now top hen and sometimes chases her away. Sometimes Treacle gives Dotty and Pepper a quick peck and they both lower their head in the submissive pose. I have not seen Treacle peck Bluebell at all and assume that as Bluebell is bottom hen, she has no need to.

I think over all Treacle will be a good top hen but I do feel a bit sorry for Pepper having been usurped. When Dotty pecks Bluebell away from their evening scratch treat or Treacle pecks Dotty away, they both quickly return to the treat. I think this is because Bluebell is used to being pecked away and Dotty is fearless but when Treacle pecks Pepper away she runs off and stands at a distance looking forlorn. I am willing her to just get back in there and carry on but she hasn’t been used to being chased away before and seems a bit perplexed about this sudden change in status.

All this seems to be mellowing Dotty a bit. Lately when she sees Treacle on my shoulder, She wants to come up too. She has jumped on my head a couple of times recently because Treacle has been on my shoulder and she can’t seem to manage to get on the other shoulder, so she gets on to my head instead. Not ideal but for a while I thought Dotty didn’t like me as she didn’t interact at all with me, so this behaviour has surprised me.

The other day when I went in at bedtime I could see that Dotty wanted to jump up on to me but it had been very wet and their feet were very muddy. Dotty jumped on to the coop roof to get nearer so I moved away and stood by the gate. Much to my surprise Dotty jumped from the ground to my shoulder. I have to say I was pretty impressed! I crouched down so that she wouldn’t have such a long way to jump down but she was in no hurry to leave. The other thing that strikes me is how light she is compared to Treacle. Treacle is a big and heavy hen but the dominiques are both so light in comparison.

Dotty is still the only one of them that won’t let me stroke her but perhaps now that I don’t have to tell her off all the time for bullying, we are making some progress. I would like to get a photo of Dotty on my shoulder but it may take time as they never perform to order!

Last night we had torrential rain and when I went out to the chickens this morning there was a pool of water that had collected at the edge of the plastic covering, we recently put over part of the chicken enclosure. It was stretching the plastic and the chicken net inwards. I got my broom and pushed underneath it to release the water.

I thought about how to combat this and decided to puncture some drainage holes along this edge. It’s the edge between the umbrella and the bush, so if water drips through here it won’t matter. The opposite corner should still provide a dry area.

While I was doing this there was another heavy shower which allowed me to see where the water was pooling and I continued to make holes while I could see how effective they were at letting the water drain out.

I will need to wait for the next rainfall to see if this works well enough. I only hope it will still drain through this same place and not pool somewhere else. Meanwhile the chicken net has sprung back to it’s usual shape.

I will be keeping a close eye on this when it rains so that I can tweak it as needed.

The right hand edge between the umbrella and the bush is where I have punctured some drainage holes

A quick update on the rat situation: since I have been taking the food out at night, there have been no more rat droppings at all. After finding one single dropping the first morning there have been none at all for several days now. I am amazed at how quickly they realized there was no food here any more.

As it’s so wet I decided to put in a peck block that I had bought for this sort of wet weather to occupy the girl’s. As always with something new they viewed it with suspicion at first. Bluebell and Treacle were first to have a peck. Dotty was next and finally Pepper. I think it will last quite well as they have to peck quite hard at it to get anything off. It’s made up of corn, oats and seeds.

What is this?

Shall we try pecking at it?

Let me try

Bluebell has a go

The final rain related subject is the dry dust bath. This is a tray with a mixture of sand, ash and a sprinkle of D.E. It has always been under the dry patio area but the chickens had never used it as a dust bath. They stand in it and they peck at it. I had just been wondering if the problem is that it’s not big enough and intend to buy a bigger tray.

Maybe it’s because of all the rain we have just had but when we went up to the chickens this afternoon, much to our amazement, Bluebell and Treacle in turn were dust bathing in it. Hurrah! It’s only taken them four and a half months to find it’s purpose!

Treacle in the dust bath

Bluebell stepping out of the dust bath

I wasn’t quick enough to catch Bluebell dust bathing. It is quite cramped for Treacle so I will still look for something bigger. I am so pleased they have found it’s use at long last though.

We have had continued torrential rain for a while now and the chicken enclosure is turning into a quagmire. The umbrella was fine for light rain but with heavy downpours the water soon gets underneath it. The chickens have their dry, roofed, patio area but I was worried that they didn’t have enough dry garden area to scratch and dust bath in and have constantly got muddy feet.

Today we had the first bit of sun in ages and my husband suggested we put the umbrella down so the chickens could enjoy some sun and the mud might start to dry out. But no, it was not to be. The chickens didn’t like this change in the shape of the umbrella and spent the day on the patio. They wouldn’t go near the folded umbrella and missed out on what little sun there was. In despair at their chicken refusal of going near anything different, I put the umbrella back up and normality returned.

We went off to the D.I.Y. store to see what we could come up with as a partial cover to keep some of the garden area dry. We found some clear, waterproof, plastic sheeting for £8.00 which seemed quite reasonable. We thought we would put it over the corner part of the enclosure. My husband said we could take off the wooden batons covering the chicken net, drape the plastic over and nail the batons back in place to secure it. He then came up with the idea of using our bamboo canes for the inside edge, to hold it in place. We threaded the bamboo canes through the weld mesh, then through the plastic sheet and weaved them through the chicken net. I then used garden wire to secure the canes to the plastic by threading it through the plastic and round the poles at intervals all the way across. We tried to secure it as best we could so that the wind wouldn’t whip it off. We are not sure how well this will stand up to the elements but feel that at a fairly small cost it is worth a try.

This is a bit temporary and not very robust but I just want to try to get some dry earth back instead of mud. Only time will tell how well this will work.

A bit of waterproof covering

Plastic sheet over the chicken net

It remains to be seen how well this will work. Here’s hoping for a bit more dry area

After several days with no rat droppings we thought we had the problem beat but we were wrong! Gradually the droppings started to reappear. This time there was no sign of where they are getting in and no more evidence of digging.

When I asked the “Down The Lane” forum if a mouse could get through weld mesh one person said that they had even seen a rat squeeze through weld mesh. I thought that perhaps the rat was a baby but now I wonder if the rats are getting through the weld mesh as there are no gaps bigger than this.

I finally admit defeat and will be removing the food at night. In the summer the chickens come out at five in the morning and I go out at seven, but there was no evidence of rats in the summer. The chickens now come out at around seven, the same time as I go out to them so I will take the food out once the chickens are in the coop and put it back when I go in to them in the mornings. In summer I will revert back to leaving the food out.

Most of the droppings were next to the storage cabinet so once again we emptied it and pulled it out. Once more there were chicken pellets behind the cabinet, the rats are storing them there. We cleaned them all away so that there would be no food for the rats at night. I had a good clean and sweep up as the chickens were going to bed so that I would be able to spot any evidence in the morning.

This morning was the first morning that I went in after the food was taken out and there was only one mouse dropping and one rat dropping. They obviously didn’t hang around once there was no food and I hope eventually they will stop going in when there continues to be no food. I will continue to keep a close eye on it but am hopeful that will be the end of the problem.