Carol's Chickens

Dotty continues to bully Bluebell away from the treats. The only time this doesn’t happen is when I give them yogurt. I do split it into two small bowls, but I can put out six half apples and Dotty will move from one to the next, pecking Bluebell away. I can only think that they like the yogurt so much that Dotty just gets on with eating it rather than wasting time pecking at Bluebell. Yogurt is their favourite treat, they jump up at me when they see the little white bowls and I fear for my fingers as I set them down. When the bowls are empty they still jump at them as I take them away. I only give them the recommended teaspoon per hen twice a week of plain, live, pro biotic yogurt. It is good for their digestion but must be limited to a small amount. I buy a small pot and divide it into four small bowls to be given over two days. I am sure if I gave them a huge bowl of it they would eat the lot! As it is plain I can only think it must be the texture that they like. They peck at the bowls long after they are empty so as not to miss a drop.

They seem to stick to two hens per bowl of yogurt with no arguments

When they have lettuce and tomato in the two square feeders Dotty will move across to the one Bluebell is on and peck her away. I squirt Dotty with the water spray, sometimes twice before she will stop doing this. Sometimes I only have to pick up the spray and she will stop. Sometimes Dotty moves Bluebell away by just intimidating her, by going close to her and giving her a look. Bluebell will then come and stand by me, look up at me and say “boc” then peck the spout of the water bottle. It is as if she is asking me to use the spray and sort it out for her. I also tell Bluebell to go to the other feeder while pointing at it and she does. It’s as if we can talk to each other in our own way or at least have some understanding of gestures and tones. The other three chickens hate the spray and won’t go near it but Bluebell seems to knows it helps her.

Dotty is the only one that does this bullying. The other thing I have noticed is that Dotty is the only one not to interact with me. I am not sure if it’s a reaction to me telling her off and spraying her (perhaps because of this she doesn’t like me?) or if it’s all part of her nature, or if it’s because she is a month younger than the others. The other three will allow me to stroke their undersides when they are close to me but Dotty smartly side steps away. The other three follow me around when I am cleaning up and gently peck at my clothes or sometimes my knees as if to feel me or to say hello. It is so nice when they come to me and either they peck at me (not serious pecks obviously) or I stroke them. Dotty has never done this. Dotty only comes to me if she thinks their are treats to be had and she is always first to the treats. This makes Dotty less appealing but I keep hoping she will grow out of it. My husband says it makes it hard for him to like her which I can understand. She doesn’t draw blood though or pull feathers. I think it’s just harder to like a hen that bullies and also doesn’t interact at all, but I feel that I have to try to stop her bullying Bluebell by using the spray. I know she probably does it while I am not there but it is so hard to watch. I can only hope she gets better as she gets older.

The morning before last, I went out to the chickens at quarter past seven in the morning and saw the automatic door open on the coop and the chickens tumble out. I wanted to photograph it so I went out yesterday just before quarter past seven, but the door was already open and the chickens were out. It must have been a darker morning, the day before. I was annoyed with myself as I had been doing indoor chores because I didn’t want to be waiting out in the cold too long for the door to open. I decided to try again this morning and went out at five past seven. The door opened at ten past seven so I had probably just missed it the day before. Once again they came out in order of size with Dotty first, quickly followed by Pepper. Bluebell was next and today Treacle didn’t come out in quite such a hurry. Bluebell looked back in as if to see what was keeping her, then Treacle was out.

Ten past seven in the morning

Dotty looks out

Pepper squeezes out behind Dotty

Bluebell is next out

Treacle is last out

They came over to say hello then went to the feeder. They never go back into the coop once out apart from pecking D.E. from the coop doorway. I hope that soon Bluebell may be going in to lay an egg but I’m not sure how much longer that will be.

I have been going out to do my morning clean up in the coop and run at seven o’clock each day since I have had the chickens, nearly four months ago. It’s getting light later now though, so for the last week I have been doing a few indoor chores first and delaying until quarter past seven to allow for a bit more light.

This morning I went out at quarter past seven and for the first time I found the automatic door still shut. While I was wondering how long it would be before opening, I heard it start to open and thought this would be my chance to see how quickly the chickens come out. I could hear them bumping about behind the door and it was really funny to watch.

When the door was up by an inch or so, Dotty’s head appeared through the gap quickly followed by Pepper’s head (they are the smallest of the four). Dotty and Pepper then squeezed under the door as soon as it was an inch or so higher. They reminded me of cats squeezing through small gaps, flattened down to get through. Another inch and Bluebell followed by Treacle squeezed through. They were all out by the time the door had lifted to half way up.

Dotty and Pepper lunged straight to the feeder while Bluebell and Treacle came to say hello to me first which was quite sweet. They obviously can’t wait to get out in the morning. Tomorrow morning I will take the camera with me and see if I can capture this.

The umbrella in the chickens garden area has been a great success. It did take them three days to get used to it which was longer than I expected, but it has now improved the quality of their enclosure. I have looked out several times recently when it has been raining and they have been happily scratching about underneath the umbrella instead of being confined to the patio area. The umbrella also keeps the big perch dry. It took the girls four days after the umbrella was installed before they returned to the big perch but I have now seen them all on it while it was raining, keeping dry. The umbrella acts like a tree, allowing the girls fresh air and shelter at the same time. Although there is an apple tree in their enclosure, it’s branches are very vertical and it offers no shelter. This was my husbands idea and was a very good solution to the problem. I wonder if anyone else has an umbrella for their chickens?

The chickens have also been going to bed each night with no further problems. It seems that roosting on the coop roof was just a glitch and they have been going into the coop between quarter and half past six each night and the automatic door has been closing at about ten to seven so I am happy with this. I still can’t resist checking each night though.

On a different subject completely, this afternoon I went in with some lettuce and tomato for the girls. They all came running except Bluebell who was having such a lovely dust bath that she didn’t move. I went to get my camera and came back to get a snap. Even though I have seen them dust bath many times, the fact that she didn’t move and looked really dishevelled, started to worry me. I started to think that maybe she had injured herself. I decide to use the trusty lure of dried meal worms to check that she was okay. She came running up to the patio area then shook herself just like a dog coming out of the rain. She sprayed a layer of dirt around and her feathers then settled back to their usual position and she happily hoovered up some meal worms. I should know better by now! The photo is spoiled a bit by a branch in front of her but I thought that I would include it anyway.

Bluebell in her dust bath

Note to self, tomorrow I will prune that branch off and I should know by now that however strange they look while dust bathing, they are fine.

Last night it rained heavily. I woke up several times to hear it hammering down. This morning it had stopped and was bright with a clear blue sky. Because it rained so long and hard part of the area under the umbrella in the chicken garden was wet but there was still a patch one side which stayed dry.

When I went back mid morning to check on the chooks they were happily scratching away under the umbrella. It was so nice to see them scratching again. It has taken them three days to get used to the umbrella but it’s worth it to see them scratching.

Scratching happily under the umbrella

No longer afraid of the umbrella

A still photo doesn’t really show them scratching properly but it’s great to watch. It sort of repeatedly goes: scratch, scratch, scratch, backwards step, peck. Their own little chicken dance and they look so happy.

It’s the third day with the umbrella in the chickens garden. When I did my morning clean up the girls hadn’t been out long and were still staying close to the patio area. After lunch I decided to try to improve the ground for them as it has been very wet and the ground has got quite compacted. First I did a poop pick to give it a clean start. From this I could see that the chickens had ventured further out. Instead of all the poop being at the patio area, it was beyond the umbrella, round the edges and in the corner of the garden area, but none actually underneath the umbrella. They are getting more adventuress and will sometimes cross under it but are obviously not spending any time under it.

I started by digging over the ground with a fork. This was quite a work out for me although the ground was still quite wet, so not as hard as it would have been if dry.

Half the run is dug over

The digging over is completed

I then spread a bag of wood chip over the run. It’s been four months since I last did this and the wood chip looks so clean and pale, but it will soon change to a muddy dark colour. I finished off by sprinkling some D.E. over the whole area.

The wood chip is spread over

The chickens had stayed out of the way while I did this. I did wonder if I was making too many changes at once but decided it would be better to get it all over with as quickly as possible, because the whole idea of doing this is to give them a better outside space during wet weather. I decided to sprinkle some dried meal worms into the wood chip to entice them on to it.

A sprinkling of dried meal worms tempts the chickens to go and have a look

They enjoy a good scratch around

I needn’t have worried as soon it was clear that they were enjoying having something to scratch in. This hasn’t effected them in the same way as the umbrella. It soon started to rain again and they returned to the patio area. I think it will take a while for them to really get used to the umbrella and I don’t know if they will ever work out that it stays dry underneath it, but at some stage they may realise that while the rest of the garden is wet there is a dry area under the umbrella to scratch in. I can only hope!

I have a postscript to add here. I was just about to put this out but needed to read it through first to check for mistakes. I decided before doing this that I would just go up and have a last check in with the chooks before their bedtime. It was raining and much to my amazement they were all stood underneath the umbrella having a scratch about! Has the rain given them a light bulb moment? Hurrah!

I left them as they were all heading in to the coop for bed. I can’t believe I just saw that! Maybe we have cracked it after all. Once used to the umbrella, it will make wet days better for them. It will be interesting to see how they get on tomorrow. They never cease to surprise me.

Yesterday we put an umbrella in the chickens garden area, to give them a bit of dry scratch space. They didn’t like it and refused to go under it.

This morning when I did my cleaning jobs I could tell they still hadn’t ventured under it as all the poop was on or next to the patio area.

At lunch time we decided to bribe them with their favourite treat of yogurt. I showed them the two little white bowls (I split it into two to make easier for them all to get at it) and placed them under the umbrella. The yogurt proved irresistible and first Dotty and Pepper went to the bowls, soon followed by Bluebell the lastly Treacle.

Dotty and Pepper were bravest and went to the yogurt under the umbrella first

I know the two little bowls look rather like eggs in this photo but it’s just the sunlight on them.

They all venture under the umbrella for the yogurt

Once the yogurt was finished and I had removed the bowls, the chickens retreated back to the patio area and continued to avoid the umbrella. I had hoped that once they had been under it they would accept it, but it seems this is going to take longer then I thought it would.

I decided to try sprinkling dried meal worms under the umbrella and rattled the container to get their attention. They came to the meal worms and Dotty and Pepper were even scratching at the earth for a few minutes.

Meal worms under the umbrella

Once again though, when the meal worms had all gone the chickens returned to the patio area. I had no idea it was going to be this difficult to get them used to something new. I just hope over the next few days they get used to it.

It’s been really wet recently and I have started to worry about the chickens not having any dry garden area. The patio area is dry but I worry that they miss scratching in the dirt and dust bathing, I have provided a dry dust bath for them which is a tray with a mixture of sand, ash and D.E. but they have never used it for anything other than to stand in.

I thought of all sorts of things we could do. I suggested to my husband either a bus shelter type thing or more simply a table that they could perch on and shelter under ( the draw back being keeping it clean), or fixing some struts that we could put a tarpaulin over or even a gazebo.

Later that day my husband said he had had a brain wave. We could use our patio umbrella/parasol, to keep the area beneath it dry. It’s old and tatty and needs replacing plus we have a spare base from a previous one that’s been thrown away. He said he could shorten it and it has the advantage of being flexible. We could have it up during wet weather but close it in windy or dry weather and remove it altogether if we needed too. It means the only cost is a new one for our patio which we needed anyway and minimal work involved, also being green it would blend in quite well. Brilliant idea!

We took it in after lunch and it proved very traumatic for the girls. First the scary umbrella came in, then the fork and spade to level the ground and make sure it was stable. Making it shorter insured it fitted under the net but also helped to make it more stable. The girls hid behind the coop while this was going on, they really are so easily scared by anything new.

The umbrella from outside the run

The umbrella from inside the run

The umbrella from the side

I gave the girls a treat of some sunflower hearts after their ordeal and waited to see what they made of the new addition to their run. What I hadn’t anticipated is that they were so scared of it. They would not venture near it. I tried rolling some grapes under it to encourage them but they were having none of it. By the end of the day I had to pick up the grapes as they still would not go under it. They go under the bush and under the roof over the patio area, I hadn’t thought they would be so nervous of an umbrella. They skirted round it but wouldn’t even come to the corner as usual when I approached. This may take a bit more time than I thought it would. You can’t tell them you have done this for their own good.

The down side of this is that they have now confined themselves to the patio area and the patio that had minimum poop before this, now has all the poop which is not so easy to clean as the outside area. They have now gone to bed. Oh well, I can only hope tomorrow they will start to accept it.

I may resort to another bribe. Their favourite thing of all is yogurt. Maybe a pot of yogurt under the umbrella will entice them under it. They recognise the white pot I put it in and if we take out a cup of tea in a white cup they get excited as they think it may be yogurt. The white pot has proved irresistible so far. Will this work? Tomorrow will tell.

I have a theory about my dominiques parentage. I have just taken some up to date portraits of the four chickens, which is never easy as they are never still.

Treacle

Bluebell

Pepper

Dotty

Dotty is a month younger than the other girls. I started out with three dominiques but Poppy turned out to be a roo. I was worried at the time that Dotty may be a roo too. This was because she looked much more like Poppy than like Pepper, who I knew was a hen as she was had developed her grown up voice of “boc boc”.

At the farm where I got the dominiques, they had two dominique breeding pens with one cockerel and one hen in each. My theory is that Poppy and Dotty had the same parents, while Pepper had the other parents. It’s only a theory which can’t be proved but I see such a similarity between Dotty and Poppy despite being different sexes and Pepper has a quite different look. Dotty and Poppy both have that prehistoric look that chickens sometimes have while Pepper has a much softer look. Poppy and Dotty have the same shaped beak and same eyes, where as Pepper again has a slightly different look.

I am going to include some older photos to try to show this.

Poppy at about two months old

Poppy on the left and Dotty on the right, when Poppy was two months old and Dotty was one month old

Pepper at two months old

It will be interesting to see as Dotty grows up if they still look different, I think they probably will. I think like people they take different characteristics from their parents even though they are from the same breed. I will review this when Dotty is fully grown.

Most people in the chicken keeping world will know about Diatomaceous Earth, usually referred to as D.E. For those that haven’t heard of it, it is an invaluable natural product. It  is a fossilised grey powder that although very fine is too sharp for insects (such as mites) to be able to withstand. It causes such insects to be punctured and dry out. It is no problem to the chickens and can be used externally and internally to keep them free of parasites. I puff it inside the coop (wear a mask for this as you shouldn’t breath it in) and sprinkle it in their dust baths and around the run.

Some people like to mix it in their chickens food so they take it internally but I have discovered that I don’t need to do this. My chickens have a habit of flicking out some of the pine shavings from inside the coop door and pecking up the D.E. from the coop floor. This has especially become a bedtime habit and in the late afternoon they can be found pecking away at the D.E. inside the coop door. I don’t quite know how they know it’s good for them! They seem to like it though.

Pepper pecking at the D.E.

On a different subject, Pepper has been going through a partial molt and regrowing her winter feathers. The dominiques have a layer of down under their feathers and can withstand very cold temperatures. As her new feathers have come in, she has suddenly got some all black feathers which you can see in this photo. Some of her darker feathers now have a green sheen too, like starling feathers. That doesn’t show up in this photo but you can see the two black spots. I think she is growing more beautiful. I hadn’t realised that as chickens molt their new feathers change. Pepper used to have two white wing feathers but they have now disappeared.

Treacle pecking at the D.E.

I had just cleaned out the coop and swept the patio area, when they all went to investigate. As you can see they have already flicked out some of the clean shavings to get the D.E. It seems irresistible to them. Clever chooks!