Carol's Chickens

This morning we tasted Treacle’s and Bluebell’s eggs from yesterday and there really was an improvement, they tasted almost normal. Because the improvement has been gradual it has been difficult to tell if it is our imagination or wishful thinking but today there was a real improvement. We feel that in a few more days we should be able to eat the eggs. I am so pleased at last we should have normal eggs.

What a relief and what a lesson learned. The support from the “Down the Lane” forum has been amazing. We filled up the maximum seven pages and I had to start a new thread to continue. It has been great having them all cheering me on with this and I have said that we will all now remember forever that jasmine is bad for chickens.

I am now looking forward to tasting tomorrows egg (Bluebell has just laid) instead of dreading it. Hurrah!

We tasted Bluebells egg this morning (laid yesterday) and it really was less strong. I am now certain that it was the jasmine and is just taking time to leave their systems. I feel a lot more positive now and am hopeful that by the weekend we may at last be able to eat the eggs. Hurrah! This has been such a long process. If only we had realized sooner that it was the jasmine we could have been eating eggs by now, but hind sight is a wonderful thing as they say!

Today was the first day I checked for eggs (mid day) and found both Treacle’s and Bluebell’s side by side in the nest box. Treacle’s was still warm so just laid, Bluebell’s cold so the earlier one of the two.

It’s been very cold these past few days and the ground has been too frozen for me to be able to poop pick outside. I suppose if it is that frozen it is not going to come to any harm and when it gets warmer I will do a bigger pick up. I tried to pick up but it was too hard to move, it would need a chisel!

I worry about the girls only having frozen ground to walk on and nothing to scratch but they don’t seem bothered. They come out in the morning in the usual rush and have a quick feed and drink of water and huge poops then go off on to the frozen ground for a wander, looking like it’s not a problem. They do have the big dry perch which they use in between but they don’t seem to worry about the cold or frozen ground. When they jump on me in the evening, it amazes me that when they perch on my hands (as the rest of me is covered) their muddy feet are still much warmer than my hands. How do they stand on frozen ground or mud and still have warm feet? It’s amazing!

Now that I am sure it was the jasmine that has been the problem with the eggs, I have resumed some treats. I think in this cold weather and with frozen ground they need some treats. Today I gave them apples to peck and have given some tomato and occasionally dried meal worms and sun flower hearts as well as greens. They hoover up everything and look at me as if to say “more please”! And they give little grunts of satisfaction.

Yesterday when I went out to the chickens the automatic door was just opening and the chickens scrambled out, then I noticed Bluebell’s egg in the doorway. It’s the first egg not in the nest box  and I can imagine Bluebell being taken by surprise and in the rush to get out an egg arrives! Luckily she is always last out and it landed on the shavings, so was fine.

Today we tasted Treacle’s egg from yesterday and Bluebell’s egg from this morning (laid in the nest box at first light). They still taste the same and I felt quite depressed about this. I then realized that the only thing I hadn’t replaced was the sunflower hearts which I give as an occasional treat. I bought new and gave the existing ones to the garden birds so as not to waste them but the new ones have a two year date on them so I don’t think they could be the problem.

Bluebell’s egg this morning has caught up in size to Treacle’s and is so beautiful (such a shame)!

Bluebell’s egg on the left and Treacle’s egg on the right

It then struck me that I had found Bluebell’s egg stronger than Treacle’s even though it was more recent. This got me back to thinking it must be the jasmine because Bluebell had discovered that she could step across from the cabinet into the jasmine itself to reach more leaves whereas Treacle as my biggest and heaviest girl couldn’t do this as it wouldn’t take her weight. Maybe we just need to give it more time. If nothing has changed by the weekend I won’t know where else to go with this, but must remain positive that it may be better by then.

My husband says we will be the only people to keep chickens as pets with no eggs but I have to keep believing we will resolve this. I said we will look back at this and say “remember that awful time when we couldn’t eat our eggs?”.

Another improvement with the girls egg laying skills is that both Treacle yesterday and Bluebell today seem quite happy to settle in the nest box ready to lay while I do the morning poop pick in the coop. They now seem quite at ease with me being there while they go about their business.

Pepper also readily squats now when I hold my hand over her so she may start laying soon. This would give us a good comparison as only Treacle and Bluebell worked out that they could get at the jasmine from the cabinet and I never saw Pepper or Dotty do that.

The girl’s are doing so well at their job of egg laying that it seems so unfair that they can’t be eaten. I will keep up the daily tasting and hope for normal eggs soon.

There have been some subtle changes taking place with the girl’s. Since Treacle has matured she has easily taken the place as top hen and often shows Pepper that she no longer has the position. Pepper has given in easily and just runs away when Treacle gives a light peck or a hard stare.

This change in the pecking order has had a good effect on the other two girls. Dotty has completely stopped being a bully and with that Bluebell has grown in confidence. Bluebell is not nervous at all now and has become much more vocal. Bluebell is the smartest and the nosiest and wants to be a part of anything going on. They all know the treats are in the store cabinet and whenever I open the door even if it’s just to get my gloves they are all at my feet, but lately Bluebell pushes her way into the cabinet and pecks at the plastic container that holds the corn. If she could get the lid off, I know she would.

Pepper’s comb and wattles have finally started to mature and today whenever I went to stroke her she squatted. I felt quite surprised because I wasn’t expecting her to start laying until spring but now think that she may start laying soon. In contrast Dotty still has no comb and no adult voice. I wonder if perhaps she won’t develop an adult voice. Dotty loves to fly up to my shoulder and yet is still the only one of the girls that won’t allow me to stroke her. Pepper is the only one that doesn’t jump up on me yet she likes to be close to me and does allow me to stroke her. They are all so different.

Pepper’s comb and wattles

Because Pepper has a pea comb, it is difficult to see it in a photograph but the backward spike is developing now and her comb and wattles have become much more red in colour.

Dotty still has no comb

This picture shows the contrast between Pepper and Dotty, who has no comb yet and a much paler face. Dotty is only one month younger than Pepper yet doesn’t seem to be growing up. I often think she is stuck in a time warp destined to stay a baby (or teenager)!

Close up of Pepper

I thought this angle might show her comb a bit better.

Bluebell has a floppy comb

As Bluebell’s comb has matured it has become more floppy, like a leghorn it flops to one side.

Treacle’s comb and wattles

Treacle has an upright comb and long wattles. It is interesting watching these changes taking place.

We tasted both Treacle’s and Bluebell’s egg this morning and thought the woody taste was less strong than before. The jasmine has only been removed from them for three days so we are hopeful that a few more days should see an improvement.

This morning I tasted Treacle’s egg from yesterday and I thought it was less strong. Although the jasmine has only been unavailable to the chooks for two whole days, I think they would have been getting less in the days leading up to this, as they had stripped all the leaves they could reach. Bluebell laid an egg this morning which I will taste tomorrow morning but for the first time in ages I am feeling really positive about this.

This afternoon after all my weekly chook cleaning chores, I dug the jasmine out. It was planted in a small, half tile hole, so it was quite hard to get out. I had to cut some of the root as it went under the patio so I don’t know if it will survive. I have planted it in the garden anyway as it has two chances and there is nothing to lose by giving it a try.

The jasmine is no more!

Synchronized drinking from my two egg laying girls

I can’t wait for the day when we can start eating the eggs and start giving them away. I promised my neighbours some eggs when the chickens started laying but of course can’t give any away until this is resolved. Hopefully not too much longer.

We have been struggling to find out what has been making our eggs taste unpleasant. I have had lots of helpful ideas and support from the “Down the Lane” forum and also discovered fellow chicken keeper, Jackie, who lives very near me.

Yesterday we met up for a coffee, lots of chicken chat and to swap eggs. I gave her one each of Treacle’s and Bluebell’s to try and she gave me one of her lovely, huge, eggs and kindly some of her pellets to try.

I then bought her over to visit my chooks and take a look at my set up. While we were chatting with the chooks my husband joined us and suddenly had a light bulb moment. He took a jasmine leaf to wash and taste and said it tasted quite bitter. I then did the same and found it quite pungent. We are now convinced this is what the problem is. Originally I dismissed the jasmine as I thought the chooks couldn’t reach it to eat enough of it, but recently Treacle and Bluebell have learned that they can get up onto the storage cabinet and reach much more. They have stripped a good portion of it and yesterday morning when I was cleaning the coop, Bluebell stepped across from the cabinet and into the jasmine itself to reach even more.

By this time it was getting dark so I got some wire and tied it back out of reach. Today I chopped it down to a few feet in height with no green left on it and tomorrow I will dig it out altogether. Bluebell was very cross about it and was at my feet or on the coop roof going “bock bock” very loudly.

I had Jackies egg for breakfast this morning and it was lovely. It was so nice to have a “normal” tasting egg. Before poaching it I took a photo of her egg with my girl’s for comparison.

Jackie’s two year old chook’s egg in the middle and Treacle’s on the right, Bluebell’s on the left

Jackie reported back yesterday that she had tried Bluebell’s egg and found it musty with a back taste that lasted. It is good to have someone else’s opinion.

This afternoon I tasted Treacle’s egg from yesterday (she laid another today which I will try tomorrow) and Bluebell’s egg from this morning. Treacle’s tasted the same but I thought Bluebell’s was a little less strong. This makes me feel quite positive that this may be the cause, hurrah! I really hope so because this has been a long and trying process and it would be so good to be able to eat their eggs at last. I could also give them some of their treats back but won’t change the regime until we are sure. I am feeling quite excited that we may have sorted this at last, but know that only time will tell.

Yesterday Bluebell laid her first egg and mid morning today I found Bluebell’s second egg in the nest box. It was slightly bigger and more blue than her first, truly beautiful! I felt very proud of her.

Bluebell’s second egg

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

They look so wonderful and I feel I could cry because we haven’t been able to eat any of the eggs due to the mouldy taste. I am at my wit’s end with this as I have been reading chicken blogs for the last two years or more and have only done things and given treats that I have read everyone else does and no one else has this problem. I just cannot understand why this is happening and the longer it goes on the worse I feel because I just don’t know what else I can do.

I am waiting until morning to taste Bluebells egg before I put out this post.

This morning we poached Bluebell’s egg and both tasted it. It was just the same, a strong mouldy, woody, unpleasant taste. I am beyond disappointed. We have now had twelve eggs from Treacle (there was one in the nest box this morning at first light) and two from Bluebell. I had never expected to finally get eggs and not be able to eat them, it’s heartbreaking.

I have e-mailed the farm that I got the chickens from, asking them if they have any ideas or advice. I just don’t know what else to do.

I felt for the last few days that Bluebell was getting ready to lay an egg. This morning I went into the chickens just before the coop door opened. It opened soon after half past seven and I proceeded to clean out the coop. I glanced up at the nest box and a pale egg stood out. Bluebell must have laid her egg early because it was already cold to the touch. I took a photo but retreated quickly with it as she was very interested in it, I wonder if she laid it in the dark and wanted a proper look at it.

Bluebell’s first egg in the nest box

It was small but perfect and I felt so proud of Bluebell but it’s also tinged with sadness as I dread tasting it after our recent problems with Treacle’s eggs.

Bluebell’s first egg

I poached it and tasted it on it’s own and it had the same mouldy, woody, taste that Treacle’s eggs have. It also had the same hard shell and lovely bright yolk. A perfect egg in all but taste. At least this means it must be something they are eating and not something wrong with Treacle. They are now on a regime of pellets with only corn before bedtime and greens for treats but have only been on this since the weekend so maybe it needs more time.

I do feel really down about it though as more feedback from “Down the Lane” says other people have given daily meal worms and the same treats as me with no problem. Other people say stop all treats but the chickens wait with such excitement that it makes me feel mean not to treat. “Down the Lane” has been really supportive though and they are encouraging me to hang in there and that it will be worth it when it’s resolved.

I will keep tasting daily and hope for an improvement. I love these girls so much and feel proud of them because they are doing what they should be doing which makes it seem all the more unfair that we can’t eat their eggs.

We tried Treacle’s egg number nine this morning and it still had the same mouldy taste (although I thought it was not quite so strong) and I had some more feedback from the “Down the Lane” forum. Someone said that dried meal worms can effect the taste of eggs and that they should only be given twice a week. I have them mixed in my scratch treat which I was giving in the morning and evening. The meal worms are the only treat that have a smell (sort of malty) so that would make sense. I decided no more meal worms at all until this is resolved and have now made their scratch treat just a mix of corn and sunflower hearts.

Other than the new reduced scratch I am only going to give them greens for now. Today mid morning they had a pot of salad leaves and mid afternoon a few cooked peas.

A pot of leaves soon got their attention

This was ten minutes later, I think they liked those!

I think that Bluebell is about to start laying, hurrah! This morning she was strutting around shouting “boc boc” and then went and sat in the nest box for the first time. Later in the day she went in again and she readily squats now. This is how Treacle behaved the day before she laid so Bluebell may possibly lay tomorrow or fairly soon. It would be good to have Bluebells egg as a comparison.

Yesterday morning was the first really hard frost and the first time that the chickens water was frozen. I go out to them just before the coop door opens so I defrosted it under the hot kitchen tap. I always rinse out the drinker and refill it with fresh water every morning. I decided rather than take the whole thing inside that I would empty and rinse it in the evening, then simply refill it the morning. Another lesson learned, I need to separate the two halves of the drinker. This morning the empty drinker was frozen so that I couldn’t separate it to refill and still had to defrost it under the kitchen tap. Tonight I have separated the two halves. There is always another little tip to learn.

The other bit of disappointing but not unexpected news is that when we went up to take the food away at dusk tonight, we once more saw a rat in there. It disappeared so quickly in the poor light that we couldn’t tell how it got out. We will inspect in the morning but my husband thinks it probably squeezed through the chicken net where we haven’t yet put chicken wire underneath. This means we will have to do the whole run. We thought this probably would be the case but have been putting it off as we seem to spend every weekend working on the chicken run. It’s a never ending project. I am sure we will resolve all the hiccups eventually.

I had a few things that I felt needed an update so this is a mixed post.

Firstly the latest efforts to keep the rats out are working for now. We haven’t seen any more rats or any droppings or any evidence of them trying to find another way in at the moment!

The polythene cover we put over part of the uncovered run is a success, it has withstood all the wind and rain we have had recently. I have been in the run during heavy rain and it drains through the holes I made and doesn’t create any pools, so I am pleased with that. Because we have had so much rain with never more than an odd dry day, the ground has never dried out properly, but the chickens can still go out into the garden area while it’s raining and it keeps the big perch dry for them. I have to add that although we have had a lot of rain in the south of England we are lucky that we haven’t had the floods that the west of England has had and my run slopes down so at least the water drains away.

The other really simple success is moving the water off the patio area, it’s so nice not to have the constant wet patch on the patio and makes it much easier to keep clean.

Other news, I think Bluebell may start to lay soon as she has started to squat when I hold my hand over her back and she does go and have a look in the coop in the morning when I am cleaning up.

Treacle has taken to getting on top of the storage cabinet to peck at the jasmine leaves. The cabinet has a perspex top which is not meant to take the weight of a big girl like Treacle so the next job to do is to fit a bit of wood across the top of the cabinet. There is always something else that needs improving.

Finally back to Treacle’s mouldy tasting but lovely looking eggs. I have researched on the “Down The Lane” forum and on the internet to try to work out what is happening here. I concluded that the layers pellets that I had bought in bulk had gone out of date so replaced them with fresh ones a week ago. We have been tasting each egg, poached on a plate by itself with both me and my husband tasting it and there is no improvement yet.

Further input from “Down The Lane” suggested the corn that I give as a treat also has a shelf life and could be part of the problem. I had bought a bag of corn when I first had the chooks and as it’s only given in a small amount as a treat, I have had it for a long time. I have now thrown that away and replaced with fresh corn.

I have learned a lesson here that although I thought I was being sensible buying large amounts that was a mistake and from now on I will buy smaller amounts to keep everything fresh.

I then did further research on the internet and found other people with the same problem, one lady said it started when she fed corn, another said one of her hens is laying mouldy tasting eggs but not the rest and she has not changed anything. This is really strange! I could do with Bluebell starting to lay to give us a benchmark as to whether it is something they are eating.

I then researched “does what they eat effect the eggs?” rather than “mouldy tasting eggs” and got back that melon can effect the taste (no more melon) and that it’s best not to give too much fruit but stick to veg and salad items. They said in winter when there isn’t grass and plant life available that you can give unlimited greens and this improves the eggs.

I had already stopped melon and now will stop all fruit except an occasional apple. I will increase the greens and have a pot of living leaves for them for tomorrow.

I feel a bit more positive that we will get this sorted but it may just take a bit of time. Treacle’s eggs are perfect, dark brown with very hard shells, bright orange yolk and firm whites. They look amazing and it is so frustrating that we can’t eat them.

I do feel better that other people have also experienced this but no one seems to have a conclusion as to why. We will keep trying each egg and I will report the results. I am sure it is just a matter of time until this improves.

Meanwhile, I have to say, I just love these girls!