Carol's Chickens

I have had a feeling for the last few days that Pepper would like to sit on my lap. She has got much closer to me lately and seems more confident. Last night Treacle sat on my lap as usual then moved up to my shoulder. Pepper kept circling me and looking, I talked to her trying to encourage her. Suddenly she jumped up and sat while I stroked her. When Dotty saw her on my lap, she ran over and leaped on too. I stroked them both and they seemed quite happy. It was funny because Dotty had shown no interest before this moment, but it’s as if anything Pepper can do is okay for Dotty too. This was a real breakthrough as Pepper and Dotty are far more shy than the other two and I wasn’t sure that they would ever get this close. I was so pleased and excited by this moment. Pepper and Dotty feel so different from the other two, where they are robust and Treacle is heavy, Pepper and Dotty felt so light and delicate and very soft. After a while they jumped down and went to bed and as usual Treacle lingered with me for a while. She likes to snuggle her head under my arm which seems strange as I would have thought that would make her feel trapped, but she seems to like the closeness. She then jumps down and goes in and out a few times, watching me. At that point, I hang up my chair, say my goodnight’s and leave so that she will go in and settle. What a lovely feeling that was tonight. I hope to get my husband to take some photos of this soon.

Since I have been using the water spray when the chickens are at the feeders, I haven’t seen Dotty do any pecking at all, hurrah! The problem now is that Treacle has started pecking instead and when I spayed her she seemed to think that I was trying to keep her away from the feeders rather than associating it with the pecking. She would run off and stay away and sometimes it panicked them all into running away. Looks like we have a way to go with this!

Since the evening when the door of the coop automatically closed, really soon after the chickens went in, I have been going up to check at five minute intervals to try to establish the gap between them going in and the door closing. Last night the girls went in at seven forty five and the door closed at ten past eight so I think the gap is okay. Looking back at the photos of that evening, I can see that it was darker than usual as it had been a stormy day. I also think if I am not there to distract the chickens they tend to go in sooner anyway.

One of the nice thing about chickens is that they don’t bare a grudge and even though I sprayed Treacle with water during the day she still came to my lap and snuggled in close to me. She stays with me until the rest have all gone to bed. Pepper really looked like she wanted to jump up too, she kept circling me and rocking as if about to but couldn’t quite pluck up enough courage. It would be so nice if she does come to me as she is the most timid of them all, but she has been getting much closer to me lately.

Today I gave them an apple, cut in half. Pepper seemed to like it best followed by Bluebell. Occasionally Dotty would have a peck of it but Treacle seemed completely uninterested.

Pepper is the first to try the apple

Bluebell is next to try the apple

Pepper likes the apple best

I wonder how long the apple will last!

The bullying at the feeders continues. I thought Dotty may have learned her lesson but that only lasted a day and yesterday Pepper joined in with pecking Bluebell away. Bluebell and Treacle also squared up to each other with chests out and ruffs raised. I was surprised at Bluebells bravery, yet she never pecks at anyone. Later at the feeder, Treacle was pecking Bluebell away too. I feel so sorry for her as everyone picks on her. She comes and stands by me and clucks as if to say “sort this out for me” and I can’t resist, so move the others away and let her back in. She looks to me as her protector. I decided that this had gone on long enough and it was time to use the water spray (thank you for the tip, Flock Mistress). I sat in front of them and every time any of them pecked Bluebell I said “no” and squirted them. They would run off and sulk and soon were very wary of the spray. Only Bluebell is unafraid of the spray as she knows it’s not for her. I think it will take a little while to work but am hopeful that they will get the message in time.

Later we threw in some leaves for the chickens to scratch through, which they had great fun with.

Fun scratching in the leaves

Today I decided to give them one of the pots of lettuce that I have been growing for them, to give them a break from the feeders and spraying.

Bluebell is always the first to spot something new

Dotty is next to spot the lettuce

Bluebells loose tail feathers have now fallen out and she looks much neater.

Soon they all join in

The lettuce rapidly disappears

In this photo you can see how different Dotty and Pepper look. Dotty is on the right and is about a month younger than Pepper. She still has her baby shape and is the only one who still has her baby voice, yet despite this she is the worse bully. I did see Treacle peck Pepper out of her way today for the first time so wonder if Treacle is now trying to take top hen position. I only wish Bluebell would stand up for herself, she is the only one that I have never seen peck at any of the others.

Not much left now

This was what was left when I returned an hour later.

All gone

I think they enjoyed that.

I like to sit with the chickens at bedtime when I have time and usually Treacle and Bluebell come and sit on my lap. Lately though Bluebell also likes to stand on the coop roof, they all do from time to time but she likes to do this at bedtime and Treacle likes to stand or sit on my shoulder. At first I used to try to discourage her and keep her to my lap but so far she has been very gentle so I have started to allow her. She likes to rub her beak in my hair but does so softly and has never pecked me yet, if she did, I would stop her going up. It’s as if she thinks she is preening me and seems quite affectionate.

Bluebell on the coop roof

She likes it up there

Queen of the castle

Treacle likes to stand on my shoulder

Treacle likes to sit on my shoulder

Treacle and me having some close time

At this point all the girls had gone in, in fact that’s Pepper in the background having a last look out of the door. Treacle often stays with me until they are all in, then she jumps down and joins them. This was about fifteen minutes earlier than usual but it had been a dull cloudy day with some showers. Within a few minutes of Treacle going in the automatic door shut. This is the first time we have seen it shut so quickly after they have gone to bed.  I wonder how they know so accurately when it’s time to go. I will also be keeping a check on it to make sure they don’t get shut out. The automatic door sensor can be adjusted and I think the roof extension has made it a little darker but also the nights are drawing in.

Bluebell and Pepper go to bed

Treacle goes to bed

Once Treacle has gone in they all settle for the night. Once the door closed it all went very quiet.

This morning at about fifteen minutes before my usual time to get up and go out to the chickens we heard them making a terrible din. We both leapt out of bed and ran up the garden to them, thinking they were being attacked. Bluebell was stood up on the big perch, shouting her head off. I had never heard her so loud before. The other three were beneath the perch. I went in and calmed them down and had a good look round. They all seemed okay and nothing seemed out of place. Bluebells tail looked a bit strange and I was worried something had had a go at her. We searched for gaps in the enclosure and there was no where anything could get in.

We then searched the outside of the enclosure. Then we found the cause of the hysteria. We had put a net over the ground of the veg plot where the veg had been harvested because if any soil is exposed the neighbourhood cats use it as a toilet. This has been a long standing problem in our garden. A hedgehog had got entangled in the net. It had pulled the entire net away and made a hole beneath itself the size of chickens a dust bath. I read yesterday about someone rescuing a hedgehog after her dogs alerted her to something  and she said it was squealing and screaming. I can only imagine the noise the poor hedgehog was making, which would have caused the chickens to think it was being attacked.

I ran indoors and got the scissors and while my husband held it, I snipped at the netting. Once we had got a lot of it off, the hedgehog rolled up tightly and we couldn’t get to the remaining bit of net wrapped round it’s foot. We decided to put it in the dog crate with a dish of food and water and leave it to calm down so that we could have another go when it uncurled.

I continued with my chicken cleaning chores and soon after heard the hedgehog walking about in the crate. It was desperately trying to get out. My husband put on gardening gloves and held it while I snipped the last bit of net from it’s legs. It curled back up again and we set it down in the garden with the dish of food.

When we returned about half an hour later there was no sign of the hedgehog, so we hope it was okay after it’s ordeal. We felt guilty about the net and will pin it down more carefully in future but this was the first time we have ever seen a hedgehog in this garden.

The chickens alarm call certainly works and may have saved the hedgehogs life by alerting us to it’s plight straight away.

All the chickens have been losing feathers in a partial baby moult, so I think Bluebells loose tail feathers must be just a part of this. I decided to photograph her tail and try to get portraits of all the girls. They hang so close that it’s tricky to get separate photos of them. While taking these portraits, I realised that Treacle has also lost some of her tail feathers. It’s shorter than it was and I am picking up feathers every day.

Bluebell with her loose tail feathers

Treacle with her shorter tail

Pepper

Dotty

This was a dramatic start to our bank holiday Monday morning.

I talk to the chickens all the time and I use their names all the time, but because they all hang so close together, I don’t expect them to recognise their names. However I have had to keep telling Dotty off for bullying Bluebell and so am constantly saying her name while stopping her pecking at Bluebell. This may of course just be a coincidence but yesterday when I rattled the tub of meal worms for the evening treat they all came running except Dotty who was engrossed in something up the garden end of the run. I called out “Dotty” and she came running up, full speed and joined in. Does this mean she knows her name?

This morning she looked hunched and dejected again. I started worrying again that there may be something wrong with her. When I went back later she kept going over and looking at the empty treats feeders and I thought maybe she is just missing them being filled. As I haven’t put anything in them for two days, I decided to relent and filled both with lettuce and tomato. When I went back in with them, Dotty jumped at them in my hand before I could hang them up, which she has never done before. She was back to her perky self. Could she have been having a sulk because I hadn’t filled them for a couple of days? I stood back to see if there would be any bullying and couldn’t believe what I saw. Not once did Dotty leave her feeder on the right hand side to go chase Bluebell from the feeder on the left hand side. They all fed in harmony with no attempt by Dotty to chase Bluebell away. Could she have learned a lesson? I don’t want to try to put human emotions on to the chickens but her behaviour really seemed as if she missed those treats and knew she had to behave to get them. I may be wrong but it certainly feels that way.

Treacle,Pepper and Dotty stay at the right hand feeder

Bluebell stays at the left hand feeder

The girls stay at the different feeders and there is no pecking

I would be interested to to know if any one else has experienced something like this. Dotty is a month younger than the other three so I wonder if it’s a sort of stroppy teenager type of behaviour.

I can’t help it, I know I have a bit of an obsession with getting a photo of all four girls on the big perch. This is especially difficult because as soon as I so much as touch the latch on the gate, Bluebell will jump down and run to me. I think that because I protect her from Dotty’s bullying, she is extra quick to want to be by my side all the time.

I saw all four on the perch and grabbed the camera and crept in as quietly as I could but as soon as I was through the gate, Bluebell was running towards me.

Too late to catch Bluebell, but Dotty is snoozing next to Pepper and Treacle

I was willing Bluebell to jump back up but she wasn’t leaving my side so I decided to go away and come back later. When I returned they were all settled on the perch again. I managed to silently open the gate and knew that I would have to quickly snap away as I walked towards them and try to catch any shots that I could.

I have to be quick to catch them all on the perch

Bluebell hears me coming and stands up

Bluebell turns towards me and gets ready to jump down

Pepper,Treacle and Dotty remain on the perch

Oh well, that was the best I could do!

A month ago, I divided a turf into twelve seed trays for the chickens. This was to try to give the girls a supply of grass, a tray per day. The turfs were half price and were not in very good condition, I think they been rolled up for too long. They have kept growing for a month but were now looking really wet and boggy and much more sparse. I realized that as well as not being in the best condition, I hadn’t put any drainage in the trays and after a lot of rain they became water logged. I decided to start again with a new turf and do the job properly. The new turf is much greener and healthier looking. This time I put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the seed trays. I then put in a layer of sand which was left over from the chicken run and topped with a layer of lawn top soil. I cut the turfs and pressed them well down then watered them. This time I will leave them for a couple of weeks before giving them to the girls, to give them time to take root. I managed to fill thirteen trays and a small pot to get them started. I did throw the off cuts in to the chicken run for them but they keep flipping them over. When I emptied the old turfs out on to the veg plot, I could see how water logged they were and that hadn’t taken root. This gave the chickens lots of fun though, as they were full of worms which I tossed in to the run. The chickens had a great time hoovering them all up.

Thirteen trays of grass

One of the reasons that I really want to make this work is that we have no grass in our garden, which means there are no grass cuttings for the chickens. We have a cottage style garden with a veg plot in front of the chicken enclosure and a small thyme lawn by our patio. I chose to plant a thyme lawn as the lawn is too small to mow and I like the fact that it is low maintenance, only needing a light snip with shears if it gets too leggy. Also in early summer it has a mass of pink and purple flowers which the bees love. In autumn the foliage is slightly purple, it’s also ever green and doesn’t brown during dry weather.

Thyme lawn and patio

Thyme lawn and the chicken enclosure at the top of the garden behind the runner beans

I am much more hopeful that this time I will be able to keep the chickens in grass throughout the summer months.

I have decided not to use the feeders for treats, for a couple of days to see if we can stop Dotty pecking at Bluebell. Today I bought a living lettuce pot from the supermarket and planted it into a bigger pot, so that the chickens wouldn’t knock it over. I dug it in slightly to keep it firm and let them at it.

Bluebell and Dotty find the lettuce first

Treacle finds the lettuce

Pepper finds the lettuce, last as usual

I went back about an hour later to find the lettuce scattered.

The girls have been enjoying the lettuce

The scattered lettuce

Another hour later, I went back again and found the lettuce demolished.

The lettuce has gone and Dotty is pecking at the stem

Later that day my husband harvested our beetroot crop and scattered the tops for the girls.

Bluebell finds the beetroot tops first

They all check out the beetroot tops

They enjoyed scattering the beetroot tops

That was fun

They really enjoyed the lettuce and beetroot tops and although Dotty pecked at Bluebell a couple of times it wasn’t so bad as there was more space for them all to get a share.

Yesterday morning when I went into the chickens, Dotty looked really hunched and miserable. When I threw them a few dried meal worms, Dotty didn’t join in enthusiastically as usual. I was really worried about her, I had never seen her look like this before and wondered if she was ill. I decided to keep a close eye on her.

I went back later and filled the two feeders with lettuce. I then had to crouch between the two feeders to stop Dotty chasing Bluebell away. Dotty, Pepper and Treacle were at the right hand feeder and Bluebell at the left hand feeder but Dotty desperately wanted to get at Bluebell and chase her off. The only way Bluebell could have the lettuce was by me putting my arm out every time Dotty tried to get to her. I allowed Pepper and Treacle to use either feeder as they take no notice of Bluebell but kept stopping Dotty from getting past me. She was so determined and I could see her frustration, she tried again and again and would even try to sneak behind me. When they had had their fill of lettuce, I left them to it. They all sat together afterwards with no further problem. Dotty then returned to her usual perky self for the rest of the day and joined in with the bed time treats as usual.

It was yesterday that I had put in the second feeder to stop Dotty chasing Bluebell from the treats. Could it really be that Dotty was having a sulk because I had spoilt her game of chasing Bluebell from the feeder? It certainly looks that way. This morning she was back to her usual self.