Carol's Chickens

Yesterday when I checked on the girls Rusty and Freckles were in the nest box together. Freckles was almost sitting on top of Rusty and kept trying to flutter her head underneath her.

When I went back a little later they were both out in the run. I checked the nest box and there were their two round eggs side by side.

Freckles is almost on top of Rusty in the nest box

At least this pair of girls are happy to share a nest box but I am sure they don’t need to be quite as close as that. They are rather sweet together though.

When I was shopping yesterday I saw some growing pots of greens reduced to sixty pence. I thought they would make a perfect treat for the girls.

I put the pot on the patio this morning and waited to see what would happen. The two bigger girls pecked at it straight away but the little girls were wary at first. Could this be a dangerous pot? Rusty craned her neck towards it but at first would only take any greens that were dropped onto the patio.

Gradually the little girls plucked up courage and pecked at the greens and decided they liked them.

Emerald is first to try the greens

Apricot and Rusty cautiously investigate

They all pluck up the courage to investigate

Rusty and Apricot realise it is quite safe

Apricot has the greens to herself

Just the stalks are left

A couple of hours later there were just stalks left. I think the girls enjoyed their treat.

My mum sent me two plants via my sister who visited Mum and then me. They are gazinia, one is white flame and the other is yellow flame. I had admired them in some garden photos Mum sent me and had never come across them before.

Mum said that they love the sun and the flowers open when it’s sunny but they do need to be taken indoors in the winter.

Since I have had them we have had hardly any sun and the buds were slow to open. After raining all day for the last couple of days the sun came out today and so did the gazinia flowers.

Gazinia

They are very pretty and I will do my best to keep them. Thank you Mum.

Yesterday I could tell Cinnamon wanted to lay her egg. She hangs around the patio and is more vocal when she wants to lay.

Soon she was settled in her spot on the perch in the chicken shed. I heaped the pine shavings beneath her.

Cinnamon on the perch in the chicken shed

I went back a little later and was surprised to see this.

Cinnamon in the shavings

She seems to have had a “light bulb” moment and decided that this is actually a good spot to lay her egg.

I checked back a little later and her egg was in the nest she had made in the corner. Well done Cinnamon! I wonder if she will now continue to lay in a sensible place. Time will tell.

Yesterday was another wet day. Although the run is covered there are parts where it gets wet. The rain comes in at the edges through the sides and the bottom of the run. The rain also drips in parts and it always gets wet where the metal table is.

All the girls were dry though, apart from Apricot. Apricot was really wet and had really muddy feet. She likes to spend time in the wet parts of the run.

Apricot is wet and has muddy feet

She hangs out on the wet edges of the run

It is always Apricot that is the only one to get wet. The other girls quickly move across any wet parts of the run but Apricot spends time scratching and pecking in the wet parts.

I worry about her getting wet because seramas originate from a hot country (Malaysia) and I have read that they can be susceptible to colds and need some protection from the elements. We have managed to keep ninety percent of our run dry and have put in two shelters but there isn’t much we can do if Apricot stands in the wet parts. She must be standing underneath the drips.

I considered bringing her in and drying her with a hair dryer but I thought that it would be a waste of time if I put her back in the run and she stands under the drips again. I decided as it’s not cold I would leave her.

Luckily by bedtime she was dry. I think I will probably be worrying about her in the winter. Some of these little girls just have no sense at all.

We are having a constant mix of sunshine and showers at the moment. It is more like April than August. It does mean that there is no need to water the garden though and the veg plot and the garden are lush. The tomatoes could do with more sun to ripen them, they are looking better than in previous year but are just not changing colour.

The garden is really full

The veg plot is amazing

The veg plot from the other direction

Lots of tomatoes

The potatoes are good and we have had a constant supply of courgettes. They have been much better than usual. The tomatoes also look better than usual but just need to ripen.

The runner beans are late this year and we have only had a few so far but the dwarf green beans have been good. The broad beans were our most unproductive yet but I put that down to the dry start to the year.

The rain is making up for it now and after wanting it to rain for the garden in June I now want it to stop! We had a hot and dry May and June and a cool and wet July and August so far. I know the grass is always greener on the other side but I want summer back and so do our tomatoes!

I love seeing the harmony of the little girls and the two bigger girls sharing food together, be it pellets or treats.

Speckles and Cinnamon eat pellets together

Emerald and Rusty share a piece of apple

Although Rusty’s head is slightly blurred because of the movement I loved this photo for the expression and body language of Cinnamon besides Speckles and it once again shows her tiny size.

Sharing a bit of apple

Now Freckles eats pellets with Speckles

I love being able to put treats out with no hassle between the girls. They look like a happy family which is so lovely to see.

When I checked on the girls after lunch three little girls were missing. Dandelion was in one nest box and Apricot was in the other nest box. I checked the chicken shed and Cinnamon was on the back perch where she has taken to laying her eggs.

I left her to it as the nest boxes were engaged and I had cleaned out the shed in the morning and piled the pine shavings thickly in that corner.

I checked back a bit later and Dandelion and Apricot had laid their eggs. Apricots was still warm so she had just laid. I opened the shed to check on Cinnamon and she was flattened on the perch. Just at that moment I saw her egg drop from her and land with a plop in the shavings.

I was amazed that I had actually seen it happen.

Cinnamon has just laid her egg into the shavings below

I have never heard of another chicken doing this except when they get caught out and need to lay first thing in the morning. Cinnamon sleeps at the other end of this perch and Emerald and Speckles sleep in this spot but it is always this spot that Cinnamon chooses to lay her egg.

This is one of the strangest things I have come across since keeping chickens. Cinnamon really is a funny little girl.

We have been so busy lately that we hadn’t had time for a visit to the farm where we had re-homed some of our girls.

Now that the school holidays have started we are less busy and yesterday we decided to pay the farm a visit.

There was good and bad news. The good news is that Peaches and Barley have settled in really well and they are looking absolutely great. The bad news is that there has been a fox attack.

The new girls that Moira had taken in along with our two girls were being kept in at the time. Her original flock was almost completely lost to a fox attack with only three of her girls and her cockerel escaping. Moira said she was especially sad to have lost Dotty as she was the tamest of her girls.

Moira had Dotty for four years and we had her for two years so although I was really sad about this I have to think to myself that she had a good six years with her last four years happily free ranging. It is so sad but it is the risk that comes with a free range life.

One consolation that I have is that Peaches and Barley are so speedy and flighty that I think that they would stand a good chance of survival against a fox attack. It was so lovely to see them happily free ranging which really suits their character and to see them still so closely sticking together. They have been with Moira for two and a half months now.

Peaches and Barley

They are now part of Moira’s flock

They have lovely red combs

They still stick together

They are happy with their flock

I was so pleased to see these two looking so happy and in such good condition. It was lovely to see them with so much freedom and looking so at home.

Cinnamon and Dandelion are the only two girls in the flock that don’t seem to have got the hang of laying their eggs in the right place. They are also the only two of the seramas that never go broody so I wonder if there is a connection. Maybe not laying an egg in a suitable place isn’t conducive with trying to hatch an egg. If that is the case I am happy to have their foibles.

With Dandelion it seems to be a case of her not knowing when her egg is coming. She will lay an egg in the run and then go and sit in a nest box or she will go and sit in a nest and then lay an egg in the run. Sometimes she does manage to get an egg in a nest box and occasionally she lays in the chicken shed. I don’t really mind as no harm comes to her eggs.

With Cinnamon it is a different matter altogether. Right from when she started laying I could see that she wanted to lay from a spot that was high up. She would look quite manic and would go to the top of the shelter and then would go to the highest perch in the chicken shed. She was always looking up as if she wanted to find the highest spot possible.

I felt that if I could rig up a nest box in a high spot she would be happy to lay her egg there but what I really wanted was for her to learn to lay in the nest box like all the rest have done quite happily in the past. I don’t want the added complication of trying to put in a high nest box. It’s not really feasible with our set up.

To start with I resorted to shutting her in a nest box. I don’t really like doing this but when I was on stand by to keep an eye on her I put her in a nest box and closed it, returning frequently to see how she was doing. Once shut in she soon settled and got her egg laid quite quickly. I hoped this would train her to go to the nest box and she did so for a few times.

As soon as she missed laying for a few days she seemed to forget about the nest box again and started with the same process all over again. When I found her on the high back perch of the chicken shed once more I decided to leave her to work it outside herself. After all if I am out during the day when she wants to lay she is going to have work it out herself.

When I returned to check there was an egg under the high perch in the spot where she had been. This happened several times and as her eggs have good shells they have never broken. I now keep the pine shavings heaped up in the spot she likes and leave her to it. I have never come across this behaviour before. I swear that I have the craziest of girls in my flock at the moment.

Here is Cinnamon when she wants to lay her egg

She seems to think this a suitable spot to lay an egg

Her egg in the shavings below the perch

I have tried lifting her down and putting her in the nest box but she immediately leaves and returns to this spot. I don’t want to shut her in any more. I have done this about four times and have now decided to leave her to it. I now just keep the pine shavings deep and accept this. There are worse things to worry about.

I wonder if anyone else has come across this sort of behaviour. Cinnamon is one quirky girl but you have to love her!