Carol's Chickens

Today we had heavy rain and then later in the afternoon a hail shower. I worry about the new girls being cold and about them not having a very big dry area. Apricot spends a lot of time in the little coup. She only seems to come out to eat and drink. Dandelion spent some time sat on or near the ramp today. Cinnamon seems totally unfazed and uses all the space.

I thought the best thing to do would be to speed up integration, so that the new girls have more dry and sheltered areas and access to the big shed, but when I got home at lunch time I saw that Rusty had blood on her comb at the base of her beak. Rusty spent time this afternoon up against the wire with Cinnamon. The wire is double but because these girls are so small I think they managed to get a tiny beak through. Maybe speeding up integration isn’t such a good idea.

I then came up with the idea of making another shelter, for the new girls area. I thought I could use the dog crate and some tarpaulin we had in the shed, to cover three sides and the top, then fill the tray with pine shavings. I lined the metal tray with cardboard to make it warmer. It doesn’t look very attractive but that doesn’t matter.

It may be a crazy idea, because the new girls may not want to go in it, but I thought that there was nothing to lose by giving it a try.

The new shelter

I bought the tarpaulin a few years ago, thinking that it was clear, but it has these squares running through it. It blocked too much light to use it over the run but we kept it in case it came in handy for something else. I attached it with garden wire.

The shelter in place near the little coop

By the time I had finished, it was almost the girls bedtime, so I decided to encourage the girls to try it tomorrow. However Apricot came out of the little coop and showed some interest in the shelter.

Apricot has a look at the shelter

I scooped her up and popped her in it. She immediately popped straight back out.

I put her in but she was straight back out

Oh well, it’s early days. Soon after this Apricot went back in the little coop so I put the other two in with her for the night.

It would be really good if the new girls would hang out in the shelter on cold or wet days but I am not holding my breath. Chickens don’t do what we want them to do. There is nothing to lose though, by giving it a try, so we will see what happens tomorrow.

I know the original flock would be straight in there for a scratch around but of course that doesn’t mean they would hang out in there during bad weather either.

The automatic pop hole is opening at about half past seven at the moment so I thought this would be a good time to let the new girls out.

I opened the door and waited and nothing happened.

I opened the door at half past seven this morning

I decided to help them out. Apricot was last as she has no fear of my hands.

Apricot is so calm around my hands

I persuaded Apricot out, well actually I gently pushed her out, and she went straight to the water.

Apricot comes out to the water

I was really pleased to see all three girls go to the water so that is one thing less to worry about. The water level in the bottle hadn’t moved so I removed it. Now I know they are drinking from the water dish I don’t need to leave the bottle.

I also saw all three girls go to the pellets dish so I am happy that they are all eating. I made both lots of girls some mash and the new girls all tried the mash too.

There is a very definite pecking order with the three new girls and it seems to relate with how they are with me too. Apricot is firmly at the bottom of the pecking order but is the most friendly with me, doesn’t mind me touching her, and is easy to pick up. Cinnamon is in the middle of the pecking order and is also in the middle of ease to pick up, allowing me close to her but not wanting to be picked up. Dandelion is at the top of the pecking order and doesn’t want me near her and is the most difficult to pick her. I had to trap her in a corner to pick her up at bedtime last night.

Dandelion, top girl

Cinnamon, middle girl

Apricot, bottom girl

Apricot spends a lot of time in the little coop. She is so nervous of the other girls that they only have to go near her or look at her and she runs into the coop. They never follow her in though. I did notice that she was being intimidated away from the food and water so I spent some time hand feeding her pellets.

She came out for water and ran back in again when Cinnamon moved towards her so I put the water in the little coop and she had a long drink. I am now standing guard over her several times a day while she feeds and drinks. The handy thing about this is because she is so relaxed around me it makes it easy for me to help her. It also means she will be as willing to come to my hands as Rusty and Freckles are. I don’t imagine Cinnamon and Dandelion will be as friendly with me, but you never know, it may change with time.

It’s quite a different dynamic having three girls instead of two. Rusty and Freckles were so bonded with each other from the first day they came to me whereas these three don’t appear like that at all.  It may have been partly because as a twosome they only had each other and it may also be because Rusty and Freckles were only four months old whereas these three are six months old. Luckily there are no spats between them but there is a very definite pecking order.

At the end of the day, once again the original flock were all in by five o’clock, but the new girls were all still out at half past five. I was surprised that even Apricot was out this time. I put them in as I don’t want them out in the cold. I put Apricot in first as she is so easy to pick up. The other two I directed to the corner, then picked them up more easily, than last night.

I am not sure that they are going to get the hang of putting themselves to bed but I am sure that once they are mixed with the other girls they will follow them. At the moment everything is very new and different for them but I am pleased with the first day’s progress.

I was so excited this morning to go and choose some new girls from Dave. I was open minded as to whether I would have two or three. I wanted them all to be different.

Dave has beautiful black cockerels and I asked if he had any black hens. I was disappointed that he said he doesn’t keep black ones as he doesn’t like the dark colours and they aren’t popular for selling. I would have loved one!

Most of his girls were a combination of similar colours to Rusty and Freckles. He had a gorgeous blue hen but said she wasn’t for sale as he only had one and wants to breed from her.

He had only one hen left that has what he calls srizzle feathers. She is a cross between silky and frizzle feathers. I said I would have her to give me a third feather type. She is a bit bald but it’s due to her moulting and her head is full of pins and so are her wings so she will look much better when fully feathered.

I then picked a brown straight feathered hen as she was the only brown one. When he checked her over he said she had a few red mite around her vent so he would rather not sell her to me. He said I could treat her but he was reluctant to let me take her. Instead I picked another straight feathered girl in a combination of orange and white feathers.

I wanted another silky and fell for a really pretty girl but he said she was the only one he wanted to keep for himself because she was the only one that always comes to him when he goes in. I must have looked disappointed because he then said that if I really wanted her I could have her. I was quite touched.

I asked how much I owed him. Last time he said £20 each or three for £50. He said £45. I said he must take £50 as he hadn’t wanted to give one of them up.

We started to drive away when I had second thoughts. I said I would really like the brown one rather than three with a similar colour combination. We had dealt with red mite in the past and could deal with it again. The girls will be separate for a while anyway and we will have these girls for as long as they live whereas red mite is something that comes and goes in a poultry keeper’s life. My lovely husband said I should make up my mind before we got any further away as it is an hour’s drive each way. I asked him to turn around but he already had, he knows me so well!

I asked Dave if I could change the straight feathered girl for the brown one. He said it was no problem. She was pretty and I felt tempted to keep her too but three is enough to add at the moment. He sprayed the brown one with a red mite spray and suggested I treat all three girls.

Three new girls in the cat box

The bigger girls are all interested

I decided to move the new girls from the cat box to their little coop and shut them in for ten minutes. I thought this might help them to know that they should return there at bedtime.

I start them off in the little coop

I carried on with my theme of descriptive names.

Apricot

Apricot is the silky feathered girl that Dave didn’t really want to part with. Because of her silky feathers she reminds us both of Rusty. She is the most friendly and would let me get  really close to her and pick her up easily. That’s why her photo is the only close up. I can already feel that she is going to be a favourite. Being silky feathered she is as usual, less mature, with the smallest comb.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is the brown, straight feathered, girl and is the smallest of the three but has the biggest comb and may be laying. I had a chance to see their eggs at Dave’s, he had a pile of them on his bench. They are about half the size of our bigger girls so I now know what to expect.

Dandelion

Dandelion is the srizzle feathered girl and least likes me getting close to her. She is the most difficult to pick up.

Meanwhile Freckles was checking out the nest box

Freckles is definitely getting ready to lay as she squatted every time I got near her today. She was also investigating the nest box which really pleased me as it means she will know where to go when she is ready. Speckles had just laid her second egg which wasn’t quite as long as her first one.

Speckles checks in on her

Freckles makes her exit

What a shame Cinnamon left the shot before I clicked

I was so disappointed that because of the slowness of my camera I missed getting all three girls in a line. I thought I would keep it in as shows a comparison between them.

Rusty and freckles squared up to Dandelion

The bigger girls haven’t paid much attention to the new girls. I think they are small enough not to pose a threat to them. However Rusty and Freckles were raising ruffs and aiming pecks through the wire at Dandelion. The wire is double so they can’t land a peck. Dandelion was not backing down.

Cinnamon and Dandelion

Before bedtime I picked up each girl in turn and offered some water from the dropper as I hadn’t seen them drink. None of them were interested so they must be okay. They have a water dish and a water bottle. I had seen all of them go to the food. I then dusted each of them with red mite powder. I have also sprinkled it in the little coop.

Apricot was the first to go to bed

By five o’clock the original girls were all in bed and so was Apricot but not the other two. I really wanted them to find their own way in rather than me putting them in so I left them a while and just kept checking on them. By half past five I decided that I must put them in. They didn’t really like me picking them up but needs must.

Bedtime girls

One last shot of them at bedtime, that’s red mite powder at the base of Cinnamon’s tail. What gorgeous girls they are. I am so pleased with the new additions. I am sure there will be a few bumps along the way but the process has been started now and we are, for the first time, a flock of nine. Welcome little, Apricot, Cinnamon and Dandelion.

We survived the winds of yesterday’s storm Doris without too much damage. A few fence posts have come loose which will have to be dealt with at a future date and the tarpaulin over the corner shaped part of the run was lifting so we weighted it down with a couple of slates. This too will need dealing with properly at a later date. It needs renewing as it is getting brittle but it is a really awkward job as it’s difficult to get to.

However today the signs of spring are once more showing in the garden.

Miniature cyclamen in a patch of sun

Crocus should be opening soon

Some giant snowdrops

Hellebores are all over the garden

It is good to see these signs of spring in the garden and in the chicken run, Freckles squatted today, when I went to pick her up. That is a sign that she is getting ready to lay at last. I tried it with Rusty but no reaction so she isn’t ready yet.

I am so excited to be collecting new girls tomorrow. Watch this space!

With spring on it’s way, hormones raging and egg laying beginning or about to begin, the girls behaviour is changing. They have a new found confidence and all of them including the little girls are more vocal.

Suddenly Emerald and Speckles are jumping on the inner gate again, each time I enter the run, and Speckles goes from there to my shoulder. Peaches and Barley jump on my back when I poop pick and the Freckles has become quite vocal, giving out a repetitive little call each time I go in the run.

They all look amazing and all their combs are getting bigger and redder. It is lovely to see how spring causes the girls to blossom.

Speckles and Emerald jump on to the inner gate when I open the outer gate

Where has Emerald gone?

Emerald always jumps back down to the patio but Speckles always jumps from the gate to my back.

A blind selfie of Speckles on my back just below my neck

She snuggles into my neck and I have to stoop down to let her dismount. It is funny how they were doing this last year and then this behaviour just stopped through the winter. As soon as spring approaches and the girls are getting ready to lay this behaviour starts up again.

I have no idea why they do this but they do seem to gain in confidence as they approach egg laying. It is amusing and I quite like the interaction that this gives me with them. They are my funny girls!

I have wanted to add new girls since losing Pebbles but have had to wait and be patient.  Firstly I needed to let six weeks pass to make sure the flock was in good health. It then wouldn’t have been fair to add more seramas during the dreadful frosty weather that we have had recently.

The weather improved but we had a busy social weekend so I put it off for another week. Finally the time seems right and I called Dave the serama breeder. I was really nervous because I have waited so long for this and he was talking of the possibility of giving up breeding, due to lack of time, when we last saw him.

I took the plunge and called him yesterday and he said that he had downsized but still had plenty of hens for sale. He said that they are aged from six months upwards. This is really good for me because now that I have a few girls laying it would mean that I could integrate them as quickly as possible. They could all have layers pellets whereas younger chicks would need growers pellets and have to stay separated until old enough to move on to layers.

Dave works shifts and is not available during this week so the earliest we can go to him is Saturday morning. We have arranged to get to him at eleven o’clock on Saturday. I am so excited.

Girls, I am about to rock your world again. I think it will be really good for the little girls to belong to a bigger group but of course they may not see it like that at first. I think the bigger girls will take the newcomers in their stride but it will interesting to see what the little girls make of new girls.

At the moment the bedtime routine is super smooth. The little girls, as good as gold, go to to their own little perch with Rusty always next to the door and the bigger girls go to their higher perch. The order is always the same with top girl Emerald going in first in her favourite position next to the wall and Peaches and Barley together followed by Speckles, sometimes next to them, sometimes at the other end of the perch. Tonight is a typical evening line up.

Bedtime positions

There are no longer the aggravations that there used to be. It runs like clockwork with all the girls used to going to their own spot. How will that work with new girls? I am sure it is going to shake up the routine.

I can’t wait to have new girls and I think the flock will be richer and better balanced with more little girls but these two little girls have been used to no competition. I wonder how easily they will take to newcomers. Only time will tell!

The girls are definitely enjoying the better weather. There has been lots of dust bathing. Yesterday even Freckles joined in the communal dust bath.

Another communal dust bath

This time it was Emerald who was missing. She was off doing her own thing.

Look at all those lovely red combs

One by one the bigger girls stood up and had a massive shake off. The little girls were having such a lovely time that they stayed put.

Rusty and Freckles are left dust bathing together

What a cute pair

They are such a cute pair of girls and seemed to be having such a lovely time.

Today Freckles has been much more vocal than usual. I think she may start laying soon.

Barley laid four eggs, one every other day, then took a week off. Speckles laid her first egg of the year three days ago and it was huge. Yesterday Barley laid another egg and in comparison to Speckles egg it was tiny.

No wonder I thought Barley’s first egg may have been freckles as that was even smaller. I thought I would compare a standard hen’s, shop bought egg, and Speckles and Barley’s egg.

Standard hen’s, shop bought egg on the left for comparison, Barley’s fifth egg of the year in the middle and Speckles first egg of the year on the right

Eggs on the stand to show another angle

I am amazed that two girls of the same size can lay such different sized eggs. I felt pretty stupid for thinking Barley’s first egg could have been Freckles but when you look at Barley’s egg in the centre and Speckles egg on the right I think you can kind of forgive me.

I am surprised that Speckles egg is so big and that Barley’s egg is so small and I have no idea what to expect from the little girls eggs if they ever decide to start laying. It is going to be very interesting. I love how unique my girls eggs are. No standard sizes like in the supermarket and all the better for that in my opinion but then I am probably totally biased.

I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Every day, several times a day, I check the nest boxes for eggs just in case I have missed the egg shout. I lift both nest box lids and check inside. Every time I do this the four bigger girls check too.

If I am looking in the nest boxes they must look too. They must come and see what I might be looking at. They must not miss anything because they are nosy girls.

Checking for eggs

The do make me smile. The little girls take no part in this daily procedure. It doesn’t concern them. They don’t know about egg laying stuff…. yet!

Yesterday was such a lovely day. We spent some time in the garden and I planted my pink primulas and filled a few empty tubs.

The girls had a massive communal dust bathing session. Freckles doesn’t join in the communal sessions but looks on and pecks around the edge of the group. She seems to prefer to dust bath when it’s just her and Rusty together. The other five were having a great time.

Peaches and Rusty both play dead

Emerald twists her head upside down

Freckles pecks around the edge of the dust bath area

They are having a lovely time

Freckles watches the action

The had a good long session and were having such a lovely time. This is always such fun to see.