Carol's Chickens

While buying the plants for behind our back fence I couldn’t resist these, sort of, thistles. I can’t remember now what they are but they were on sale for three pounds and it said that they are really hardy and drought resistant.

I thought they would add a bit of height and colour to the driest parts of the garden.

A lovely pastel mauve colour

They add a bit of height and colour

I added four of them to the garden but the first is just slightly behind where I stood to take the photo. We have lost a few plants that got too dry so maybe these will be able to withstand our lack of watering.

A year ago we had new sheds and a new back fence. Behind our back fence is a strip of woodland with a public path running through it parallel to our fence and beyond that a golf course.

We were a bit worried that with the land higher behind the fence than the garden level on our side of the fence it would be quite easy for someone to climb over on to our property. We had concrete gravel boards put in at the bottom of the fence to stop the fence rotting and put some barbed wire over the top of the fence to try to put people off getting over.

We stored our compost bins and log store behind the sheds but in front of the fence and hung our dog crate (useful for transporting chickens) from the fence.

One day I saw that the dog crate had been lifted off the hooks and put on top of the compost bin. I asked my husband if he had moved it and he hadn’t. We thought maybe someone was clearing the way to climb over at night.

We immediately moved the dog crate to the inside of the shed and the compost bins and log store to the patio area in front of the sheds.

After this we stood on a garden chair and looked over the back fence from time to time and a few days ago my husband saw that someone had dumped a garden bench behind our fence. We felt this could easily be used to stand on and try to get over our fence. We went round the back and moved the bench further into the woodland.

As well as being outraged that people would just dump things like this over the back we started to think that we needed to make our back fence more secure. I worry that my chicken shed is just inside this fence and I need to keep my girls safe.

I decided to clear the rubble from against our fence and plant the area with something to make it difficult for people to get close to the fence.

A few days ago I had a day with no lunches to deliver so I went round the back and spent an hour moving the rubble back from the fence. I was then able to scrabble some soil down the bank and into the space behind the gravel boards.

I then took a trip to a garden centre to find some prickly bushes to plant. They had a sale on but not many suitable plants. I was looking for blackberry bushes but it was probably to late in the season. I settled for a holly and a cotoneaster which although not prickly was a big plant.

On my return my husband was back home and came with me to help. While I started planting he dug up a few brambles to add something more prickly. I planted from right to left, a bramble, the cotoneaster, more bramble, the holly then more bramble.

The back of our fence a year ago

The rubble cleared and the ground planted

The fence after we had planted behind it

Not only are we creating a barrier of prickly plants but I have lowered the level behind the fence, by removing the layer of rubble, which makes the fence higher to climb over.

Beyond the bit I have planted

To the left of the bit that I have planted the rubble was too compacted for me to be able to move but it has stinging nettles growing there so it is already protected.

The rubble I have moved back

By moving the rubble back it has created a bit of a barrier leading on to what I hope will be a future patch of impregnable brambles and holly.

The patch beyond the bit I have planted

This is behind the patch where I couldn’t move the rubble. It has already got it’s own barrier of stinging nettles so this bit wasn’t a worry.

Behind my planted strip

This is looking from behind the rubble onto my newly planted strip. I hope that as this gets established it will create a barrier that will put people off getting through.

I have been putting a step ladder against our side of the fence and watering my newly planted strip over the fence each day until it settles in.

I will photograph it again once it has grown and established what I hope will be a thick barrier of plants that will put off anyone getting close to our boundary fence. It will add to what is already a wild woodland strip and I hope it will eventually grow over the rubble and swamp it with dense woodland brambles and nettles.

It is a shame that people use this space to dump on but the more overgrown it gets the more it gets back to a natural wild environment and the safer the properties behind it become. It is also a haven for wildlife. It seems crazy but I actually feel quite pleased that I have created a strip of natural planting behind our fence which I feel is not only safer for our property but will look better and more natural once established.

I am picking up a hand full of feathers from Speckles every time I go in the run.

Speckles is beginning to look a bit scruffy

She is dropping her tail feathers

She has some loose feathers sticking out

Later in the day she has even less tail feathers

Her comb and wattles are pale and her comb is smaller than it was. This time last year she lost her tail and it looks like it won’t be long before she loses it again this year.

Only Peaches and Barley are yet to moult and their egg laying has slowed down to one or two eggs each a week.

The good news is that Butterscotch laid this morning. This will boost our egg total a bit as she lays most days once she starts again. Every time she goes broody she seems to moult a bit more than the time before and I am convinced that she won’t lay again but each time she does lay again. It will be interesting to see how long she goes on before stopping completely.

This time if she goes broody again I will close up the nest boxes as by then I don’t expect much egg laying from the remaining two girls. This will break her of being broody in a couple of days and I hope this will mean she will keep her head and neck feathers.

Meanwhile I am just glad to have the prospect of a couple of weeks of regular eggs from Butterscotch and I intend to make the most of them before egg production ceases completely.

We are still feeling so pleased with our path. It hadn’t rained since the path was done until this morning. The rain really brings out the colours of the Indian stone.

The path after a shower

The rain really brings out the colour of the stone and the garden is looking lush

The chicken’s strip is filling in

From the other direction

Just loving the path and the garden at the moment and the rain was very much needed.

This morning I thought I would give the girls some fish. A bit of extra protein might help with growing feathers.

I am finding a handful of Speckles feathers in the run every time I go in and yet she doesn’t look any different. Butterscotch has been very vocal today and was inspecting the nest boxes. It has been a week since she stopped being broody so she may be about to start laying again. Her pin feathers are growing noticeably.

Some fish for the girls

It’s good to see them all sharing the fish with no squabbles

They are enjoying the fish and I hope it will help with feather production

I love how Barley’s comb stands up when she flicks her head

Butterscotch’s pins are long and look ready to open

I love being able to give the girls a treat in one dish these days instead of spreading several dishes around. There is no problem at all with all the girls getting their fair share.

Butterscotch looks like her feathers are so nearly there. I am hopeful that this time she really will get her feathers back in properly. Despite all the moulting the girls are looking great and Peaches gave us an egg today too.

I am picking up loads of feathers from the shed and the run at the moment. Butterscotch is dropping so many feathers that as usual I would be surprised if she starts laying again and yet I have thought that before and she did resume laying. This time though I am finding tail feathers as well as the usual fluffy ones.

Emerald has slowed down but Toffee is still dropping feathers. Over the last few days Speckles has started dropping feathers too. Looking back at last year it was at the end of July that Speckles and Butterscotch joined the flock and Speckles was moulting. She hasn’t laid now for over a week and this explains why. I think eggs may be coming to an end. In the last ten days only Peaches and Barley have been laying.

Peaches and Barley dust bathing together

As usual these two girls are together. They are losing an odd feather but are not moulting properly yet.

Speckles watches them from the wooden block

I am picking up Speckles distinct feathers with their white spot at the tips but she doesn’t look any different at the moment.

Emerald is looking good

I am still finding an odd feather from Emerald but she looks pretty much back to normal.

Toffee is having a dust bath

Toffee is still losing some feathers and looks a little scruffy round the neck.

Butterscotch as usual has pin feathers on her head and neck

Butterscotch has been at this stage so many times now. She has pins on her head and neck but so far every month just as they come back in she goes broody again and loses them once more.

She was just stretching out her leg in the photo above and so is showing the underside of her foot. I have no idea if she will start laying again or not and if she will get her head feathers and keep them or not.

I would miss her eggs if she stops laying but it would be great if she got her head feathers back and kept them this time. Butterscotch is a mystery with her pattern of moulting. She has been moulting in bursts like this for a year now and it seems like an awful long time since she had head feathers.

Updates on the updates

I had this post almost ready to go when we visited White House farm and I felt that post needed to take priority. In the two days since I started this post Butterscotch has dropped almost all her tail feathers and the pins on her neck have grown. I felt the need to add to a couple more photos of her.

Butterscotch has lost most of her tail feathers

Butterscotch’s pins are growing

It’s been a week since she stopped sitting in the nest box so it will be interesting to see if she starts laying again or if she continues to moult. It would be so good if her head feathers came back properly. Watch this space.

Yesterday afternoon we had a rare few hours to spare. I said that I would really like to pay a visit to the farm where we had re homed some of our chickens.

We took Pepper and Dotty there exactly two years ago and Topaz and Honey three months ago. The farmer had told me that she would look after them to the best of her ability but that being a free range farm in the country side that I had to be aware that there was always the risk of foxes.

It is something that every chicken keeper has to weigh up. Is it best to give your chickens a lovely free range life with the risk of foxes or do you keep them safe but compromise their freedom. It’s something I have thought long and hard about and have always been of the opinion that each chicken keeper has to decide which option they want to take.

I have chosen to keep my girls contained and safe from predators but that compromise was probably what led to the feather pulling issues that I had.

Once I had made the decision to take them to the farm I accepted that they would have a better life there than with me (and my flock would have a better life without them) and I therefore accepted that there would always be a risk of foxes. I felt that every day of life on the farm was a bonus for my girls.

As we drove up the track towards the farm we met the farmer on the path so I hopped out to chat with her. She told me that unfortunately Topaz had been taken by a fox. She said that she had been baby sitting her grandchildren and had got back later than expected to lock the chickens away. She had lost Topaz and a couple of new buff orpingtons to a fox.

She was upset at losing such a beautiful hen but I couldn’t help feeling glad that Honey was safe. I wouldn’t want any chicken to be taken by foxes but I would have been so much more upset if it had been Honey. Topaz was beautiful but quite aggressive, I had never been able to pick her up and she rarely ever laid an egg. She wasn’t an easy girl to love whereas Honey was friendly, chatty and sweet and I had her for longer. I had Honey for three years and Topaz for two years. I found it more difficult to let Honey go.

On our last visit we saw Dotty but not Pepper. I thought that she may be somewhere else on the farm but Pepper and Dotty had always been together on our previous visits and this visit once again we found Dotty and not Pepper. Dotty no longer has her head or neck plucked like she always did when with Pepper so we have come to the conclusion that Pepper too has been lost to the foxes.

Once again I couldn’t help being pleased that Dotty was still there as she too had been a favourite. Like Speckles does now, Dotty used to jump to my shoulder whenever I entered the run which something Pepper would never do. Pepper had always been rather fat so I think she may have been more vulnerable.

Dotty was always much more speedy as was Honey. Perhaps this has helped them to survive life on the farm. I had Dotty for two years before she came to the farm where she has been for two years now. I feel pleased that she has had two years of a happy and free life here.

Honey looked quite at home with the flock and Honey and Dotty seemed quite together which really pleased me. They have been apart for two years now so I have no idea if they have any memory of each other (unlikely I would think) and yet they seemed really comfortable together. I had taken some sunflower hearts with me to give the girls while I took photographs. Honey was quite happy coming right up to me and again I don’t know how much she may remember but she certainly seemed happy around me.

Honey is at the front of the flock

Dotty and the flock (Dotty is on the left)

Dotty is such a familiar shape and has such a familiar face, to me, that I feel that if she was in a field full of dominiques I would still be able to pick her out. She is a beautiful looking girl and it is good to see her with all her feathers intact.

Honey

Honey too, is so familiar to me, that I almost felt like picking her up and bringing her home but that would be silly. I felt really pleased to see her so at home with the flock.

Dotty on the right

Dotty and Honey together

Honey is just slightly out of focus but I thought that this was a really sweet photo of Dotty and Honey together. It warmed my heart to see them together again.

Honey

Dotty and Honey

Honey and Dotty

Honey at the front

Honey is at home with the flock

I had to tear myself away. I should feel really sad that two out of four of my girls have gone but actually I just feel really glad that my favourite two girls are still there and look so happy. I am content that they have a happy life on the farm and every day they are there is a good day for them and my little flock is happy and settled with me.

The farmer said that anytime I need her to take any of my girls she will always be happy to have them. It is good to know that there is a place for them if ever the need arises but I hope that my flock will stay as happy and settled as they are now.

We have some Japanese anemone in the garden and at this time of year they are at their best.

Anemone half way up the garden

Another one in front of the chicken run

Close up

Half way down the garden looking back down

Anemone is a plant that you can put in the garden and then just leave for a few years to get established. Once established it is beautiful and flowers every year without needing any attention. It gives a real splash of colour at this time of year.

We are having a bit of a heat wave at the moment. Butterscotch usually stays broody for about fourteen days but yesterday was day eighteen which is her longest yet. I wasn’t happy about her sitting in the nest box while it’s so hot so yesterday I closed the nest boxes for the day to see if I could bring this to an end.

I was a bit concerned that the three girls that are laying may need to lay but Speckles and Peaches had laid the day before so there was only Barley likely to lay. My husband said he felt sure she would lay in the chicken shed if she needed to.

Sure enough she settled herself in a corner of the chicken shed.

Barley in the shed

Barley has made a nest in the corner of the shed

She looked so cute in the shed and sure enough this was just what was needed to speed Butterscotch to the end of this broody spell.

Today she has stayed out of the nest box all day so normality has resumed which is just as well as today was even hotter.

The girls were very quiet and spent their time sitting in the shade this afternoon. Emerald and Toffee at one point were standing with their wings held out and their beaks open. I think being a darker colour they feel the heat more.

I usually give them frozen peas in a dish of water to cool them down but as we were really busy I gave them a dish of cold defrosted peas.

They all rushed over to the dish of very cold peas

They soon got stuck in

They were really enjoying the peas

I checked back a little later and the dish was empty. They had slices of melon and apple too so I hope that all these treats helped them on a hot day.

I said in an earlier post that I was saving the bricks that used to edge the veg plot and the chickens strip, before we had the new path, for a future use.

The chicken’s strip

When we had the run extension built the guys suggested placing it on top of the wooden beams that used to make up the veg plot. With hind sight (which is a wonderful thing) we should have suggested building it in front of the beams. The beams are now beginning to rot in the soil.

They are in a worse condition on the far side of the run. On this side they are not too bad so I have cleaned up the bricks and placed them on top of the wood. When the wood rots I will replace the wood with the bricks.

I have also planted the front of the chicken’s strip with thyme and mint so that it can grow over the path and their strip of dandelions can continue to grow behind it. This will give an evergreen strip that will look good all year round.

On the other side of the run I started at the point where the beam was most rotten and chiseled out the wood and replaced it with the bricks.

The other side of the run

The four bricks I have placed

The bricks are stored here

I have stored the bricks here so that I can carry on a bit at a time. I worked on this yesterday in extreme heat and after four bricks I had to give up for now. I have done the worst spot and can carry on a few bricks at a time until I complete the job.

My aim is to make sure the run is secure and nothing can dig under. On the inside of the run there is a layer of roof tiles vertical inside the weld mesh and then horizontal under the earth so it is protected from the inside but I like to have a barrier outside too so that it’s not possible for anything to dig in.

The beam has rotted next to the run but beyond the brick width is mostly intact however at this worse spot where I have started the beam was rotten all the way across the width so I chiseled out the rest and put in some spare stones from the garden.

Stones

These stones will give extra protection and this part of the garden is tucked out of sight so it doesn’t matter how it looks as long as it is keeping the run safe.