Carol's Chickens

Butterscotch is such a character. She is a serial broody but she has some funny little habits when she is broody. I lift her three times a day so that she gets a break. I have taken to setting her down in the run because she always takes a load of pine shavings with her and it saves me sweeping them from the patio.

Butterscotch sits in the run

Sometimes she just continues to sit where I have put her. Eventually I ruffle her tail feathers and she moves off, slowly at first, then at breakneck speed. The first thing she does is flick bits on to her back like Emerald did recently.

I have said before that one of her broody habits is to go to the log which she rarely does when not broody. Sometimes she perches there briefly, sometimes she stands there and preens but yesterday she just sat there. She remained fluffed up and just stayed there for quite a while.

Butterscotch sits on the log

An odd place to sit

This is the latest place to be. I do wonder what goes in her little head. She does make me smile. She is two thirds of the way through her latest broody spell so should be back to normal soon, until the next time!

A couple of days ago Jackie and I went to the allotments to collect some chard for our girls. It had been left over winter and gone to seed and now the owner of the plot wanted it removed to replant the space. Most people at the allotments know that Jackie and I will take unwanted greens for our girls.

We cut it into sections as it was really tall. I then cut it into smaller sections and put them in a bag in the fridge and put all the big leaves in another bag in the fridge. I wanted it to stay fresh so that I could give it to the girls a bit at a time.

The girls enjoy some chard stems

The chard stems keep the girls occupied

By the end of the day the stems are stripped and I throw them away. Butterscotch is missing from the photos because she is still broody.

Butterscotch stays in the nest box

I found that the big chard leaves were too tough for the girls to manage when they were loose on the patio so I stuffed them into the square bird feeders. This kept them occupied all day and by the end of the day just some stems were left.

Peaches and Barley at the right hand feeder

Peaches and Barley at the left hand feeder

Emerald joins them

Toffee at the feeder

Emerald joins Toffee

Speckles joins Peaches

Every time I went up to the girls I could hear the feeders bumping around. Half way through the day I turned the feeders round. They managed to get every bit of green and just left a few stems for me to throw away at the end of the day.

I think we can safely say that are enjoying the chard and as Jackie says it is free. It should keep them going for a few more days yet.

I recently did a post on our mystery lilac tree. The lilac is now fully in flower so I thought I would put out some more photos of it. I have pruned the tops out of it in the hope that it won’t get any taller but I am not sure if that will work. It is now about seven feet tall.

Lilac and peonies

lilac

The flowers are fully out now

A close up of the blooms

The blooms have the distinct lilac scent and it is very pretty. We are happy to have this new lilac in our garden.

Both Emerald and Toffee are moulting but Emerald is moulting much faster than Toffee.

Emerald and Toffee are both moulting

Emerald was looking a bit shabby yesterday morning.

It’s Barley’s turn to share the nest box with Butterscotch

While Peaches looks on

Barley soon laid her egg and Butterscotch sat on it until I removed it. It is so odd that whereas the girls used to make a fuss about sharing a nest box they all go and lay their eggs next to broody Butterscotch while the other nest box is empty.

I swear Butterscotch is somehow influencing them to do this.

Emerald has lost her tail

A little later in the afternoon and Emerald has lost her tail completely.

Emerald does look rather odd

Toffee

Toffee has a few feathers sticking out but otherwise looks pretty good.

Today is the last day of worming and after the initial two worms I only ever found two more worms in one poop on the third day after I started worming. I think I must have caught it early.

I have ordered some more flubenvet as I like to keep a supply in stock just in case, like this time, I ever spot worms. Otherwise I will worm them again in November.

I am picking up loads of Emerald’s feathers from the run each day. At least the good news is that the moulting is staggered rather than them all moulting together and I am hopeful that once Butterscotch finishes her broody spell she will start laying again.

Butterscotch lays for three weeks then goes broody for two weeks as regular as clockwork. The weird thing is that every time she goes broody she moults. I thought that this gradual moulting was going to mean a different section of her would moult each time until she had replaced all her feathers.

What is really weird though is that last time she went broody she moulted her head and neck feathers. In the three weeks that she returned to laying these pin feathers opened and she was just about completely covered again.

Now she has been broody for a week and she has lost these same head and neck feathers but there are pins again.

Butterscotch had these feathers back in

This was Butterscotch two weeks ago which was one week before she went broody.

Butterscotch’s head and neck now

Close up

Butterscotch looks like she did the last time she went broody. I am puzzled that she lost these feathers then they grew back and now she has lost them again and they are growing back again.

I wonder if this normal for a broody goldtop. I am beginning to wonder if she is ever going to be fully feathered and keep her feathers. She seems to being going through this process for such a long time.

I was so pleased to see her feathers back in and then disappointed to see them gone again and now am pleased to see pins again but don’t know what to expect next. I have never come across a girl like her before. I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this.

Recently we went to a party at our next door neighbours and while in their garden we saw our chicken run from a different perspective. We decided that we could make it look more attractive both for ourselves and for our neighbours.

The front of the run as it was

We had always intended to put some wood over the front edge of the run but somehow just never got around to it. The ladder is in this shot because I decided to get a photo of the run just as my husband was about to begin the improvements.

The side as it was with a strip of corrugated plastic

Ugly side view that the neighbours looked at

Starting the improvements

The new look at the front of the run

My husband added a few bits of decoration. This is a much nicer front view and it now looks properly finished.

New side view

My husband removed the corrugated plastic strip from the side and replaced it with wood.

The side from the other direction

The side view that neighbours see is now improved

After adding the wood my husband trimmed the plastic sheeting so that it now doesn’t show from the outside. This gives a cleaner and tidier look.

Side

New look

Ugly

Inside the run my husband had used some left over roofing felt to wrap around the panel joints to take the leaking water outside the run. We always thought it looked ugly but it did the job.

Neater look

My husband has now replaced it with some waterproof, jointed, black plastic sheeting. It’s not amazing but it is much neater.

We are pleased with the results and our neighbours have said that they are happy with the new look. They are lovely neighbours and have never complained but we want to make their outlook onto us as good as we can plus it is nicer for us too.

Of course the girls couldn’t care less what it looks like but I am sure they appreciate the run staying dry as much as I do.

A few days ago we saw a slow worm on the path in the back garden. Yesterday we saw another one on the path in the front garden. We are feeling really pleased that they are living in our garden.

Another slow worm

Slow worm on our front path

And it’s off

In the second photo that’s my husbands knee next to the slow worm as he was taking a closer look at it. It eventually disappeared into the greenery. We feel privileged to have seen it.

I am only putting this photo out in case it can be of help to someone else.

The day before yesterday while poop picking the chicken shed I found two worms. Time to get the girls on flubenvet.

Worms

I am putting flubenvet in a treat each morning, alternating between, fish, egg or mash and will do this for seven days. I last wormed them in February. I do it every six months or sooner if I spot worms. In six years of chicken keeping this is the third time that I have spotted worms.

Emerald is moulting and yet doesn’t look any different but as well feathers all round the run there has been a pile of feathers under her roost spot in the mornings.

Emerald’s feathers yesterday morning

Other news is that yesterday I spotted a slow worm in the garden. It was lined up against the edge of the path sunning itself. It is good to know that we still have slow worms in our garden.

Slow worm

Peaches and Barley

Finally I couldn’t resist a photo of these two best friends together as always.

Yesterday when I got Butterscotch out of the nest box she ran straight out into the run for a dust bath.

Butterscotch has a dust bath

Speckles comes to help

I can help with this

I did my best

Butterscotch is on her own again

Butterscotch soon hurried back to the nest box. I realised Speckles was missing.

Speckles was in the nest box with Butterscotch

Sharing

A little later Speckles had laid her large egg and Butterscotch was sitting on it. I still wonder if she has some telepathic powers to encourage the girls to lay their eggs next to her.

Butterscotch is just like clockwork. Three weeks of egg laying then two weeks broody. On day twenty one she laid her last egg and went broody again, she has been broody for the last three days now.

Toffee stopped laying three weeks ago and started to moult. Emerald had her slightly broody day one week ago and hasn’t laid an egg since then. Yesterday she too started to moult. I have been picking up her feathers from the coop and run yesterday and today.

The game girls are the best egg layers when they are laying but have such a short season. After having four and five egg days recently we are now down to three out of six girls laying and are only getting one or two eggs a day now.

Butterscotch is a docile broody and I am back to getting her out of the nest box three times a day.

I lift her out and set her down in the run.

I put Butterscotch down in the run where she remains flat

I ruffle her tail to encourage her to move from the spot.

From flat to fluffed up

This makes her fluff up and then she takes off at speed and has a quick scratch and some days a frantic dust bath.

She then eats some pellets

She feeds as fast as she can

She then drinks plenty of water

Then she makes her way back to the nest box

She sits in the nest box again

This is a routine that I am well practised with. I think Butterscotch will always be like this. Her hormones and her internal clock are as regular as a girl could get. This will be the routine for the next couple of weeks.