Carol's Chickens

Yesterday I thought I would take a close up of each of the girls.

Speckles

She has an amazing comb.

Toffee

Emerald

She has a white strip on her neck but luckily it’s not too bad.

Butterscotch

She is getting her feathers back to normal.

Peaches and Barley

I love the way Barley’s comb flies upwards when she bobs her head.

In unison as usual

Three heads in the food bowl

Butterscotch, Peaches and Speckles looked so cute all in the food dish together. I love the harmony that I now have in my flock.

At last Butterscotch’s pins are opening on her breast. This was Butterscotch ten days ago.

Butterscotch has pins on her breast

This is Butterscotch today.

The gap in her breast feathers is closing at last

Butterscotch is looking so much better

She has a little black heart shaped spot at the back of her neck

Her head is almost covered now

I am not sure if she will get her crest back this year after some of the pins from her head were plucked but at least her head will have feathers and that is so much better than a bare head. If her head is covered I will be happy with that.

Yesterday we had a five egg day. We have had several five egg days this year but we had eight girls up until now. What makes this five egg day special is that it is five eggs from six girls. That is pretty impressive!

When we have omelette for dinner I use five of our little eggs. At the beginning of the season it took about three weeks to collect enough, we were eating some eggs for breakfast at weekends and a couple of days in the week.

Now one day’s eggs can make an omelette. When keeping chickens eggs are a bonus but they are a very lovely bonus.

I now have an even split of three girls laying brown eggs and three girls laying white eggs. They are not really brown, that’s just how I think of them, they are beige. The white ones are pure white though so there is a difference.

Peaches, Barley and Speckles lay the white eggs and Toffee, Emerald and Butterscotch lay the beige eggs. Below, the white eggs are the two on the left. The first one is Peaches and the second large one is Speckles.

A five egg day

Of the white eggs Speckles eggs are really big, Peaches are medium and Barley’s are small. Only Barley didn’t lay yesterday.

Five eggs from six girls

The colour doesn’t show up much on a photograph but it’s enough for me to easily tell them apart.

The odd thing is that research says that game birds don’t lay well and neither do goldtops (my biege egg girls) because they go broody regularly but leghorns and anconas (my white egg girls) are good layers.

In my flock my beige laying girls lay the best. The game birds do have a shorter season than the rest of the girls, they start a bit later and stop laying about a month earlier, but while they lay they lay almost every day. Toffee recently laid six days in a row missed a day and started again.

Butterscotch does go broody but lays almost every day in between. Peaches, Barley and Speckles only lay  two or three times a week. It will be interesting to compare the tally at the end of the year.

I love watching the patterns that emerge with their egg laying and always feel so proud of them with every egg laid. The pleasure never wears off. I am really enjoying their lovely eggs at this abundant time of year.

I am feeling so much happier after seeing Topaz and Honey yesterday. They are settling in fine and my flock of six are much more settled too.

I gave them a dish of mash this morning and it was so nice to see all six girls round the dish and Speckles is now allowed to join in at the same time.

All six girls round a dish of mash

Speckles is now able to join in

I love seeing them all enjoy the mash together

Butterscotch is gradually looking better too. Her breast feathers are finally opening and she has just a line at her breast now instead of a v shaped gap. She is getting some feathers on her head too. It’s been really slow but she is still laying eggs so I think that’s why her feathers are taking so long to open.

I wish she would take a break from laying and get her feathers through but of course we can’t decide what’s best for them. It will happen the way it happens.

Butterscotch’s breast feathers are filling in at last

I am so happy that my flock are are back to normal, looking happy and settled with no problems. I hope it now stays this way.

Today we went to the farm to collect some disposables, but mostly on my part, to visit the girls.

The farmer sent me a text message a couple of days ago to let me know that Honey and Topaz were enjoying the sun in the enclosed area outside the barn. It was very kind of her to let me know that they were okay.

Topaz and Honey were in the barn together

I had taken along some sunflower hearts and used them to encourage them out of the barn.

Honey was first out

Honey with the big girls

Honey comes over to see me

Topaz and Honey mix with the big girls

Topaz and Honey stick together

They face this bantam pekin together

The big girls didn’t seem to bother my two it was the other bantams that chased them round a bit.

I then went over to the orchard and found Dotty. She has a lovely red comb and wattles and her neck is fully feathered. She looked really great and seemed so big.

Dotty with a friend

Dotty is looking great

I called in to see the farmer. She said the plan was to keep all the hens and the cockerel in the enclosed part next to barn until my girls were settled but she said my old girls (Dotty and Pepper) had managed to get out each day with a few friends. I said that I hadn’t seen Pepper and she said that she is around somewhere. They like to get up in to the tree and under the bushes.

She said my two little girls were doing fine and Honey was first out of the barn in the morning. She said any time I needed to re home any girls she would always be happy to have them. Hopefully I won’t need to do this again but it so good to know that I have someone who can help me like this.

I was most worried about Honey but it turns out that she is having an easier time of it. I think Topaz probably tried to be bossy and got taken down a peg or two whereas Honey would just get out of the way.

I feel so happy now that I have seen them settling in.

After the emotional upheaval of the last few days I felt the need to celebrate my flock of six. I have spent time being with them today and without the top two girls the remaining six are getting along quietly.

I gave them a treat of fish this morning and they all got their share easily.

Some fish for my six girls

The six girls scratch together before bedtime

After the bedtime corn they always spend some time scratching together. This seems to be a ritual and I don’t know what they can possibly find but they always spend time scratching before bedtime.

I have decided to keep my flock at six from now on. I wonder if eight was too many to get along, in my set up, without a problem.

The pecking order has adjusted very subtly. Without the two top girls enforcing it all the time it has become more gentle. Butterscotch is now top hen but is not as aggressive as Topaz (no need to peck) she just runs at, or leans towards Toffee to show her her place. Toffee is a little more force full and aims a peck at Emerald’s back. Peaches and Barley are next and Speckles is at the bottom except that the odd thing is, as it has been since she arrived, Speckles is still above Toffee. Toffee is the only girl she can chase and Toffee is firmly above Emerald especially and Peaches and Barley without any fuss and yet she runs from Speckles.

I actually quite like this because they all have their place but Speckles although at the bottom of four of the girls does also have a girl below her so isn’t a hundred percent at the bottom.

Speckles jumps on me all the time, every time I go through the gate. Peaches and Barley jump on me half the time. Emerald now jumps on the inner, child gate, every time I go in and sometimes jumps on my arm. Toffee now tries to jump on me but so far only makes it to my arm and Butterscotch is the only one of my girls now that doesn’t attempt to jump on me. She is not the right build for such antics. The flock seems much more interactive with me at the moment.

I go through the gate and have all of the girls bouncing all over me apart from Butterscotch who never attempts to leave the ground and just mills around my feet.

I am feeling calmer and the flock feels calmer. We intend to visit the farm soon to see how Topaz and Honey are getting on. I think about them and hope they are okay. I know that my flock are better for not being plucked but they also seem to be more gentle with each other and more interactive with me too. I am certain that this was the right thing to do.

I am feeling sad today about re homing girls once more. I was quite tearful about it last night.

I decided that I needed to remind myself why I had to do this. I looked through photos of the girls when this was happening before.

Amber

This was Amber in May, two years ago. She has a lovely red comb and face and is giving me the chat like she always did but she looks dreadful with her plucked head and neck. I simply could not let this happen again.

The girls enjoy a broccoli stalk

This was Amber, left of Honey, in April last year the day before she died. The next morning I found her dead by the pop hole at first light. She had a great last day all over the broccoli stalk and was looking really good. It was an awful shock when she went so suddenly but she had enjoyed her last year without being plucked.

I just could not go back to those days. I am sure Topaz and Honey will be as happy on the farm as Pepper and Dotty and my little flock of six can keep their feathers. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

Mid morning today I went in to the girls and found some of Topaz’s tail feathers in their separated bit. My heart sank a bit more.

Topaz’s tail feathers

If I leave Topaz and Honey together Topaz is going to lose feathers but if I put Topaz back with the main girls Butterscotch will lose her pins before they open.

Butterscotch’s pin feathers are very tempting

I put a big dish of mash in the main flock’s side and a small dish of mash in the separated side as a treat and distraction. At lunch time both dishes were empty. I picked up the small dish from the separated side and put it on the wooden table while I secured the gate. In a nano second all the girls, apart from the slower Butterscotch, were up on the table to see what was in this dish. Not a lot, girls!

New feeding station

Yesterday I had been thinking about re homing Topaz and Honey on the farm where I had re homed Pepper and Dotty. I cried at the prospect of doing this again but after talking to my husband and Jackie about this I had decided to have a chat with the farmer. Both my husband and Jackie are in agreement that I must think of the rest of the flock and I can’t risk this habit spreading and ending up with a plucked flock once more.

If this happened I wouldn’t be able to add new girls and would be stuck with this problem. It is odd that Topaz and Honey were with the flock when this was happening last time and I wonder if it’s something remembered or some instinct from that time.

I tried calling the farmer yesterday but got no reply. After finding feathers from Topaz today I called again and left a message asking her to call me.

She called late this afternoon and was so lovely and said that it had worked out for Pepper and Dotty and she would be happy to do the same with these two girls. She said to bring them over straight away. She is going to keep them in her kitchen until dusk and then put them in the barn with her flock.

She will keep the flock in the barn for three days then let them all out together. She has always done it this way and says it works for her and worked well last time. As before she said that she will look after them to the best of her ability and I can visit them. She thought they were beautiful.

Topaz and Honey in the farmer’s kitchen

I did say something about hygiene and she said that she has had calves and all manner of farm animals in her kitchen.

My flock of six

When I gave out the pre bedtime corn my flock of six was lacking some colour and I felt so sad. I hate that I have had to do this again but I think it is the right thing for my flock.

Once settled Topaz and Honey will have a meadow to free range in and a cockerel to keep the flock in order. They will be reunited with Pepper and Dotty although I don’t know if they could possibly remember them.

Most of all though, my flock will get to keep their feathers and I can get back to enjoying them instead of stressing and getting tearful. I am sure this was the right thing to do.

Okay, I have just had a little weep but onwards and upwards.

While we were at Homebase getting some things for our upcoming sitting room make over I thought that I would buy another annual for my empty chicken bucket.

A new plant in my chicken bucket

I then spotted this pretty primula and couldn’t resist it.

A new primula

We have lots of primula in our garden. They do very well in this garden and self seed all over the place but I didn’t have one this colour. I am hoping this one will self seed and spread itself around the garden as it is so pretty.

This morning I went out at half past six to let Topaz and Honey out of the little coop. A few minutes later the automatic door opened on the main chicken shed.

Topaz was first out this morning

Honey coming out

Speckles seems to miss Honey and has spent parts of the day following Honey through the wire. I think Speckles would like to get in with them.

Speckles watching Honey through the wire

All the girls seem happy and Honey laid her egg at lunch time. At least she has the nest box to herself. Topaz appeared to be standing guard over her. She stood at the foot of the ramp and gave a shout when Honey laid her egg.

I thought it was going really well until late this afternoon when I caught Honey pulling a clump of feathers from Topaz’s behind and eating them. She then followed Topaz around trying to get to her again with me shouting “NO, NO, NO!”.

I feel really frustrated now. I don’t know what to do. If I leave them together Topaz will probably end up with a bare bottom. If I let Topaz back in with the main flock I am afraid Butterscotch will lose her pin feathers again.

Butterscotch

Butterscotch has pin feathers on her breast and her head. I really want them to have a chance to open before putting Topaz back.

I can’t split the run three ways because I would need another little coop and feeding station and the bottom, newer part, of the run doesn’t stay dry when it rains despite the roof panels. This is so upsetting.

I think I will have to leave Topaz with Honey until Butterscotch’s pin feathers open or she will lose them and I think a bare neck and head will be worse than a bare bottom. The problem is that because Butterscotch is now laying again her pins are opening really slowly. In fact it’s difficult to see if they are opening at all.

I just don’t know what to do for the best. This is why it would have been good if Topaz could have stayed with Jackie’s flock. It’s such a shame her girls made such a fuss. I felt so positive this morning and now I am back to feeling frustrated and upset again.