Carol's Chickens

The day before Valentines Day my husband bought me some daffodils. He said they were not my Valentine flowers (bless him) but that at only a pound he thought they would bring a bit of spring colour.

I decide to record their progress with my camera.

Daffodil buds

The daffodils are starting to open

The daffodils progress

Almost all of them are open

Last photo of the daffodils

Valentine Roses

The last two photos were taken on the same day. I have had the daffodils for seven days and the roses for six days. They both still look really good.

The roses are romantic and I love red roses but the daffodils are amazing value and fun to watch opening up.

Today we had our first “three egg day” of the year. This morning Butterscotch laid her egg about an hour later than the day before as is her pattern.

We had no lunches to deliver today so were at home for the nest box antics. There was a lot of shouting from Barley and Peaches.

At last I caught Barley in the nest box

Peaches was looking in at Barley

Honey was also looking in and Barley came out shouting

Peaches had been scratching in the nest box earlier so I thought she was getting ready to lay. Barley had been in the nest box several times but Peaches and Honey seemed obsessed with watching her which she didn’t like at all.

A girl needs a bit of privacy and as well as growling at them she came out of the nest box shouting.

For ages we could hear them shouting but I put it down to Barley wanting to lay and Peaches and Honey not leaving her in peace.

At lunch time they were shouting again so I checked the nest box once more.

At the next spell of shouting I found this

Peaches was standing over an egg and Honey was looking in.

Look how red Peaches face and comb is

I removed the egg and Honey and Peaches left the nest box but Peaches returned and sat again. I now wasn’t sure if the egg was Barley’s and Peaches had gone in to lay her egg as well or if it was Peaches and she hadn’t realised that she had already laid it. I knew that I would be able to tell if another egg appeared.

Later Peaches was back in the nest box

When I next checked both Barley and Peaches were out in the run and there was a long oval egg in the nest box.

I then knew for sure that the first egg was Barley’s and this one was Peaches. Barley’s first egg had been this shape too and like last year Peaches has laid her first egg two weeks after Barley’s first egg.

Today’s three eggs

Butterscotch’s egg is on the left, Barley’s egg is in the middle and Peaches egg is on the right.

So now we have three girls laying. I think Speckles will be next, her comb is a lovely red colour and she is more vocal than usual. I am loving having all these eggs. Well done girls!

My husband bought me this egg holder for Christmas and this is the first time it has been filled. We have just had eight eggs in seven days. Six of those are Butterscotch’s and two are Barley’s.

A full egg holder

Barley’s eggs are the one at the back on the left and the one in the front, second in from the right. The eggs are in the order they were laid starting at the tail of the hen on the right and circling to the left until they meet up. Butterscotch’s eggs have a pinkish tint and a satin sheen whereas Barley’s are white with a matt finish.

A different view of the eggs

This morning Peaches was scratching around the nest box for a few minutes, scattering the pine shavings out, so I don’t think it will be too long before she starts laying. Her comb is now completely red whereas recently it still had a pink tip.

I think once we have both Barley and Peaches laying as well as Butterscotch the egg count will really make a difference and I won’t be buying any more eggs. Hurrah!

Yesterday afternoon it was lovely and sunny for a change and we had finished work by lunch time. We decided to make the most of it and my husband set to work tiding the garden while I did the same in the chicken run.

I dug the run over as it’s been so wet lately. The girls love following my feet and the fork in case I turn up any worms. I have to be so careful as they have no fear of my feet or the fork.

I then pruned the big hypericum bush. It had grown up to the roof panels as well as outwards and through the weld mesh to outside and also had a lot of dead wood at the back.

I filled two bin sacks with it and now there is much more light getting in to run.

Meanwhile my husband had trimmed the plant that runs along our front path and put it in the run as a treat for the girls. Up until this point they had been gathered round me while I pruned but suddenly decided this was more interesting.

Some green plants for the girls

The girls loved this

The girls help me prune

I have pruned the big bush

This will let more light in

It was late afternoon when I took these photos but it will be much brighter earlier in the day.

I finished off by sweeping the chicken patio and washing the food and water dishes. Every thing is as good as it gets in the chicken run and I think the girls enjoyed the afternoon activities.

Whenever I lift the lid to the nest box to see if there is an egg some of the girls come running to have a look too.

Yesterday it was Honey and Emerald’s turn.

Honey and Emerald check out the nest box

They both have pink combs

Later in the day Barley was missing and I could hear scratching in the nest box. I peeped in and she was settled so I went off to get my camera. I am trying to gain evidence of which girl is laying.

By the time I got back Honey and Peaches had disturbed Barley and she came out of the nest box shouting.

Barley is cross

This was the photo I ended up with. Barley is tossing her comb in annoyance while Peaches keeps her company anyway.

I thought that at least when I found an egg later I would know that it would probably be Barley’s.

Later when the guys came to do the work in the run I checked the same nest box. Topaz stepped out when I lifted the lid and there was an egg. Now I still can’t be completely sure but I think it is most probably Barley’s egg and Topaz just went in to sit on it. She came out quietly with no egg shout.

So far I have credited four eggs to Barley and two to Topaz but I now have my doubts. I think that all six were probably Barley’s eggs. Looking back at when Barley and Peaches  first started laying, Barley started two weeks before Peaches and laid at about the same rate of the eggs we are getting now. I can’t be sure without catching them in the act but I think I am going to alter my record to Barley laying all six eggs.

Only time will tell.

Recently I had been thinking that the fence in the chicken run was the most vulnerable boundary. It is our next door neighbours fence and we had the run built using this as part of the boundary. We knew our long standing neighbours really well and they were fine with this.

They moved out a few years ago and we have had two short stay neighbours since and now a third couple. They are expecting their first baby in May so we hope they are here to stay. However we got to thinking that if they ever decided to replace a fence panel our run would then be open. Also at the bottom it is dark and damp and if it rotted that would also leave our run compromised.

We came up with the idea of cladding it on our side with marine ply boards like we have on the inside of the patio area. We arranged for our usual guys to come and do the job for us. Apart from building the chicken run for us they have been back many times to extend and improve. I said this would be the last chicken run job we would need but I have probably said that before.

Inside the existing fence we had sunk vertical house tiles then buried horizontal house tiles on top of chicken wire to make the run predator proof and rat proof. This meant the marine ply boards only needed to go to the ground.

This afternoon the guys arrived to do the work.

The chicken run fence as it was before work began

First the batons go on to the fence

The first sheet of marine ply goes on

The second sheet goes on

While the third sheet was being cut to size the girls moved in to see what was going on. They are all in the photo below but Toffee hardly shows up as she is by the bush.

The girls inspect

The third sheet goes on

The job is completed and Barley inspects

The girls were not at all bothered by the work going on today and were as usual being very nosey.

We are really pleased with this as we feel it makes the run safer and stronger. In the summer we will invite our new neighbours to see the girls but as they work long hours and the days have been short we haven’t yet had the chance.

Thank you guys for a job well done.

My husband said recently that he thought our patio set, on the top patio next to the chickens, was looking very shabby and could do with replacing. The chairs had come apart and he had glued them back together but the glue which was supposed to dry clear had dried white.

We have had this set for the nine years that we have lived here. My husband mentioned it was shabby but we hadn’t actually decided to go out and look for another set.

Today I was in a store called “Family Bargains”. I was actually looking for something to use as a kitchen waste compost bucket. Our bucket has started letting in water and the last lot of kitchen waste was swimming in water and going mouldy. Yuk!

I then saw the exact same patio set as the one on our top patio but it was only £19.99. I couldn’t believe how cheap it was. I am sure we paid much more than that for our original set.

When I got home I told my husband and he said we should go together to check it out. It was too good a bargain to pass up so we bought it.

Old patio set

New patio set

My husband said I should put these two photos here and say “look what my husband did to our patio set”.

Last year when we bought a small table and two chairs to go by the back door we couldn’t find anything under £50.00. At £19.99 my husband says you couldn’t even buy the wood if you wanted to make it yourself. This really is a bargain and was a lucky find.

There always seems to be something. I felt elated that Butterscotch had pin feathers on her head meaning she was moulting and not having her feathers pulled. Then we saw Topaz pulling the pins from her head.

Each time we have seen this we have shouted at Topaz and moved her away. Unfortunately pins can be irresistible. I had been trying to photograph Butterscotch’s pins without much success (she bobs her head constantly) and today while she was in the nest box laying her egg I got the chance.

The bad news is that there are less than half the amount of pins she did have. I feel so disappointed.

Butterscotch in the nest box

The little white dots on her head are the pins but there are not nearly as many as there were a few days ago.

As soon as I look at a girl in the nest box another girl wants to look too. This time it is Honey who has started looking in the nest boxes over the last few days.

Honey comes in to take a look

Butterscotch and Honey

Honey started laying in the middle of March last year so I would expect it to be a bit longer before she starts laying.

When I lift the nest box lid to check on Butterscotch she doesn’t move or make a sound. When another girl looks in, or joins her like Honey in this photo, she merely turns her head to look at her.

When either I lift the nest box lid or a girl looks in at Topaz she comes out shouting her head off. Topaz really is an angry bird. She also spends a lot of time sitting in the nest box but not laying and also sitting on any other girl’s eggs once they have laid.

A little later Butterscotch gave the egg shout and I caught Topaz going in to sit on her egg. Once I removed the egg Topaz lost interest. This means I really can’t be sure if Topaz has laid any eggs or not.

I usually know who has laid by seeing them sitting in the nest box but so far I haven’t seen any girl sit in the nest box other than Topaz and Butterscotch. Barley was stood over the first egg next to the food dish so we were sure she had started laying. Topaz is often in the nest box but when she leaves there is no egg.

Butterscotch’s eggs are distinct so that’s easy but the rest of the eggs I am guessing at the moment between Barley and Topaz. We have had two days when we had two eggs which were Butterscotch’s and another. I have put the last two down to Topaz but I can’t be sure.

Last night’s bedtime line up

We have four very red combs belonging to Topaz, Speckles, Peaches and Barley. These are the girls that I would expect to be laying now or very soon but with the conundrum of Topaz in the mix it’s hard to say. Butterscotch has a black/purple comb but is a good egg layer between going broody.

Oh well, time will tell but an upswing in eggs is a bonus.

This winter has been exceptionally mild. We usually turn our heating on in November but this year we didn’t have the heating on until just before Christmas. We found that having an open fire in the sitting room each evening was enough for us.

The fire in our sitting room

Sitting room fire

We only have our heating come on for an hour (two if it’s really cold) each morning and again each evening. At weekends when instead of working we are sitting in the dining room reading the papers we put the heating on for a bit extra as it soon feels cold when just sitting in here. My husband decided that instead of doing this we should have a small fire in here.

dining room fire

We are trying to be more frugal and keep our bills down. My husband now gets the winter fuel allowance and this covers our coal and logs.

We are starting to think more carefully about how to reduce our bills as we slow down with work towards retirement.

We have recently made much more effort to turn lights off and only light the room we are in. We are quite sure that by being more careful we can reduce our bills which have been rather high in the past. We are making it second nature to be more frugal. We hope that by making small changes we can cut down our outgoings and it is really lovely to see an open fire and feel it’s warmth. There is something very comforting about an open fire.

Butterscotch laid her first egg after her two week break the day before yesterday. Her first egg is often a small one as this one was. I think because she is moulting at the moment she missed laying the next day. Whenever she misses a day she always lays at first light the next morning and often lays a bigger egg after a missed day.

This morning was no exception and there under her roost spot first thing this morning was a larger egg.

Butterscotch’s eggs

Her first egg is on the left and today’s egg is on the right.

Five recent eggs

I think the egg on the left is Topaz’s larger egg. The middle two are Butterscotch’s and I think the two on the right are Barley’s eggs.

We will have our own eggs for breakfast tomorrow and hopefully there will soon be more on the way.