Carol's Chickens

At bedtime there are always squabbles over which girl is tolerated next to which flock mate. At times it seems really harsh with Peaches and Barley pecking at poor Speckles and at other times Emerald pecking at Peaches and Barley. It is noticeably the bottom girls that take part in this behaviour with the top girls not taking much notice of the nightly goings on.

I can never understand why they must do this but have read on other blogs of the same behaviour so I know it is a natural thing. What I find most odd though is that during the day they choose to perch together quite happily. If they can do this during the day I wonder why they can’t do the same in the evening.

Very often most of the girls will be on the favourite table with the remaining few underneath it. Sometimes they will all be on the ladder and the perch above it and sometimes they will gather with half the girls on the perch outside the hatch and half on the perch inside the hatch. This is where they were perched today.

With the colder weather they seem to prefer to perch than to be on the cold ground. Although half are one side of the wire and half the other I think this still makes them feel that they are all together. It is very sweet to see.

From the foreground to the back, Emerald, Honey, Barley and Peaches

From left to right, Speckles,Topaz, Butterscotch and Toffee

You can see the other girls on the other side looking down on this foursome. The one thing you can always be sure of is that by day or by night Peaches and Barley will always be sat together if they can and in fact some of the bedtime squabbles are caused by them trying to get next to each other when another girl is in the way.

All the girls joined the flock two at a time but none of them actively seek out another flock member except for Peaches and Barley and they are absolutely inseparable. It comes from them being together right from when they were hatched and they have been with me from six weeks old. This has made them really bonded together. The other girls were together but in a mixed flock and came to me in twos but have never had the same bond.

It is lovely to see them all perched together and I am sure if the perches were long enough they may all be on the same perch. It’s just a shame they can’t behave like this at bedtime. Once the light fades though they all accept the position that they have taken up and become quiet until the next night when it all starts over again.

Yesterday Butterscotch laid her egg just before half past ten and just before we had to go out. I collected her egg and we left.

We returned shortly after half past eleven and I checked in on the girls. To my surprise Butterscotch was still in the nest box. Uh Oh! Does this mean she is going broody again! I lifted her out and closed the two little coop nest boxes as she is the only girl laying and had laid her egg already. Maybe she just didn’t realise that she had laid it.

This morning I went out to the girls at quarter past seven and gave them their morning treat of a few sunflower seeds. As soon as Butterscotch had had them she went straight into the little coop nest box.

As she had laid at half past ten yesterday I knew that if she was going to lay today it wouldn’t be until around half past eleven. Butterscotch is as regular as clock work. She lays about an hour later every day until she lays at the end of the day, then she misses a day, then lays at first light or just before the automatic door opens.

It was too early for her to lay but I was reluctant to shut her out as I would feel bad if she really did want to lay and laid it outside like she did once before.

At lunch time I lifted her out and there was still no egg. She went out without too much protest though and had a few spinach leaves, a few pellets, a quick drink of water and then went off for a dust bath. This was good to see. A little later she returned to the nest box.

Here we go again with a broody Butterscotch

At half past two I knew that she was definitely not going to lay today so I lifted her out again and closed the nest boxes.

A flat Butterscotch is a sure sign of broodiness

I ruffled her tail feathers and she went on her way. She isn’t protesting so I think as the other girls are not laying I am going to keep the nest boxes closed and try to nip it in the bud.

She has only laid fifteen eggs this time round whereas last time she laid twenty then twenty one. There is a pattern emerging though. She laid for three weeks then took two weeks off, laid for another three weeks, took two weeks off and has now laid for another three weeks. She has laid less eggs in the same time span probably due to the shorter days. She is a regular girl in all her egg laying patterns. It is looking like she is going to be a serial broody.

We had a cooked breakfast this morning with her last four eggs (two each, poached and on a slice of toast), with a sausage, two rashers of bacon and a few mushrooms. It was delicious and her eggs are really lovely. It is our Sunday treat and we thought we should make the most of her last four eggs as it looks like she will be taking a break again.

As our only winter egg layer we will miss her eggs and will have to resort to buying them until she starts again. Next year we don’t expect any winter eggs though so any we get this year from Butterscotch are a lovely bonus.

I have been out to the girls at quarter to seven some mornings just as the automatic door on the chicken shed is opening and other mornings it’s already open depending on whether it is a dull or bright morning. This morning it was very dull and overcast so I decided to take my camera with me and see if I could catch the girls coming out.

It all happens so fast that I missed some of the girls as my camera is really slow in poor light and by the time it clicked I had missed the shot. I am sure there may be a way round this but as I am not technical and also need glasses  (or contact lenses) for both short and long sight, it’s more than I can cope with and I take a “point and click” attitude to my photo taking. I usually manage to get some good photos by taking lots of them.

I am using all the photos that I took this morning in an attempt to show the speed that the girls tumble through the pop hole now that we have the perch height right for them. When the perch was too high for them to get down easily the pop hole would open and none of the girls would come out. They then managed their decent one by one leaving Butterscotch still on the perch trying to work out how to get down. Now Butterscotch is one of the first to emerge through the pop hole.

Topaz was the first to emerge and was already out by the time the camera had clicked the shot and Butterscotch was out before I managed to click again.

Topaz was the first out as soon as the door started to lift

Butterscotch is just inside the door ready to tumble out but she was out before the camera clicked again and I got Speckles ready to to come out instead.

Speckles is next

That is Butterscotch’s tail at the bottom of the photo.

Speckles is out

Peaches and Barley are out followed by Toffee who squeezes underneath the door

Emerald was next, also missed, followed by Honey.

Honey is out

Once again by the time the camera clicked Honey was already out.

All eight girls were out before the door was half way up.

This is proof that the girls can get down from the perches and out as quickly as they like. They are also settling in the evening easily now so all in all the chicken shed is working well and the perches are now at the perfect height.

On my Halloween post about the ghosts in our windows I said how comforting it was having an open fire.

We always try to resist putting the heating on until November and this year November has been unusually mild. We haven’t put the heating on yet but we have a small open fire each evening in our sitting room. This gives just enough heat for us and is so lovely to look at. Last night I just couldn’t resist taking a photograph.

Our open fire

This fire really cheers us each evening.

Butterscotch missed laying an egg yesterday and as regular as clockwork, she laid her egg this morning, before it was light enough for the automatic door to open.

Alas, this time the egg was cracked. I must try to remember that if she misses a day I must thicken up the layer of shavings under her bedtime roost position.

I decided to add a couple of shop bought eggs to her egg and scramble them for the girls as a treat. I scramble them in a little olive oil and water and when I broke the eggs into the pan I was surprised that Butterscotch’s smaller egg actually had a larger yolk than the bigger, medium sized, shop bought eggs. No wonder we prefer our girl’s lovely eggs!

This is the very favourite treat of all treats and I only managed to get the few photos below as it was gone in no time. Unfortunately it goes so quickly that this is the one treat that I have real difficulty in managing to give Speckles a share.

I dished it up into four small bowls and kept a fourth one back to try to give to Speckles. I would drop some blobs in front of her but the other girls would sweep in and take it from her. I managed to get her to have one small bit before the lot was hoovered up.

All the girls rush to the egg except for nervous Speckles

They love the egg and are super speedy at demolishing it

Speckles would really like to get a look in., she is hovering just behind the patio

Speckles after she had had her one peck at some egg

She managed one beak full but by the time I clicked the camera she was already on her way. I have used every photo that I managed to take during this speedy downing of the egg. It was all gone in moments. At least Butterscotch’s egg didn’t go to waste. She is a star!

Before getting on to the girls mash I just wanted to say that I really do know the perches in the chicken shed are now at the right height. This morning I went out to the girls at quarter past seven and the automatic door was just starting to open.

I heard the bump, bump, bump of the girls jumping from the perch and before the door was even half way up the girls were squeezing underneath it just as they used to do in the old coop. Butterscotch was one of the first ones out. This really proves that they can all get down quickly and easily now, including Butterscotch.

I think having the perches high to start with was useful for training them to go in but they are now used to the lower perches and there is no longer any problem with them putting themselves to bed.

It seems to have taken a while to get it right but I am really happy with their shed now and I think they are too.

I only put one large dish of mash out as I know it lasts all morning and although Speckles can’t get to it when the others are there she always gets her share as they tire of it. Emerald never seems that bothered about mash.

Some mash for the girls

It looks very dark but this was at half past nine this morning. It was dark because it was raining heavily and I thought some mash might cheer the girls. Butterscotch is missing as she was laying her egg but I knew she would get some later.

Butterscotch is getting her egg laid

Speckles wants to join in

Peaches only has to look at her

To turn her away

Speckles gets her turn when the others lose interest

I now have it all to myself

Butterscotch soon got her egg laid and had her turn at the mash. By lunch time the mash dish was empty. I love that they find this such a treat when it is only their normal food and I always feel good that I know they have had a good helping of pellets whilst feeling like they have had something more special.

It’s been very wet for the last few days but the good thing is that there are still plenty of dry spots for the girls to have a dust bath which they take full advantage of. The old part of the run is still the driest with the new part letting in rain at the sides and it also drips between some of the joins in the roof panels.

For some reason whenever it rains Butterscotch always has a wet head. None of the other girls have a wet head so I can only think that she stands under the drips. It  is odd how the girl with the most bouffant hair style is the one that will get her head wet. She always looks so ridiculous.

Butterscotch has another bad hair day

Five out of eight girls were enjoying dust baths this afternoon.

Peaches and Barley are not participating but are together as always

Speckles is also not participating

Emerald has a dust bath in the newest part of the run

She flicks the dirt over her back

Toffee is in a dust bath on the other side of the wire from the rest of the girls

Communal dust baths

Toffee did start out on this side of the wire but Butterscotch chased her out and took her place. Toffee then moved to the other side of the wire where she can dust bath in peace.

A dust bathing group

Butterscotch rubbed her wet head feathers in the dirt making her “hair do” look even worse. She also reminds me of beached seal in this pose.

The run appears to be littered with dead bodies

I do wonder what it is that sparks them all off to do this at the same time. It is entertaining to watch though. They were clearly enjoying their dust baths.

I am glad to say that the girls have now got used to the lower perches and they are settling easily at bedtime now. There are still squabbles but that is normal, there always were squabbles over who is allowed to sit next to who else.

It has now settled into the usual bit of squabbling and Peaches, Barley and Emerald are still last to go in but they are no longer standing on the little coop nest boxes, twisting their heads, to try to spot a (non existent) higher perch.

Despite the extra perches the girls have lined up together for the last couple of nights which is quite cute to see.

The current bedtime line up

Butterscotch is always in the middle and Speckles is very often next to Honey in the corner. Honey is more tolerant of Speckles than any of the other girls. Barley and Peaches like to be next each other when ever they can.

Speckles was sharing a dust bath with Honey a few days ago which was really nice to see. I often feel so sorry for Speckles being bottom girl and chased by most of the girls. Luckily she has speed on her side but seeing her dust bath next to Honey (in fact almost on top of Honey) was so lovely.

Butterscotch is still laying and after missing a day yesterday she laid her egg at first light before the automatic door opened as is usual for her. Once again it was intact from the lower perch which is an extra bonus.

When I checked in on them tonight they were in the same order as the photo above, from last night, except that Honey and Speckles had switched ends with Peaches and Barley. Speckles was in the left hand corner with Honey next along and Peaches and Barley in the right hand corner.

I am so glad that we made the changes and gave it time to settle. I know that they can now easily get up and down from the perches and the bedtime routine has returned to normal.

Since we have had the new chicken shed Emerald comes in every morning when I poop pick and very helpfully scratches around in the shavings.

Yesterday I cleaned the shed out and as soon as I had the door open Emerald was there to help me.

Emerald is going to help me clean out the chicken shed

This is helping isn’t it?

I empty out all the shavings then vacuum the shed before putting in fresh shavings. Being able to stand in the shed makes this so much easier and I can vacuum dust and any cobwebs from the ceiling and walls of the shed and any dust from the floor.

I also scrub all the perches and dry them with a cloth. The perches are smooth which also makes them easy to clean and dry.

Meanwhile Speckles is having a dust bath

I love the intense concentration on her face.

Action shot

I managed to capture her flicking the dirt over her back, getting all the feathers evenly covered.

Topaz takes over the dust bath

Speckles left her dust bath and Topaz moved in making it a bit deeper to suit her.

Speckles comes over to inspect my work

I left the shed to open a new bag of pine shavings to finish and when I turned back Speckles was in there.

Okay, I’ll let you finish

These girls love to get involved when I am cleaning the shed. After I had finished and closed the door they all trooped in to check it out.

We live in an Edwardian house which has it’s original windows. The windows were one of the things that attracted us to this house. This means no double glazing though. We cope with thick, lined curtains and an open fire in the winter (as well as central heating).

On cold mornings we have what my husband calls “ghosts on the windows”. The cold air outside and the warm air inside produce condensation while the drafts in the window frames keep pockets on the windows clear. This gives the ghostly effect.

It’s odd but when we look at the windows we focus on the ghostly white shapes but the photograph shows up the clear bits the most.

Ghosts in the windows

It does give quite a spooky effect though which I thought was quite appropriate for Halloween.