Carol's Chickens

We have now had Butterscotch and Speckles for three weeks. They have settled quite well into the flock but are still a bit on the outside at times. Speckles is definitely very much the bottom girl and is still quite nervous of the girls and of me.

Butterscotch is more laid back and has shown Toffee and Emerald that they are below her and also shows Speckles occasionally that she too is below her. Yet Peaches and Barley who are below Toffee and Emerald are very much above Butterscotch and will chase her away.

Sometimes I see  “pay it down” behaviour, as I call it. Toffee will have a peck at Emerald who in turn will then Peck at Peaches and she in turn will take a quick peck at Butterscotch. It really does look like they are passing it on.

Honey goes after Butterscotch the most though. Topaz as top girl has no need and a glare is usually all it takes for her to intimidate. Honey is determined to hang on to her second position in the pecking order. She sees no threat from Speckles so doesn’t bother with her but she realises Butterscotch is more of a threat to her position so she chases her and will hang on to her back or pull the odd feather from her back.

Butterscotch has turned out to be a really good egg layer. Within a week of being with us she had started to lay and has now laid ten eggs in the last thirteen days. She has already taken over Topaz’s record of six eggs last year and eight eggs this year.

When Butterscotch lays her eggs she comes out shouting and is by far the loudest girl we have. It’s lucky that it seems only to be laying her egg that gets her shouting because she is probably louder than a cockerel! I have yet to hear a hen louder than her.

Butterscotch about to lay her egg

She looks so sweet in the nest box. The patch of downy under feathers on her back is where Honey has pulled some of the outer feathers from her. It’s lucky that she is so fluffy.

A few days ago Honey and Butterscotch both wanted the same nest box and were making quite a fuss about it. When I next checked Honey was in the left nest box and Butterscotch was in the right nest box with four long feathers by her so I think there had been a skirmish and Honey had pulled her feathers out. Butterscotch didn’t seem bothered by the incident and soon got her egg laid.

Speckles on the other hand hasn’t laid any eggs and it soon became apparent why this is. Speckles is moulting and every movement leaves a trail of feathers. She leaves feathers in the dust bath and there is always a little heap of feathers under her position on the perch overnight.

Yesterday morning Speckles had only two tail feathers left and by the afternoon she had only one tail feather left.

Speckles has only one remaining tail feather

She doesn’t look bad considering how many feathers I am picking up every time I go in the run.I love the way her fallen feathers have a little white tip which makes up her speckles. You can see this on her remaining tail feather.

Despite being bottom girl she always roosts on the top perch with the rest of the flock whereas Butterscotch roosts on the top rung of the ladder. This is because Speckles is tiny and agile and manages to find a space at either one end or the other of the perch.

Butterscotch is bigger and heavier and can’t usually find a big enough gap on the perch to squeeze into.

It will obviously take a little more time for the new girls to be completely part of the flock but I am happy with the way it is going. I would like to see Speckles less nervous, especially around me, but I remember Toffee being the same when we first had her. I know that these things take time. All in all though it is going well and having a good egg layer is definitely a welcome bonus.

On Sunday we had a dear friend and her partner over for Sunday lunch. I decorated the table with a vintage jug of flowers snipped from the garden for a splash of colour.

A jug of flowers from the garden

Our friend arrived with a bottle of wine and a beautiful canna lily for the garden. She knows we love our garden.

Yesterday I planted it in the middle of the garden so that it’s in the line of sight from our patio creating a lovely splash of colour.

The canna lily gives a splash of colour to the garden

It is a rhizome, perennial, with tropical like foliage and flowers resembling an iris. It’s low maintenance and easy to grow (good) and gives long lasting colour in the garden. They like full sun and plenty of water.

The rhizome needs some protection in the winter and a deep mulch is advised but we have an old fashioned, single plant, metal and glass, cloche which we will use. It was a birthday gift from my youngest son some years ago and will be very useful for protecting this plant.

Finally I should just say we had a lovely Sunday afternoon of chat and laughter, food and wine and good company, which we will be reminded of every time we feast our eyes on the lovely canna lily.

The new girls have got the hang of greens and fruit but hadn’t seen mash until this morning. I put it out in three dishes.

Butterscotch and Speckles want to take a look in the dishes

They edge a bit closer

I don’t think it would matter how many dishes I put out because the new girls were just not brave enough to go right up to a dish. They weren’t even being chased away but if they approached a dish Barley and Peaches would just have to lift their head and look at the new girls and they turned and ran away.

Speckles nearly gets to the mash

It looks as if Speckles has made it in this photo but just as she was about to have a peck Topaz turned round and glared at her and she ran off.

Butterscotch tried a bit

Eventually I blobbed some on the patio and Butterscotch finally found the courage to have a peck at it.

Butterscotch intimidates Speckles

As soon as Speckles went to have a peck at it Butterscotch intimidated her with a stare and she ran off. Poor Speckles didn’t end up getting any.

I thought that once all the girls had had their fill she would get her chance but they cleaned up. I will try another day with a slightly bigger amount and four dishes. I am sure the new girls will find the courage eventually but at the moment they are so easily intimidated with just a look from the other girls.

Things are always a bit of trial and error to find out what works best with chickens. We put up a high shelf for the girls to perch on because I was worried that if we had a single perch they wouldn’t be able to pass each other and in the limited space a girl could get knocked to the floor.

When we had the high perch outside on the patio area I used to see this happen and worried a girl might get hurt. We ended up resolving it by putting up other perches so that they could step round each other.

The shed has a much more limited space and we need the ladder to be able to be raised up for cleaning.

However the problem now is that the poop splatters the back of the shed. Most of it drops down the gap at the back but some remains on the shelf. During the longer winter hours in the shed I don’t want the girls sat in poop plus we would like to keep the shed as clean as possible. It needed a rethink. I know, Steve, you already questioned this from the start but we have to learn as we go.

The back of the shed is getting splattered

I said to my husband that obviously a perch would solve all these problems but it worried me that the girls wouldn’t be able to pass each other while trying to get to their desired position and there is a danger of a girl getting knocked to the floor.

He suggested the answer would be to put up two perches parallel to each other so that they could use the second perch to pass each other. Brilliant!

I sanded out the poop marks on the back of the shed and my husband fitted two perches.

We now have two parallel perches with a wider gap behind the one at the back

Emerald was the first to investigate as she is always the first one in

She looks a bit wobbly but I think they will soon get used to it

Speckles gets to the top perch

Toffee joins them but seems a bit unsure

Speckles is determined to keep her place on the top perch even though she has been moved from her original position

Butterscotch has yet to make an appearance

Butterscotch looks like she wants to join them on the top perch

butterscotch has also made it to the top perch

It took a lot longer than usual for the girls to get settled with lots of coming and going from the shed but in the end they settled with all of them on the top perch. I think this proves the perches are a success because the girls all want to be on the top perch and now they can.

I had one last peek at the girls after our evening meal and they were all still in the same position and settled.

This morning at six o’clock I could hear Butterscotch shouting. I was just trying to decide if I should go out and check on them when it went quiet again. At nearly half past six I could once more hear Butterscotch shouting but it soon went quiet again. At quarter to seven I went out to them.

I checked the little coops as I do every morning just in case there is an early egg. There was Butterscotch’s cream coloured, round egg. That explains the earlier shouting before and after her egg laying. She laid her first egg the day before yesterday so it looks like she is now in the swing of it and could be a good egg layer. It also shows that she is now settled in the flock.

Cleaning the shed was so easy this morning with all the poop below the top perches and none on the back of the shed. I am really pleased with how these new perches are working and think we have now perfected the shed.

I think the girls will soon get used to the perches and settle at bedtime as easily as before and it was so good to see the new girls roosting with the rest of the flock. This is one more step towards a united flock.

The new girls were hatched at the end of last summer so they are just under a year old. They have now been with us for a week. They haven’t been laying but I thought this may because they are about to start to moult as well as the stress of moving to a new flock. I have picked up feathers from the run from both of them but more from Speckles than Butterscotch.

This afternoon their was a lot of commotion from the girls. Butterscotch was doing a lot of shouting and at times some of the other girls joined in including Speckles. I went up to them several times to see what was going on. Butterscotch was being very vocal and looking in the little coop then looking in the shed.

I realised that she wanted to lay an egg but didn’t know where as our nest boxes are not familiar to her. She went in the shed but Peaches chased her out again. She then went in the coop but our girls are very nosey about any girl trying to lay her egg. Peaches and Barley went to watch her and Butterscotch came back out shouting loudly.

Butterscotch returned to the coop and settled in there and I thought she was now about to lay but then Topaz went to investigate. Butterscotch is obviously not used to being watched and she came out again and once more sounded very angry.

Next time I checked she had gone back in and all the rest of the girls were out in the run. I hoped she would now have some peace.

A little later I heard Butterscotch shouting from inside the little coop. I lifted the lid and there was her cream coloured, round egg. I told her what a clever girl she was but she just went out into the run shouting for a bit. This is the most noisy she has been since she has been with us.

Peaches and Barley’s white eggs are on the left, next is Honey’s cream oval egg and on the right is Butterscotch’s cream, round egg

The difference in colour doesn’t show up in a photograph but Peaches and Barley’s are really white, Honey’s are beige and oval and Butterscotch’s is creamy and round.

I think now that she knows where to go there should be less fuss next time. It is good to have another girl laying as I thought we might have to wait until the spring. Well done Butterscotch!

We herded/guided the new girls towards the shed for the first two evenings. Last night was the third evening and I had a good feeling. Early evening Honey had grabbed Speckles by the back of her neck and Speckles had ran from Honey into the shed.

I felt that this was a good sign as she obviously saw the shed as a place of safety. She came out again once Topaz went in but popped in again a little later. She came out once more and all of the old flock settled in the shed on the top perch as usual at six o’clock.

The new girls had some pellets and some water and pecked around near the patio area.

At half past six Speckles went into the shed and Butterscotch followed her and pecked at the shavings inside the pop hole. A few minutes later Butterscotch went in. I peeked in and Speckles was on the top rung of the ladder and Butterscotch was on the bottom rung of the ladder. I closed the main door and could hear Butterscotch making her way up the ladder.

We went back out after our evening meal at about half past seven.

The original flock were on the top perch as ususal

The new girls were on the top rung of the ladder

The new girls settle on the top rung

We were thrilled that once again by the third evening they had got the hang of it and gone in on their own. We really think we have cracked this already. We are feeling elated!

This has all been a bit surprising. When the new girls were separated from the existing flock it was Speckles that did all the ruff raising and showing off at the wire while Butterscotch took no notice of the flock at all. It looked like Speckles was getting ready to move up the pecking order.

Once all the girls were together it was a totally different story. Butterscotch had a proper go at Toffee and had hold of her feathers. Toffee didn’t contest her at all and Emerald was wary of her and stayed out of her way. Maybe Butterscotch is brighter than she looks because she went for the middle girl (Toffee was third out of six) and she definitely came out on top.

The weird thing is that Peaches and Barley who were bottom girls have tackled Butterscotch and have come out on top. Over the last few days they have each come up behind her and held the back of her neck causing Butterscotch to squat down in the submissive position.

I have never had this sort of pecking order before. It seems that Butterscotch is now above Toffee and Emerald in the pecking order (who are middle girls) but is below Peaches and Barley (who are bottom girls).

Speckles on the other hand seems to have gone right to the bottom. Barley (bottom girl) is the only one other than Topaz who raised her ruff to her since they have been together and Speckles backed down. Since then she has kept out of the girls way. She is the most wary of both the girls and of me. Butterscotch has proved to be the braver of the two with the girls and with me.

I think it goes back to what I call bottom girl syndrome. Speckles as bottom girl (rather than trying to rise up the pecking order as I first thought) did the most showing off behind the safety of the wire.

Peaches and Barley as bottom girls have done the most showing off both behind the wire and once integrated. Topaz only had to prove herself top hen behind the wire and once when integrated and now has kept her top hen status uncontested.

Now that Peaches and Barley have proved that Butterscotch is submissive to them they are happy to share a dust bath with her and rub along. Speckles however keeps herself to herself and doesn’t yet have the confidence to mix with the flock. She continues to stay close to Butterscotch though.

I am sure in time her confidence will grow. It is interesting to see the changes among the flock but pleasing that they seem to have got it sorted out quickly with no blood shed.

Last night the main flock went to bed at six o’clock. Since we have had the new shed they go in early so they must really like it in there.

By half past six the new girls had been up to the patio and topped up on pellets and water. At quarter to seven they were still pottering about near the patio area. I said to my husband that rather than let them perch up as usual and have to then shoo them down it would be better to try to get them to go in at this point.

We got behind them with our arms outstretched and guided them towards the Shed. They ran at speed straight through the pop hole. It was so easy as they obviously knew where to go. I felt really pleased and think they may go in on their own tonight. Even if they don’t we will guide them again as it is easy enough to do.

The original flock were in their usual place on the top perch

Speckles went straight to the top rung of the ladder

I love the way they are looking at each other.

Butterscotch is working her way up the ladder

When Butterscotch sits like this she reminds me of the puppet, Orville the duck. Any one who remembers Orville will know what I mean.

A bit of a change in positions

A very successful evening.

This morning Butterscotch was in a dust bath when Peaches and Barley joined her. The three were really close pecking at the dust around them as they do. I went for my camera but as soon as I was through the gate Peaches and Barley rushed towards me.

Butterscotch in a dust bath

A little later Speckles was in a dust bath. I couldn’t get a closer photo than this as she is still very wary of me.

Speckles in a dust bath

The girls must feel quite settled to be enjoying dust baths. I am so pleased with how well this integration has gone.

Last night, as I expected, the new girls didn’t go in the shed with the rest of the flock. There had been a few dust ups during the day I couldn’t blame the new girls for not wanting to volunteer to be with the flock.

The new girls roosted on the same perch they had been using since their arrival. I decided to wait until dusk to lift them down and put them in the shed.

My husband came out with me and suggested putting the torch in for a few minutes so that they could make their way up the ladder. We didn’t want them to spend the night on the floor. This worked well.

Both new girls on the bottom rung of the ladder

Second rung up

Third rung up

They settled on the third rung up and the rest of the flock are in their usual position on the top perch.

This morning I went out to them at quarter to six to make sure they were all okay together. Everything was fine and they all joined in with the morning sunflower hearts.

The flock have been fine together today with no spats but the new girls don’t mix yet. They sit together on one of the logs or one of the tables and go up to the patio when the other girls are elsewhere.

In the afternoon I threw out some chopped grapes and they joined in with this although they do tend to hang at the back of the flock.

Butterscotch and Speckles are at the back of the flock

They have started to run down to me or up to the patio when I go in just in case there are treats on offer although when I move about the run cleaning up they are still very wary of me. I think we are making some progress though.

The plan tonight is to wait for the main flock to go in and settle, then to herd the new girls in and shut the door. We hope that, like the main flock, after a couple of evenings they will get the hang of it.

It would be awful after all our efforts with the new shed if the main flock went in every night and the new girls didn’t but I know many people find it takes a bit of time for new girls to know where they are supposed to sleep. I really hope they will soon get the hang of it.

It’s the third full day with the new girls and we decided the time was right to start integrating them.

I had a breakfast delivery this morning but no lunch delivery so would have the rest of the day to watch them whereas tomorrow we have visitors in the morning to discus their wedding followed by a lunch delivery.

I started by closing the new girls in to the new end of the run while I moved the little coop and feeding station back to the patio area. I then lifted up and tied back the wire at the patio corner to form an escape route. I then opened both gates and lifted up and tied back the wire at the far end of the run to form another escape route.

The new girls at the end of the run next to the newly opened escape route

Peaches and Barley spot them

Peaches and Barley become agitated

Barley has a go at Speckles

It all happened so quickly that I only got this one blurred shot but it shows the level of aggression. I intervened with the water spray.

Luckily Topaz and Honey were in the nest box together so this meant two less girls to worry about at the moment.

These two are out of the equation at the moment

Peaches had laid her egg and Topaz had sat on it until I removed it. Honey then laid her egg and Topaz sat on that until I removed it, so business as usual with Topaz.

Butterscotch found the escape route then found the ladder

I didn’t get closer as I didn’t want to scare her. It was good that the new girls found the escape routes and other perches.

What happened next really surprised me. Butterscotch had a real go at Toffee. She had her by the neck feathers and this time I used the water spray on Butterscotch. Toffee looked quite wobbly and dazed. Perhaps Butterscotch isn’t going to be bottom girl after all. Toffee and Emerald looked really nervous around Butterscotch after that.

Topaz then came out of the coop and had a go at Speckles which I again broke up with the water spray.

I decided it was time to move the new girls up to the patio area so that they know where the food and water is.

The new girls check out the patio area

They soon recognised their water and pellet dish. They both went to the dishes that were familiar to them and ignored the ones on the other side. I always have two water dishes and will keep two pellet dishes too. The small pellet dish is behind the large water dish out of sight in this photo.

Next they checked out the grit

My water spray is beside the grit so that I could grab it if I needed it.

Then they checked out the little coops

At this stage Honey came out of the little coop and I got another surprise. Honey took no notice of butterscotch at all.

Butterscotch and Honey side by side

These two behaved as if they had always been together. I guided Butterscotch into the shed just so that she would know it is there.

She was only in there a minute but I hope it will help at bedtime which is the next hurdle. The rest of the afternoon passed peacefully. Butterscotch seemed at ease with the flock but Speckles seemed more nervous and kept out of the other girls way. Butterscotch and Speckles stayed close together and they discovered the wooden table as another place to get out of the way.

The round table is still favourite though.

Safety on the table

I think, as the first day together, this went really well as they seemed to get the skirmishes out of their system early on and then seemed fairly settled together.

It is now just a matter of showing the new girls where to go at bedtime. I wonder if they will follow the other girls in. I hope it doesn’t all kick off in the shed. I will be glad to get their first night together out of the way but so far so good.