Carol's Chickens

Peaches and Barley have just started their moult and their eggs have dropped to one, from either one or other girl, about every four days with the last one laid two days ago. I think we may not get any more from them this year as today I found quite a few feathers from them in the run.

That leaves only two girls laying (Honey and Butterscotch) and two large nest boxes between them so you wouldn’t think there would much of a problem there. Wrong!

This afternoon Honey was in the left nest box and Topaz (the perpetual broody) was in the right nest box all fluffed up. Butterscotch who lays nearly every day wanted to lay her egg. She stood outside the nest boxes shouting very loudly.

Honey is still laying an egg, on average, every three days and I knew she was due to lay so didn’t want to disturb her. Topaz however doesn’t lay at all so I thought it would be best to move her out to allow Butterscotch to go in.

Topaz was angry and shouting and trying to return to the nest box so I distracted her with some grapes.

A little later Butterscotch was once again shouting loudly and when I back to check Topaz was back in the nest box and Butterscotch was pacing outside. I once again removed Topaz and allowed Butterscotch to go in.

There was a bit more shouting then it went quiet so I went in to check on them.

Butterscotch has had to share the nest box with Topaz

Honey is still in the other nest box

Butterscotch is settled whereas Topaz is giving me the angry eye

Topaz made it known to me that she didn’t appreciate me taking photos. I left them to it.

I was surprised that Butterscotch would choose angry Topaz to share with until my husband reminded me that a few days ago Honey had pulled feathers from Butterscotch when she tried to share with her. Maybe she is smarter than we think. Topaz is all bark and no bite (or should that be peck!) whereas, normally gentle Honey, will pull feathers from Butterscotch in a nest box dispute.

A short while later Butterscotch was shouting as she always does when she has laid her egg. Topaz was sat on Butterscotch’s egg and all fluffed up. I moved Topaz to take away Butterscotch’s egg and set her off shouting again.

Once the egg was removed and both Butterscotch and Honey had left the nest boxes, Topaz left too and all was peaceful again. Honey hadn’t laid after all but she often does this. Sometimes she doesn’t seem to know when she is going to lay and will go in the nest box for a period of time for a couple of days before finally getting her egg laid.

If there is this much fuss with two girls laying I wonder what it will be like when they are all laying.

Up until recently we had a third nest box in the coop. I think next year when they all start laying again we will put another nest box or two in the chicken shed but we will leave it until spring because I think before long Butterscotch will be our only girl laying.

I thought it was about time that I introduced the new girls to yogurt. I put it in four little dishes and put three on the patio area and one on the wooden block to try to encourage the new girls to try it.

Four dishes of yogurt

Butterscotch tries the yogurt

Butterscotch likes the yogurt

Speckles tries a splashed bit of yogurt

Speckles didn’t quite have the courage to try it from the dish but did manage to peck at some of the splashes.

Speckles takes a look

Speckles always peeps over the patio like this before mustering up the courage to jump up to the patio.

Speckles is ready to run

She makes it but doesn’t have the courage to try one of the dishes. You can see by her body language that she is always ready to run.

Speckles is very speedy and will often run when any of the girls even look at her. She is too nervous to take treats from dishes but she does get her share of the treats. Speckles will run up to the patio and take a bit of spinach or a bit of apple and run off with it. She is also very quick to the sunflower hearts or corn and she will return to the treats in dishes when the other girls have had enough and moved away, so she doesn’t miss out.

This evening when I went in to give the bedtime treats, Speckles had lost her last tail feather.

Speckles has lost her tail

Speckles face on

I included this photo because she looks so funny face on and it’s a shot that I don’t get too often.

Speckles no tail

And she’s off

I included this photo because this is the view I most often get on photos of Speckles. I have to say she does look cute with no tail.

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.