Carol's Chickens

My friend Jackie rang me to tell me that someone had dug some turf out of the allotment and we arranged to go and collect it this morning for our girls. Jackie said one of her friends had also said we could have the last of his sprout stalks for the girls too.

I couldn’t decide which to give the girls first so in the end decided to give them a piece of turf and a sprout stalk.

This caused immediate excitement

Honey stands on the turf

I decided that as Honey was standing on the turf and some of the girls couldn’t get close that I would break it in half to help them get at it.

The girls are loving this

The turf is easier than the sprout stalk so got all the attention at first but when I returned a little later all the grass had gone.

The grass has gone and attention has turned to the sprout stalk

The girls decided that they liked the sprouts too

The girls made short work of the turf but I think the sprout stalk will keep them interested for a few days. I have several more turfs pieces and sprout stalks which I have put in the shed to be given out over the next week or so.

The girls just love anything like this. Thank you Jackie.

This morning when I went out to poop pick the coop I actually remembered to take my camera with me and the girls didn’t disappoint. As soon as started to clean the coup the girls came running.

Amber is in the nest box and is being watched by Barley, Peaches and Emerald

Well Barley is actually watching me at the moment but all three do seem interested in what Amber is getting up to.

Honey is joining the party

Honey is just coming through the pop hole and now has Barley’s attention.

Honey joins Amber in the nest box

Barley and Peaches only have eyes for each other.

Honey is now in the nest box with Amber

Emerald and Peaches watch Honey and Amber while Barley’s attention returns to me.

Even Toffee has a look through the pop hole

This was the first time that Toffee joined in although only from the pop hole.  Honey had left the nest box at this stage.

Sparkle goes in after the other girls have left

Once I had finished cleaning the girls left but Sparkle came in for a quick scratch around before I closed the coop.

This has been the morning routine for a while now and yet the odd thing is none of the girls lay their eggs in the main coop. They just seem attracted to the coop as soon I have my head and hands in there as if I am the trigger for them all to come and join in. I know it’s to do with them all getting ready to lay again but I wonder why there is this communal behaviour in the mornings.

I love the interaction though and it makes me smile as I clean up each morning.

Spring fever is definitely in the air. This morning while I was poop picking the coop it was Honey’s turn to sit in the nest box. She was then joined by Amber. Emerald came in to watch then Peaches and Barley came in to watch too and Sparkle looked on from the pop hole. It’s getting very busy and crowded in the coop in the mornings. Once again I wished I had my camera and will try to remember to take it with me tomorrow morning.

Later this morning when I went into the run I realised that both Peaches and Barley were missing on parade. I checked the little coops and found them together in the left coop. I fetched my camera. I have said before that this pair like to do everything together. None of the other girls will tolerate another in the coop with them.

They were twirling together and one would flutter her head under the others breast. As they stood up and parted slightly I saw an egg between them. They both started moving it around with their beaks so I removed it.

Peaches then left the coop and Barley settled down so I knew this must be Peaches egg. I was really pleased as Peaches hasn’t laid an egg for a month now. A few moments later Barley came out and when I checked the coop there was her egg. It is strange that after a month off Peaches laid her egg just minutes before Barley laid hers.

We can share a nest box

Twirling together

Are you looking at us!

Peaches egg

You can just see Peaches egg below her face. She started pecking at it so I removed it.

We went out for a two hour walk as it was such a lovely day and I checked the nest boxes again once we got back and was surprised to find another egg in the favourite right coop. I decided that it was Sparkle’s egg as it is the same darker colour as her previous eggs.

This is the first three egg day we have had since June.We have gone from two eggs a week to six eggs in five days! I haven’t had six eggs on my egg skelter for a very long time.

Egg skelter

I was so excited that I just had to take a photo. For ages we have only been getting enough of our own eggs for Sunday breakfast and it will be lovely to start having them at other times too. I am quite hopeful that with four out of eight girls now laying I won’t have to buy any more eggs for a while.

Spring is most definitely in the air.

Last summer Sparkle was my best layer. She laid four or five eggs per week throughout the summer and was last to stop laying and begin her moult. Sparkle’s eggs were the smallest of all the girls. They were the same pale colour as the other girl’s eggs but were narrower and had the least white inside them.

Since she has started laying again this year her eggs are bigger in size (more white inside them) and darker in shell colour. They are a very light brown or perhaps beige. I wonder if this change will be ongoing and is because she is more mature or is it because she has just started laying again. She is only laying one egg in nearly two weeks at the moment so I wonder if it is being held longer at the stage when the pigment goes on.

Only time will tell if her eggs return to how they were last year (but perhaps with an increase in size) or if they will stay like this. I quite like the difference in colour as it makes it easy to tell which are her eggs. Last summer I could tell her eggs by their narrow shape.

I thought I should record this so I can compare later when she hits her stride in the summer.

Sparkle’s egg on the right

The egg on the left is a medium sized shop bought egg, next is Topaz’s egg followed by Barley’s egg laid yesterday and on the right is Sparkle’s egg laid yesterday. Sparkle’s eggs used to be as pale in colour but narrower than Topaz’s eggs and are now slightly bigger and darker. I find this quite fascinating. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Of course to most people this doesn’t matter in the slightest, but as us chicken keepers know, all egg laying changes are a source of fascination.

Yesterday the three girls that are laying at the momet all wanted to lay at the same time and in the same nest box. To add to this Amber also thought she wanted to lay too or maybe just to practice.

I got home at lunch time to hear a lot of shouting from the girls. Amber was in the left hand little coop and Sparkle was in the favourite right hand little coop. Topaz and Barley were watching Sparkle and shouting their heads off. I went into the house to grab my camera.

By the time I returned Amber was out and Barley had taken her place it the left coop. Topaz was shouting at Sparkle in the right coop.

Sparkle is in the favourite nest box  and Topaz is outside shouting at her

Topaz wants this nest box

Barley has given up and gone into the other nest box

Sparkle left the right coop and Topaz quickly took her place.

Before long Barley decided the left coop wasn’t good enough and she really did want the favourite nest box.

Barley joins Topaz in the right coop

Barley gets close to Topaz

The next time I checked Barley was in the left coop again. I guess Topaz didn’t make her welcome.

I checked back a few moments later and Barley was out again and her warm egg was in the left coop, hurrah!

Sparkle was next to lay her egg and then Topaz returned to the favourite coop. It’s like a game of musical coops!

When I went up to give them their pre bedtime corn they were all out in the run waiting. I checked the coop again and Topaz hadn’t laid. I can’t believe after all the fuss today she didn’t even need to lay but this happens all the time with Topaz. She had only laid her egg two days ago and is only laying one a week at the moment so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Two eggs in a day is good at the the moment though. The last two egg day was two months ago. Spring is definitely on it’s way and the girls are getting ready to increase their laying.

For the last couple of weeks Amber has come in and sat in the nest box every morning while I poop pick the coop. This behaviour plus her being very vocal makes me think she is getting ready to start laying again.

Amber comes in and has a twirl around then she sits herself down and stays there while I clean the coop. As soon as I have finished she promptly stands up and marches out. It is really amusing to see and I have no idea why she only does this while I am in the coop (or at least my head and hands are in the coop).

Sometimes Honey will come in and watch her and most days Peaches and Barley come in and watch her. Emerald nearly always comes in as she leaves and has a quick scratch around in the nest box but doesn’t sit like Amber. Sparkle occasionally comes and has a peck and scratch from outside the pop hole or just inside.

Topaz doesn’t bother with the main coop but goes and sits in her favourite right hand little coop on some of the days in between laying her egg. It’s as if she is never quite sure on which day her egg will come but she has always behaved like this. Toffee is the only one of the girls that hasn’t shown any interest at all so far. I guess when she is ready to lay she will just get on with it without the need to practice.

I have been trying to remember to take my camera out with me in the morning to capture this and this morning I finally remembered.

Amber goes into the nest box

She has a twirl around

She sits herself down

She has a look below

Once Amber leaves it’s Emerald’s turn

She likes to try facing both ways

Once Emerald has had a scratch around she also leaves. The funny thing is that all this activity takes place every morning while I clean the coop and yet none of the girls even lay their eggs in this nest box. They all prefer the little coops.

I wonder if it’s something to do with being around the leader of the flock (me) I class myself as leader as obviously Topaz is top hen and my role is completely different. I also find it interesting that given the choice they prefer to lay their eggs in a place other than where they sleep at night.

I have to say that I do enjoy this little ritual with the girls each morning.

I have been concerned for some time now that there is a lack of light in the chicken run and have wondered if this has contributed to the lack of eggs from the girls. At the moment Topaz is laying one egg a week and Barley is laying one egg every two weeks. Peaches seems to have given up for now and after Sparkle laid her first two eggs of the year she hasn’t laid since which was two and a half weeks ago.

Honey and Amber started laying half way through February last year but haven’t started back this year so far although their combs have become red again. It’s not just about eggs though it’s more that I want the girls to be happy and don’t want the run to be a gloomy place for them.

A few days ago I decided to see what I could do to let more light in. I realised that the corrugated plastic roof over the chicken’s patio area was covered in wet leaves blocking out the light. There are a lot of big trees behind our garden.

I got a step ladder and a broom and decided to try to remove them. I soon found that they wouldn’t brush away as they were sodden and filled the troughs of the corrugated roof. I found that I had to turn the broom side ways and reach out as far I could and pull the leaves along the groove. I then picked them up and put them in a bin bag. It was quite painstaking as I had do each groove one at a time and it was quite an arm aching job. It has made the patio area much lighter though.

The next thing I decided to do was to take the tarpaulin off of the newer part of the run. It hasn’t been successful at keeping this area dry as the rain still blows in and it’s just another layer blocking out some of the light. I also felt that once it was off I could then open up the panels on dry or sunny days to let in more light.

Once I had completed these two jobs I felt the run was much brighter. It may or may not make any difference to egg production but it’s got to be nicer for the girls.

The girls get some apples on their lighter patio area

All the girls pecking at the apples

The run will get more light as the days get longer and hopefully we will get some sunny days. Roll on summer and hopefully more eggs too.

We have a plant that we know as “mind your own business” growing alongside our front path. Every year at this time we cut it back as it encroaches on the path. My husband cuts it with kitchen scissors as it’s like a mat of root.

We then give it to the girls to peck and scratch at. It had the added bonus of three worms of which Topaz got two and Sparkle the other one.

The girls take a look

They take a closer look

They get stuck in

An hour later I went back to check on them and they had broken it up and spread it around.

Spread around

These girls are so easily pleased and this will keep them going for a few days yet.

It’s been cold, grey and often wet recently but it is encouraging to see some signs of spring in the garden. There are many different types of snowdrop and we have a few in our garden.

We have large single snowdrops

We have pretty ballerina like snowdrops

To fully appreciate these snowdrops you need to look underneath the flowers

The hellebores are also lovely

Hellebores also benefit from being seen from underneath

So pretty underneath

It is lovely to see a bit of spring in the garden and I can’t wait for a bit of warmth and sunshine too.

Last night at dusk my husband came in and said that he thought we had another little bird in trouble and I should come out and take a look. There was a baby blue tit inside the suet feeder. He said it’s mum had been calling it like crazy from the nearby fence but it wouldn’t come out of the feeder and eventually she left.

I said that it looked to be engrossed in feeding on the suet and I thought it had just got carried away. My husband was concerned that it was getting dark and no other birds were still out.

I went to get my camera. As I took a couple of photos this was enough to cause the baby bird to realise that it should go. I got one of it in the feeder, the next of it emerging from the feeder, then it flew up and over the fence towards to the trees.

Baby blue tit in the feeder

Baby blue tit makes it’s exit

I am glad I took the photos because it seemed to be enough to cause the bird to fly to safety. Hopefully this little bird will get to live another day.