Carol's Chickens

Barley has been getting ready for egg laying for weeks now. Every morning she is very vocal and goes into the right hand little coop and scratches around. Every time I checked she had made a well in the shavings but there was no egg.

Barley and Peaches chatter all the time but it is more of a squeaking sound than the chatter of the other girls. The last two mornings Barley has been shouting which sets off Peaches and sometimes the rest of the girls. I felt she was trying out her egg shout and therefore getting near to laying her first egg.

This afternoon we went out and when we got back I checked all the nest boxes, as I do every day, just in case. In the right hand little coop there was a perfect, tiny, white egg with a little blood streak on it. I knew it was Barley’s because the other girls are all moulting and last year resumed egg laying in February and Peaches hasn’t yet shown any interest in the nest boxes.

I felt so proud of her and so pleased at the thought of having eggs again. We have had no eggs at all since Sparkle stopped laying three weeks ago. Well done Barley!

Barley’s first egg

Barley is six months old (exactly twenty four weeks) so the right age to start laying. It will be interesting to see if she lays another one tomorrow and also how long it will be before Peaches starts laying.

When we first got Peaches and Barley, Peaches was slightly bigger than Barley (which was how I would tell them apart before their combs developed). Once they were fully grown Barley caught up in size but Barleys comb is now bigger than Peaches and she seems to have developed faster.

Barley is on the left and Peaches on the right

Barley has a slightly bigger comb than Peaches and it’s this that makes it easy for me to tell them apart as well as their combs flopping in opposite directions. It’s not so easy to see straight on and is more noticeable from a side angle but I took this photo of them side by side for comparison.

Brown leghorns are supposed to be good egg layers so it will be interesting to see how they do and lovely to have our own eggs again. Well done Barley, you are a proper grown up girl now.

It’s only two weeks since I visited Jackie’s girls when they were in a sorry state of moulting. Jackie e-mailed me to let me know how quickly they were getting their feathers back and invited me to visit and see for myself.

Today I went to see the girls armed with my camera.

Jackie’s girls today

They look so good compared to only two weeks ago.

Blossom

Blossom has her little crest back.

Clover

Clover looks totally different to two weeks ago with most of her feathers back in.

All looking good

They all have fluffy bottoms.

Blossom is almost back to her former glory

Okay, so she is still a little tatty, but she is getting there.

Her neck is no longer bare

It’s the first time Blossom has had neck feathers since the early days when she was part of my flock. She hasn’t had neck feathers for two years until now. I am so very glad that Jackie adopted her and that she has settled in so well with Jackie’s flock.

It’s so lovely that I can visit her, that Jackie loves her and that she is happy and flourishing in Jackie’s care. I know it won’t be long now before she looks really pristine again and I will be back with my camera to update.

It’s not often I can get a photo of all eight girls perching together. They like perching where the ladder is because with the rungs of the ladder as well as the branch they can all get a spot together. It also gets the late morning winter sun, if there is any to be had, so is a favourite spot.

My husband said that the girls were having a group huddle so I grabbed my camera and decided to try to capture the shot. I have to be quick because once I go in they will often jump down to greet me.

Group huddle

Where is Topaz going?

Topaz was first to jump down and is just disappearing out of the right hand side of the shot. I love how they all watch her go.

We should look at the camera

Then their eyes are back on me. It’s a shame Topaz didn’t stay with the group and I only got that one first shot but it’s my first photo of all eight girls perching together. One of them always jumps down as I approach. I love the way they are looking at me in the last photo. They are such funny girls.

I suppose having eight girls this winter as opposed to five last winter the moult seems to be going on for a lot longer.

I am picking up feathers from the coop each morning and from the run three times a day and there seems to be no slowing. I am picking up as many from Sparkle as I was from Topaz but like Topaz she has no really bare patches just rather tatty and a few thin patches. Unlike Topaz she is dropping feathers all over the run whereas Topaz seemed to drop most of hers overnight in the coop.

I am also finding smaller amounts of feathers from the rest of the girls too.

My main concern has been Amber. I was so looking forward to Amber and Honey getting their neck and head feathers back in for the first time in a year. Honey’s pins opened quite quickly and she is now fully feathered on her head and neck.

Honey’s head and neck is fully feathered

But Amber’s pins have been taking forever to open. I think of her as a bit of “the runt of the litter” with her egg laying problems and her smaller size. This also seems to be noticeable with her moult. Her tail feathers dropped out before Honey’s but her pin feathers are taking a lot longer to open than Honey’s.

Then we began to think that some of her pins on her neck were disappearing. I was really worried that she was being plucked again and my biggest worry was that perhaps the habit had continued with Honey and Amber and all my efforts re-homing were in vain if this was to continue happening and worse of all if the habit spread in my current flock. We hadn’t seen Honey or Amber pluck any feathers though.

Before long we spotted the culprit. On three occasions we saw Topaz pull a pin feather from Amber’s neck. I think it’s a case of Topaz being top hen and long standing pins being irresistible plus Topaz is also grumpy during her own moult. All the girls seem to have a loss of confidence during the moult and look more quiet and miserable than usual. Topaz though is grumpy like she was when broody. She doesn’t chase or bully but she is quick to give a warning peck to any girl that gets in her space.

Topaz doesn’t tolerate any of the girls getting too near her. I hope this means it isn’t a habit but just an unfortunate instance. It’s such a shame because I feel that if Amber’s pins had opened as quickly as Honey’s she would have got all her neck feathers back and then next year with no bare patches there would be no tempting pins on show. The bare patches always seem to make the pins more tempting. I also think she may have lost some from her head.

Amber still has a gap in her head feathers

Amber is still missing neck feathers

It’s the ones lowest down that are disappearing. My husband and son, Steve, both say that she still looks a lot better than she has done before but I can’t help feeling sad that she may not be finally completely feathered.

I am still picking up tail feathers from Emerald

I thought Emerald was done with the moult but I am still picking up feathers from her and can still feel pins when I pick her up at bedtime. She is looking pretty good though.

Sparkle’s feathers on her bottom are filling in

You can see the quills on Sparkle’s wing feathers

Sparkle has an almost bare patch on her front

Toffee looks the most complete although I still find the odd feather from her too

Topaz doesn’t look bad but some of her feathers stick out further than others

Peaches and Barley look really good

I liked this photo because although the girls are not together they are all in shot

It’s funny how they are all doing their own thing and all looking in different directions and yet are all still in the picture.

Overall I am really pleased with how their feathers are coming in, it’s just that I worry that Amber will still end up with missing neck feathers. I suppose I will just have to wait and see how she will end up looking. It is taking her the longest time of all. Time will tell.

Last week I bought the girls a pumpkin and have been giving them a chunk every few days. At first it is always a scrum to get the seeds then they take turns pecking at the flesh. It lasts all afternoon and I find one big chunk is okay because as some of the girls tire of it the next ones get their turn. When I put smaller chunks in it ends up in the dirt and they lose interest in it whereas a big chunk stays put on the patio.

Amber and Peaches try the pumpkin

Topaz being top girl got the first go at the pumpkin but by the time I returned with my camera she had lost interest.

Amber gets some of the fibrous part

Peaches and Barley are never far apart and you can see Barley on the right hand side of the photo tucking in to the pellets.

Barley joins Peaches at the pumpkin

I think Barley is getting ready to lay soon. The last few mornings when I have been cleaning the coop she has been really vocal and has come in and had a scratch around in the nest box. I can’t wait to be getting some eggs again.

Yesterday I visited Jackie’s flock then bought her to mine to visit my flock. As we had a quiet afternoon my husband came to see Jackie’s flock too and catch up with Bluebell now Blossom.

Blossom didn’t moult apart from the odd tail feather when she was with us last winter (her first winter). Because of this she always looked a bit ragged. I think that after a proper moult this winter she will be back to looking pristine again.

Jackie had said that her head girl Clover was the one moulting the most and had lots of pin feathers coming through.

Clover is moulting

Blossom has lost some tail feathers

All four of Jackie’s girls

Blossom is on the left, Bluebell next, then Clover then Bonnie on the right. It is Bluebell’s first winter so she isn’t moulting.

A tatty looking Blossom

All of us chicken keepers are going through this at the moment at one stage or another but soon all our girls will look pristine and beautiful again.

Honey has now lost her last tail feather.

Honey has now lost her tail

Honey’s head and neck are now feathered

Honey just has a few more pins to open on the back of her neck.

Amber had already lost her tail

Amber’s neck pins are a bit behind Honey’s

Emerald seems to be back to normal

Emerald is still gaping occasionally but it is getting less now. She seems back to normal in every other way and is eating pellets as usual now.

I don’t think it was gape worm as it is quite rare and I never saw any worms but I think that the antibiotic helped whatever was wrong with her throat. I guess I will never know for certain but I hope she is now recovered and that it won’t be a problem again.

About this time last year I saw a pretty jug with chickens on in our local garden centre. I really liked it and thought it would make a lovely vase but it was expensive (over priced we thought). I didn’t feel justified in buying it. I looked at it each time we visited the garden centre but still couldn’t bring myself to buy it.

Yesterday we went out to look around the shops as we had an unusually quiet afternoon. We saw the same chicken jug in a high street shop at half the price. We decided it was fate and I was meant to have it.

We stopped and bought some flowers on our way home.

My chicken vase

I am now feeling really pleased with my purchase. Some things are just meant to be!

Topaz seemed to have half a moult and then stop. I thought that that was it and maybe she was done for this year. I was wrong.

This morning, at first light, I opened up the nest box and this was what I found.

A pile of Topaz’s feathers in the nest box

I took the nest box off and this was what was in the coop underneath the nest box.

An explosion of Topaz’s feathers

I think this is the most feathers I have seen in one go. The strange thing is that Topaz doesn’t look any different this morning.

Topaz doesn’t look like she has just dropped that many feathers

It is odd how they all moult so differently. I think Topaz must have had her new feathers underneath because the coop looks like there has been an explosion in there and yet Topaz looks as good as ever.

Sparkle hasn’t laid an egg for five days now so I think she has now stopped laying. I am finding just a few feathers each day from her. If she is going to lose as many feathers as Topaz she has a long way still to go but they do all seem to moult in their own unique way.

Topaz and Toffee have finished their moult and look pristine again. Emerald looks like she has finished but I am still finding some of her feathers in the coop each morning and when I pick her at bedtime I can feel her pins.

Peaches and Barley have had their partial baby moult and have their adult feathers now.

Honey and Amber’s pins are opening up and Honey has one tail feather remaining while Amber has lost her tail.

Sparkle has pins opening on her bottom and I can feel her pin feathers when I pick her up at bedtime. She is still laying a few eggs a week though.

My husband put a little shelf up for my new boots under the shoe box so they don’t get pooped on.

A shelf for my boots

Of course nothing in this run is really just mine though.

Barley finds my boot shelf

Barley is my most interactive girl and if I point the camera she will always jump in front for a photo and if I stoop over at all she will always jump on my back.

Peaches with her floppier comb

Honey’s neck feathers are almost complete

Honey still has one last tail feather

Amber’s neck feathers are a bit behind Honey’s but she is getting there

Amber has lost all her tail feathers but the new ones were coming in underneath

Sparkle’s pins are coming on

Topaz looks good

Toffee looks good

Emerald’s feathers look good but her face is still very pale

Emerald is still gaping five weeks after she started but she is behaving normally in every other way and I think she is gaping less. I hope it will continue to get less often until it stops altogether.

Peaches and Barley share a dust bath

This is off topic but was just too cute to miss. They had a great time together and were practically on top of each other. They are such a tight pair.

I actually feel quite excited about the girls getting their feathers in after this moult because it will be the first time in nearly a year that Honey and Amber have had neck and head feathers and this time they will get to keep them.

I really hope never to have a feather pulling problem again and it will be just wonderful to have my whole flock looking beautiful again.