Carol's Chickens

This morning I was itching to continue working on the run. I decided to get the little girls part of the run as ready for them as I could.

I closed off the gap at the patio end to start getting them used to it being closed. I moved buckets of soil from the centre of the run to the wire divider to make sure there is no gap underneath.

I put one of the little coops in the little girls side to be used as a nest box but this time I faced it towards the bush to make it darker inside and more secluded.

I set up a food dish and water. The girls soon explored the new feeding station but I wonder how long it will take to start using the nest box. I suppose if it is the only one they will soon get used to it.

The right hand side is the part that the little girls will have with an opening going out into the right hand side of the new run.

Nest box coop and feeding station

My reason for separating the big and little girls is to stop the little girls getting plucked. Honey and Amber now both have bare necks but poor little Amber looks the worst she has ever looked. She now has bare patches on her head and looks a sorry state. The new girls are also both getting bare patches on their bottoms.

Honey’s bare neck

Amber’s bare neck and bare patches on her head

I can’t wait to get them separated and stop this. I only hope their feathers grow back in before the next moult.

When I got back from my deliveries at lunch time the guys were back on the job. I shut the girls in the small separated part of the run so that the guys could make the opening between the two runs and get started on getting the roof on.

They used weld mesh until it run out then finished with a roll of very fine holed galvanised chicken wire.

Getting the roof on

The run is finished

I went over the run picking up any debris then I let the girls out of the small area. Honey and Amber soon found their way into the new part of the run.

Honey and Amber are the only ones brave enough to explore the new space

They look so lost in this big space. I let them have it to themselves for a few minutes and they soon found a few worms without competition.

The big girls haven’t yet stepped over the threshold

I’m not sure the big girls can work it out yet

Finally I scattered some corn to get them all in the new area

The weld mesh was sunk into the ground but as an extra precaution I dug a trench round the three new sides and laid some roof tiles in horizontally. They were left over from our loft extension. I then refilled the trench and while I did this the girls stayed close to get any worms I dug up.

The soil had got compacted by the guys working on it all afternoon so I then dug the whole area over to loosen the soil for the girls to scratch in. This turned up loads of worms and all the girls had quite a feast.

My husband dug over the strip that will have the runner beans in and laid some bricks to edge it. The bricks were the ones I took out from the border of the run and the veg plot originally.

Tomorrow I will replant the beans and chard in here but by now it was dinner time and I was shattered.

Over the next few days we will get the divider in place and my husband has started making the gate for it.

In the morning when the girls come out of the coop they will have the huge new area to scratch in. Once it’s divided we can start to put things of interest in. It is progressing really well and already the girls have a much better space.

The guys arrived at eight this morning to start work on the run. I kept them supplied with coffee and they worked really hard.

The first posts go in

It’s taking shape

The weld mesh is going on

All it needs now is the roof and then the openings between the two runs

This is the view from inside the original run

The posts are set in concrete and the weld mesh has been sunk below the ground. They dug out a trench all round and dropped the weld mesh in. There is also a row of bricks on the far side, a huge, deep, beam at the end and the concrete path on the near side.

Tomorrow the roof will go on then they will make the openings to join it up. At the weekend my husband and I will put the dividing wire fence inside and my husband will make a gate between the two areas. We are finishing the more manageable jobs ourselves to save money.

Once this is done we can put in perches and shrubs and any other bits to finish it off.

As soon as the roof is on and the openings are made the girls can go in and explore. They will have lots of new soil to scratch in and will get sun later in the day too.

The guys will return tomorrow afternoon as they have another job to do in the morning.

Sparkle, Honey and Amber all laid today and Amber didn’t struggle. Her egg didn’t have any blood on it again today so I am hopeful, that for now anyway, she is over her problem. Topaz still hasn’t started laying yet. Pepper also laid today.

The girls weren’t too happy about all the banging and sawing today and they spent a lot of time on the patio area staying away from the guys. They will love it though when they get to explore their new space.

I am so impatient that without thinking ahead I planted the runner beans and chard seedlings in the strip of veg plot that will be alongside the chicken run extension.

The guys are going to make a start tomorrow at eight o’clock in the morning but yesterday they called in to drop off the weld mesh. When our guy saw my beans his face fell. He asked how he was supposed to get weld mesh in place without damaging the beans.

I felt such an idiot. I told him not to worry because I would move them. I went to our nearest D.I.Y. store and bought a grow bag to plant them in as a temporary measure. They won’t have much space but it doesn’t matter because as soon as the run is in place I will replant them again.

A grow bag for the beans and chard

My vegetables are getting moved around rather a lot but I am sure they will be fine.

Next I cleared the veg plot ready for the guys. I took out the row of bricks that edged it at the chicken run end and the damp soil with loads of worms in went into the run for the girls.

I have cleared the veg plot

I have removed the bricks and my rusty chicken which forms the header for my blog. I will have to find a new home for it once the run is complete. The roll of weld mesh is on the veg plot ready to be put in place.

For the two separate areas we have decided to divide the veg plot length ways with wire and a gate. We will then put in a gap like a gateway but without a gate on what is the right hand side of this photo. This will give the big girls the patio area and the right half of the veg plot area.

We will make a chicken sized gap on the left side of the veg plot so that the little girls get the sheltered area with the big bush and the left half of the veg plot.

I intend to let the girls sleep together at night but separate them in the morning. It will be trial and error but I thought I could throw their morning treat in the little girls area to get them all in and close the gate. Then I will open it and try to steer the big girls into their area. My thinking is that it will be easier to move two big girls than four little girls. I can see some fun and games may take place with this!

I will then let all the girls mix together when I am with them to make sure there is no feather plucking. This way they will remain one flock and the mixing time will be a change of scene a bit like free ranging.

We will plant our tall shrubs in the run and reinstate the big girls ladder. We will put up perches and put in logs and anything we can find to keep them entertained. The space should be better for the all the girls and I think they will be happy with the separation. The little girls won’t be getting plucked and the big girls won’t have Topaz bossing them around.

The big girls are such a tightly bonded pair that I know they will be quite happy with just each others company. They will have no pecking order issues and will be relaxed together. They have never ever pecked each other and at bedtime they flutter their heads underneath each other strengthening their bond.

If I can break the feather pulling habit they can mix again but if not I will keep them separate. The new run layout also means that if we need to integrate new girls in the future we can block off the gap joining the area with the bush to the veg plot and create three separate areas.

We are going to put clear plastic sheeting under the roof like we have in the existing runs garden area to keep it dry as this is the quickest, easiest and cheapest option for now. Later when we have more time my husband will make some more plastic sliding panels so that they can be opened and closed according to the weather. At least this time we have a rectangular shape which will be easier to work with.

Since Amber laid the egg with the streak of blood on it I have stopped giving protein to see if this would help her. Amber had been laying every other day and since I stopped the protein she went four days before laying her next egg.

The good news is she laid it with no problem and without looking unwell before she laid. The egg also had no blood on it. When we had the egg for breakfast the shell was still very thin though which is what I think her problem is.

No matter how much limestone flour and crushed egg shells I feed them it makes no difference to Amber’s eggs. I think she is unable to absorb the calcium. I have read that cod liver oil helps them absorb the calcium better but have been unable to find any anywhere.

Amber hasn’t laid again for four days now and hasn’t looked unwell either so I am hopeful that the break in laying has helped her. It does mean egg laying is down a bit in general but it’s worth that to help Amber and once the girls are separated I could give the big girls some protein treats and the little girls corn instead.

I think this run extension is going to be better all round and I can’t wait for it to be completed.

There are three tall shrubs in the garden which I intend to try to dig up and plant in the chicken run extension. My husband said it would be best to do this when the run is complete or it will mean the guys having to work around the shrubs.

One of the shrubs is more like a tree and I decided to take the top out of it to make it more manageable. I put this branch in the run for the girls and they soon started stripping the leaves from it.

Honey and Amber’s necks are getting badly plucked and I am desperate to get the run extended so I can separate the big girls from the little girls. Topaz and Sparkle are having feathers plucked from their bottoms too.

I e-mailed our guy to see when they can start building the run and he e-mailed back that it will be Wednesday or Thursday.

A branch in the run

Honey and Amber have their necks plucked

Honey is in the foreground and Amber in the background. You can see how badly they are being plucked. This is much worse than it was last year and it breaks my heart to see this.

When I went in to the run at the end of the day the branch was just a bare stick without a single leaf left on it. It didn’t last as long as I thought it would but I should have known better.

I have asked advice on the “Down The Lane” forum about Amber’s egg laying problem. It was good to find that someone else had also experienced this. They had a bantam leghorn with the same problem even down to laying eggs in the run and some having streaks of blood on them. They said she was fine in between egg laying and sadly died but from a respiratory problem not her egg laying problem.

Some people suggested that I could try to stop Amber laying and that there are things a vet could do to stop her laying which I will look into. It was also suggested that I could stop giving protein to cause her to lay less often.

As an experiment I haven’t given the girls any protein since Amber’s last egg which was four days ago. I thought even if it just gives her a bit of a break it would help her.

She has been back to normal since her last egg but this morning is looking unwell again so I know the next egg is on it’s way soon.

I am finding that the feather plucking and Amber’s difficulty with egg laying is making my chicken keeping experience less of a pleasure and more of a worry at the moment. It’s a shame as integration of the new girls went so easily and the flock are happily settled together.

It’s just so sad to see Amber struggle with her eggs and all the little girls gradually losing feathers. I really hope the run extension will at least enable me to stop the feather plucking. I can’t wait for it to be started.

Amber has always struggled with her laying but whatever her problem is it seems to be getting worse. I said in a few posts back that her eggs had started getting a faint line around them which I thought may be blood.

Today her egg had a more pronounced line round it and on the other side it had what was obviously blood.

The line around Amber’s egg is more pronounced

Amber’s egg has blood on it

This is not good. Amber’s always had a problem with her egg laying but last summer she only laid once or twice a week. She stopped during her winter moult and was healthy.

In spring the problem returned and it seems that now she has matured she is laying more often. Honey now lays most days and Amber is laying every other day.

This seems to have made her problem worse and now her eggs have blood on them which I know is a bad sign.

After she has laid her egg she bounces back to her normal self again. I am reluctant to take her to a vet as I think they would advise that she be put to sleep. A chicken that struggles to lay eggs has a difficult life.

I don’t feel she is ready to give up yet though. I don’t want her to suffer but I wouldn’t want her to go before her time either. She is my favourite girl although I know we shouldn’t have favourites. She is feisty and funny and she isn’t bottom girl despite being the smallest. She runs to me the fastest on her tiny little legs and she chats to me all the time. She is such a sweetie that it breaks my heart to know there is something wrong with her and we will probably lose her sooner rather than later.

Tonight she ran to the late afternoon treat of sunflower hearts. There were a few cabbage leaves left in the run so I tore them into tiny pieces and dropped them in front of each of the girls (this is a game we play at the end of the day if there are any leaves left uneaten). Amber was quick to run for her bits of cabbage.

She is not ready to give up yet and neither am I.

We still had a mornings work to do again today but after that I was determined to finish getting the veg planted.

The new veg plot is planted

On the left are broad beans and peas. I have now dug up the onions that I had already planted in the old plot and put them down the edge of the path on the left.

I dug up the potatoes and have planted them on the right side of the right half. Next is purple sprouting broccoli then next to path are leeks which are tiny at the moment.

The view beyond the veg plot

The new veg plot from the other direction

The next thing I did was plant the runner beans in the strip of the veg plot that we are keeping (where I had dug the potatoes out from).

The runner beans are in

In the space at the end of this row of beans I am going to plant chard for the girls. I then dug over the ground that will become the chicken run making sure there was nothing harmful for the girls. I dug out any self seeded potatoes as they are poisonous to chickens.

I then dug out buckets of top soil and put it in the existing run for the girls to scratch through. They had a great time scratching and finding bugs and worms.

New soil for the girls

You can also see from this photo that when the veg plot becomes part of the run it will double their garden area. They will love having all that space with fresh soil to scratch in. I can’t wait for it to get started.

Today we had two functions to deliver so didn’t get back home until late afternoon.

The first thing I did was check on the girls and I found part of Amber’s egg shell in the run. The same thing happened the day before yesterday. Her eggs seem to catch her out and as the shells are so thin it breaks and gets eaten.

The good news is that at least she is passing them and she bounces back to normal once she has laid. On both occasions I knew it was Amber’s egg for many reasons. Honey had already laid on both days. I have actually seen Amber lay her egg in the run in the past. The shell is fragile and lastly she bounces back to her normal self.

The next thing we did was set to work on the new veg plot. It is quite time consuming because all the plants needed to be relocated. My husband dug out while I replanted. Some plants have gone into the garden and some into pots on the patio. The remaining thyme and any worms went to the girls.

My husband also laid a path through the middle as we walk through here all the time plus will need to be able to get to the veg. We felt really pleased with today’s progress especially as we had so little time.

The new veg plot is completed and just needs planting.

It was now time to get our Sunday roast on so we decided this was enough for today. Tomorrow I will dig up the potatoes and onions from the old veg plot and replant them in the new veg plot. We will also plant the purple sprouting broccoli and the leaks. We will then plant the runner beans in the remaining strip of the old veg plot.

There are also a few shrubs (more like trees really which just self seeded) that have got too tall for their position in the garden so I intend trying to dig these out and plant them in the new chicken run. Being tall they may survive the girls and at least they won’t have cost anything.

It’s been a productive weekend considering we had work to do too and I am looking forward to getting the veg planting finished tomorrow.

Yesterday we had quite a lot of work to do as we have two functions this weekend. A bank holiday weekend doesn’t always mean time off for us. We worked all morning and part of the afternoon.

As soon as we were done we were itching to get started on the new veg plot. As always these things are never straight forward and the first corner my husband started digging over revealed some buried brickwork. It looked like a former cesspit or well. It was very well built and went very deep. He broke up and removed enough of it to get a planting depth of soil over it.

My husband removed all the plants then added some topsoil with compost from the original veg plot and raked it over.

Progress

He took a well earned breather, it had been harder work than expected.

The new veg plot is started

An hour later and the first half is planted. We decided to do it a bit at a time to spread the hard work. The plants that have come out have been relocated and the thyme has gone in the chicken run for the girls to scratch through.

In the mean time Amber was looking really poorly again. She used to only lay one or two eggs a week but now seems to be laying every other day and this means she is feeling unwell more often. Each time she seems worse than before and each time I get scared we are going to lose her or I am going to have to make a difficult decision.

Amber looks so poorly

It breaks my heart to see her like this. As always though it seems she gets weak really quickly because once she feels poorly she stops eating. Once again I hand fed her some chopped grapes and sunflower seeds. I also found some worms from the new veg patch and dropped some in front of her.

Amber ate the worms and soon seemed to perk up and join in with scratching through the thyme.

The thyme goes in the chicken run

Topaz and Amber scratching and pecking through the thyme

Amber seems to quickly improve once she eats something and by bedtime she seemed better than earlier.

This morning I put two dishes of mash in to make sure Amber eats and she went straight to it and tucked in. I don’t know how much longer she can go on like this but we feel that it isn’t her time to go just yet and we can’t do any more for her than we are doing. I feel that I will know when it’s her time but just keep hoping she will get a reprieve. Amber is such a lovely little character and is a real fighter. I am willing her on with all my heart.

For some time now I have been concerned that our chicken run isn’t big enough for our girls. We think it is big enough for the bantys but not for the two big girls and I worry that this may contribute to the feather plucking.

When we added the two new girls Topaz quickly moved up to top hen. This seemed to stress Dotty as while she was number two in the pecking order behind Pepper she had had the easiest position. She had never had to peck to maintain top position but she had never had any hen peck her either. She enjoyed being Pepper’s second in command and chicken life was easy for her.

Suddenly Dotty found herself receiving warning pecks if she got in Topaz’s way. She reacted by sneaking up behind the girls and pulling feathers from their bottoms. She would do it to all the girls and I was constantly telling her “no” and moving her away.

This went on for a few weeks then suddenly over the last few days I have found feathers in the run again. They were a mix of all the girls feathers but Amber was the most targeted. Amber now has a bare neck and feathers missing from the side of her head.

Poor Amber is looking awful

I have wondered if the stress of this is what is causing her to struggle with her egg laying again although she has had a problem with egg laying right from the start.

Honey also has her neck plucked

It breaks my heart to see this. These two little girls look worse now than they did last summer. I have also picked up feathers from the new girls.

I feel the girls need more space and if they have more space it would also be possible to separate the big girls from the little girls to try to break this habit.

I discussed it with my husband and was surprised when he said he had already been thinking about it.  We have quite a big garden but had slotted the chicken run in behind the veg plot as it was already situated in it’s current position. We started thinking of other positions it could go.

We used to have a thyme lawn next to our patio. In the past I have been successful with a thyme lawn but this one has never worked. I think the thyme doesn’t like our chalky soil.

Last year I put low plants in the gaps to try to improve it but it now just looks a muddle. It just doesn’t work and is neither a lawn or a bed. We have been trying to come up with ideas of what to do with it for some time.

Now we have the perfect spot for a new veg plot. It gets more sun then the current veg plot so should do well and the veg plot gets more sun than the current chicken run at this time of the year so that would be good for the girls too.

This will become the veg plot

View from the other direction

The box on the table contains the veg we had already bought to plant this weekend. This will go on hold for now. We have runner beans, broad beans, purple sprouting broccoli, peas and leeks. I have already planted tomatoes and courgettes in pots on the patio.

View of the whole garden

We have also already planted potatoes and onions in the veg plot so they will have to be dug up again.

The veg plot will become the extension to the run

My husband rang the guy who built our run two years ago and he came round today to measure up and give us a quote.

We were thinking of using the three strips near the path and leaving the last strip for tall veg such as runner beans. We explained that we would need the run to be set back a bit from the path to allow us to carry crates up the path.

We have our crockery for our catering business stored in the large shed at the top of the garden.

Our guy suggested it would be better to leave the strip next to the path for veg giving us elbow room next to the path and use the next three strips. He said that as the sleepers were well bedded in from years of walking on, they would make the ideal framework for the run. We will put the weld mesh underneath to stop anything digging in. He will make a doorway from the existing run into the new area. This will double the size of the run.

Our guy will start work as soon as he gets a free day or two. I am feeling quite excited about this project.

The run will be doubled in size

The area beyond the run up to the end of the blue net will all become run. I plan to plant some tough plants like rosemary and to put in perches. We can reinstate the ladder that used to be in the run and add logs and maybe even a platform giving another level. The options are endless.

I think this will really improve the quality of life for my girls and I may be able to break the feather pulling habit although I know that won’t be easy. I know the girls will love the extra space though and I can’t wait for work to begin.

I visited Jackie and her flock today then bought her to mine to visit my flock. We like to do the visiting each others chickens and trying to do any problem solving along the way, which I will come back to later.

Blossom is looking so happy as part of Jackie’s flock and is getting her feathers back.

Blossom sat on the log

The girls love their tyre, we may get our girls one

Blossom is looking good

Blossom and top girl, Clover

Blossom’s feathers are coming back in

I talked to her calling her “girlie” as I don’t want to confuse names and all my chooks get called “girlie”. She came up close and I felt sure she still recognised my voice but she is a happy part of Jackie’s flock and I am so happy to see her so settled and loved.

We talked about the fact that my girls have started pulling feathers again and we both felt that being contained and lack of space was probably a contributing factor and my husband agreed.

My husband and I talked about ways of making the run bigger and discussed extending it into the veg plot. We thought of taking two thirds of the veg plot to extend the run and using what used to be the thyme lawn, but had lost it’s way and has not worked since, as an extra veg plot.

I will take photos and explore this in another post but for today I want to conclude that Blossom is so much happier with her new flock and is looking really good.

More about the plans for the run extension soon.