Carol's Chickens

When Amber started laying in June she seemed to really struggle with it. She laid two tiny wind eggs followed by two soft shelled eggs. I gave her limestone flour and crushed egg shells and she went on to lay normal eggs but often looked ill just before laying. She would stand with her wings down and eyes shutting and at first I thought I might lose her.

Amber went on to lay a couple of eggs a week and seemed to improve. In September she went into her moult and stopped laying. It was a relief to have her stop laying as she seemed happy and healthy again.

Amber stopped laying for just over three months and started again in February. Again she laid two soft shelled eggs and I started feeding limestone flour and crushed egg shells again. She went on to lay normal eggs but only one a week. Honey by this time was laying every other day. She no longer looked ill before laying though and I hoped that with maturity she was now through this problem.

Amber then didn’t lay for two weeks and yesterday she started to look ill again. During the afternoon she looked like she used to in the summer, wings down and eyes closing. Despite the limestone flour I felt another soft egg was on it’s way.

Poor little Amber

You can see by the look in her eye how miserable she is feeling.

Not a happy girl

Amber went into the coop and at first looked as if she didn’t have the strength to go up to the nest box.

Her feathers are ragged above her tail

It also looks as if her feathers are being pulled above her tail just to add to her plight.

Amber then went up and settled in the nest box. It was about an hour before bedtime and I hoped that by morning she would have laid and would as usual spring back to being well again.

Honey checks on Amber

You can see that Honey’s feathers are still intact.

In the morning she didn’t come out of the nest box until I went in to do my morning chores. I checked and there was no egg. Amber still didn’t look any better. I picked her up and had a good look at her and there was no sign of anything stuck and no pulsing from her vent.

Amber didn’t go to the food or water which worried me and even when I put corn in front of her she was very half hearted about it.

We had to go out to do a school B.B.Q. brunch for a cross country event so I had to leave her and hope she would lay her egg while we were out. We have seen her like this before and she has always brightened up as soon as her egg is laid.

We returned home a few hours later and I went straight in to check. Amber looked a bit better but still not her normal self and no egg in the nest box. I put out dishes of mash with crushed egg shell and chopped tomato added and Amber tucked in which was a good sign.

I then did the poop pick and came across some bits of soft egg shell. It seemed that she must have laid a soft egg in the run and the girls must have eaten it. I found what looked like the top and bottom part so was sure there was no egg stuck inside her. I threw some sunflower hearts and Amber sprinted over to them.

My husband thinks that maybe she had not eaten much yesterday afternoon and this morning and that had caused her to feel a bit weak. I hand fed her some bits of grape which she ate readily. As the afternoon went by she started looking stronger but did go and sit in the nest box for while. I am sure she probably doesn’t know she has laid her egg.

I went in to give the girls their bedtime corn and Amber looked back to her normal self and enjoyed the corn. I felt that now she was eating again she had regained her strength and was at last back to normal.

I just don’t know why she struggles so much with egg laying. She has the same diet as the other girls and after a week of limestone flour and crushed egg shells added to their food she still laid another soft shelled egg. She is the only one with this problem. I think there must be something not quite right with her egg laying machinery. She has struggled from the start and lays much less often than the other girls.

Of the two little girls she is tiny and a different shape, a slightly humped back. I wonder if she is a sort of runt of the litter as it were. She is feisty and full of attitude though and is not bottom girl. Honey is bottom girl but has no problem with egg laying.

My friend Jackie seemed to have this problem with her Rosie and sadly lost her after two years. We have had Amber nearly a year and I worry that we too will lose her sooner rather than later but like Jackie if we keep her a couple of years I will be glad of any time we have her for. I had hoped she could get past this but it seems to be part of her make up. I can only hope to have her for as long as possible or even better I keep hoping she will grow out of it. Only time will tell but I will do my best for her.

At ten o’clock this morning I arrived at Jackie’s house with my dog crate to take Shadow back to Willow Court Farm in Windsor for them to take a look and give their verdict on whether Shadow is a hen or a cockerel.

Jackie had Shadow in the separate part of the run and we put the open dog crate up against the door while Jackie guided her in.

We set off and Shadow was as good as gold on the journey. On arrival I took a photo of Shadow just in case we had to leave “him” behind.

Shadow in the dog crate

The farmers were so lovely, helpful and friendly. One of them picked Shadow up while they both did an examination. They both agreed that Shadow was a hen. One said he would bet his weeks wages on Shadow being a hen.

We were so pleased as it meant that Jackie could take her home again. The farmer said that hens vary and some do just have big feet and some lose the feathers on their feet while others keep them. They said it is the shape of the feathers that they look at and they were certain that Shadow was a hen.

We took Shadow back home but agreed that we were glad we had taken her to the farm. Jackie said it gave her peace of mind whereas she would have been constantly watching, waiting and wondering.

Shadow seemed happy to rejoin her flock mates.

Shadow and Clover

Head hen Clover

Bluebell, Shadow and Bonnie head toward their tyre

Shadow and Bluebell on the tyre and Bonnie in the foreground

We went indoors to sit and chat a while when Clover and Bonnie decided they would quite like to join us.

Can we come in please?

I have wiped my feet

Okay, we will go then

Jackie and I then went to her allotment and she gave me some chard for my girls as a thank you. We agreed that we had had a lovely morning and that we were both so happy that Shadow was back home again none the worse for her little trip out. Hurrah for Shadow!

My friend Jackie has had her two “new” girls for two months now. As they are maturing she is beginning to wonder if Shadow, a speckledy, is a cockerel. I have always thought that Shadow had big feet but am not familiar with the breed so wasn’t sure if they just do have big feet.

Now Jackie has heard Shadow give out a call which made her think that Shadow may be a cockerel and also noticed that her neck feathers are quite pointed. Jackie asked me over today to see what I thought.

I think that Shadow may well be a cockerel but on the other hand we may be wrong. I had the instinct that my Poppy was a cockerel and I was right. Poppy also gave out a call that made me think this. Poppy also had big feet and an upright way of holding himself and he didn’t like anyone new coming into the run and looked as if he would fly at visitors. See “meet the flock” on my side bar to see photos of Poppy when I began to realize he was a cockerel.

With Poppy I had three chickens of the same breed for comparison. Jackie’s chickens are all different breeds so it’s more difficult to compare. My instinct still says that those big feet are a cockerels though.

Is Shadow a cockerel?

Bluebell

This is Bluebell who is the same age as Shadow.

Shadow and Bonnie

Clover

Shadow

Is Shadow a “he” or a “she”?

Shadow is a really striking looking bird and my favourite of Jackie’s chooks because of the beautiful feather patterns.

We have a plan. Jackie is going to ring the farm we got Shadow and Bluebell from and see if we can take Shadow back to them for their opinion as they are more experienced. If Shadow turns out to be “she” we will very happily bring her back home. If Shadow turns out to be “he” we will ask if we can leave him there and choose two more hens.

This way Jackie would be introducing two which is always better than one and she would be happy to have a slight increase in flock size.

If the farm agrees to this we plan to go on Friday. If we have to leave Shadow at the farm we will both be sorry to see “him” go but Jackie, like me, can’t have a cockerel. It wouldn’t be fair on close neighbours.

I will take my camera on Friday and continue the story. Either way, Shadow is truly beautiful!

Now that it has been forecast to stay dry for a while I decided to remove the board that had been covering the mud at the end of the chicken run.

It was a lovely warm sunny day and as soon as I removed the board the girls were straight onto the patch of ground it had covered, pecking, to see what they could turn up.

I have removed the board

The girls inspect the new ground

Once they had started to lose interest I dug it over for them and turned up some worms. For once each girl actually managed to get a worm, the little girls don’t often get a chance, but today they both grabbed a worm and ran off with it. I went on to dig over the entire run and turned up a few more worms.

The sun is on this corner of the run every day at the moment so I hope the ground that was under the board will now dry out at last. How lovely it will be to have a dry run again.

Finally the weather forecast is saying the rain is at an end and we are heading for a week of sunshine. Hurrah! It is so good to see the sun and it’s making everyone smile again. It has also bought colour to the garden.

Stripy crocus

Primula

Miniature daffodils

Primrose

Giant snowdrops

Another primrose

Vinca

A chicken kiss in the sunshine

Bluebell was sitting in the patch of sun in the corner of the run but as I approached with my camera she stood up and Dotty appeared to give her a kiss. It was funny because I had just seen a very similar photo on a blog “The Chicken Mamma” and the author likened it to chicken kisses.

In reality a chicken will clean a speck from another chickens face or beak and the other chicken will freeze so that she doesn’t risk accidentally getting a peck in the eye. Chickens are very accurate with their pecks and can be surprisingly gentle. I have seen this many times but it does look awfully like a kiss.

For a while the little girls didn’t seem to be getting their necks plucked but of course this turned out to be too good to be true. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed Amber’s neck getting gradually more bare.

Pepper is the main culprit and one day I looked out of the window and could see Amber stood in front of Pepper while Pepper pulled feathers from her neck so hard that Amber was being pulled forward with each tug. This really upsets me and I just don’t understand why Amber doesn’t move away. When I am in with the girls and I see this I spray Pepper with the water spray while telling her off.

The other time that the feather pulling occurs is during the dust bath. The girls will be having a lovely time together in the dust bath while pulling feathers from each other. I go in and tell them off and feel really mean for breaking up the party. They are having such a lovely time and when I tell them off they all leave the dust bath and glare at me in disgust.

I feel so sad to see their looks being spoiled again after being fully feathered since their moult. I also know from last year that this could mean having bare patches for another year until the next moult.

Bluebell’s bare neck

Bluebell was the only one not to get her neck feathers back. All the other girls had a complete and sudden moult with feathers dropping out and then regrowing whereas Bluebell seems to have moulted a few feathers at a time. I therefore couldn’t really tell if her neck feathers started to come in and got pulled straight out again or if they have never returned. Her appearance doesn’t seem to have changed and her neck just seems to have stayed bare. Because of her colouring it doesn’t show so much on her though.

Dotty’s neck is missing feathers but isn’t getting any worse at the moment

Dotty’s neck started showing a bare patch long before the little girls but doesn’t seem to be getting any worse at the moment although it could be just be a matter of time.

Ambers neck is getting very bare

Amber’s neck has quite quickly gone from pristine to quite bare. You can see from her beak that she was talking to me as she was moving towards me. The little girls are now the easiest to photograph because as soon as I squat down they come to me.

Honey’s neck looks okay

Honey doesn’t seem to be targeted so much at the moment but I am not sure why that should be. It could have something to do with her being bottom girl and therefore not drawing attention.

Top hen Pepper’s neck is untouched as always

You can tell Pepper is top girl as she never has her neck plucked but she is beginning to get a bare patch on her bottom again. It’s as if because no one will pluck her neck they target her bottom instead where they can get away with it. She is the only one at the moment that has missing feathers on her bottom.

A closer shot of Bluebell’s bare neck

This shows more clearly Bluebell’s bare neck.

A closer shot of Dotty’s missing neck feathers

Dotty always looks quite fierce in head on shots but she is a real softy. She pecks at the little girls the least, she shows the most affection by fluttering her head under Pepper’s body at bedtime and jumping on me every morning when I walk through the gate. She sings the most happy song at treats time but she also shouts the loudest when she has laid her egg.

A close up shows a bare patch is beginning on Honey’s neck

Honey likes to jump on the the little coop when I squat down so that she is on eye level with me.

Ambers neck is much more bare than Honey’s neck

Pepper on my shoulder as usual

When I am crouching down Pepper always jumps on my shoulder so I thought I would try to get a photograph. I pointed the camera blindly and hoped for the best. You can see that her neck is fully feathered.

I know, from past experience, that there is nothing I can do to stop this and that although it frustrates me it doesn’t worry the girls, but I still hate to see it. Much as I talk to these girls though, they just don’t take any notice!

All five girl’s are back laying eggs again. Yesterday we had four eggs out of five for the first time since September. Only Pepper didn’t lay and she had laid the day before and laid again first thing this morning. Bluebell is currently laying for three days in a row then missing one day. Pepper, Dotty and Honey are laying every other day. Amber is laying on average once a week and her eggs are the smallest. I think she hasn’t hit her stride yet.

Yesterdays eggs

Bluebell’s egg is on the left then Dotty’s then Honey’s and Amber’s egg is on the right. What a sweet little egg. It is so nice having plenty of eggs again. Well done girls!

The chicken run gets plenty of sun in summer but only a little in winter, that is when it’s not raining of course. As with the last few weekends, today once again, we had a one day break from the rain with blue sky and sunshine.

There was a little patch of sun in the corner of the run and the girls all piled into the corner to sit in the sun.

Some sun in the corner of the run

I had to take this from outside as I knew that as soon as I opened the gate the girls would come running to me.

Snoozing in the sun

As I expected the girls did come running to me but they wandered back to their patch of sun.

I did a few chores in the run and the sun moved round. The girls moved to the new patch of sun.

The sun has moved round to the branch perch

As I approached with my camera Pepper jumped down to greet me.

Perching in the sun

Pepper jumped back up causing Dotty to jump down.

One up and one down

Dotty sprang back up and Bluebell jumped down, she is under the perch. It’s like musical chairs on this perch! I love how they always find the sun.

Dotty has been looking ready to start laying again over the last few days. She has been going to the grit, squatting if I get close to her and sneaking a look in the nest box. Dotty started laying again after her moult, laid for a month, then stopped for a month.

Yesterday she and Honey wanted to lay at the same time and in the same nest box. Dotty would stand by the coop door while Honey was in the nest box and shout louder than I have heard her shout for a long time. Honey would pop out and Dotty would go in and then Honey would shout louder than I have heard her too, for a little girl it was a big shout. The girls always make such a drama of this. There are two nest boxes but they always want the same one and the big girls will not share with the little girls.

Finally Dotty got her egg laid and shouted again to let me know. I collected Dotty’s egg and Honey settled in the nest box, the next time I checked on Honey she had just laid her egg. At last peace resumed.

All five girls are now laying

The interesting thing is that the eggs look different even from the same breed. Bluebell’s egg is on the left and being blue, of course, could never be mistaken. What I find interesting is Pepper’s egg is next and is always a uniform oval shape and has a little bit of colour. Dotty’s egg is in the middle and her eggs are always a longer shape and paler. Next is Amber’s egg which is smaller than Honey’s on the right and also has a little more colour than Honey’s.

I love being able to tell the girls eggs apart (most of the time).

Before I begin I thought I would put out an up to date portrait of each of the girls in the order of their pecking order.

Pepper

Dotty

Bluebell

Amber

Honey

Last February my girls started feather pulling. At the time I put it down to the stress of losing Treacle who had been top hen. We had to have her put to sleep after being very ill for three weeks and having completely stopped eating no matter what we tried.

I tried everything to stop this behaviour, anti peck sprays, telling off and water spraying when I saw it happening, boredom busters in the run, added protein, nothing worked.

I couldn’t separate them as they were all doing it and it seemed to be a bonding activity that they enjoyed. They would pull out each others feathers while in the dust bath.

All the girls had bare necks and heads except top hen Pepper who had a bare behind instead.

The girls moulted in the winter and at last got their feathers back again. I was so pleased to have them fully feathered again.

About the same time of year, this year, two of the big girls were getting their necks plucked again. I started to notice on other blogs and forums some similar behaviour. On “Hen Cam” Terry had noticed this behaviour in her hens and like mine it wasn’t bullying. She called it “preening gone haywire” which is exactly what I felt it was with my girls. Terry felt the same as I do with my girls, that although we don’t like it, they aren’t bothered by it and we have to just leave them to it. That is if there is no blood or injury of course.

Today I have noticed several posts on the “Down The Lane” forum saying they are experiencing this too. I wondered why it is starting at this time of year and then had a light bulb moment. This is the time of year the hens start laying again.

My two little bantys started sparring with each other just before they started laying both in the summer and again recently after their moult. They would fly at each with their neck feathers raised, despite usually being really close. It only happened twice each time then they settled back happily together. I concluded that it must be hormones to do with coming into lay again

Could it be the same thing that sparks the feather pecking?

I have also noticed that since coming back into lay Pepper has been a little more aggressive towards the bantys. Whereas she was tolerant of them before it is as if she needs to remind them of their place with a swift peck now and then.

I discussed my theory about the feather pulling with my eldest son last night (he used to keep chickens) and he suggested it may not be coming into lay that effects the feather pulling but rather the moult itself. He said that maybe when they moult they stop pulling feathers as the feathers are falling out and then when all the feathers are back in they resume the behaviour.

I thought he may have a point but then I realised that the girls have been fully feathered for a while now. The bantys were through the moult and fully feathered by November and the big girls by December so there has been a four month gap of no feather pulling.

The other difference this time round is that the bantys haven’t had any feathers pulled yet. I wonder if it’s because they are mature now and move away. I really hope this is the case because I would hate to see them plucked again. At the moment it is just Bluebell and Dotty that are missing some neck feathers and it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse for now.

I would love it not to get worse but I know that only time will tell.

This is just a theory on my part but it does seem a coincidence. I wonder what others think. I would love your opinions.

The link to “Hen Cam” and “Down The Lane” is on my side bar.