Carol's Chickens

My friend Jackie sadly lost two her of her girls recently. She lost Annie just before Christmas and Rosie yesterday leaving her with only two girls. Jackie had been thinking of getting some more girls in the spring but now felt she wanted to get some more as soon as possible so that her remaining girls didn’t stay at only two for too long.

I knew of somewhere local that used to sell chickens and as Jackie doesn’t drive I offered to take her there today. Jackie phoned them and they didn’t have any chickens at the moment. As I had only one lunch delivery today my husband offered to deliver it for me to free up my day if we needed to go further afield. Jackie started researching and came up with a farm in Windsor, half an hours drive away, which had young chickens for sale up to point of lay.

I put my dog crate and pet carrier in the van and collected Jackie at eleven o’clock this morning. Because some of the roads were flooded we had to take a longer route but found the farm after passing it and turning round a few times.

I had to stay strong and resist the urge to take any chooks for myself but Jackie says I can be auntie to her new girls. The chooks were all beautiful but we both fell for the same two breeds, a really pretty speckled star and a bluebell.

Willow Court farm

The guy caught the speckledy first and Jackie instantly came up with name Shadow for her which I thought was lovely. He then caught the bluebell and after inspecting them they were in the dog crate and we were on our way back. As we left the farm Jackie decided that the bluebell would be named Willow, appropriate as she came from Willow Court farm. I thought this was also a lovely name and we both agreed Shadow and Willow went well together.

Back at Jackie’s we put the dog crate in the separated part of the run that would be the new girls home during the integration period. Clover and Bonnie voiced their displeasure at having new girls in their garden.

Clover

Bonnie

Shadow and Willow in the dog crate

Shadow is in the foreground and has very long legs. Before long the new girls stepped out of the dog crate into their new home.

Shadow and Willow venture out

Willow finds the log

Shadow

Willow

The new girls were soon scratching and pecking happily in their new home seemingly unaware of the old girls shouting about it.

Now the fun of the integration begins. I had to leave for home but will be checking up on the new girls as often as possible. I am honoured to be auntie to these lovely girls and to have been present at their arrival to their new home.

With all the continuing rain we are having, I decided to buy another bag of wood chip to make a thicker layer in the part of the run that the girls like to hang out most. The existing wood chips were already muddy and while I know these soon will be too, I just think one bag never makes a thick enough layer.

I took my camera and took a few photos of the girls scratching together in the wood chip but decided that as I had already showed that on my last post there is little point in repeating similar photos again.

Instead as it was late afternoon it struck me how together the girls are in everything they do. My first photo of Amber in the apple tree shows the new mud busting ideas we have come up with. The new layer of wood chip is in the area on the right of the divider and the board and a few tiles are on the left of the run bordering the veg plot, where it puddles the most.

That’s the background, now for the foreground.

Amber is in the apple tree and Honey and Dotty really want to join her

Dotty has made it into the apple tree even she is too big for such a small tree

Dotty precariously balances

Amber jumps down and Bluebell takes Honey’s place on the little girls favourite log

Amber finds another perch watched closely by Honey

Dotty and Bluebell, the only two girls laying eggs at the moment, take some grit together

Meanwhile Pepper and the little girls preen together

Honey and Dotty were at the water together but as Dotty moved out of shot I decided to leave this photo of Honey as it shows how nice and red her comb has become

I just love the way the girls do everything together. It illustrates perfectly that they are flock creatures and happiest together despite some pecking order rituals at times.

Happy New Year to everyone and their critters.

My first battle of the new year and in fact ongoing battle from last year is combating mud in the run. I have never known the run so muddy in my two years of chicken keeping. The rain has been relentless and yesterday as well as heavy downpours we had a hailstone storm too. It has rained all day and all night for days and is forecast to continue like this for days to come.

I know parts of the country are flooded so we are lucky by comparison but I was fed up of seeing the girls with muddy feet. The wood chip helps in the area of the run they like to hang out in but the edge bordering the veg plot was a quagmire despite me turning it every day. The girls do mostly stay off that part but when they see me go up the garden towards them they run to greet me and stand in the mud. It’s not quite so bad for the big girls but the little girls sink up to their little ankles and look as if they have no feet. I do tell them to stay off the mud but do they listen to me!

Ideally it would be good to drain the water outside the run but as we only have plastic sheeting over the garden part of the run it would be tricky to rig up any sort of drainage system and we need something more instant for now. My husband suggested that I put a board over the muddiest part. We had a plywood sheet in the shed from a previous project that would do the job. I Laid it over the mud and sloped it down towards the veg plot so that the water would run off.

This will achieve three things. The water will run off onto the veg plot, the ground underneath will have a chance to dry out a bit and the girls wont be standing in mud.

I did wonder how long it would take the girls to step onto it but even if they didn’t it would still be better than them standing in mud. I sprinkled a few dried meal worms onto the board to get them started.

Pepper has a fluffy bottom

I love these  fluffy bottoms and for the first time in ages, Pepper, in the foreground, has no bare patches on her bottom. She has finally got her fluffy bottom back after her moult.

Amber was the first to step on the board

It’s funny how the smallest girl is the bravest around something new.

Testing the new board

Getting braver

Before long the girls were all happily walking on the board. It has really worked well because each time I go up to them they run onto the board and their feet are looking much less muddy. The middle of the run is dry so they can dust bath, it’s just the edges that were staying muddy and this edge was the worst part of all.

I have now put some tiles into the triangular space in the corner of the run to the left of the board. This means all of the wettest part is now covered. For now I think this is the best solution to this problem and will improve the run for the girls and for me.

With the relentless rain I have been struggling with mud in the run despite it being fully under cover. I decided to buy a bag of wood chip and put it over the ground on the part of the run with the bushes. This used to be where the girls most liked to hang out but despite the plastic roof panels and plastic sheet over that side of the run it is still wet. The water seems to drip down inside the fence panels and the girls have constantly muddy feet. I thought the wood chip would give them something to scratch in and a better surface for their feet.

The girls haven’t yet plucked up the courage to step into the wood chip

Dotty and Bluebell have a peck at the wood chip

The little girls step onto the wood chip

The little girls watch Dotty pecking at the wood chip

All five girls scratching in the wood chip

Once the girls realised the wood chip was safe to stand on they had a great time scratching in it and their feet look much cleaner. It will give them a better start to the New Year.

Bluebell and Dotty both laid eggs today. I have completed my egg record for the year and it is as follows:

Jan – 58, Feb – 62, Mar – 76, Apr – 76, May – 82, June – 89, July – 88, Aug – 82, Sept – 69, Oct – 49, Nov – 30, Dec – 26.  Total eggs for 2013 – 787.

Thank you girls for all your lovely eggs and more than that for your entertaining ways and affection. Happy New Years to my girls, to everyone out there and to their girls too.

We woke to a white Christmas of sorts. It was a frosty morning and when I opened the blind on our bedroom velux window I found this.

Christmas window

It had rained in the night and the frost had made a very pretty pattern on the window. I haven’t seen it look like this before and it seemed very fitting for Christmas morning.

I gave the girls their Christmas treat of yogurt which they really enjoyed.

Christmas Day yogurt

Yogurt beaks

The girls were very happy with their Christmas treat and rewarded us with an egg each from Bluebell and Dotty. Thank you girls.

As a Christmas Eve treat I gave the girls some scrambled egg today. This is their favourite treat and it was gone in no time at all. Pepper is still coming through her moult so I thought the protein would be good for her. For their Christmas Day treat they will be getting bio live natural yogurt, another favourite treat, as well as their greens and late afternoon corn.

I have noticed recently that Dotty has grown and is now bigger than Pepper. Pepper is still in the final stage of her moult and when I pick her up at bedtime I can feel her prickly pin feathers coming through. She is still very tatty at her tail end and when I pick her up she feels light compared to Dotty but she is eating well and is her usual happy self so I am sure it’s just the moult.

Pepper and Dotty

Pepper on the left is still tatty and smaller than Dotty. She used to be fatter but seems to have lost some of her fat at the moment. The moult seems to take a lot out of the girls which is why I like to keep their protein up a bit at this time.

Dotty has now laid three eggs since coming back into lay. Yesterday she was singing her egg song before going into the little coop so I now have no doubt that it is her laying.

Bluebell is moulting one feather at a time. Her new tail feathers have come in as her old ones are dropping out. She now has one remaining old and tatty tail feather that reminds me of the kind of feather we draw in illustrations with the bars spaced out.

Bluebell

You can see the top feather is an old feather and the ones underneath are her new feathers.

Honey on the left and Amber on the right

Lately whenever I am near the coop or the store cabinet the two little girls rush up to the coop roof. They seem to really like to get at eye level with me. In the same way when I am poop picking they jump to the outside perch as soon as I am near it. I talk to them and they look as though as they are listening intently! They seem to like this way of having close contact with me at their own comfort level.

I also gave the patio a clean up again today ready for Christmas Day even though I know the girls don’t really care about such things. Lately we have had so much constant rain and wind that even though the entire run is covered it still gets very wet. The edge by the veg plot is the worse and has been a quagmire of mud so I am digging and turning it over each day to drain the water.

The girls muddy feet make the patio area really muddy but I found trying to wash it doesn’t work as it just adds more water. My husband suggested sprinkling pine shavings from the coop on to it and brushing with my stiff rubber bristled broom so that the shavings soak up the mud and water. This really works. I brush the shavings over it then sweep them up and throw them away. I then brush the patio with a wire brush to remove any stuck on mud and sweep it off. It looks so much better. I did this at the weekend and again today. I am really hoping this wet weather will end soon and things will improve.

Now that we have two girls laying we have enough eggs for our Christmas day breakfast of scrambled egg with smoked salmon plus enough for bacon and egg sandwiches for the family when we have our Christmas get together. Thank you girls and a happy Christmas.

The automatic coop door now closes at four o’clock in the afternoon and opens at eight o’clock in the morning. I go out to the girls at half past seven and shine my torch on the door to open it and give the girls an extra half hour outside. I then poop pick the coop by torchlight and by the time I have finished my morning chores the door has opened again on it’s own.

The days will soon be getting longer again so this is the earliest the door closes and the latest it opens. I can’t wait for the longer days again.

At bedtime the little girls go in to the coop just before the door closes. The big girls started going in on their own in September last year but this year they haven’t gone in on their own and seem to have developed the habit of waiting for me to lift them from the coop roof and put them in.

I wedge the door open with my cockerel shaped metal doorstop when doing my end of the day sweep and clean up. The big girls line up on the coop roof and I return to them at dusk or occasionally if I am later with my cleaning up I just stay out with them. I stand by the coop and they shuffle towards me and lower their wings ready for me to pick them up in order of nearest first. One by one I lift them down and put them in the coop then remove the doorstop and allow the door to continue closing. I always then say goodnight to them as I lock up the gate.

Last year Treacle was top hen and made sure all the girls were in the coop just before dusk. We lost Treacle last February and Pepper took over as top hen but shows no inclination to get the girls in at bedtime. I have probably spoilt them and they now rely on me to put them in but If I didn’t they would just stay out on the coop roof all night and I don’t want that. It does also give me a chance to handle them each night and check their condition and weight and have some close contact with them.

I had a photo session with the girls at bedtime last night but just before this I went up to them and found the little girls sitting in the apple tree. They looked so sweet sat either side of the tree.

Two little girls sat in the apple tree

Amber is on the left and Honey on the right.

Two little girls on the coop roof just before bedtime

Honey is on the left and Amber on the right. The little girls always like to go to the coop roof first before the big girls get up there. Once the big girls settle there the little girls go into the coop for the night.

Dotty

Dotty is looking magnificent with a full bedtime crop and a fully feathered head and new tail feathers.

Pepper

Pepper still has a tatty tail and a loose wing feather but I have stopped finding piles of feathers in the coop each morning so I think her moult is almost over.

Bluebell

Bluebell is usually the first of the big girls to go to the coop roof, mainly so she can chase the little girls down. She also likes to go to the top of the store cabinet and last night decided to sit here for while.

Dotty and Pepper

I love this close up of Dotty and Pepper together. The other thing I noticed last night was that they seem to have grown. Dotty was always slightly taller than Pepper and Pepper was fatter but now Dotty seems slightly larger than Pepper. It doesn’t show here because Pepper is in the foreground but side by side Dotty is larger.

The little girls on the top of the store cabinet

The little girls also like to have a turn on the store cabinet and they and Bluebell do a bit of jumping across from the coop roof to the store cabinet and back again in turns.

The big girls on the coop roof

Finally the little girls go in to the coop for the night and the big girls settle on the coop roof.

Dotty likes to step across to my shoulder and I tied to blindly take a photo of her but only managed to catch a bit.

Dotty on my shoulder

It’s a hopeless photo as I had no clue where to point the camera but I decided to keep it as it shows her standing on my shoulder which is something she likes to do whenever she can.

When I do my poop picking in the run all three big girls like to jump on my back. I often struggle to move around with two of them on my back “helping” me. The little girls often look like they would like jump up too but can’t quite work up the courage. They follow me and peck at my cloths and jump on the big perch when I am near it to get on eye level with me. They look at me, twisting their head as if about to jump but so far haven’t actually done so.

The other bit of news is that yesterday when I checked the little coop to see if Bluebell had laid, I was really surprised to find a pale cream egg. I  thought it was Pepper’s because it was silky smooth and I had noticed her going to the grit the day before. I now think it’s Dotty’s as I found another one today next to Bluebell’s egg and my husband said he had noticed both Bluebell and Dotty were missing at the same time. Maybe it doesn’t have any calcium bits on it as she has just started laying again and isn’t taking as much grit as she used to. It would make more sense that it’s Dotty’s as she has finished her moult. I shall be watching them closely over the coming days.

Pepper hadn’t laid for three weeks since she started losing tail and wing feathers. Dotty hadn’t laid for two months since she had a sudden moult. The bantys haven’t laid for three months since they started moulting. Bluebell still lays five days out of seven and has only twice missed two days in a row.

I really wasn’t expecting the other girls to start laying again until spring so this was a lovely surprise. Apart from Pepper and Bluebell’s remaining tatty tail feathers, the girls are all looking really good and I haven’t had to buy any eggs since they started laying last winter.

Dotty, Amber and Honey have all had piles of feathers falling from them and have now regrown their feathers and are looking really good. Bluebell seems to be moulting one feather at a time, she never looks much different apart from some tatty tail feathers. Pepper seems to have moulted in two halves. She lost lots of feathers and felt prickly with pin feathers underneath her, then silky soft as they came through but didn’t lose her tail like Dotty, Honey and Amber.

This last week though there have been piles of domonique feathers in the coop again every morning and I am constantly picking them up from the run. Pepper now looks really tatty around her back and tail.

Pepper also stopped laying two weeks ago. Dotty stopped laying two months ago and the bantys stopped laying three months ago. Bluebell is laying an average of five eggs a week and is keeping us in eggs for breakfast at the weekends and one mid week breakfast every other week. When I look in the fridge and see six blue eggs I realize that without Bluebell we wouldn’t be getting any eggs at the moment.

The good news is that two weeks ago I said that I thought Dotty and Amber were getting their necks plucked again as they both had a v shape of under feathers below where they were plucked before but Honey had all her neck feathers. Now I have noticed that both Dotty and Amber’s neck feathers have filled in. I was wrong, they weren’t being pulled out after all, they had just not regrown from moulting. This is really good news and I am hoping they will stay fully feathered as they look so lovely at the moment.

Pepper also has pin feathers on her bottom again so maybe they will all be fully feathered soon.

The other change that has taken place is that Honeys feathers have come back with the traditional vorwerk colouring of plain black and gold (minus the peacock like spots she had on her back before the moult) but Ambers feathers have come back with black speckles on her back and her breast. I think this is really pretty and the bonus is that it’s much easier to tell them apart now. Amber has remained smaller (but feistier)  than Honey but my husband couldn’t tell them apart. Now I think he can although he still confuses their names!

Pepper now has an extremely tatty tail, what is left of it!

Poor Pepper looks a sorry sight

Dotty  on the right of this photo is looking good now

Bluebell has some tatty tail feathers

Amber’s neck feathers have grown back in

Dotty’s neck feathers have grown back in

Amber now has black speckles on her back and breast

Honey has a plain gold back and breast

Amber is newly speckled

Honey is plain gold and black which is the usual vorwerk colouring

I am loving seeing the girls getting their beautiful feathers back again and think they all look so adorable. I really hope this time they stay feathered.

Pepper and Dotty are dominiques which are a rare pure breed with rose combs. They are one of the oldest American breeds and very cold hardy due their comb which is not prone to frostbite and their thick layer of downy under feathers.

When we first collected them Pepper was two months old and Dotty was one month old and not fully feathered. I wondered if we would be able to tell them apart when they were fully grown. I needn’t have worried as they look very different and have quite different combs and faces.

There was only one place I could find breeding them in England and that was a farm in Dorset which is a one and half hour drive from us. The breeder had two breeding pairs of dominiques and I have often speculated that Pepper and Dotty may have come from the two different sets of parents.

The rose comb is a ridged comb ending in a backward facing spike. Pepper’s comb is quite ridged and her spike goes to quite a point. Dotty’s comb is much flatter and less pointed and I often think it looks as if it’s made of plastic. Dotty’s lobes are also bigger than Pepper’s. I think Pepper has a prettier face and comb but Dotty has a very sweet nature.

Having been together since they were so young, these two have a real bond with each other. Pepper is top hen and Dotty is second in command. I sometimes wonder if this is what gives her such a sweet nature. She enjoys the prestigious position that comes from being so close to Pepper but doesn’t need to peck at the others to maintain her place in the pecking order. Dotty basks in Pepper’s top position and gets on with enjoying her own position without any hassle. Dotty doesn’t bother the other girls and they don’t bother her. Pepper keeps the other girls in their place with a swift peck when needed, to remind them she is top hen, but she has never ever pecked Dotty nor has Dotty ever pecked her.

Pepper’s comb is spikey

Pepper has a point to her comb

Dotty’s comb is quite smooth

Dotty’s comb has a more rounded and flatter spike

Pepper’s comb side view

Dotty’s comb side view

Bluebell is a chalk hill blue and is a hybrid. Bluebell has quite a large floppy comb and large lobes.

Bluebell has a floppy comb

Bluebell was firmly bottom hen before we added the bantys to our flock in May. She has since then bullied them to let them know that they are below her and that she doesn’t intend to be bottom hen any longer.

The bantys are pure breeds and are vorwerks. They have a single comb and we got them at about six months old. I had much more difficulty telling these girls apart until I got to know them. Amber is the smallest of the two but also the feisty one and Honey is firmly in the position of bottom hen.

Like Dotty I often think Honey has an easier life because she accepts her place at the bottom and therefore doesn’t bother the other girls and Bluebell doesn’t bother her as much as Amber. Because of this Amber has a little bit missing from her comb where it was pecked during the integration period.

Ambers comb

It’s difficult to see as these girls and their combs are so small but the top part of her comb has a little bit missing.

Honey’s comb

Honey’s comb has more of a point to the end.

Amber also shows Honey from time to time that she is above Honey in the pecking order. When we first got them and they were in the separated part of the run, while going through the integration period, they would run at each other. They would chest butt and fly at each other and it soon became obvious that Amber was top out of the two of them. If there were treats Amber would peck Honey away from them. They soon settled their order and are always together.

Recently though when I was cleaning the run I heard a commotion and was really  surprised to see Amber and Honey having a real go at each other. They were flying at each other and feathers were drifting from them. Amber was the instigator because I separated them with my hand but Amber would chase Honey behind the bush. I had no idea what had started this and soon they resumed being together as normal. I can only assume that Amber was making her higher position known to Honey and yet Honey seems happy to be bottom girl and never contests her position.

I have never seen the big girls do this other than the baby chest bumping during their early days. It seems that although Amber is the smallest she is not going to let that stop her from avoiding the bottom position. I find the pecking order quite fascinating.

I know I recently did a post about the girls enjoying a bag of leaves but it is so joyful that I can’t resist briefly revisiting this. I recently met up with my friend and fellow chicken keeper Jackie and she gave me a bag of leaves and some greens from her allotment for the girls which are always much appreciated.

As promised I did tell the girls they were a gift from Auntie Jackie but I am not sure they were paying much attention!

They approached with the usual caution and interest

They soon had their heads down finding goodness knows what amongst those leaves

At last I managed to catch Dotty mid scratch

The girls always do this scratching movement among the leaves but most of the time by the time I have clicked the shot it’s missed it. This photo shows the typical scratching movement that the girls do all the time and is so amusing to watch.

When I went back a little later the leaves were scattered over the entire run. The girls will have days of joy from scratching in these leaves. Thank you Jackie.