Carol's Chickens

Amber has just laid her first egg in three weeks. She always struggles to lay her eggs and I knew she was about to lay as she looked quite unwell. She was standing with her tail down and her eyes closing. If I hadn’t seen this with Amber many times before I would have thought that I was going to lose her. It was with relief  that I saw her go into the coop.

I returned to check on her a little later and sure enough there was a little egg in the nest box.

After laying her egg Amber was back to her normal self as usual and had found a worm. The other girls were all chasing her and trying to take it from her. Amber ran at speed round the run several times before Dotty managed to steal her prize from her. There wasn’t much wrong with Amber now.

Amber’s egg on the right is slightly smaller than Honey’s egg

Dotty’s egg is on the left for comparison, Honey’s in the middle and Amber’s on the right. It doesn’t show very clearly in the photo but Amber’s eggs are slightly smaller and paler than Honey’s.

Amber seems to have struggled with egg laying from the start. She laid her first two eggs the size of a marble with no yolk. She then laid a couple of soft shelled eggs. I gave the girls limestone flour to strengthen the shells and she then laid normal eggs but in the run. She finally got the hang of it but always looked ill just before laying and fine again afterwards.

I feel sad to think that she struggles with the egg laying process because it should be a natural process for a chicken. I was quite pleased that she hadn’t laid for three weeks as she seemed happier and looked better.

I don’t know what you can do when a chicken looks ill before laying each time. If it was an occasional struggle I would give her a bath but I would be giving her baths all the time. I wonder if there is something not quite right inside her and worry that she may not live to a ripe old age. There again she could prove me wrong and it may be just the way she is. If so I feel sorry for her as it’s a shame for her to not look well before each egg but I can only hope it gets better in time. Amber is about one year old and has been laying for five months now.

She started laying about every three days then decreased to about once a week. Recently she then went two weeks between and then three weeks between. I don’t mind her laying less if it makes her feel better.

Honey has never had a problem laying her eggs and was laying about every other day but hasn’t laid for a week now. I do hope Amber eventually finds it gets easier to lay her eggs.

I’ve found it a little difficult up until now to tell if the girls were moulting because of the feathers plucked out and some feathers regrowing. Over the last few days I have seen the difference when they really are moulting.

The last two mornings when I have gone through the gate to the girls, Dotty has jumped on my back as usual then on to the coop roof. With her movement each morning a long tail feather drifted from her to the ground.

I opened up the coop to do my morning  pick up (yesterday and today) and found about twenty or more dominique feathers in the pine shavings. As I have read on other chicken blogs it looked like a pillow fight had taken place.

During the day there were more feathers in the run and sometimes when Dotty would shake herself a few more drifted from her.

I can also see pin feathers coming in on their bottoms and on Dotty’s neck.

Again I have my own theory of another difference between hybrids and pure breeds. Treacle and Bluebell (hybrids) both had a baby molt and lost their tail before they matured to lay eggs. Their tails then grew back very quickly. Pepper and Dotty (pure breeds) didn’t lose their tails.

A year later Bluebell doesn’t appear to be molting and her tail still looks quite good but Pepper and Dotty’s tails look ragged and tatty. I think this is why they are molting to replace their tattered feathers whereas Bluebell doesn’t need to do this at the moment. It will be interesting to see what happens to Bluebell next year.

Ragged Dotty

I think I am noticing more feathers falling form Dotty because she is losing feathers from under her wings but Pepper’s tail is more ragged than Dotty’s.

Pepper’s ragged tail

Bluebell still looks quite pristine

Bluebell’s tail feathers don’t look bad

It would be lovely to see the girls with new feathers but I just hope they don’t pull them out again.

The other difference is the fall off of eggs. I know it’s a double thing of moulting and shorter days but the egg fall has also been different between the girls.

Pepper is laying one egg a week and Dotty is laying about four eggs a week (Dotty always has laid more than Pepper). Bluebell is still laying between five and six eggs a week. Bluebell in summer would take one day off in about two months. That dropped to one day off a month and now to one day off a week. She is still a prolific egg layer. Again it’s because she is a hybrid but probably also because she isn’t moulting.

The bantys never were so good at the egg laying. Honey has gone from laying every other day to not laying for a week now and Amber has gone from laying about two eggs a week to not having laid for three weeks now. I wonder if they have stopped for winter. They are only in their first year so are not moulting.

The big girls laid all last winter which was their first year. It’s interesting to see these differences between them.

Pepper has always been fatter than the other girls. They all have the same diet and I try to give healthy treats of fruit and veg and mostly greens. I wondered if it was because she had pendulous crop when she was a few months old and her crop had perhaps stretched causing her to eat more to fill it up but my husband has another theory.

When it comes to food, Dotty is the greedy one and wolfs down treats while Pepper delicately pecks at them and Dotty is so fast she always gets the lions share of worms when I dig the run.

My husband says that just like people the phrase “eat less, move more” comes to mind. He pointed out that Dotty is always on the go. She is constantly running around, jumping up, scratching, pecking, digging, never still. Pepper spends a lot of time sitting. She greets me in the morning with the other girls, then goes for a sit down in one of her favourite spots. The same thing at lunch time when I take some fruit or veg for them, she pecks at whatever is on offer then goes for a sit down.

Dotty goes in the coop to lay her egg and shortly comes back out with the job done but Pepper can sit in there for an hour and sometimes doesn’t even get an egg laid.

Dotty is fast and slim and can jump from the ground to my shoulder whereas Pepper being heavier will only jump on my back when I am bent over. Peppers favourite spots for sitting are a hollowed dust bath near the bush, the space between the wooden block and the dividing chicken wire or the branch perch.

Pepper likes this spot between the wooden block and the wire divider

Close up of Pepper in one of her favourite spots

I think the block must make her feel secure.

Pepper on the branch

Dotty

I think this is why Dotty is slim and Pepper isn’t. Like people they have different personalities and Dotty is always rushing around whereas Pepper is chilled, she doesn’t rush herself if she doesn’t need to. Yet Pepper keeps her place as top hen, she has the respect of the flock. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t feel the need to rush herself.

I have just finished worming the girls and they loved it. The last time I did this by coating some sunflower hearts in olive oil then sprinkling on the flubinvet powder. It worked but was a bit messy. This time I put the powder in a dish of treats each day and it was so easy. The first day I put it in live yogurt, I used mash in between days but one day put it in scrambled egg (made with olive oil and water) and one day in fish in olive oil.

Scrambled egg is their very top favourite treat of all. I use two eggs between the five girls and they can’t wait for me to put the dish down. They fall on it and it is gone in less then a minute. They are so fast that there is no time for squabbles and they all get an equal share. It is so fast that I reeled off a quick set of photos as soon as the dish was down but there were only three without at least one blurred face because of the speed of their pecking.

We love scrambled egg

This is going fast

This is so good

Fish is the second favourite treat and goes fast but not as fast as the egg. Yogurt is third favourite and mash is fourth favourite and goes down more sedately.

We love fish too

We are really enjoying this

That was good

There couldn’t be an easier way to worm the girls. it’s quick, easy, they all get an equal share and they enjoy it. I now use this method for anything that I want all the girls to have such as occasionally poultry spice or limestone flour. It’s such a fun way of giving them anything they need.

Summer seemed to come to a sudden end. We were having an unusually late hot spell then the next day it was cool and wet and rained for a week. This coincided with us having a really busy period work wise and I felt frustrated that the run was turning into a quagmire and we had no time to get it covered. There were muddy puddles forming and the girls had muddy feet but also it was horrible for me to clean up.

It would have to wait until our first weekend with a bit of time which was this weekend. The positive is that the weather has dried up and warmed up. This meant the job was easier to do and I am hoping the run will soon dry out and then stay reasonably dry.

We thought we would try to learn from our mistakes and make a better job this winter than last year. I bought a plastic sheet from our local D.I.Y. store which at a cost of £12.00 is not too bad for a winters dry cover. My husband said he thought this time we should put the plastic under the mesh roof rather than over it. It would be easier to put up and would look better from outside and from the neighbours view.

We only have to cover half the garden area as the other half has the plastic panels which can be open or shut as needed. We got the sheet in place then stapled it to the wooden beams. My husband then attached some wooden batons with some spare wood from our shed to strengthen it and stop it pulling away from the staples.

I also attached some of the plastic to the sides of the run over the patio area. Last year the rain still came in here and the patio was often wet so this year I am going to try to keep the patio area dry.

I poured a can of water over the run to see if there were any pools and was pleased to see that it ran away quite well although it does run in a bit at the veg plot end.

Once the run was covered I cleaned up then dug the run over to break up the soil and help it dry out. The girls really enjoyed this bit as they got loads of worms while I was digging. I then cleaned the patio area as best I could, it will be better when it’s dried out and I can sweep it as adding more water wasn’t helping. I cleaned the feeders and drinkers and feel it’s the best it’s going to be until it really dries out properly. Once dry it should stay dry and I don’t mind the odd wet bit, rain always comes in from the edge of the veg plot, but as long as it’s mostly dry that is a vast improvement.

Covered side panel on the right hand side above the fence panel and covered run over the triangle shaped bit

Covered roof on the left hand side and the run is dug over

How it looks from the outside

Summers end sedum

I thought I would end with one of the remaining bits of colour in the garden.

I am so pleased to have got the run under cover for the winter and am looking forward to it drying out now. I am sure the girls will be happier in the dry although they don’t seem that bothered about mud but I know I will be happier without it. A good job done!

About once a month I give the girls a small pot of live probiotic  yogurt  between them as it’s supposed to be good for their digestive systems and they absolutely love it.

I decided to worm the girls as it’s been six months since I last wormed them and it’s recommended to do it every six months. I use flubenvet which is a powder and comes with a measuring spoon and needs to be given for seven consecutive days. I mix it with treats so that all the girls get their share.

I decided to mix it with the yogurt on the first day. I hadn’t given the girls yogurt for a while and there was great excitement when they saw the white dish coming. Dotty was the most excited and was jumping up at the dish as I was trying to put it down. She instantly fell upon the dish and came up covered in yogurt! They always get it all over themselves but I have never seen them get into such a mess as they did this time. They all had white beaks and flecks of yogurt all over themselves but Dotty’s comb was also completely white.

A face full of yogurt

This was the first photo I took after Dotty’s first dip into the yogurt.

Yogurt beaks

Within seconds they all had white beaks and faces. Pepper had a stripe of yogurt on her head and they were spotted with it.

Covered in yogurt

What a fun way to be wormed and they soon cleaned up the dish. They scrape their beaks against the patio to clean them and peck the specks of yogurt from each other. I wondered how they were going to get their faces and combs clean but when I returned a little later they were all clean again. I’m not sure how they manage to get cleaned up so quickly but they somehow do. They certainly do love yogurt.

I have said before that I can tell my girls eggs apart. The girls all have the same diet available to them but Dotty is always pecking at grit in the garden or taking it from the dispenser and her eggs usually have little calcium deposits on the pointed end of the egg.

Pepper’s eggs are completely smooth as well as being paler so even though they are the same breed their eggs look quite different. Bluebells eggs have a small amount of calcium but it’s more of a slightly grainy effect than the obvious bits on Dotty’s egg.

Honey’s eggs are also smooth and pale just like Pepper’s but smaller and Ambers eggs are slightly smaller still.

Bluebell’s egg is on the left then Dotty’s egg, then Pepper’s egg then Honey’s egg on the right

Dotty’s eggs often have these little calcium deposits whereas Pepper’s are so silky smooth and pale.

Honey’s egg is in the middle and Amber’s slightly smaller egg is on the right.

Amber only lays about once a week and her eggs are still a bit smaller than Honey’s. Honey lays usually every other day and occasionally two days in a row.

Pepper had dropped to one egg a week but recently she has started laying every three or four days then yesterday she laid for the second day in a row for the first time since mid July. I wonder if the winter molt is over, they were so ragged from feather pulling that it was difficult to tell if they were molting at all. They look ragged around their tails but have some new feathers and no obvious loss of feathers so I’m not really sure what is going on. It will be a case of wait and see how they progress.

I have had perpetual spinach in a pot all summer which I have been giving to the girls. I also have some in the veg plot. The pot is more difficult to harvest as it’s overcrowded and now the edges of the leaves have started to brown so I decided to put the pot in the run for the girls.

Who is going to be brave enough to approach the scary pot of spinach

The little girls are the first to peck at the spinach

Now it’s deemed safe for all to peck at

Dotty climbs on to the pot

Honey climbs on to the pot

I returned half an hour later to find it stripped

I then turned the pot out so that the girls could get at the roots.

That’s scary, we will stay safely behind the wire

The girl’s were reluctant to approach it so I stepped on it to squash it out of shape a bit.

Inspecting

Now the girls got stuck into scratching it

Another half hour later

When I returned it had all been scratched and all that was left were the stalks. I think the girls had a lot of fun with the pot of spinach.

The pecking order is never more noticeable than during the bedtime routine. Bluebell must show the little girls that they are below her and so roosts on the little chair to stop them from doing so.

Pepper and Dotty at the top of the pecking order have the most prestigious spot on the high perch.

Last night I was still doing my evening chores as they settled in their places. Pepper and Dotty settle together on the high perch. They sit next to each and often flutter their heads underneath each others wing like baby chicks do. I think this strengthens their bond with each other. They have been together since they were chicks and together with me from when Dotty was a month old and Pepper two months old and they have always been really close. I have never ever seen either of them peck each other.

Dotty doesn’t take any notice of any of the other girls and is happy with her place next to Pepper. Pepper has to show she is top girl and will not let either Bluebell or the little girls on to the perch with them. She leans forward and downwards and pecks the little girls away. Last night Bluebell tried to join them and she very firmly pecked at Bluebells head and would not allow her on the perch.

Bluebell settled on the little chair. Amber soon settled on the top of the store cabinet. Honey was still on the coop roof and suddenly flew to the high perch at the end near the gate out of reach of Pepper and Dotty. The look on Bluebells face was a picture! She did not like it at all that Honey had managed to secure a spot on the high perch when she herself hadn’t managed it.

The girls get to the high perch at the end Pepper and Dotty prefer by jumping from the coop roof, to the top of the cabinet, then to the perch. Honey had gone straight from the coop roof to the perch. Bluebell was besides herself at this outrage. She jumped down from the chair to the cabinet then back to the coop roof. She then launched herself from the coop roof to the perch where Honey was and dislodged her. Honey flew to the coop then to the little chair.

This explains why sometimes the little girls manage to get possession of the little chair. Bluebell was now the facing the wrong way, they prefer to face outwards with their backs to the solid fence, but no matter she had forced Honey from the perch.

Bluebell moves Honey from the high perch and has to remain facing the other way to Pepper and Dotty

Pepper is constantly looking down like this and will immediately peck at any of the girls that come within reach of her.

Honey moves to the little chair

Dotty is nuzzling Pepper. Amber is looking up at Honey as if wondering how she came to be on the little chair.

Pepper and Amber are looking at each other

I only went inside to grab my camera after Bluebell had chased Honey from the perch so am missing a shot of Honey on the high perch. I may manage to snap that another time. This routine always amuses me and maybe explains why Bluebell is so determined to keep her place above the little girls.

I have been keeping my blog for just over a year now and in that time I have learned a lot about chickens and my flock has also gone through some changes.

I thought it would be good to add a page that would show how my flock has evolved from the beginning to now. I decided to add a link on the side bar that would go to a short summary with photos showing my flock and the changes. This means anyone reading already or reading for the first time can get to meet all my flock.

I would welcome any feed back as this is the first time I have added something new since I began. I wanted a way that all the flock, past and present could be easily looked at, at any time. It was a trip down memory lane for me compiling these photos and I was amazed how much has happened in the space of a year. The photo on the side bar is my current favourite of my flock all together as they are now. The photos on the “meet the flock” page include my past favourite photos of all the girls together.

Click here to see the new page!