Carol's Chickens

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!

The night before last I was surprised to find the little girls in their favourite bedtime position on the little chair. I wondered how they had managed not to be chased from there by Bluebell.

Last night I was later than usual doing my evening chores. The little girls were settled on the chair again and Bluebell was on the high perch with Pepper and Dotty. The next moment I saw Bluebell jump to the store cabinet then the little chair causing one of the little girls to fly off.

The other little girl held her position so Bluebell held her down and started pecking at her. It was horrible to see and I grabbed Bluebell and put her into the coop then unhooked the automatic door and closed it.

I decided she could have a bit of time alone in the coop before I put the others to bed and the little girls could have some time back on the little chair.

I left them for about ten minutes so that it would be dark enough for the automatic door to close on it’s own. I hooked it back up again and let it start closing, then lifted the other girls down and put them in.

Bluebell may be going to bed a bit earlier for the next few nights. I really can’t bare to see her attack the little girls like that and she will be shown that I am in fact top hen!

lately the little girls try to get out of the gate whenever I open it. It’s not so much about making an escape as just an interest in pecking at anything on the other side of the gate.

When I go in first thing  in the morning I try to block the gate with my feet or my hands but sometimes being small and speedy the little girls slip between my legs. So far they have only wandered down the steps on the other side of the gate having a peck around. I hold the gate open and they come back in.

In the mornings as soon as I am through the gate even while trying to keep the little girls in, Dotty is straight onto my shoulder. It is her way of greeting me every morning without fail. It’s now become an awkward manoeuvre of trying to keep the little girls in with Dotty on my back or shoulder.

One morning the little girls nipped out and Dotty was on my shoulder so I couldn’t risk going after them.  Luckily I just held the gate open and they wandered back in.

I always worry that if they flew off they wouldn’t know how to get back. Yesterday Honey got further than usual. I took them in a treat of tomato wedges. Honey grabbed a piece of tomato and in a split second ran out of the gate with it. Her only aim was to keep her bit of tomato and she shot down the path and onto the veg plot.

My heart did a flip and I wedged the gate open and grabbed the corn pot. I shook the corn and got her attention. She got a bit panicked about how to get back in and marched up and down the weld mesh fence at the end of the veg plot. I laid a trail of corn back to the gate and she forgot her tomato and followed the corn back in.

Thank goodness the corn is such a strong lure. So far a rattle of the corn has worked every time. It’s odd that the big girls have never shown an interest in stepping out yet the little girls always try to slip out.

The funny thing was that Honey wasn’t even aware of her adventure because her full attention was on her piece of tomato until the only thing better, corn, was on offer.

I have to be so careful with these little girls!

It’s so sad to see the little girls getting more and more bare. The big girls seem to have stopped pulling feathers from each other and are finally getting some feathers back. The little girls however have gradually become more bare.

The other day when I was in the run I heard a squeal. I turned and saw Bluebell with her foot on one of the little girls back, holding her down, while plucking a feather from her neck. It was horrible to see and unlike when the big girls were plucking it seems malicious. I have considered separating Bluebell but I am not sure if she is the only culprit or if it would make any difference anyway. When I separated her before for bullying the little girls it didn’t make any difference when she returned.

I have also seen Pepper pluck a feather from one of the little girls head while she just stood and let her. I am so frustrated by this because although it doesn’t to seem to bother the little girls it is completely ruining their looks.

As they only started to lay eggs at the end of May they probably won’t molt this year either so will be stuck like this for a very long time. It is so sad to see such lovely girls looking so awful.

Honey’s bare patch

Their combs are lovely and red and healthy looking.

Amber’s bare patch

Honey front view

Amber front view

Seeing the little girls like this makes me so sad, it’s such a shame. I really hope this passes like it has with the big girls and one day the little girls will be restored to their former glory.

It’s been a funny day for the egg laying. I went out to the girls soon after first light and was surprised to find Dotty’s egg on the coop floor under the nest box. She hadn’t laid yesterday so I assume she laid at first light and didn’t manage to get to the nest box in time.

Bluebell laid her egg a little later, in the little coop as usual. Next time I checked I spotted Honey’s egg on the coop floor, opposite the nest box, between the bottom perch and the outside wall of the coop. She had made a little nest there and I have no idea why she chose this spot but she has done this once before.

Pepper has only been laying one egg a week recently and never seems to know when this is going to be. Most days she will go and sit in the nest box for up to an hour then come out again without laying an egg. Today she was spending a lot of time sat under the bush. She seems to be molting and feeling a bit under the weather. Next time I checked on her there was her egg, next to her under the bush. Pepper has never laid an egg outside before. A little while later she went and sat in the little coop (where she normally lays her eggs) for about half an hour. I really don’t think she knew she had already laid her egg.

Pepper about to go and sit in the little coop

The eggs have been slowing down as we head towards winter which is what I expected. Pepper’s average has dropped from 5 per week to 2 per week then now to 1 per week. Dotty’s average has dropped from 6 per week to 5 per week and Bluebell’s average has dropped from 7 per week to 6 per week. Pepper has always laid less so I’m not surprised hers have dropped the most.

I also think that Pepper and Dotty are molting. It’s been more difficult for me to tell because they already had missing feathers from the feather pulling in the spring. Pepper has had a bare bottom all summer but now has feathers coming in on her bottom but has developed some bare patches under her wings. She also looks very tatty. Dotty has feathers coming in on her previously bare head and neck but also looks very tatty. I can’t see much change in Bluebell.

Pepper’s tatty look

Dotty’s tatty look

Pepper is even less feathered under the wing than Dotty but it can only be seen when they stand up straight like Dotty is in this photo. It amuses me to see her standing so proud yet so tattered. Her head feathers have come back in though which is a vast improvement to her looks. I can’t wait to see her with neck feathers again.

Bluebell doesn’t look bad

Bluebell’s tail is a bit ragged in places and she is still missing neck feathers but other than that she still looks pretty good at the moment. I will keep taking photos as the feathers come and go as it will be a good record. It will also be interesting to see if the eggs stop altogether over the winter months. At least we will have banty eggs this winter as they only started laying at the end of May.

We are having a welcome, late summer, warm and sunny spell. Amber has decided to stay out with the other girls after a few nights of going in the coop. I don’t worry as I know as soon as it gets cool again the girls will go in the coop. Last year they started going in themselves in September and continued to do so until the heat wave this summer.

As the nights are drawing in I have been getting them all in by half past eight when the automatic coop door shuts. As they are going in earlier and it will continue to get earlier and earlier, I am enjoying and making the most of, spending time with them before bedtime. I love this time when they mill around me, top up on food and water, have a last scratch in the garden area and finally jostle for the best positions to roost.

I decided to photograph their bedtime line up. I took lots of photos in quick succession and these pictures cover the fifteen minutes before they were settled.

Bluebell goes to the little chair first

It seems that Bluebell must go to the little chair first to stake it out as her favoured position. Here she is showing off her magnificent comb.

Bluebell and Pepper on the store cabinet

Pepper jumps from the coop roof to the store cabinet and Bluebell jumps to the cabinet to join her.

Pepper settles on the high perch which is her favoured position

I love this expression on Peppers face. I have seen it many times and find it benevolent and quizzical at the same time. She does a lot of neck twisting and looks quite comical.

Pepper leans out to Honey to show her she can’t join her on the perch

Honey jumps on to the store cabinet and Pepper makes it quite clear that she is not allowed to join her on the perch, the little girls must be shown their place.

Honey settles on the little chair

As Bluebell has returned to the patio, Honey takes the opportunity to take possession of the little chair.

The big girls return to the garden area for a last scratch around

They return to the coop roof ready to launch themselves into their bedtime positions

In the background Bluebell jumps to the little chair forcing Honey off

Pepper has returned to the high perch. I was taking Dotty’s photo just as Bluebell jumped across to the little chair, giving Honey no option but to jump off. I had wondered how Bluebell always ends up there despite Honey settling there before her. Dotty then jumped across to the high perch to join Pepper.

Bluebell is back in possession of the little chair.

Bluebell leans out to Amber to show her that she is not to try to get on the little chair.

They are all settled in their final positions

Close up of the two pairs in their final positions

Close up of Bluebell in her final position

The pecking order is very clear in their bedtime routine. Pepper is top hen followed closely by Dotty and they get the most prestigious position on the high perch. Bluebell is next with the next best spot on the little chair and Amber and Honey are at the bottom of the pecking order with their position on the store cabinet.

I put all the girls into the coop after dusk as the door is closing or just after it has closed. I prop it open while I put them in. I sometimes peek in through the nest box with a torch to see where they settle. The big girls have always favoured the bottom perch on the opposite side to the nest box and when I look in this is always where they are. The little girls are always on the top perch on the side with the nest box. It seems that inside the coop the little girls still have a separate place to the big girls. I find the bedtime routine quite fascinating.