Carol's Chickens

Treacle Laid her first egg last Sunday at twelve o’clock. She missed Monday but laid her second egg at eight on Tuesday morning. She laid her third egg at three in the afternoon Wednesday and fourth on Thursday at eight in the morning then missed Friday. Saturday she laid at one in the afternoon and today (Sunday) none. She seems to be a bit all over the place at the moment but I am sure she will eventually settle into a routine. Five eggs out of seven days is not a bad start to her first week of laying, especially at this time of the year.

Bluebell has been showing an interest in Treacle in the nest box and taking a look at the nest box in the mornings but she doesn’t squat if I put my hand over her back but her comb and wattles look mature though.

Treacle’s comb and wattles

Bluebell’s comb and wattles

Pepper’s comb

Dotty’s non existent comb

You can see that Treacle and Bluebell’s combs look mature. Pepper is just getting her backward spike over her head and Dotty has no comb at all. It will be exciting if Bluebell starts to lay her blue eggs. I don’t think Pepper and Dotty will be ready until the spring.

This morning when I went out to clean up as usual, I could tell that Treacle was getting ready to lay her second egg. The automatic door has been opening at quarter past seven but this morning it was dull and wet after another night of rain. I waited for five minutes then decided to cheat, as I sometimes do, and shone my torch on the light sensor. The door opened and the chickens eagerly tumbled out. Usually the door stays open but it was so dull that it shut again.

I took the side panel off to clean up and could see that the nest box had been sat in. Treacle then started to “boc boc” loudly and entered the coop through the open side panel and sat in the nest box. She seemed unsettled by the door being shut and came out again, then returned, then out again. By now it was half past seven, the latest the door has opened yet, so I decided to shine the torch on it again. This time it stayed open and Treacle returned to the nest box and started scratching like the first day.

I quickly finished my clean up and put the side panel back on to let her lay her egg in peace. I cleaned up outside and left with Treacle still in the nest box. I looked out at eight o’clock and saw that she was back out. I went to inspect and there was her second egg still warm. It is slightly bigger and darker than the first and not speckled.

Treacle’s second egg

The egg on the right is Treacle’s second egg. Maybe we will start to get one each day. I am looking forward to seeing if there is another one tomorrow.

After laying her first egg yesterday, we wondered if Treacle would lay another today or if it was a one off. This morning she behaved completely differently from yesterday and showed no interest in the nest box and I was pretty certain that there would be no egg today.

At mid morning I looked out of the window and saw that Treacle was perched on top of the umbrella. I grabbed my camera to see if I could catch a photo before she came down.

Treacle on the umbrella

Treacle about to launch herself down from the umbrella

It’s a good job we have chicken net over the top of our run or these girls would definitely make an escape.

We didn’t get another egg today. We are going to wait for a few days and if there is still not another one we will share the first egg. I can’t wait to crack it open and see what the inside is like.

Treacle has been in the nest box all morning scratching about. I don’t know why she doesn’t just sit in there but is constantly scratching her feet. Meanwhile the other girl’s are scratching in some leaves.

Bluebell, Pepper and Dotty scratch happily in some leaves.

Every now and again Bluebell would go to the door of the coop and peer in at Treacle or stand and listen to Treacle scratching in the nest box. We had some work to do so decided to leave her to it.

We went back out to the chickens before lunch at about quarter to one and found Treacle back out in the run with the other girls. I opened the nest box with baited breath.

There in the middle was a perfect small, brown, speckled egg. I felt so proud of Treacle. What a clever girl to know where to go to lay her first egg. It was still slightly warm.

Treacle’s first egg

Small but perfect

I am so pleased with Treacle. I wonder if she will lay another tomorrow. I have now changed the girls from growers pellets to layers pellets. I had been waiting to use up the last of the growers pellets but this morning decided to throw out was left in the feeder and replace them with layers.

We will wait until we have two eggs, then will try them for breakfast. I used the last of my shop bought eggs at breakfast this morning so will not buy any more for now. I am so happy!

I think Treacle may be about to lay an egg. Having said recently that she may not lay until spring, I have read of people getting their first egg on a snowy winters day so anything is possible.

Lately if I put my hand anywhere near Treacle she instantly squats down. This last week she has been getting in the coop when I do my morning clean up and looking at the nest box. She would stand on the perch below and have a good look in. This morning when I was cleaning the coop she actually went and sat in the nest box a couple of times as if sizing it up. She inspected the plastic egg which I put in the nest box to show that it is the place to lay.

Later on in the morning she was back in the nest box and scratching around like crazy.

Treacle ensconced in the nest box

When she came out I had a look in and saw that she had scratched the shavings from the middle of the box and flicked the egg out. I decided to double up the depth of the shavings.

Treacle has scratched out the pine shavings

The other girls are outside the coop wondering what she is up to.

Clean and dry patio

This picture shows how much better the patio looks now that it has dried after yesterdays clean up. The spot where the drinker used to be is now dry.

Treacle is continuing to keep going back in the nest box, I am quite excited and am wondering if we may get an egg today.

We have had so much driving rain that the outer half of the patio gets wet and muddy, especially with me and the girls walking mud onto it. The other really wet patch that has been annoying me for some time is around the water drinker. This is due to Treacle scratching in it and flicking the water out. Treacle not only scratches in dirt and pine shavings but she scratches on the patio (where there is nothing to scratch!) and in the water. This means this area is permanently wet and difficult to clean.

Wet patch around the drinker

I decided it was time to move it and now wonder why on earth I didn’t think of that before. I put a spare slab we had over the earth box that borders the outside area and sat the drinker on that. This means I can sluice down this slab straight into the soil.

The drinkers new position

Pepper checks it out

As you can see the patio is pretty muddy. I decided it needed a good scrub and as we had to make one of our frequent visits to our local D.I.Y. shop, I bought a stiff rubber bristled broom and a floor squeegee to dry the patio as best I could.

I picked up, swept up, then set to work sluicing it with water, scrubbing then drying with the squeegee. The only problem was that although it worked quite well, it did leave channels of water in the gaps between the tiles. I dried these with kitchen paper. It’s not perfect but a lot better than it was.

The patio after it’s clean up

You can also see how developed Bluebell’s comb is in this picture.

Pepper’s under developed comb

This was before the clean up and shows how under developed Pepper’s comb is. Pepper has what is called a pea comb. It will look like a row of pink peas with a backward spike at the end. You can just see the spike forming.

I am quite pleased with the way the squeegee gets rid of the excess water after cleaning and am really pleased with the new position of the drinker. This should help the area where the feeder is to stay dry now. This was the most simple improvement but sometimes it takes a while to have that light bulb moment.

On an entirely different subject, I have moved the grass trays to the empty veg plot for the winter. Despite putting plenty of drainage in the trays, because they are quite shallow, they are still waterlogged. The grass is sparse and my husband is not sure if they will survive but I am hopeful. I am planning to help them along with a packet of grass seed sprinkled over them in spring.

The trays of grass

It worked so well in the summer being able to give the girls a tray of grass each day. By the time they had the last one the first one had regrown ready to go in again. I have nothing to lose by keeping them so will see how they fare. It hasn’t helped them having so much rain either, everything seems a battle against the rain at the moment. The long forecast is more rain but the next few days are supposed to be dry so I am hoping everything will dry out a bit. I can but hope!

My little chicken flock like to help me with my morning clean up. As I move around picking up the poop, they follow me. Yesterday as I ducked under the big perch to clean up in the corner, I had Dotty watching from the perch above me, Pepper facing me and trying to see what was in my gloved hands, Bluebell pecking at my sleeve to make sure I knew she was there and Treacle on my back helping me most of all! It’s so much easier to clean up a chicken run with a helpful chicken on your back!

Lately at any time that I bend down, Treacle is on my back or shoulder in an instant. Sometimes I am cleaning or sometimes I am talking to Pepper or trying to take a photo and she is straight on to me. My husband says she seems to think she is an overgrown parrot! It makes cleaning up quite tricky.

Pepper also looks like she really wants to jump up too. Pepper now pays me more attention than the other three and as she used to be so skittish, this is so lovely and she is such a sweet girl. Tonight she looked like she really wanted to jump on me so for the first time in ages I sat on my little chair as I thought perhaps she needs a proper lap to sit on rather than me just crouching down. You would have thought it was feeding frenzy at the zoo except without the food! Treacle was straight on my lap followed by Bluebell. I stroked these two and they filled my lap. Dotty didn’t know where to go so jumped on to my head (not ideal, luckily she is the lightest) and poor Pepper just didn’t know how to get up too. She kept rocking as if about to jump but couldn’t find a space. Where is the camera man at these priceless moments?

The thing I love about this sort of crazy interaction with my girls is that there is no treat on offer, they just seem to want to be on me and I love that. I never thought I could love these chickens so, so much! I love that they all have such different personalities and they want to be around me. I know they are always looking for a treat but they follow me around for half an hour every morning while I clean up and they want to sit on me every evening before bedtime (Treacle wants to be on me any time she possibly can), Pepper wants to talk to me face to face at any time and oh, it’s so wonderful. I love these girls so much.

Treacle seems to have suddenly matured over the last month. As she has matured she has taken her place as top hen and she has grown much more vocal. Treacle used to be my quiet hen, quiet because she was not very vocal. Now Treacle has become more talkative, and having found her voice, it is a loud voice. When I go up the path towards them I can instantly recognise the difference between Pepper’s very vocal but slightly mournful “boc boc” and Treacle’s very loud and clear “boc boc”

Treacle’s comb and wattles have also become much more developed.

Treacle’s comb and wattles have suddenly matured

Because Bluebells comb matured first, I thought she would be the first to lay eggs and had heard that when they are almost ready they will squat when you hold your hand over their back. I have tried that many times with Bluebell and she just side steps out of the way. When trying to stroke Treacle recently I accidentally hovered my hand over her back and she went down into a squat. Now I know what people mean when they say that. Every time I hover my hand over her back she squats. Maybe Treacle will be the first to lay eggs.

I think they may wait until spring though as the days are getting shorter. I have also heard that pure breeds lay about a month later than hybrids and are less likely to lay through winter. Treacle is a longtown brown and will lay dark brown eggs, Bluebell is a chalkhill blue and will lay blue eggs and Pepper and Dotty are dominiques and will lay light brown eggs. I have had my girls for five months now and I think Dotty is six months old, Pepper seven months (because I was told there was a month between them), and Bluebell and Treacle eight months. I was told that Treacle is a slower developer and would lay at about a month older than the other girls but that once she starts to lay she is a really good layer. I would put Bluebell and Treacle at a month older than the other two because their combs and wattles were always more developed and if Treacle develops later that would explain why her comb has taken a month more than Bluebell’s to look fully mature.

I am now assuming that Dominiques are also slow developers because Pepper’s comb is still not mature and Dotty actually seems to be stuck in babyhood. She must be six months old because I have had her for five months and was told she was one month when I first got her and yet she still uses her baby twitter rather than a grown up “boc boc” like Pepper and her comb is not at all developed. She is feisty and greedy yet doesn’t seem to be growing up.

Dotty still has no comb and still looks like a baby

They all look happy and healthy so I think they will all develop at their own pace and although I would love to have some eggs, I love the girls so much that I don’t mind if I have to wait for a bit.

I put in the new, bigger, round, dry dust bath about a week ago. At first I could see foot prints in it but no evidence of it being used as a dust bath. Then I could see by the dust sprinkled outside of it that it was being used but didn’t manage to catch any of the girls in it.

This morning we went up to the girls and Treacle was having a great time in the dust bath. She was completely covered in dust and writhing around, sometimes with eyes closed and purring with delight. If you didn’t know how much chickens like to dust bath you would be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with her.

Treacle in the dry dust bath

Writhing around in her dust bath

Eyes shut, head down and purring

Treacle dusts Bluebell

The other girls mill around her but at the moment they are not getting a look in, she is staying put. Bluebells back is sprinkled with dust from Treacle. Treacle is loving this and as we had to go, we didn’t see her get out. later in the day she still had dust on her fluffy butt feathers. I think we can call the new dry dust bath a success.

Yesterday I gave the girls watermelon for the first time. I have read on other blogs how much chickens like pumpkin and thought as they are always half price after halloween that I would wait until then to get them one. This is the first year I haven’t seen them on sale after halloween in any of the shops. Not a pumpkin to be found anywhere. I was kicking myself for not buying one earlier so instead looked on the sale fruit and veg shelf and bought the girls a slice of watermelon.

Treacle, Pepper and Dotty came straight over to try it

Bluebell joins them

It’s unusual for Bluebell not to come straight away but she was having such a lovely dust bath under the bush that she couldn’t tear herself away at first. When I returned a little later there was just the empty skin left. I think I can safely say that they like watermelon!

Last night it rained all night, frequently waking me. It was hammering down and I was worried about how the new plastic cover was holding up and whether the water was draining through the holes I had made.

When I went out at seven in the morning I was really pleased to see that the drainage holes had worked and the plastic was flat with no pools of water on it. If it can take that much heavy rain it should be okay.

I am disappointed that the run is not drying out though. I think if we had put the cover over dry earth it may have kept it relatively dry but we put it over a quagmire and I am beginning to wonder if it will ever dry out. The problem is we have had rain most days and it is forecast to continue wet over this month. If it would only stop raining for a bit it might dry out but there seems little chance of that at the moment. The water also drains down under the plastic cover as the run slopes down but at least it gives the girls an area out of the rain to walk on even if the ground is not yet dry. I think it’s the best we can do for now. We just need to wait for it to stop raining!