Carol's Chickens

A few days ago I said that I thought that Marmite was going broody but I was mistaken. Marmite was just taking a very long time to lay her egg. However that same day Flame went broody and has been broody for four days now. Ebony has been broody for three and a half weeks which is ridiculous!

Speckles last laid six days ago and has gone back to drinking lots of water and doing sloppy poops. This was pretty much what I expected if this is a hormonal problem and I think she may take eight weeks off and then start laying again if she follows her previous pattern.

This means we have no bigger girls laying and our two best laying little girls are not laying since their broody break so egg production has dropped dramatically. We are getting one little egg a day at the moment.

Another thing that has changed is that Flame has stopped pecking me, hurrah! When she first went broody there were a few times when I knew that she was sitting on Marmite’s egg. I reached under her to remove the egg and was most surprised that she didn’t peck me.

The next thing I decided to try was to see if I could lift Flame from the nest box and again she didn’t peck me. I have been lifting Flame several times a day along with Ebony and she hasn’t pecked me.

I am amazed and extremely pleased by this change in Flame. It makes it so much easier to be able to handle her. I wonder what has brought about this change. None of the girls are pecking me now so maybe it has just taken this long for them to accept me handling them. I can’t say how much nicer it is to have no girls pecking me, especially Flame.

I lift Flame and Ebony out of the nest box several times a day

They are like a pair of bookends

They sit like this for a few minutes and then run off and scratch, preen or dust bath and then have food and water before returning to the nest box.

At bedtime I close the nest boxes but it makes no difference to these two girls as they just settle on top of the nest boxes.

Bedtime

I lift them to the perch once the pop hole has closed. I will be glad when these two girls have come out of this. I only hope that Flame isn’t going to stick at it as long as Ebony. I am wondering if Ebony is ever going to come out of this!

Yesterday we went to the allotment. This plot is beautiful. We aren’t sure if it’s just been left or if it’s been purposefully seeded with wild flowers but the effect is stunning. I suspect it must have been seeded.

A beautiful wildflower plot

On to our plot.

Lettuces and radishes looking great and carrots on the right

Potatoes looking great

Broad beans

Cabbages

First of the ripe strawberries

Grandchildren in the background

Having a go at mowing

We are really pleased with how everything is coming along. We have so far been harvesting rocket and spinach although the spinach is bolting and going to seed. Everything else is looking great.

Today I found the tiniest egg, so far, in the middle of the run. I think that the girl who laid it was unaware and just dropped it in the run. This one is the first one without a yolk. It’s a bit of a mystery as to why a girl should lay a tiny egg at this stage.

By a process of elimination I think this egg is from Salmon. The reasons for this conclusion are as follows. Cinnamon hasn’t laid for two weeks now but these tiny eggs are a feature of my latest breeder’s girls so Cinnamon is out of the running.

Smoke is out of the running as she is firmly broody and it can’t be Vanilla as she has just come out of being broody.

It isn’t Jasmine as she laid her first egg since her broody break, today, in the corner of the chicken shed.

Spangle laid today and lays torpedo shaped eggs. Marmite laid yesterday and today and today has gone broody. Yes, yet another broody girl!

That just leaves Salmon who last laid a week ago and yesterday looked a bit poorly as if about to struggle to lay. Her last couple of eggs had thin shells but for the last couple of days she has been going to the grit. Today she had bounced back again.

The odd thing is that this tiny egg obviously wouldn’t have been a struggle to lay (I wouldn’t have expected her to look out of sorts) and I wonder why it’s been produced at this stage. It’s as if it has been laid before being fully formed.

The latest tiny egg

This egg is not much bigger than a black currant and about half the size of a grape.

Tiny egg on the egg ramp

Left is Flame’s egg, next is Marmite’s and on the right is the tiny egg.

This tiny egg has no yolk

It is very odd.

Okay so it isn’t really snow but it looks like it. After a hot May and a cold, wet and windy June, our rose very quickly peaked and then dropped. Every day the path looks like it’s being snowed on despite my husband sweeping it daily.

Rose petal snow on the path

Our shed was delivered at eight o’clock this morning. Although we weren’t expecting it quite that early we were pleased as we knew we would be out most of the day and were wondering how that was going to work out.

We have an afternoon tea to deliver and then we are going to, our village, fate. This means dealing with the shed will have to be put off until we have more time.

The shed has arrived

In other news Vanilla has come out of her broody spell after four days. She stayed out in the run yesterday afternoon and was out in the run this morning.

Ebony and Smoke remain broody. Ebony has now been broody for three weeks so she must surely come out of it soon! Smoke has been broody for ten days. It takes three weeks to hatch eggs so Ebony really should give up soon. I think Ebony is trying to set the record!

We are very disappointed with our current chicken shed. We have only had it for four years and we paid a lot for what we thought would be a good shed and would last a long time.

Ever since we first had it we have battled to keep it dry. Damp started to seep through the wood in the back, left, corner. We drilled holes in the concrete around the shed to drain the water. We put guttering around it to take the water from the roof to a butt which has a hose out into the garden. We painted it with several coats of wood protector.

After all this the water still came in. The back, left, corner became so wet that it rotted the wood and we were able to put our finger through it. This scares me that something could get in so we nailed a thick wooden block over the hole on the inside. I had put wire mesh around the outside and slipped a block of wood between the hole and the mesh outside.

A thick block of wood covering the hole

The dark stripe above the block of wood is damp.

During the recent, relentless rain, the damp inside the shed has got worse. It is now all along the left side of the shed and has risen up to the height of the perch. This worries me as with a history of respiratory problems with the flock the last thing they need is damp.

The perch in front of the damp patches is where Cinnamon and Jasmine perch so I have taken to moving them at dusk each night. I perch Jasmine with the amigos and Cinnamon next to Speckles.

Wet patches behind the perch that Cinnamon and Jasmine were using

The piece of wood at the right of the photo is the arm that holds the perch and the damp is creeping across that too.

With hind sight we think we should have put the shed on a low wall to keep it off the ground but the old shed was straight on the concrete and was never damp as is our cabin which has caused no problems. We feel that it is the type of wood that the shed is made from which is drawing the water up.

After a lot of consideration we have decided to buy a plastic shed. We have ordered one of the smallest size so that it will fit inside, on the patio area, in front of the existing chicken shed. This will have the advantages of being safer from predators, being under an already dry area and will be easier to deal with red mite. It was also cheaper at two hundred pounds.

What we intend to do is to put it together inside, on the patio area, while the existing shed is still there so that it will mean there will be no hurry to get it ready. We will move the pop hole and automatic door to the new shed. We will put in the perches. It has ventilation strips above the door but if we find we need more ventilation we can drill some holes as it won’t need to be water tight as it on the dry, roofed, area.

When it is ready we will block up the pop hole on the wooden shed to stop the girls going in and leave it for a while until we are ready to decide what to do next. We will probably, eventually, take the wooden shed away and block off the back but we need to decided how best to do this to keep it secure. For now there is no hurry to deal with this as the new shed can just sit in front of the old shed.

The new shed is due to be delivered on Saturday. We have an afternoon tea booked on Saturday so we will tackle the new shed when we have the time to do it. It will be tricky putting it together in the confined space and making the adaptations so we won’t rush it but I think it will be well worth it in the end.

It will give me peace of mind having it inside as I won’t constantly be worrying about keeping it secure. It will be better for the girls as it will be dry and it will be easier to deal with mites. At the moment I spray with smite every few days and it’s a constant battle to keep mite numbers as low as possible. I have got it down to, pin prick sized, mites, that are newly hatching but I have to keep on at it all the time.

I know getting the shed ready is going to be a bit of a nightmare but I know that it will be well worth it in the end. The chicken run has always been a work in progress and finding the right housing for the girls has been similar, going from a wooden coup, to a wooden shed, to a plastic shed, but we have to learn as we go along and is difficult to know from the start what is going to be the best.

I have learned over time what the best height is for the perches so I am determined that in this shed we will get everything right from the start as working with plastic is not going to be easy. Watch this space.

Yesterday Speckles laid her sixth egg of the year. Apart from her first egg of the year in March Speckles has now laid another five in eleven days. That is practically an all time record for her! I thought she may only lay six eggs this year and she has done so already which has come as a surprise.

When Speckles does lay her eggs are enormous. I know egg photos are probably boring everyone but they are good for my records so I am going to put another one here.

Speckles sixth egg of the year

For size comparison Speckles egg is on the left, Flame’s egg is in the middle and Marmite’s egg is on the right. These were yesterday’s three eggs.

In other news Ebony, Smoke and Vanilla continue to be broody. After a two week break from her last broody spell Jasmine sat in the corner of the chicken shed for a couple of hours and I felt sure that she would lay an egg. However she eventually came out without laying. This means she is getting ready to start laying again as these little girls often have false alarms to begin with.

I can’t believe how constant the broodies are at the moment. Vanilla went broody again yesterday so we now have three, Ebony, Smoke and Vanilla. Vanilla took a six day break after her last broody spell and then laid six eggs in nine days before going broody again.

Ebony has been in it for the long haul. While Ebony has been broody Vanilla went broody then Jasmine went broody then Smoke went broody (and still is) and then Vanilla again.

Like Jasmine, Vanilla wasn’t broody long last time, so I am hoping that that will be the same this time.

They are three quite different broodies. Ebony is completely docile and accepts me lifting her without any protest. She doesn’t peck and she doesn’t growl.

Vanilla is angry and pecks me and growls as does Jasmine when she is broody. Vanilla has always pecked me but Jasmine only does so when broody and the rest of the time I can handle her easily.

Smoke raises her wings and tail and has an angry gleam in her eye but doesn’t peck and remains in a trance like state when I lift her out.

When I lift Ebony out she sits there for a minute and then takes of at speed for a scratch, dust bath, preen, food and water and then returns to the nest box at speed.

When I lift Smoke out she sits in a trance like state. I have taken to placing her on the log as this helps her come out of her trance more quickly. She then has food and water and occasionally a dust bath and then returns to the nest box.

When I lift Vanilla out she will usually go straight back in again. She stays out for longer when she decides to come out on her own.

Vanilla is an angry broody

I just caught Vanilla shouting at me here.

Ebony is a docile broody and is very calm

Smoke is somewhere in between

There is an angry glint in her eyes.

Vanilla when lifted from the nest box

Ebony when lifted from the nest box

Smoke when lifted from the nest box

Vanilla angrily makes her way back to the nest box with wings stretched

Smoke takes her time to come out of her trance

It’s a never ending round of broody behaviour!

As I have said before, I read an article by Alan Titchmarsh, that said if your leeks go to seed you can leave them as they are quite spectacular. He said to put them at the back of your borders. We decided to leave ours on the veg plot.

They are incredibly slow to flower and at the moment only two have opened. We were expecting a more spectacular flower head whereas they are like a larger version of wild garlic.

However as time has gone on we have decided that maybe he meant spectacular in a different way to what we were imagining.  Maybe it’s not about the flower head but about the height and the upright stance. The leeks now look like a dramatic, sentinel, row. The amazing thing about them is that although are very tall they are also very stiff and able to stay upright without any support. We are now seeing them in a different light and can see that they would indeed add drama to the back of a border.

A dramatic row of leeks that have gone to seed

Saturday was a really windy day with sunny spells, cloudy spells and sudden, huge, gusts. The leeks were able to withstand this whereas our prize allium snapped in the wind fairly close to the flower head.

I snipped it off and put in a single rose vase as it seemed such a shame to lose it when it was at it’s best.

Allium in a vase

I am now thinking that the leeks and the alliums are both dramatic, just in different ways.

Ebony has been broody for two weeks. At the end of the day I close the nest boxes and this makes broody Smoke go and perch up in the chicken shed. Not Ebony though. She sits on the top of the nest box until I put her on a perch once the pop hole has closed.

Ebony settles on the top of the nest box

Since the weather warmed up Speckles started wanting to sleep outside as she does every summer. After the first few days of doing this Cinnamon started joining her. This is something that Cinnamon has never done before. Since we lost Dandelion, Cinnamon has firmly attached herself to Speckles and I think it is a case of where Speckles goes Cinnamon goes too.

I think that because Ebony is broody this has stopped her from joining Speckles as she has done in the past and probably will do again in the future. It was still quite light when I took this photo but it was to show that this is where they settle and they are still here at dusk.

These two have taken to staying outside

At the moment I put Ebony in and then I go and collect these two. Because Cinnamon is so tiny I am able to take both girls at once. I pick up Speckles and settle her under my left arm and then pick up Cinnamon in my right hand.

I put Cinnamon on the perch with Jasmine and then use both hands to put Speckles on the perch with Ebony and Flame. This is the evening ritual for now.

Yesterday Speckles laid her third egg of the year just three days after her second egg of the year. This is amazing for Speckles. The year before last Speckles laid twenty four eggs and last year she laid twelve so I predicted that she would lay six this year.

After Speckles laid her first egg in March I began to think that six eggs seemed very unlikely. Now that she has laid three eggs I am thinking that six may yet be possible after all.

Speckles third egg of the year

On the right is Speckles second egg of the year, in the middle her third which is just slightly bigger and on the left is Flame’s for comparison.

Flame’s egg on the left, Speckles third egg of the year in the middle and her second egg on the right

It’s a shame that there aren’t any from broody Ebony to compare because Flame’s eggs are large, compared to Ebony’s and are a similar size to a standard girl’s egg. Speckles eggs are really big as they are longer.

Vanilla started laying again five days ago after a broody break of one week and is laying every other day. Marmite also started laying again five days ago after a broody break of two weeks.

Ebony has now been broody for nearly two weeks and is showing no sign of coming out of it. I lift Ebony out of the nest box a couple of times in the morning, a couple of times in the afternoon and again before bedtime when I close the nest boxes. This doesn’t deter Ebony and she sits on top of the nest box until I put her on the perch at dusk.

Smoke is also showing signs of going broody again after laying seven eggs in eight days after a break of just over two weeks since her last broody spell. Smoke is turning out to be a serial broody.

Jasmine took a weeks break since her last broody spell then laid four eggs in a week before going broody again. Jasmine sits in the corner of the shed so I decided to close the pop hole on the second day to keep her out.  This worked as she showed no further sign of being broody and was over it in two days. I will do this again in future. Jasmine has the shortest broody spells.

Spangle and Salmon have never gone broody but this may be down to them being the poorest layers. Cinnamon hasn’t gone broody this year and has never gone broody for more than a few days until last summer’s heat wave when she remained broody for weeks.

Speckles has never gone broody. Ancona’s are not a broody breed but are supposed to be good egg layers so Speckles is very much her own mix. It is said that the best egg layers can have shorter lives as they wear themselves out so I am thinking that Speckles should be a long lived girl. She is the oldest girl we have had so far and long may she continue.

Edit

Today Speckles has laid her fourth egg of the year just two days after her third. This is three eggs in six days which is the best she has laid in a very long time, three years in fact. Speckles seems to have a new lease of life!