Carol's Chickens

I knew that Storm was ready to start laying again after her broody spell as yesterday she was very vocal and looking in the nest boxes. It has been two weeks since she last laid which is when she usually starts laying again.

This morning I had a shock when I went out to the girls. Storm was collapsed in the front of one of the nest boxes. She was laying on her side with her legs out to one side. I picked her up and her legs were not working at all. She couldn’t stand.

I put her in the cat box and bought her indoors to the bathroom. I put a dish of water and a dish of food in front of her. I made some mash and put sunflower hearts and chopped tomato on top and a tiny bit of sugar to try to keep her strength up. She was eating which I felt was a good sign. I had checked her vent and it looked normal.

I rang pipinchick and left a voicemail and also started e-mailed them explaining what was happening and asking if there was anything else I should do.

I also googled it and found that it could be an egg up high pinching the nerves. As I knew she was about to lay I thought this must be what it was. It didn’t give advice or possible outcome though.

Storm was eating well and picking off the tomato which I thought was a good sign.

While I was writing the e-mail I saw Storm stand up. She had pooped which looked normal. I took her out of the cat box and stood her on the bathroom floor. She then took a step.

I decided to put her back in a nest box. I added this to my e-mail and went back to check on Storm again before sending it.

Storm was out in the run with her egg beside her and was back to normal. I was so relieved. It must have been the egg pinching her nerves. I added this to the e-mail and sent it.

Suzanna at Pipinchick e-mailed me back saying she was so glad she had recovered. She said it can happen with these little girls when they haven’t laid for a while. I have never had this happen before.

I also had an e-mail from pipinchick saying my new girls will be delivered on Friday between one and four o’clock. They will be bringing me some calcium to add to the water too, which can help with egg laying.

I was so panicked when Storm couldn’t stand and thought I was going to lose her. I am so glad to see her running around as usual and can’t stop keeping checking on her. I hope this was a one off.

Gold as usual only took a one week break between going broody and starting to lay again. She then laid two days running missed a day and laid again this morning.

Storm gave up being broody after a couple of days. Mango and Cloud being broody together has caused them to take longer to come out of it as they egg each other on, excuse the pun! However a few days later Mango gave up and a few days after that Cloud has almost given up. She stays out in the run all day but sits in the corner of the chicken shed at bedtime. I lift her to the perch and she stays there so I think she is almost through it.

Both Dot and Gold are laying two days out of three so we are getting enough eggs to keep us going.

I always feel a post is a bit flat without photos so when I was ready to give out the end of the day treat of sunflower hearts I took my camera with me. The girls all run to me in expectation. I had to keep stepping backwards and then quickly click but got a good group photo.

Just after this my husband came back from the allotment with a huge spinach plant that had gone to seed. We put it in the run and I took another photo.

The girls loved this and were pecking away until bedtime. Today they have stripped the spinach and just left the stalk. Happy girls.

I think chopped tomato is the girls’ favourite treat.

But what this post is really about is getting new girls. I have been looking in on pipinchick since we lost Salmon. Eight or nine girls is my favourite number and thinking that Sugar is a bit vulnerable I thought it would be good to get a couple of new girls.

Last year pipinchick had bantam copper maran and bantam splash maran on their books which I really fancied but none were available. This year they have disappeared and I e-mailed to see if they would be getting any. It turned out that the hatchery they got them from had retired.

I have researched to see if I can get them or any bantams locally and there isn’t anything that I want. I like my hens without crests, beards or feathered feet, what I call “clean” chickens. There are plenty of the sort of bantams I don’t want locally but none of the clean variety. I also can’t find any other breeder that delivers.

I even thought of relenting and getting seramas again but my husband is adamant that we shouldn’t go down that road again. We have lost far to many of them.

I had been e-mailing back and forth to pipinchick and had said that I would like a bantam buff laced wyndotte but couldn’t come up with another clean bantam. Suzanna suggested a chabo (Japanese bantam) would be perfect for me but I said that I had been put off by losing Snowflake to egg peritonitis on her first spring and that she wasn’t friendly like the rest of the girls and was also very noisy.

Any way after giving it a lot of thought I decided that I had probably been unlucky with Snowflake and that perhaps I should try having another one.

After a phone call to Suzanna I felt better about a chabo. She said it was unusual for them to have egg laying problems and that they were usually friendly birds. I said that whereas the other girls are vocal before egg laying and sometimes give the egg shout after laying that Snowflake always shouted for a while before laying. Suzanna said that probably indicated that Snowflake had a problem from the start. She said she could have been shouting before laying because she was uncomfortable. Snowflake did used to lay quite large eggs for her size.

Anyway I decided to have a bantam buff laced wyndotte and a chabo and although the wyndottes wouldn’t be ready until May I said would like to buy them now as they are selling really quickly. The website shows how many of each bird they have in stock. While we were in the process of doing this Suzanna said they could deliver them to me on Friday 10th May so I will be getting them in less than two weeks.

My husband said I could have them as my birthday present as my birthday is in May.

At the moment five out of seven of my girls are from pipinchick and soon it will be seven out of nine. I am gradually moving over to a pipinchick flock. This will be the third year running that I have had their girls and I have been really impressed with their service.

I am so excited at the prospect of getting my new girls.

As I suspected in my last post, Gold was about to go broody. Gold had laid nine eggs in twelve days. We had one day of five girls laying before Gold went broody. As usual Gold wasn’t committed and after a couple of days of me lifting her out of the nest box each time I went in she gave up.

Gold has had a break of five days and usually has a break of seven days so I am expecting her to start laying again in a couple of days time.

A few days later Storm, Mango and Cloud all went broody together. This has left us with only Dot laying at the moment. Thank goodness Dot never goes broody.

Storm has laid seventeen eggs in twenty seven days. Mango has laid nineteen eggs in thirty three days. But here’s the thing, Cloud has only laid four eggs in six days. It feels like Cloud is just broody because Mango is.

From the minute Mango started sitting in the nest box all puffed up Cloud was right next her and they have been inseparable ever since. I lift them both out and they both go to food or water or a dust bath together and they return to the nest box together.

Storm sits in the chicken shed and returns there after I lift her out for a break. I can’t quite believe that all three game girls are broody at the same time.

Yesterday Dot was the only girl to lay. This morning I closed all the nest boxes and blocked the pop hole to the chicken shed. As Dot laid yesterday afternoon I knew no girl would need to lay and it would be best to try and break the game girls out of this before Gold starts laying again and the nest boxes would be needed.

Storm is a bit more determined than usual because whereas she would usually perch at bedtime she was sitting in the corner of the chicken shed last night. I lifted her to the perch and she stayed there.

The sooner I can break the girls out of this the better or the abundance of eggs we were getting will slow right down. The game girls usually take a two week break so it shouldn’t be long until we are getting plenty of eggs again.

It’s just unfortunate that they all went broody together but hopefully it won’t last long.

Cloud started laying a couple of days ago after a two week break. Today she laid again and we had our second, five egg day, this year. Five out of seven girls laying is something that has only happened for short periods of time before one of the girls goes broody again.

From largest to smallest and from left to right we have Dot’s egg, Gold’s egg, Cloud’s egg, Mango’s egg and Storm’s egg.

I don’t think we will have five girls laying for very long as I think Gold is going to go broody again soon. She is still laying and in fact for the first time a few days ago she laid four days in a row. But she is spending longer and longer in the nest box and returning to the nest box after laying. I take her out and close her favourite nest box and she stays out but it’s a sign that she will probably go broody soon.

We will make the most of the abundance of eggs while it lasts.

It’s the first time this year that we have filled all three egg rollers. I took my mum six eggs a while ago and am visiting again soon and will be taking twelve eggs. It’s so nice to be able to share them.

Well done girls!

Dot and Gold looked so cute in the favourite nest box together. They were sitting side by side. I went indoors for my camera and when I returned Mango and Cloud were looking in on them. These two are so nosy.

By the time I lifted the lid of the nest box for a photograph Dot and Gold had moved apart as they had both just laid their eggs. They are so in sync.

It’s so sweet when the girls lay their eggs together.

Today I had my first sighting of a slow worm this year. It was sunning itself across the path. After I photographed it I measured the width of the path. It’s twenty two inches across so I estimate the slow worm was twenty inches long.

We see them every year from April onwards. We have seen tiny baby ones and some much fatter than this one. This one was long and thin and had few markings so I wonder if it’s one of last year’s babies. We love to see them in the garden.

In chicken news Gold came back into lay after one weeks break so we are back to four girls laying. At least Gold comes back into lay quickly.

Most of the girls are now laying two days in a row then miss a day then two days in a row. This means we are now getting plenty of eggs which is lovely.

We seem destined to have a broody girl. Gold gave up being broody after a couple of days in time for Cloud to go broody. Cloud has laid eleven eggs in twenty five days. So we are now down to three girls laying.

Cloud fluffs her feathers out when I take her from the nest box.

I will keep taking her out of the nest box and hopefully she will soon come out it.

I can’t believe that Gold has gone broody again so quickly. She has laid seven eggs in ten days before going broody. That equals Sugar’s record in the past. We have only had five days of five out of seven laying before it’s dropped back to four.

The difference with Gold though is that last time she came out of it after three days and started laying again a week later so I am hoping it will be as quick this time.

Last time I closed her favourite nest box and that was enough to keep her out in the run. This time she was in a different nest box when I next checked on her.

I decided to take a photo of Gold in the nest box because a post without photos is a bit dull. When I lightly stroked her back instead of raising her tail up she flattened herself down. When I lifted her from the nest box I could see why. She was sitting on Dot’s egg.

I always swear these broody girls have a sixth sense that tells them when an egg has been laid. My husband says he reckons they can smell an egg.

Oh well, it’s all part of spring behaviour I guess. We are happy with any eggs we get.

Storm laid today after a two week break. She really made a meal of it. It was so odd because when she started laying, this year in February, she just went straight in a nest box each time and settled down until she got her egg laid.

Today it was as if she had forgotten where to lay or no where was good enough. She was being very vocal and going in and out of each nest box. She would then run to the shelter and dig in the corner. Then she would go to each corner of the chicken shed.

This went on for ages. At one point I checked on her and she was settled in the corner of the shelter. I took a photo then she moved back to the nest boxes. She settled in a nest box for a while and then went back in the shed. Finally she laid her egg in the chicken shed.

Phew! I hope she doesn’t do this every time. She did this sometimes last year and Dot can be like this too.

So we now have five out of seven girls laying with only Sugar and Autumn not laying and we have plenty of eggs.

Sugar has now gone past the time that she started laying last year so I am hoping that perhaps she won’t lay.

We have realised that her behaviour has become dependant on the weather to a certain extent. On windy or wet days Sugar spends all day sitting in the shelter only coming out for treats, food, water or dust baths.

But on sunny days Sugar is out in the run much more and is more active. I am therefore hoping that she may be out in the run more once we get into the summer. She is also quite zippy to the treats but I notice that she eats much slower than the other girls. She can’t compete with them so I try to give her some treats away from the rest of the girls if I can.

Sugar is definitely not quite right but hasn’t got any worse so as long as she has quality of life we will leave her as she is and wait to see what happens next.