Carol's Chickens

For Sunday breakfast we had bacon and eggs with the last of the little girl’s eggs. There has been a slow down at the moment as Rusty is moulting and not laying, Cinnamon had her second, one day broody spell, and last time this happened she stopped for a week, Dandelion’s recent eggs have been broken and Apricot had taken a break after briefly going broody. This meant it had been down to Freckles to keep us going. I decided to use all the eggs between the two of us.

We had all five eggs for breakfast

The two oval shaped eggs on the left were Cinnamon’s last two eggs before she took a break and the three round eggs are Freckles.

For lunch we had a ham and tomato sandwich with tomatoes from the garden. For Sunday dinner I had some sliced pork and gravy in the freezer from a previous Sunday roast. For only two of us, there is always to much meat no matter how small a joint I buy, so I make double the gravy and freeze half and freeze half the meat for another day.

The veg we had for Sunday dinner

I roasted the last of the early potatoes and a courgette and we had the first proper helping of runner beans. The runner beans are late this year but as the dwarf beans have recently finished and now the runner beans have got started this has actually worked out quite well. The runner beans should continue until the first frosts.

After we had eaten the breakfast eggs Apricot laid her first egg after a ten day break. Her eggs are really tiny but as we had eaten all the eggs there were no other eggs to compare it to. Instead I thought I would compare it to a strawberry as her eggs are also a similar shape to a strawberry.

Apricot’s egg

Strawberry egg

Apricot’s eggs are tiny

They may be tiny but at least it means we now have two girls laying. It was very satisfying to have three meals made up from our own produce.

There are loads more courgettes coming and lots of tomatoes now ripening. We are heading for the moment when we have a glut and I may have to cook courgettes and tomatoes together for the freezer. They can then be added to future dishes. I am not complaining as this is the best year for the veg plot for many years. Long may it continue.

Dandelion has been laying thin shelled eggs right from when she started laying. She is clueless about laying and right from the start she would sit in a nest box then lay an egg in the run or lay an egg in the run then sit in the nest box. Sometimes she sits in the nest box then lays the egg the following day. Occasionally her egg will be in a nest box and sometimes it will be in the chicken shed.

Her last three eggs have been broken. The first was laid in the run and had been broken and eaten. The next two were laid first thing in the morning in the chicken shed. They had both been broken but not eaten. They were broken side up which leads me to wonder if they have been pecked. I think perhaps they were pecked and then the automatic door opened and the girls abandoned the egg in the rush to get outside.

I am only speculating as I can’t be sure but below is the egg facing the way that I found it.

Dandelion’s egg

I squeezed the egg shell and it is thin but I don’t think it would have broken on it’s own. The next time we have eggs I might dry some shells in the oven, crush them and add them to some mash. Dandelion has always laid thin shelled eggs but she doesn’t seem to suffer when laying.

Amber, our bantam vorwerk, always struggled with egg laying. She would lay thin shelled or soft shelled eggs and always looked poorly before laying. Luckily she didn’t lay often. I tried giving her crushed egg shells, limestone powder and cod liver oil, but nothing made a difference so I am not convinced that this can be changed.

The good thing is that unlike Amber, Dandelion looks healthy and happy and doesn’t struggle with egg laying at all. In fact she seems unaware that she has laid an egg most of the time and will sit in the nest box afterwards for a while and then give up.

I decided to scramble the egg and give it back to the girls rather than waste it. I scramble it in a little olive oil and water. I was also about to give the girls a treat of probiotic yogurt. This is good for their digestion system but must only be given in small amounts, about a teaspoon per hen and only occasionally. It shouldn’t be given more than once a week and in fact I give it about once a month. As the egg was only a tiny amount I mixed it with the yogurt and put it in four little dishes.

I give the girls some yogurt

The girls are loving the yogurt

Apricot has a yogurt beak

Emerald is splattered with specks of yogurt

We had to go out for a few hours and when we returned all the dishes were empty and Emerald looked clean once more. I am never sure how she manages to get clean but she never has the specks of yogurt on her feathers for long.

I think the girls enjoyed their treat.

We pruned the shrub that grows in the chicken run as it had grown through the weld mesh and was looking a bit odd. The girls like to reach up from the branch perch and peck at the leaves so we thought we would put the pruned bits in the run for them. They had a great time pecking at the leaves.

Some pruned branches for the girls

Rusty still has a clean and fluffy bottom

Cinnamon is too busy in a dust bath to join in

After I had given the girls a pot of growing leaves, to decimate, I thought that there would be nothing to lose from seeing if they would regrow.

The girls greens are regrowing

I am pleased to see that they are regrowing. I think the girls will have some more fun with these at a later date.

The shrub that they are enjoying has also grown huge on the inside of the run. I have decided that I will prune that part at a later date so that they can enjoy the pruned branches again on another day. It is good to get maximum fun for the girls from the greenery.

We have had the best crop of tomatoes for many years. They are abundant but, due to a lack of sun, have been taking ages to ripen. I have been taking a few indoors and keeping them in a cool, dark, cupboard to ripen. They have ripened at the rate of one a day which is great as we have one between us in our lunchtime sandwich.

Since the monster tree next door has been cut back the veg plot is now getting a lot more light. Suddenly the tomatoes have started to ripen on the plant.

The first plant has ripening tomatoes

We have already eaten quite a few from this plant. The first ones I ripened indoors but the last few we have eaten straight from the plant. They are really good tomatoes.

The second plant is ripening

These have been slower and we haven’t eaten any from this plant yet. That’s not a bad thing though as it stops them all coming at once.

Giant tomatoes

Even the giant tomatoes have finally got going. This was an experiment but I don’t think that I would grow these again. Although the tomatoes are big there are far fewer of them and they take a lot longer to grow.

The forecasters are saying that we may be in for an Indian summer this year. I really hope so because that would give us a good chance of getting the most out of our veg plot. Also I love the sun and would love some late sun in the garden. Here’s hoping!

Our broad bean plants were finished and looked ugly but we didn’t want to remove them and leave the space empty. As soon as there is an empty space the neighbourhood cats use it as a toilet. In fact they often use our garden as a toilet, even when it is planted, but we don’t want to make it easy for them.

On a trip to the garden centre we found a box of mixed salad leaves at a reasonable price. Even if they don’t come to much they could be given to the chickens.

Spent broad bean plants looking rather ugly

I have planted a salad leaf patch

It looks a bit pathetic at the moment but it’s better than an empty space and better than the dead broad beans. I will update when they have grown a bit.

I have just dug up the last early potato plant. I was amazed to find a couple of huge potatoes.

The last early potato plant is dug up

We have had some really good sized potatoes from these plants

I think that due to a very wet July and August this year we have had the best potatoes, tomatoes and courgettes for many years. I think the rain swells the potatoes giving us some large ones and it stops the tomatoes getting blight and the courgettes getting rot. This happens when there is dry weather followed by wet or wet weather followed by dry. Consistent rainfall seems to have helped this year.

These potatoes make great roast potatoes and great chips. As we had a couple of giant ones I used them to make chips. The rest will be roasted at the weekend.

Once these have run out the fir apples should be ready giving us a steady supply of potatoes. This is definitely the best year for many years for us.

Our next door neighbour’s tree was a monster. We have lived here for eleven years and in that time it had doubled in size. It was overhanging our garden and the garden on the other side. It blotted out the view from our bedroom window and it blotted out the light from our garden. It looked like there was hardly any room for the neighbours to walk under it.

Monster tree

Yeaterday afternoon a team of tree surgeons arrived. We were very happy to see them. The noise of the chain saw started up and the chickens disappeared.

Dandelion and Cinnamon (the bravest two) were on the patio

The rest of the girls were in the chicken shed

A bit later they were all in the chicken shed

Including Cinnamon and Dandelion

The tree from the top of the garden as they get started on it

The first branches come down

From the top of the garden

They were very apologetic about the branches landing in our garden but we assured them that it wasn’t a problem. We were just so thrilled to see this tree being cut back. They came round and removed the branches. I said that the shrubs were hardy and will recover so it’s not a problem.

The tree is getting smaller

The branches go in the shredder

The truck is filling up

The finished tree from our bedroom window

The very tall thin tree behind is in the garden of the next neighbour along. The guys said that they had enquired about having it taken out but there is a problem. It is growing from a very narrow gap between our neighbours shed and the next garden’s glass summer house. It would be very difficult to remove without breaking anything.

The finished tree from the top of our garden

The difference in our garden is amazing. I was amazed how much light there was walking up the path. The patio and veg plot are flooded with light. The chicken run is lighter.

This morning I went up to the chickens first thing as I always do. As I walked back down the path it struck me how light it was for this early in the day. We are so thrilled with this. It has transformed our garden and we spend a lot of time in our garden. I think it will make a real difference to some of the planting too and especially the veg plot.

It is just wonderful to have the monster tamed.

Sometimes planting just doesn’t work as out as you see it in your head. When we had the path done last summer I felt we needed something alongside the chicken’s dandelion strip to edge the new path.

I planted mint knowing that it spreads but that it would be contained to this strip. I thought it would stay low and I had read that chickens like to eat it so it seemed the perfect thing to put in here.

Well nobody told that to my girls! They do not like it at all and refuse to touch it. As they love dandelion leaves which are bitter in taste I am guessing that they don’t like the smell of the mint. I know chickens have a good sense of smell.

The mint soon smothered the dandelions and it grew very tall which I hadn’t expected. We have had to keep chopping it down as it blocks light to the run. This just wasn’t working. It wasn’t pleasing me or the girls. It had to go.

Yesterday we went to the garden centre with a voucher I had and bought a few compact, cushion forming plants. We pulled all the mint out revealing the girl’s strip of dandelions once more. I planted the new plants and a few bits that I pinched from around the garden.

It will take a bit of patience for the strip to fill in but I am feeling much happier about the result. This will leave the girls their dandelions and add different colours and texture rather than a swath of one thing.

This used to be the girl’s dandelion strip

It has now turned into a mint strip

The mint is only half the height it was before we clipped it.

The newly planted strip

The dandelions beside the bricks have now been uncovered

It does look a bit bare at the moment but it will soon fill up. I feel happier with it than the mint. The mint was a mistake but sometimes gardening is all about trial and error and patience.

A week later

I wrote this post just as all the problems started with Rusty and it got sidelined. I have since added a few small plants that have self seeded around the garden.

Chicken strip a week later

It doesn’t look that much different but it is filling in a little. I will continue to add small plants here until it fills up.

This year is the first time we have grown fir apple potatoes. They are supposed to be harvested in September but I was impatient to see how they were doing so I dug up one plant.

There was a bowl of potatoes that was enough for two meals for the two of us so I probably need to wait for a bit longer for the plants to produce a better yield.

First fir apple potatoes

There was however this rather funny specimen.

Rude shaped fir apple potato

Potato from a different angle

Novelty veg always brings a smile.

This was Rusty’s bottom yesterday. I have never seen it so mucky. It was a cool day and rained most of the day but the next day was forecast to be warm and sunny so I decided to wait until then to wash her again.

Rusty with a very mucky bottom

I took the bowl of warm water with a little washing up liquid into the run and set it up on top of the nest box. I thought it would be less stressful for Rusty than bringing her indoors. I stood her in the bowl and washed her bottom then dried her as best as I could with a soft tea towel.

Rusty after having her bottom washed

Rusty perched on the shelter and preened herself. She looks bedraggled because of her damp feathers but she cleaned up much easier this time. I hope that once she dries properly she will stay clean.

I checked back on her a little later and was so thrilled to see that she now has a lovely fluffy bottom. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to see this. I just hope she stays like this then I will really know that she is back to her usual self once more.

Rusty has a fluffy bottom once more

while I was researching about causes for hens to prolapse I read that an extra large or misshapen egg can cause a prolapse. While taking some eggs from the fridge this morning for breakfast I was reminded that we had two extra long eggs. They were no bigger round than usual but about twice the usual length. At the time I had no idea which girl had laid them.

I am now wondering, in hindsight, if they were Rusty’s eggs. By a process of elimination I think they could well be. I know that Freckles had laid on the day of the first one. Apricot lays the tiniest of eggs, Cinnamon lays larger, oval shaped and slightly beige coloured, eggs, and always lays them in the corner of the chicken shed and Dandelion has been laying eggs with a thin shell. This egg had a hard shell.

What seems odd is that I found these two eggs several days before Rusty appeared to go broody and then she laid one normal egg as she often does on the day she starts to go broody. It was the next morning that I saw the prolapse.

I can only speculate but I think perhaps these two long eggs may have lead up to her prolapse. I also read that because of the prolapse it is more difficult to poop and I think that’s why she has been getting a mucky bottom. This morning before I washed her it didn’t seem quite as bad as the day before so I am hopeful that that will also improve.

Rusty in herself is looking very much normal, active, eating and running to treats, dust bathing and preening and chasing away the lower ranking girls. She also has a red face and comb. I am feeling more positive now that she can get over this.