Carol's Chickens

Last year we had our garden path done which was the last big job we needed to do in the garden. It has now softened nicely with the planting spilling over the edges.

Our path is disappearing under the plants

The edges are being softened

After the rain the path through our veg plot had disappeared which was not so good

The potatoes are now tied back giving us our path back again

The path has made a huge difference to the garden and I now have my corner spot to sit in the sun at the end of the day which is an extra bonus. We are really pleased with how the path has turned out.

Today was windy with plenty of downpours of rain. I was pleased to see that some of the girls were using the shelters. Freckles and Speckles spent time in this shelter. Rusty joined them for a few minutes and then went on her way and Dandelion was in the other shelter and was joined briefly by Apricot.

Speckles and Freckles are in one of the shelters

Meanwhile Apricot has got wet

However it was too late for Apricot to go in the shelter as she was already wet. She was the only flock member to get wet. It seems to be because she likes digging in the wet soil and so stands under the drips. I don’t like to think of her getting wet but I can’t stop her from standing under the drips.

She did stay dry in the afternoon so perhaps she is getting the hang of it. She laid her second egg in the same nest box as before and it was the same shape and size as her first one, but with no blood streak, so that is good.

I have also discovered that Apricot does squat. I had wondered if it was because she is so comfortable with me stroking her that she doesn’t squat for me. Today my theory was proved right.

Freckles is going through her next broody spell at the moment and I took her out of the cat box for some respite. She is docile with me but takes out her anger on any passing girls. She saw Apricot pecking at some apple and pecked at her back in anger. Apricot dropped into a squat. I moved Freckles away from her and stroked Apricot’s back and she didn’t move a muscle. It is sweet that she feels so comfortable with me stroking her.

The other development today was that four little girls wanted nest boxes at the same time and we have only three. Freckles was back in the cat box and Apricot was in one nest box and Dandelion was in the other. Cinnamon wanted to lay her egg and didn’t know where to go as the two nest boxes she likes to lay her egg in were occupied.

I guided her in to the nest box Dandelion was in as they are such good little friends. Dandelion looked across at Cinnamon as if wondering what was she was doing in there with her.

Cinnamon and Dandelion share a nest box

Cinnamon laid her egg in there and Dandelion gave up. She still doesn’t always get the signals right about when it’s time to lay her egg. I am sure she will get the hang of it eventually.

I think these canterbury bells are such a lovely shade of blue.

Canterbury bells

I am being watched by Speckles and Emerald at the top of the ladder. This isn’t a very big clump of them but I just love the delicate, pale, blue. I think the clump will get bigger each year.

I took this photo a couple of days ago and the rain has now battered them down.

When I give the flock some mash, I now just put one dish on the patio. The flock are so united that she will share from one dish. It is lovely to see all the girls together.

A dish of mash

All the girls come to take a look

Bigger girls and little girls share the mash, Cinnamon being the tiniest girl of all

They come and go until they have all had a share. What is lovely to see is the different combinations eating from the dish together. Looking back a few months this would never have been possible. The flock have come such a long way.

I often think that one of the things myself and the chickens have in common is our love of sitting in the sun and being able to find a patch of sun to sit in.

The girls will find a patch of sun whether it is on a particular perch, the ladder, or on the ground. Wherever that patch of sun is they will move to it and sit there.

I love to sit on our patio, facing the chicken run and facing the sun, reading a good book. Recently we have been lucky to have some sunny days coinciding with half term which means a quiet week for us as there are never so many lunch bookings during holiday time.

At this time of year the sun disappears from the patio between five o’clock and half past five as it is then shaded by the trees but since we have had our new path I have discovered  that the corner of the path still gets the sun until seven o’clock. There is just enough space for one chair.

At six o’clock my husband brings me a glass of wine. I said that the sloping path wasn’t a safe place to put down a glass of wine. He came up with a solution. The redundant cowl from our chimney was on the veg plot as we had planted a chilli plant in it last year. My husband has now re-purposed it, once more, as somewhere to put my wine glass. Bliss!

Patio area

It’s six o’clock and only a little dappled sunlight is left on here. You may notice that one of the chairs is missing.

End of the day sun spot

This is my perfect spot to catch the end of the day sun. I face my chair to the sun if I want to sit  facing the sun or I turn my chair sideways like this to sit with my back to the sun. This way I get an even amount of sun all over.

This also means that on sunny days when we are busy I can still catch the last hour of sun that I would otherwise have missed from the patio. I just love this little corner in the end of the day sun.

Speckles hasn’t laid an egg for two and a half weeks. She has been growing back her feathers after being plucked which has been like having a mini moult. For the last four or five days she has sat in the nest box for a while each day.

I thought that she probably didn’t know why she wasn’t laying eggs. Today there was a slight change in her behaviour. About six times during the morning I saw her go to the grit and oyster shell. I began to think that perhaps today was going to be the day she started laying again.

She went into the nest box and came out a bit later with a shout. I went to check. Oh my goodness! There was her first egg after her break and it was the same shape and colour as Apricot’s first egg but it was huge.

Speckles egg on the left, Apricot’s egg in the middle and Emerald’s egg on the right

Speckles egg in the middle

Speckles egg in the middle of the egg stand

Wow! What a long egg. It is good to have her back laying again. I think like Apricot she has felt this coming for days. Now we have all the girls laying. Happy egg days.

Apricot  has just laid her first egg. It turns out that she isn’t a squatter as she still doesn’t squat when I hold my hand over her. I thought she had gone in the nest box for her usual practice. She has done this for four days now. I went to check on her just as she was standing over her first egg.

Its so cute, tiny and pointed at one end, with a little blood streak on it.

Apricot’s first egg

It is so small that it falls right through the egg stand.

Here it is with some coins for size comparison

Egg comparisons

Emerald’s egg is on the left. She is always taking the grit and oyster shell and this gives her egg shells little calcium bumps. Next is Apricot’s first egg which is pointier than any of the others. Next is Dandelion’s, pale shelled, egg. Next is Cinnamon’s, then Freckles round egg and on the right Rusty’s slightly larger egg.

It’s interesting that Freckles, Rusty and Cinnamon’s eggs have beige coloured shells while Dandelion and Apricot’s have white shells.

Emerald’s eggs also have beige shells whereas when Speckles lays, her eggs are large, with white shells. This means it will be really easy to tell the two bigger girls apart if I was out on a day when they both laid.

Well done Apricot! What a clever girl and she laid it in the nest box too. That means all the girls are now laying girls and Apricot has started before Emerald has stopped which is a bonus. That first egg is always so precious.

Yesterday Emerald was in the cat box when Dandelion wanted to lay her egg. As usual she did a bit of shouting before deciding on which spot she wanted to lay her egg. When I checked and she wasn’t in either nest box I looked in the chicken shed and there she was settled down in the corner just inside the pop hole.

Dandelion’s latest spot to lay her egg

When I next checked Rusty had squeezed into the cat box next to Emerald. She has obviously decided that this is where she must lay her eggs now. I went for my camera but when I returned Rusty was on the patio pecking at a bit of apple and her little egg was beside Emerald in the cat box.

A bit later Emerald had left the cat box with her egg in it and Dandelion was still in the corner of the shed. I lifted Dandelion and there was her egg. At least she had laid it where she wanted to this time. I don’t mind at all if she wants to lay it in the shed.

Emerald is still laying nearly every day and has never laid beyond May before so I am amazed at how well she is doing. She must be a happy girl. We have had her for four years and she was an adult girl when we got her,  possibly a couple of years old.

Emerald laid the most eggs in May with a total of nineteen. Freckles was second best with sixteen. They are the two best layers.

Apricot did her usual, practice sit, in the nest box but left of her own accord this time. I am sure she will start laying soon. She is practising every day. I just love having such a happy flock.

I wasn’t going to photograph our rose this year because I have already photographed it many times before. But then I changed my mind because I wanted to see if it would look better with my new camera.

The rose at the side of the cabin

A close up

At the front of the cabin

The rose further along the fence is also just starting to flower

It looks beautiful and it also smells lovely. It seems to be a good year for the roses, as the song goes!

Emerald and Speckles have become quite a twosome. They are often perching or sitting together.

Emerald and Speckles often perch together

Speckles and Emerald dust bath together

Emerald likes to stretch her wings out to the sun

Emerald now has several white feathers under her wings which I think are a sign of her age. She has always liked to stretch her wings into the sun.

Dandelion and Cinnamon perch together

These two are also always together and sometimes all of the three amigos perch together too. Rusty and Freckles also perch together but today Freckles was in the cat box, nest box, laying her egg.

Apricot practices in the nest box again

Apricot now goes into the nest box each day to practice laying. After an hour I lift her out and she always goes to the apple and stays out after that. It’s a bit like dealing with a broody girl except not quite the same.

Emerald and Apricot share a bit of apple

Apricot has a peck at the apple

They peck at the apple together

Emerald has the sweetest nature and will share treats with any other girl. Speckles and Freckles wouldn’t allow Apricot to share the same piece of apple like this but Emerald is just a sweetheart.