Carol's Chickens

We should be careful what we wish for! I was so fed up of wet days with it raining non stop all day that I really welcomed the first dry day in a while. Since then it has been really cold and frosty. The chicken’s water has been frozen each morning. It’s been -2 or -3 over night and a high of only 4 or 5 during the day.

It has been so cold that the frost hasn’t disappeared during the day. We are used to having the odd one or two days like this but it has been like this for the last four days and is forecast for the next five days. We are not used to long spells of frost and are fed up with it now.

I worry about the girls in these temperatures, especially the two little girls. Luckily the perches above the ladders get the sun for the first half of the day and all the girls spend the mornings perched in the sun.

By this afternoon the sun had dropped. I had read that the little girls would look hunched and miserable if they were cold but the entire flock looked pretty hunched and miserable. I decided to hook back the door of the chicken shed so that they could go in there for a scratch around and a bit of respite from the cold.

They all immediately went in and scratched in the shavings. I will leave the door open all day, every day, during the rest of this cold spell.

They didn’t stay in there long but at least they will be able to go in whenever they want. With the door open it lets the light in and makes the shed more appealing. I don’t think they would perch in there during the day but they do like to have a scratch and it could give them a break from perching in the run.

I opened up the chicken shed

The girls scratch in the shavings

They are in and out of the shed

They take turns in and out of the shed

If nothing else this provides a bit of entertainment for the girls on bleak days.

At least if the little girls can manage this weather then I know that they will be okay with our winters because it doesn’t get much colder than this and not often for as long as this. I will be very glad when the weather changes as I am sure the girls will too.

It was six weeks today that Pebbles went. The girls all look healthy and there is no wheezing or sneezing so I think we can cautiously breath a sigh of relief that we have come through this now.

I talked recently about the passage of time and how sometimes time seems to fly by and sometimes it seems to drag. The six weeks until the flock are past contagion from mycoplasma seems to have taken forever. However something in the food cupboard made me realise how time can seem to have flown by.

I made some batches of turkey stew for the freezer to use up the left overs from Christmas. We have been having the stew with potatoes but I thought that dumplings would ring the changes. I like dumplings but my husband isn’t keen so it’s not something we have often.

I said that I would see if there was some suet in the food cupboard. My husband said to check if it was still in date because it’s been a while since I have used it. I said that I clearly remembered buying the suet to make a recipe for a meat cobbler that I had seen in a magazine. In the event I decided that I preferred dumpling mix steamed rather than baked so I didn’t make it again.

I was shocked when I retrieved the suet and checked the date. The use by date was January 2011. It was six years out of date! I could not believe it had been that long since I bought it and used it for the magazine recipe. Surely that memory couldn’t have been from six years ago! Needless to say the suet was thrown in the bin although I have to say it actually looked fine. At the great cost of eighty pence I bought some more today.

Anyway I digress. In the photo below Rusty and Freckles were four months old. I wrote a post about the fact that Caramel and Pebbles had red faces but Rusty and Freckles had white faces. I hadn’t realised at the time that this was because Rusty and Freckles hadn’t matured.

Rusty and Freckles at four months old

In the photo below Rusty and Freckles are seven months old. They now have red faces too.

Rusty and Freckles at seven months old

We were told by the breeder that silky feathered hens take much longer to mature than straight feathered hens. This has proved to be true because Freckles hasn’t changed much but Rusty has changed a lot. Neither of them are laying yet so I know that Freckles isn’t older or she would probably be laying by now. They both still twitter away like young hens.

I wonder when they will start laying as I find it hard to imagine. They still seem so chick like. They are so adorable that as long as they stay healthy I don’t mind waiting for eggs.

It was so nice to have a dry day today even thought it was cold with a frosty start. I dug the run over and swept the patio and the girls kept me company as I went about these jobs.

They have their different ways of interacting with me. Peaches, Barley and Speckles like to jump on my back while I am poop picking, that is one at a time, not all three together! Peaches and Barley will leap on me from a perch, over quite a distance, and will chatter away in my ear until they step off at another perch.

Speckles like it to be easy and will step from the wooden table on to my back or jump from the patio while I am bent over changing my boots. She rides quietly and will also step off onto a perch.

Emerald has never jumped on my back but she always accompanies me while I poop pick and likes to perch on each ladder at eye level with me while I clean up under the ladders (which is where most of the poop is). She will be on one ladder with me and then will move to the other ladder with me. It’s become her daily habit.

The little girls just follow my hands. They scratch and peck around my hands for the entire distance of the run. I wonder if they think I am doing the same thing as they are or visa versa.

When I sweep the patio the little girls follow the broom pecking at the shavings that I am sweeping up. They have no fear of my hands, my feet or the broom.

I tried for a group photo when I gave the girls the evening corn.

Corn time

This was the only good one as one of the girls kept moving out of shot.

As soon as I pass the little coops the little girls jump up on to them. They are so easy to photograph as they love to be close to me and are always waiting to see if my hands will produce a titbit for them.

Rusty and Freckles on top of the little coop nest box

Such a cute pair

I only have to hold out my hand to these two and they come running. Because they are so tame with me and my husband I thought that they were just really friendly girls.

I realised over Christmas when we had visitors that this isn’t completely so, they are just so used to us. I couldn’t get them to come to the patio when there was someone there that they weren’t used to. It made me realise how much they trust us and how much they associate my hands with good things.

It is lovely to have that trust with such little girls and I just love having them follow my every move round the run and the shed. I really enjoy how close to me these little girls like to be.

Yesterday and again today it rained, non stop, all day. Despite the run being roofed it can’t cope with this amount of rain. It blows in and drips in and only the dust bath circle of soil stays properly dry.

I get fed up of the run being wet and feel sorry for the girls with their muddy feet. Even the covered patio area is half wet. In the summer we are going to see if there is anything we can do to the run roof panels to help keep more of the run dry.

I put the girl’s spinach in the square container today to keep it off the wet and muddy patio.

Rusty soon gets the hang of the spinach

It wasn’t too successful as the spinach leaves are small enough to fall through the wire but Rusty seemed to like it though.

A little later Rusty was making good use of the dry dust bath area.

Rusty has a dust bath

Rusty was the only one taking advantage of the dust bath area

The rest of the girls have some mash and spinach

I thought some mash would help occupy the girls on such a horrible day

Later in the day Speckles, Peaches and Barley were in the shelter once more.

Three girls in the shelter

This is the first time I have managed to get a photo of all three of them in here as they usually run to me when I go in the run. I just had time to get one snap before they jumped out.

Once more Speckles is more sensible and stays further in where it is completely dry. These three girls have made the shelter their own at the moment and the little girls don’t get a look in.

I am tempted to make another shelter but that will be a project for another day. Tomorrow’s forecast is looking better with some dry weather ahead which will be most welcome.

Yesterday morning we had some snow. Peaches, Barley and Speckles were once more in the shelter. They have definitely made it their own at the moment. I don’t know why but Emerald shows no interest in the shelter and the little girls tend to stick to the dry dust bathing area.

Once again as soon as I went in with my camera Peaches and Barley ran to me but I was just in time to catch Speckles in the shelter.

Speckles in the shelter

Speckles about to leave the shelter

Speckles seems to have more sense than the other two and was perched on the branch inside the shelter where it’s dry. Peaches and Barley tend to perch on the outside which means their head or tail is still exposed to the drips.

The girls are amusing with their ever changing little habits.

Lately Peaches and Barley have commandeered the shelter. They seem to like to perch in there just before bedtime. Yesterday it rained heavily all day, non stop and most of the perches were wet.

Peaches, Barley and Speckles were spending quite a bit of time perched in the shelter. Every time I tried to get a photo they came running to me but before bedtime while I was sweeping their patio area Peaches and Barley settled in there again.

Peaches and Barley in the shelter just before bedtime

Peaches and Barley

The idea of the shelter was to give the little girls somewhere to go in bad weather but the novelty seems to have worn off for the little girls and for now Peaches and Barley have taken it over.

Oh well, you can never tell these girls what they should be doing, I guess they will just do what they want to do!

Time often seems to pass at different speeds. We all know how it slows down when we are clock watching, waiting for a certain time to come round and how it speeds up when we have a limited timescale to get a job completed.

The years seem to fly by when you look back. A few days ago my husband commented that it didn’t seem like a year ago, already, that David Bowie passed away. I have been waiting to pass the four to six weeks contagion time for mycoplasma. Of all the research that I have done, six weeks is the longest time given before being safe from it, so I am counting on the longest time span to be on the safe side.

It is five weeks today that Pebbles went so there is just another week to go and this six weeks seems to have taken the longest time to pass. It seems a lot longer than five weeks ago that Pebbles went.

I think the flock is safe now but I just want to pass the magic six weeks to feel complete peace of mind.

I would really love to add two more seramas but will not do so until this six week period has passed. I feel that if anything happened to one of the little girls the other would be left on her own and in the same way that chicken keepers like three or more in case of this, I would like more seramas so that one will never be left on her own. I also feel that four little girls and four bigger girls will be a really nice balance for the flock.

Although the flock mix happily together they are definitely two groups. Although they sometimes all perch up together, the two little girls are always at one end of the group. I have never seen them sitting in a mixed up order. Very often they are perched separately like in these photos taken yesterday.

Freckles and Rusty perch in a shaft of sunlight

The four bigger girls perch on the other side of the run

Freckles and Rusty beak to beak

I think it would really be good for the flock to have some more of these little girls and I can’t wait to get more, but wait I must, so the next week will probably pass very slowly.

Rusty and Freckles always stay close to my hands and feet in the mornings when I poop pick the chicken shed. I have to be be very careful at all times where I put my feet.

Rusty and Freckles stay close to my feet

Rusty and Freckles stay close to my hands

They scratch and peck

They play follow the leader

They speed me on with my job of poop picking because I have to race to pick up before they scratch shavings over it. They stay close to me especially when Speckles joins them, she is looking in on the second photo. When Speckles wants to join in the little girls keep even closer to me as they know that I will protect them from being chased by her.

I love having my little helpers with me every morning. When my job is done they leave the shed and go about their business. It means the morning job is never dull. They make it fun for me. I never tire of the cuteness of these little girls.

The weather has been awful for weeks now. We seem to alternate between cold, frosty days and dull, wet days. It’s frustrating because the run remains damp as on frosty days the roof drips as it warms up and on wet days the rain either blows in or drips in but luckily there is one circular patch of soil that always remains dry.

This has become the dust bathing area. It is so good to see the girls enjoying a lovely dust bath on an otherwise miserable day.

Peaches, Barley and Speckles

Having a lovely dust bath

This is so good

Meanwhile Rusty and Freckles tuck into the food dish

Emerald

Emerald was just wandering around doing her own thing. I took this one of Emerald as otherwise it looked like she was missing. She was just pecking at the shavings and keeping herself to herself.

The girls seem to alternate the days that they dust bath. It is always cheering to see them enjoying dust bathing together.

On frosty mornings the girls are quick to find a shaft of sunlight to perch in, preferably on the high perches away from the frosty ground.

The whole flock perch together in a shaft of sunlight

Perching together on a frosty day

I love seeing the whole flock perching together like this.