Carol's Chickens

It’s still freezing here and forecast until the end of the week when it will be warmer but wet! Hurrah! We seem to alternate between freezing to milder and wet. I hate wet but I think I may hate freezing even more.

I tried to get some photos of the girls today but they all turned out rubbish so I am going to put out the bedtime photo. They are such good girls, going to bed half an hour before the automatic door closes, and the little girls always go to their own perch. They never attempt to join the bigger girls and quite frankly I don’t blame them one little bit.

Bedtime

Just look at my little angels. Poor Speckles often gets her head pecked which is probably why she is facing the other way. I don’t understand why Peaches and Barley have to be so mean to her. What has she ever done to them!

I heard Speckles whimper and looked in to see her having her head pecked. Often she ends up at the other end of the perch and I feel so sorry for her. She in turn takes her frustration out on the little girls during the day, giving them a quick peck as she passes them. Luckily they don’t take much notice.

The pecking order has to be maintained even in the happiest of flocks. I often refer to them as “the mean girls” when this happens but I know it is just part of life in a flock. As long as it is no worse than a swift warning peck I think it’s okay.

As I said though, look at this photo and they are my little angels! Just got to love them.

Today is a big birthday for my lovely husband. Today he becomes an O. A. P. I will be cooking his favourite meal tonight of rib eye steak, crispy potato wedges, mushrooms,  baked tomatoes and salad and we will have a celebrational glass of fizz.

We celebrated with a meal out on Saturday with friends and they gave him this delightful card.

Birthday card

We have been together for eighteen years and married for ten years.

Our wedding photo

This was taken at my eldest’s sons wedding two and a half years ago

I am so proud of my lovely husband and hope to be celebrating for many more years together. Happy Birthday Darling.

I had really hoped for a mild winter for our first winter with seramas but instead we are having the longest cold spell for many years. For the last five days we have had frost and frozen chicken waters in the mornings and it is forecast to continue for the next four days.

In the past we have had frosty nights and mornings but with milder days but this time the day time temperatures are staying really low so it feels much colder. The ground remains frozen all day.

This morning I knew it was even colder as the chicken’s water was frozen solid and I had to run the dish under the hot tap to get the ice block out. Our van gave the temperature as -6 when my husband went out to get the Sunday papers.

If the little girls continue to be okay in these conditions then I don’t think I will ever need to worry about them in winter again.

I am leaving the shed door open to give them respite when they need it and there is morning sun on the perches above the ladders which they are taking advantage of. The pattern is set at the moment with them perching in the sun in the mornings and scratching in the shed in the afternoons.

I am also giving them warm mash each morning, warm water in the drinking dishes and a bit of extra corn at bedtime. I think this is all I can do to help them.

Yesterday afternoon

All the girls were busy pecking in the shavings

The little girls stayed in there after the bigger girls had left

This morning

All the girls perch together in the morning sun

The photos are a bit hazy as I was looking straight into the sun. I am grateful that despite the cold there is at least some sun in the mornings. You can see from the background how frozen the ground is.

I know other countries have a lot colder weather than this but for us this is unusually cold. We are really fed up with it now and can’t wait for it to change. The little girls seem to be handling it well though and I am really pleased about that.

I would love to add some more seramas to the flock but will wait for much better weather before thinking about that. I just want to get the girls through this cold spell and am looking forward to when we get back to normal temperatures.

In the summer we redecorated our sitting room. We put up a dado rail and painted underneath it a slightly darker colour than above it. I was afraid to go too dark and settled on a subtle change of shade.

Since then we have regretted not going for a bolder colour. We decided that as it would be an easy job to repaint below the dado rail that we would try a darker shade. The job only took a couple of hours to complete.

The sitting room before repainting below the dado rail

There wasn’t much contrast between the two shades

We began painting

The first wall is finished

There is a much better contrast between the two shades

The finished room

T.V. corner

Window

Curtains closed

I am really pleased with the result and think it is a much warmer colour. My husband thinks we could go bolder still. We are going to live with it for a while and then decide. At least we know that if we want to try another shade it is a quick and easy job to do.

The contrast is much more noticeable than it was before. I am really pleased with it.

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!