Carol's Chickens

I wanted to give this post a positive title rather than a negative title because happily I feel completely in control of red mite at this stage of chicken keeping.

I didn’t really want to write this post because I have dealt with red mite before and been through the highs and lows of it all and didn’t want to go on about it again but during a recent visit my son Steve, a former chicken keeper, said that he felt I should do a blog post because it could help other chicken keepers. He said even if it just showed that any one with red mite isn’t doing anything wrong, it is a part of chicken keeping that will rear its ugly head at some stage.

When we had a conventional wooden coop we had the dreaded infestation of red mite after the first couple of years. I did all the things advised to get rid of it. I battled long and hard with it and eventually got it under control. In fact I thought that I got rid of it, even though I had read that you never really get rid of it, you just keep it under control.

Last year we changed over to the chicken shed. When we broke up the old coop to dispose of it we realised that there were still red mite in the overlapping panels which we couldn’t reach with treatments. We realised we would never have eradicated it from the old coop.

I had hoped that the new shed wouldn’t get red mite. Steve visited to see the new shed and said that there was no reason that the new shed wouldn’t get red mite too. I had to admit that I had spotted some straight away. Not so surprising really as we as we used some bits from the old coop in the new shed. We used the same perches and the automatic door. They could have been transported from these items or from the girls themselves.

From the very start with the new shed I checked every morning and any red mite I saw were squashed. I then scrubbed the perches with soapy water and dried them with kitchen towel.

Luckily they have only ever appeared on the perches and I have never found them anywhere else. They must need to be close to the girls, which was anywhere in the small coop, but in the chicken shed is just on the perches. There are not many places to hide but I did notice that they gathered around the wooden brackets which supported the perches. We removed the wooden brackets and replaced them with metal brackets a few months ago.

New metal brackets for the perches

We sealed the brackets with silicon and also the joins in the shed corners. Still each day I would find them around the brackets. They were pin prick sized so probably newly hatched and only needed a pin prick sized hole to hide in.

I smeared vaseline around the brackets and on the ends of the perches. This really helped and caught any that were on the brackets and stopped them from being able to hide behind the brackets. Then I had my best light bulb moment. Instead of cleaning the perches with soapy water and drying them I bought some wet wipes and now keep them in the chicken store cabinet. Every morning when I poop pick the chicken shed I then use the wet wipes to clean the perches. I rub the perches all round and this gets rid of any red mite and the blood from them and also any mud from the chicken’s feet or poop or general dust and dirt.

It is quick and easy and means the perches are not wet. I also use them to clean the walls of the shed without making them wet. The perches are now clean all the time and the mites have dropped in numbers from finding twenty to fifty at worst (in this shed) to finding ten, then single numbers until now when I am finding three or four.

This is why I say that I have it under control. I am now finding such a small number that anyone not as well tuned to looking for them as I am would think that they had gone. I check the perches three times a day but only find a few in the mornings and they are really tiny. I will continue to clean the perches every morning with the wet wipes as it only takes a few minutes and I feel this is really getting rid of the mites and is keeping the numbers down to next to nothing.

When I clean out the chicken shed I always hoover every surface in the shed to get rid of dust and cob webs.

Henry goes in to clean the shed

The girls carry out an inspection

Emerald joins them to make sure it’s up to standard

Speckles is first to inspect the new shavings

The girls are inspecting

Toffee joins them

Butterscotch is otherwise engaged

After a long post about the tedium of red mite I thought that the girls “helping me” clean out the chicken shed would be a bit of light relief. I am happy that I have red mite under control and the wet wipes make keeping the perches clean really easy. This is one of the best ideas that has occurred to me recently so if it helps anyone else that is a good job done. I am all for finding easier ways to clean and keep the dreaded red mite at bay.

The girls love chilling in the sun together and I love the way they stretch out their wings in the sun. Emerald, while moulting, prefers to sit in the shade and is as usual on the other side of the wire and Butterscotch is in the nest box being broody.

Sun bathing

A heap of sun bathing chickens

Wings soaking up the rays

This sight never ceases to make me smile.

I am just realising how many different roses we have in our garden. This is a rose that was in the garden when we moved in but it was hidden behind the shrubs.

We pruned back the shrubs to allow the rose to be seen and it has grown a lot in the years that we have been here. It has tiny blooms but is another rose, that like the standard rose, flowers right up until the first frosts.

There is actually more of this rose spilling over into our next door neighbour’s garden than in our own garden but they are happy to enjoy it too.

This rose has lots of small, pale pink, blooms

It rambles amongst the shrubs and up into the twisted willow tree

It has bountiful clusters of blooms

It has the tiniest blooms of all our roses but it is very pretty and long lasting.

Emerald has been going through a tough moult but she is now coming out the other side. She is still dropping feathers but many more have grown back in and she looks almost back to normal.

At her worst her face was so pale that it was white but now her face and comb are pink again.

Emerald three weeks ago

Looking really shabby

Emerald today

Her face is pink again

Her tiny comb is pink

Other news is that as suspected Butterscotch has gone broody again. The most disappointing thing is that she appears to have lost some of  her head feathers already and it is only day one.

Broody again and missing head feathers

I caught Barley sat in the nest box with her and chased her out. I wonder if she goes in with her to pull her head feathers out. I don’t understand why this happens every time she goes broody. I haven’t seen Barley touch her head feathers while she hasn’t been broody and yet as soon as she goes broody it starts up again.

I did say that things were going too smoothly lately. I feel so frustrated that Butterscotch’s constant broody spells keep setting her feathers back again. If this is the worse problem we have it’s not the end of the world but it sure does frustrate me!

Butterscotch is looking good. She is nearly fully feathered at last. She has now been laying over a seventeen day period (twelve eggs) so will probably go broody again soon. I just hope that doesn’t mean she will start moulting again. It would be so good if this time she would keep her feathers. She has been moulting on and off for a year now.

Butterscotch is looking good

She is even getting her crest back

The back of her head is filling in

Fluffy bottom

I just couldn’t resist adding this photo. Butterscotch has the fluffiest bottom of all our girls.

Butterscotch takes a dust bath

It is so good to see her with feathers again and if it were any other girl I would know at this point that the feathers would be there to stay but with Butterscotch I can’t be sure. Last time she was this well feathered she then went broody and moulted them back out again. I do wonder how many times they can grow back in one year.

I have never before come across a girl who in the same year drops her feathers, grows them back in then drops them again and grows them back in once more. Please Butterscotch, can you keep them this time!

A few years ago I took up hula hooping as a form of exercise. I graduated from a light beginners hoop to a heavy exercise hoop. After a while I fell by the wayside. I found it tedious to hula hoop for ten minutes at a time. Ten minutes can seem a long time with nothing to occupy the mind.

Also it took up quite a bit of space and once I had put it away in the cupboard I couldn’t be bothered to get it out again. Then when I hadn’t done it for ages and got it out to try again it bruised me around my hips. This was because I went straight back to the heavy hoop and the bruises then put me off once more as it was too uncomfortable.

Recently we haven’t had much time to go for walks like we used to and on the odd weekends when we have had time it has been raining and I was beginning to feel the need for a different kind of exercise.

I thought of the hula hoop again. It needed a different approach. This time I decided to stick with the light hoop (for now anyway). I tried to think of a place that I could store it where it would be easy to pick up at anytime. I hit on the idea of hanging it under the patio umbrella. I used a meat hook, of which we have many, for hanging kitchen utensils in our cabin.

I decided that any time I went into the garden and had a few minutes to spare I would hula hoop. I would just do a few minutes at a time so that it wouldn’t be tedious. As it was easily to hand I could do a few minutes several times a day. Anything must be better than nothing at all. Suddenly it became fun again.

I could grab the hoop each time I went into the garden and just do a few minutes. It’s making me feel better as I am getting exercise without it taking up much time but it’s much more regular. Any exercise must be better than none at all and it is making me feel better about myself.

My hula hoop now hangs here

I hula hoop four or five times a day

To my right

To my left

And right again

Now I am enjoying it again and it seems the easiest and quickest exercise possible. Also it moves the middle, which lets face it, is the bit we all want to target the most.

I am really pleased with the simple idea of hanging my hoop from the patio umbrella which has suddenly made it so accessible and therefore so easy to do. A very small, light bulb moment, has made me feel good and that in itself is a good thing.

Yesterday afternoon the girls were snoozing together in the sun.

The girls are dosing together in the sun

Except for Butterscotch who is trying to get her egg laid

And Peaches who is pecking around on the patio

All is very calm and chilled in the chicken run at the moment. I hope I am not tempting fate!

I was going to update on the rest of the garden roses when they reached their peak but got too busy and now they are just going past their best.

I decided to do this post before they went over completely, starting from the arches and working my way up to the chicken run.

Rose over the arches

We have now trimmed off the long branch on the left of the photo as it was spoiling the shape.

Close up

This was once a standard rose

This rose was a gift for my fiftieth birthday (six years ago) and was originally a standard but we have let it get a bit wilder. I quite like the more natural look but we have actually pruned it already this year as it was getting a bit out of hand. This rose continues to flower until the first frosts usually in October or November.

The rose next to the chicken run

This rose gets huge

A bit closer

Close up

My husband has been tying this rose back today as it takes over but it is really thorny and doing anything with it is a painful job. It was one of the few things already in this garden when we moved in nine years ago and it does make a good screen from the neighbours.

I have never had many roses in previous gardens but roses seem to like this garden. In fact this garden has more roses than any other garden we have ever had so I thought that I should celebrate them.

There has been no time for my usual bog posts this weekend as we catered for a wedding yesterday. It was an afternoon tea on our vintage crockery for a hundred people.

I only managed a couple of photos because it soon became too busy. This was before we had taken the cling wrap off the sandwiches and before we had put the tea pots and coffee pots on the table so it doesn’t give the full effect but gives a bit of an idea.

One of the tables at yesterday’s afternoon tea

Another table

Most of today has been spent washing up and putting away. I matched the trios on our dining table before putting them back in their boxes.

Trios washed up ready to be put away

It’s been a busy weekend but a successful one. We had lots of comments on how much the tea was enjoyed and how pretty the crockery looked.

The veg plot is looking great.

The veg plot yesterday

The potatoes

The courgettes

They are coming on nicely

Today the rain has battered down the potatoes

Potatoes after the rain

Never mind, they would have fallen over eventually as they get ready to harvest so we decided to just leave them be.

The first courgettes of the year

I decided to pick the first courgettes and put them in the fridge for our Sunday dinner. By then there should be a few broad beans ready too.

After torrential rain battering the garden today it is lovely to see the hanging baskets looking good. We have this one at the back.

The hanging basket at the back

The hanging basket at the front

And this one at the front giving a welcome as we pull onto our drive. It would be great to have some sun but at least the garden is getting watered and the veg plot is giving us our first produce. You have to look on the bright side.