Carol's Chickens

I am feeling sad today about re homing girls once more. I was quite tearful about it last night.

I decided that I needed to remind myself why I had to do this. I looked through photos of the girls when this was happening before.

Amber

This was Amber in May, two years ago. She has a lovely red comb and face and is giving me the chat like she always did but she looks dreadful with her plucked head and neck. I simply could not let this happen again.

The girls enjoy a broccoli stalk

This was Amber, left of Honey, in April last year the day before she died. The next morning I found her dead by the pop hole at first light. She had a great last day all over the broccoli stalk and was looking really good. It was an awful shock when she went so suddenly but she had enjoyed her last year without being plucked.

I just could not go back to those days. I am sure Topaz and Honey will be as happy on the farm as Pepper and Dotty and my little flock of six can keep their feathers. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

Mid morning today I went in to the girls and found some of Topaz’s tail feathers in their separated bit. My heart sank a bit more.

Topaz’s tail feathers

If I leave Topaz and Honey together Topaz is going to lose feathers but if I put Topaz back with the main girls Butterscotch will lose her pins before they open.

Butterscotch’s pin feathers are very tempting

I put a big dish of mash in the main flock’s side and a small dish of mash in the separated side as a treat and distraction. At lunch time both dishes were empty. I picked up the small dish from the separated side and put it on the wooden table while I secured the gate. In a nano second all the girls, apart from the slower Butterscotch, were up on the table to see what was in this dish. Not a lot, girls!

New feeding station

Yesterday I had been thinking about re homing Topaz and Honey on the farm where I had re homed Pepper and Dotty. I cried at the prospect of doing this again but after talking to my husband and Jackie about this I had decided to have a chat with the farmer. Both my husband and Jackie are in agreement that I must think of the rest of the flock and I can’t risk this habit spreading and ending up with a plucked flock once more.

If this happened I wouldn’t be able to add new girls and would be stuck with this problem. It is odd that Topaz and Honey were with the flock when this was happening last time and I wonder if it’s something remembered or some instinct from that time.

I tried calling the farmer yesterday but got no reply. After finding feathers from Topaz today I called again and left a message asking her to call me.

She called late this afternoon and was so lovely and said that it had worked out for Pepper and Dotty and she would be happy to do the same with these two girls. She said to bring them over straight away. She is going to keep them in her kitchen until dusk and then put them in the barn with her flock.

She will keep the flock in the barn for three days then let them all out together. She has always done it this way and says it works for her and worked well last time. As before she said that she will look after them to the best of her ability and I can visit them. She thought they were beautiful.

Topaz and Honey in the farmer’s kitchen

I did say something about hygiene and she said that she has had calves and all manner of farm animals in her kitchen.

My flock of six

When I gave out the pre bedtime corn my flock of six was lacking some colour and I felt so sad. I hate that I have had to do this again but I think it is the right thing for my flock.

Once settled Topaz and Honey will have a meadow to free range in and a cockerel to keep the flock in order. They will be reunited with Pepper and Dotty although I don’t know if they could possibly remember them.

Most of all though, my flock will get to keep their feathers and I can get back to enjoying them instead of stressing and getting tearful. I am sure this was the right thing to do.

Okay, I have just had a little weep but onwards and upwards.

While we were at Homebase getting some things for our upcoming sitting room make over I thought that I would buy another annual for my empty chicken bucket.

A new plant in my chicken bucket

I then spotted this pretty primula and couldn’t resist it.

A new primula

We have lots of primula in our garden. They do very well in this garden and self seed all over the place but I didn’t have one this colour. I am hoping this one will self seed and spread itself around the garden as it is so pretty.

This morning I went out at half past six to let Topaz and Honey out of the little coop. A few minutes later the automatic door opened on the main chicken shed.

Topaz was first out this morning

Honey coming out

Speckles seems to miss Honey and has spent parts of the day following Honey through the wire. I think Speckles would like to get in with them.

Speckles watching Honey through the wire

All the girls seem happy and Honey laid her egg at lunch time. At least she has the nest box to herself. Topaz appeared to be standing guard over her. She stood at the foot of the ramp and gave a shout when Honey laid her egg.

I thought it was going really well until late this afternoon when I caught Honey pulling a clump of feathers from Topaz’s behind and eating them. She then followed Topaz around trying to get to her again with me shouting “NO, NO, NO!”.

I feel really frustrated now. I don’t know what to do. If I leave them together Topaz will probably end up with a bare bottom. If I let Topaz back in with the main flock I am afraid Butterscotch will lose her pin feathers again.

Butterscotch

Butterscotch has pin feathers on her breast and her head. I really want them to have a chance to open before putting Topaz back.

I can’t split the run three ways because I would need another little coop and feeding station and the bottom, newer part, of the run doesn’t stay dry when it rains despite the roof panels. This is so upsetting.

I think I will have to leave Topaz with Honey until Butterscotch’s pin feathers open or she will lose them and I think a bare neck and head will be worse than a bare bottom. The problem is that because Butterscotch is now laying again her pins are opening really slowly. In fact it’s difficult to see if they are opening at all.

I just don’t know what to do for the best. This is why it would have been good if Topaz could have stayed with Jackie’s flock. It’s such a shame her girls made such a fuss. I felt so positive this morning and now I am back to feeling frustrated and upset again.

Over the last week we hadn’t seen Topaz pulling any feathers and the girl’s necks don’t appear to look any worse.

However we have seen Honey pulling feathers every day. I saw her pull a bunch of feathers from Peaches and Barley and she was eating them. Toffee was next to her and ate one too. By the time I caught up with them I only managed to pick one feather up. This decided me that it was time to separate Honey. I don’t want the other girls to pick up this habit.

My husband saw Honey pull feathers from Butterscotch’s breast a little later and that evening I saw Honey try to pull a tail feather from Butterscotch. She was actually hanging on to her tail until I separated them.

Yesterday I got the run set up ready for separation this morning. I have put a little coop/nest box in the separated side and a feeding station with water dish, pellet dish and a dish of grit and oyster shell.

This morning after their sunflower seeds I scooped up Honey and put her in the separated part. She wasn’t happy about it and I didn’t like doing it as I have never separated one girl on her own before.

I started the day with Honey being separated from the rest of the flock

A little later this morning my husband said that he had just seen Topaz pull some feathers from Butterscotch’s breast. That clinched it for me. They can both be separated together.

Topaz and Honey are now separated from the rest of the flock

I know there is a chance that they may pluck each other but it seems that Butterscotch is the main target for both of them. I think that is because she is still moulting a bit at a time, so long after the other girls have finished, her loose feathers and pin feathers are just too tempting.

At least this will give her a chance for her pin feathers to open and Topaz and Honey will be company for each other which makes me feel better about the separation.

Butterscotch is looking really shabby

Barley laid her egg first thing this morning followed a little later by Emerald. Butterscotch went in to lay her egg and a bit later Toffee wanted to lay. She got quite agitated because there is now one less big nest box and she doesn’t like the little ones.

Eventually she must have got desperate and decided she would have to share with Butterscotch.

Toffee goes into the nest box with Butterscotch

She laid her egg straight away and a few minutes later Butterscotch got her egg laid too.

Topaz doesn’t seem bothered by being on the other side but Honey misses being able to run to me. Every time I go to either gate into their part she is there. It makes it difficult for me to get in without her getting out.

When I went in to do the lunch time pick up and give the girls some apple my husband distracted her with a dandelion leaf while I slipped through the gate.

Later in the afternoon I washed all the dishes and filled the water bowls with fresh water. While doing this Honey slipped past me through the gate. I decided to finish what I was doing and then deal with getting her back in. In the end the fact that she wants to be with me made it simple. I opened the gate to come back out and she slipped back in. Once I was back in the main run I could almost see her wondering how that had happened!

I gave them the bedtime corn which is easy enough to throw through both sides of the run and the girls on both sides scratched happily afterwards as usual.

I checked on them at quarter past seven and the main flock were in the chicken shed while Topaz and Honey were still out.

Like last time the girls have left a gap where Topaz and Honey would usually be.

To my surprise at half past seven Topaz went in followed by Honey.

Topaz and Honey put themselves to bed

I crept in and closed the door. I couldn’t believe it had been that easy. What a long way we have come from the days when the girls wouldn’t put themselves to bed.

The first day has gone really well and I think both flocks are happy enough with their space. I think they will be quite happy like this for a while and and am I hopeful that this will work. It’s been a good first day.

Peaches and Barley are so together. They share a dust bath while practically laying on each other. They even share a nest box and lay their eggs together. You will rarely ever see them not together. It does make me smile. This was the pair of them at the food dish yesterday.

Peaches and Barley feeding together

I love how Peaches has to stand in the food dish

In perfect sync

You couldn’t get two girls more in sync than this. They are such a cute pair.

I must admit that I am enjoying my girls, after their shorter than expected, stay away from home but I am keeping a close eye on them. I haven’t actually seen Topaz pull any feathers since she has been back here but Emerald’s white patch on her neck seems more obvious.

I have seen Honey pull a feather from Butterscotch but I think her loose moulting feathers are quite tempting.  For now I am going to watch them and take action if it escalates but leave them be if it seems to be slowing up.

Maybe even a short break has helped. Topaz and Honey were first to bed last night after the bedtime corn as if they were rushing to get in before they got taken away again.

Emerald has a new trick. She now jumps on the inner (child) gate every time I open the outer gate.

Emeralds new trick

Even with her head down you can see a white spot now, which is why I think it may be a little worse than before, but it’s hard to be sure.

Topaz’s comb is healing nicely

There is just a little dark spot by her left eye where her comb was bleeding but it has healed really well and she never looked bothered by it at all.

Honey’s neck looks just the same, I don’t think it has got any worse

Emerald preening

I was trying to get a photo of Emerald’s neck but ended up with this shot instead.

Butterscotch’s neck

Butterscotch’s neck looks worse but that may be partly down to her moulting again. She has some pins on her neck and head but it’s just a case of whether she can keep them long enough for them to open.

I was struggling to get Emerald to look up so that I could get a shot of her neck. My husband came into the run to help me. Speckles now jumps on me every time I go through the gate and very often Peaches or Barley will join her. Toffee has just taking to jumping at me too but often drops down not making it to my shoulder. Yesterday I held out my arm for her and she perched on it briefly. I am amazed as Toffee has always been very shy.

Speckles on my shoulder

Speckles and peaches on my shoulders

How cute are these girls!

Emerald’s neck

It is quite difficult to get a photo of Emerald’s neck but I hope this will serve to tell if it gets any worse. If things just stayed as they are now I would be happy. I just don’t want this to get any worse or for any of the other girls to copy.

It was another five egg day today. Speckles, Peaches, Barley, Honey and Emerald all laid today. Toffee laid yesterday and only Topaz and Butterscotch are not laying at the moment. I gave six eggs to our next door neighbours yesterday for the first time this year.

It is lovely having plenty of eggs once more. Thank you girls! I am hoping that things may run smoothly for a while and settle down once more but you never know what is round the corner.

We have a function to cater tomorrow for forty people. They are having a fork buffet and deserts. My husband made a bird decoration from an apple to garnish one of the dishes.

Apple bird

Little bird

Edible bird decoration

Isn’t this little feller cute!

It turned out to be a very short break for Topaz and Honey. It seemed to have started so well with them both putting themselves to bed last night which came as a bit of a pleasant surprise to me.

By eight o’clock this morning they were back home again. Jackie called me in desperation and near to tears saying that her three girls had been screaming their heads off since first light. Nothing she could do would stop them. Being the Easter break and with her neighbours being in very close proximity she was really worried about the racket.

My two girls were as good as gold in their enclosure while Jackie’s girls were non stop shouting and treats and attention would not distract them. She said she was sorry but she just couldn’t do this.

It was good of her to give it a go but this just wasn’t going to work so I went straight up to Jackie’s and collected my two girls.

Topaz had taken a peck to her comb, probably from last night’s stand off with Chelsea. She had a bit of pine shaving stuck to the dried blood. I sponged the shaving off with tepid water and her comb started to bleed again. I dusted her comb with some anti bacterial powder from my chicken medical supplies and returned her to the run. She went back in happily as if she had never been away.

I then returned Honey to the run and straight away Honey and Barley went at each other with their ruffs raised. This happened a couple of times until Honey had established her status once more. It made us think that putting her back after a week’s break may not have been as simple as we had thought it would be.

Topaz’s comb immediately looked better. Luckily combs heal really quickly.

Topaz looks none the worse for her experience

There is just a slight dark spot on her comb by her left eye. It is now barely noticeable.

I started to think about a plan B. I could close the area I use for integrations and put Topaz in there on her own for a week. I now know that she would probably put herself to bed in the little coop/nest box and if she perched up instead I could lift her down at dusk.

Once the clocks go forward tomorrow night I wouldn’t have to get up so early to let her out so it would be a good time to do it. If it stopped her pulling feathers once she rejoined the flock I could then separate Honey and see if this would work for her too.

When I popped back to see how they were getting on Honey and Topaz were sat with their flock mates in a patch of sun. I didn’t have the heart to do anything more about this today.

The girls are together in the sun

They had all been sitting together until I went closer with the camera. Topaz stood up as she is now wary of me after picking her up yesterday and this morning and dabbing her comb too.

Butterscotch takes a dust bath on her own

Butterscotch prefers a solitary dust bath. She is moulting once more and looks rather scruffy.

Emerald was in the nest box and had just laid her egg and Toffee was just going into the nest box.

The flock are all happy together and today is forecast to be the one sunny day before a week of rain so I am not going to do anything more today. I will let the flock enjoy the sunshine and see how things go for a few days before deciding what, if anything, to do next.

Today is the last day that my eight girls will be together. I gave them another whole cabbage which was only fifty pence from Tesco.

Another cabbage for the girls

Meanwhile Honey is in the nest box even though she had laid her egg in the run earlier

The girls are getting stuck into the cabbage

Barley keeps Speckles company in the nest box while Peaches watches

Speckles lays her egg

Barley then goes to keep Honey company

Honey leaves and Peaches comes in to keep Barley company

Toffee then takes her place in the nest box and later when I check Toffee leaves and there are Peaches, Barley’s and Toffee’s eggs. This is our first five egg day this year. Honey, Speckles, Peaches, Barley and Toffee. Well done girls.

I decided to leave it until four o’clock to take Honey and Topaz to Jackie’s so that it was just a couple of hours before bedtime.

We put them into the separated area and they were soon happily exploring, scratching and pecking at this new environment.

Chelsea was the only one of Jackie’s girls to take a brief look.

Chelsea is the only one to take a brief look at the new girls

Topaz checks out the coop/nest box. We have one (two in fact) just like this!

Honey showing off her missing neck feathers

I stayed for an hour and a half while Jackie and I caught up on all the gossip and put the world to rights. My girls were happy in their holiday home and Jackie’s girls were hanging out by the patio doors having a bit of a moan.

Jackie called me before the girl’s bedtime and said that Chelsea and Topaz had had a bit of a stand off against the wire but Topaz didn’t back down. I knew she wouldn’t. Topaz thinks she is much bigger than she is and she doesn’t ever back down.

My girls went to bed leaving a gap where Honey and Topaz usually roost.

Where have Honey and Topaz gone? There is a space where they normally perch

Jackie rang me again a little later and said that Topaz first then Honey had gone into the little coop and they were snuggled up together for the night. I am so thrilled. My one reservation was that they wouldn’t go in at bedtime but I think the little coop/nest box is familiar to them and with nowhere else to go they made the right choice.

So far this has gone better than I could have hoped. A good start to this plan and hopefully more good progress to come. Thank you Jackie.