Carol's Chickens

This morning I walked through the gate into the run and bent slightly to pour some hot water into the water dish as it had ice in it. Speckles jumped straight up on to my back and stayed there until I threw out a handful of sunflower seeds.

This is definitely her new thing and I will try to get a photo when I can. She was so nervous when we first had her that I struggled to get any close up photos of her. It is now the opposite as can be seen by these photos.

Speckles facing straight on

The girls always look so funny when they are facing straight on.

Speckles has an amazing comb and wattles

I love this photo and her comb is magnificent. She laid her second egg today just two days after her first and it was just as big as her first one.

Speckles now follows me around the run and when I go out of the gate I have to make sure she doesn’t follow me out. She then stands looking out at me through the gate. She has gone from being so nervous to being my friendliest girl but she is still nervous around the rest of the girls.

Speckles has become a lovely little character and it looks as if she is going to be a good egg layer too. What a lovely girl she is.

It’s all going on here with first eggs of the year being laid. Honey has been very vocal for the last few days and very nosey when any of the girls are in the nest box. I had wondered if she was getting ready to lay.

At lunch time today she was settled in the nest box with pine shavings flicked over her back.

You can’t see Honey as she she is hiding under pine shavings

When we heard shouting from the girls and checked in on them Honey had laid a soft shelled egg and the girls were eating it. I scooped up the remains and the sticky damp shavings, removed them, then added fresh shavings.

I remembered that Honey had laid a soft shelled egg at the start of last year and when I checked my records she had in fact laid the first egg with no shell at all and the second with a soft shell then normal shells from then on.

As this is her fourth year of laying I am quite pleased that although this egg had a soft shell she managed to pass it and didn’t look poorly before doing so like she has in the past. She seems just fine now and as she is no spring chicken (excuse the pun) I am rather pleased that she is doing so well.

She has also laid this egg a month earlier than she laid her first one last year. I am wondering if more light in the run is causing an earlier start to laying. We didn’t put a tarpaulin over the newer part of the run this year as it made the run darker and didn’t stop it being wet.

I have also removed some tarpaulin from the side of the run by the patio area and recently chopped back the big bush. A combination of these things allows more light into the run.

Other news is that Speckles jumped on my back this morning for the first time. The only bantam girls that have ever jumped on my back up until now have been Peaches and Barley and I have had them since they were six weeks old.

As Speckles was between one and two years old and so very nervous when we first got her this is a heart warming transformation in her. I never imagined she would jump on me when we first had her.

Also just for my records I am more than half way through worming the girls at the moment. It has been six months since I last wormed them and I thought I would get it done before they started laying but have had three girl’s first eggs three days running.

Two more days of flubenvet to go. I am mixing it in little dishes of things the girls like such as, fish, scrambled egg, yogurt, chopped grapes etc. I put three dishes down and keep a fourth one back to drop bits in front of Speckles to make sure she gets some as she still gets chased from the treats by the other girls.

She seems to have cottoned on to me helping her out and I am satisfied she is getting some each day. She nearly jumped on my back again this evening but misjudged it and dropped back down again. This seems to be her new thing.

Peaches has just laid her third egg and is now laying every other day. We will soon have an abundance of eggs. We are having an omelette tonight for dinner from our own girls eggs. Hurrah!

For the last few days I have thought that Speckles was getting ready to lay. This morning she sat in the nest box for a few minutes.

At lunch time my husband was home before me and he said that there was no egg in the nest box but he could tell Speckles had been in there as she had pine shavings on her back.

I went up to take a look and I timed it just right. She was sat in the nest box with pine shavings on her back. Some of the girls like to flick the shavings on their back while laying their egg. It is a throw back to being in the wild where they would flick grass or leaves over their back to hide themselves.

I had left my camera in the storage cabinet so I grabbed it and was just in time to catch Speckles standing over her egg.

Speckles in the nest box with Honey looking in

Speckles is standing over her first egg

Her egg was long and large. The largest egg this year so far.

Butterscotch’s egg is on the left then Barley’s egg next, Peaches egg next and Speckles large egg on the right.

Again, from the left, Butterscotch then Barley then Peaches then Speckles on the right

That is a large egg from such a little girl. Speckles is our smallest girl. This is the first egg she has laid while with us as she was moulting when we got her at the end of July. We now have four out of eight girls laying.

Well done Speckles.

We recently found out about another farm near us that breeds bantams. It’s in Barkham, near Wokingham which is a half  hour drive from us.

I phoned Kirstin, the breeder and asked her if we could go and see her birds.

Her web site shows that she has serama, Dutch bantam and Japanese bantams among her breeds. I wanted Dutch bantams a few years ago but couldn’t find a farm nearby that bred them.

We wanted to see what she had for future reference so that when we are ready to add to the flock (if we have any losses) we will know where to go.

I researched the breeds that she had and absolutely fell in love with the seramas but unfortunately they are not cold hardy and need to be kept inside in the winter so this would make them unsuitable for us.

The Dutch bantams turned out to be bearded Dutch bantams and although they were cute I really prefer chickens that are not bearded. It isn’t a look that appeals to me. Also she only had black and I like pretty colours.

She didn’t have any Japanese bantams at this time which would be my preferred choice but it may be that when we are ready for new girls she may have some different breeds.

Both the Dutch bantams and the serama are really tiny and are smaller than my girls.

Bearded Dutch bantams

One little cockerel in the middle

These are tiny

Beautiful seramas

There is a white silkie in with them

My photos aren’t great but they give an idea of them. I think these are so pretty. They don’t breed true to colour so you never know what colours you are going to get.

It was very good of Kirstin to show us round when we are not yet ready to buy. She is passionate about her breeds and has won awards at shows for some of her birds. It was lovely to see her birds and it is good to know that there is another bantam breeder within a reasonable distance of us.

This morning, just like the day before yesterday, Peaches and Barley were doing a lot of shouting. I checked on them and Peaches was in the nest box with Barley watching from outside.

I grabbed my camera and was just in time to see Barley go into the nest box with Peaches.

Peaches and Barley in the nest box

Barley has a very red face and comb

Can Barley see out from under her comb?

There is Peaches egg

Peaches looks a bit squashed under Barley and her egg is just peeping out from under her. I removed the egg and could see that there was no doubt it was Peaches because it was the same long shape of her previous egg.

Peaches came out of the nest box and Barley settled in. I checked back about ten minutes later and when I lifted the nest box lid Barley came out shouting and there was her egg.

So now they are even laying their eggs together. They really are a very together pair of girls.

I have often said how together Peaches and Barley are. Where one goes the other goes. What one does the other does.

Since I have pruned the big bush in the run the girls seem to like to peck at the bark on it. This morning Peaches and Barley were pecking away together. I thought I would sneak up behind them and get a few photos.

Togetherness

Combs swaying

They peck away at the bark

You looking at me?

Peaches realises I am there. She then returns to pecking the bark. These girls do make me laugh.

The day before Valentines Day my husband bought me some daffodils. He said they were not my Valentine flowers (bless him) but that at only a pound he thought they would bring a bit of spring colour.

I decide to record their progress with my camera.

Daffodil buds

The daffodils are starting to open

The daffodils progress

Almost all of them are open

Last photo of the daffodils

Valentine Roses

The last two photos were taken on the same day. I have had the daffodils for seven days and the roses for six days. They both still look really good.

The roses are romantic and I love red roses but the daffodils are amazing value and fun to watch opening up.

Today we had our first “three egg day” of the year. This morning Butterscotch laid her egg about an hour later than the day before as is her pattern.

We had no lunches to deliver today so were at home for the nest box antics. There was a lot of shouting from Barley and Peaches.

At last I caught Barley in the nest box

Peaches was looking in at Barley

Honey was also looking in and Barley came out shouting

Peaches had been scratching in the nest box earlier so I thought she was getting ready to lay. Barley had been in the nest box several times but Peaches and Honey seemed obsessed with watching her which she didn’t like at all.

A girl needs a bit of privacy and as well as growling at them she came out of the nest box shouting.

For ages we could hear them shouting but I put it down to Barley wanting to lay and Peaches and Honey not leaving her in peace.

At lunch time they were shouting again so I checked the nest box once more.

At the next spell of shouting I found this

Peaches was standing over an egg and Honey was looking in.

Look how red Peaches face and comb is

I removed the egg and Honey and Peaches left the nest box but Peaches returned and sat again. I now wasn’t sure if the egg was Barley’s and Peaches had gone in to lay her egg as well or if it was Peaches and she hadn’t realised that she had already laid it. I knew that I would be able to tell if another egg appeared.

Later Peaches was back in the nest box

When I next checked both Barley and Peaches were out in the run and there was a long oval egg in the nest box.

I then knew for sure that the first egg was Barley’s and this one was Peaches. Barley’s first egg had been this shape too and like last year Peaches has laid her first egg two weeks after Barley’s first egg.

Today’s three eggs

Butterscotch’s egg is on the left, Barley’s egg is in the middle and Peaches egg is on the right.

So now we have three girls laying. I think Speckles will be next, her comb is a lovely red colour and she is more vocal than usual. I am loving having all these eggs. Well done girls!

My husband bought me this egg holder for Christmas and this is the first time it has been filled. We have just had eight eggs in seven days. Six of those are Butterscotch’s and two are Barley’s.

A full egg holder

Barley’s eggs are the one at the back on the left and the one in the front, second in from the right. The eggs are in the order they were laid starting at the tail of the hen on the right and circling to the left until they meet up. Butterscotch’s eggs have a pinkish tint and a satin sheen whereas Barley’s are white with a matt finish.

A different view of the eggs

This morning Peaches was scratching around the nest box for a few minutes, scattering the pine shavings out, so I don’t think it will be too long before she starts laying. Her comb is now completely red whereas recently it still had a pink tip.

I think once we have both Barley and Peaches laying as well as Butterscotch the egg count will really make a difference and I won’t be buying any more eggs. Hurrah!

Yesterday afternoon it was lovely and sunny for a change and we had finished work by lunch time. We decided to make the most of it and my husband set to work tiding the garden while I did the same in the chicken run.

I dug the run over as it’s been so wet lately. The girls love following my feet and the fork in case I turn up any worms. I have to be so careful as they have no fear of my feet or the fork.

I then pruned the big hypericum bush. It had grown up to the roof panels as well as outwards and through the weld mesh to outside and also had a lot of dead wood at the back.

I filled two bin sacks with it and now there is much more light getting in to run.

Meanwhile my husband had trimmed the plant that runs along our front path and put it in the run as a treat for the girls. Up until this point they had been gathered round me while I pruned but suddenly decided this was more interesting.

Some green plants for the girls

The girls loved this

The girls help me prune

I have pruned the big bush

This will let more light in

It was late afternoon when I took these photos but it will be much brighter earlier in the day.

I finished off by sweeping the chicken patio and washing the food and water dishes. Every thing is as good as it gets in the chicken run and I think the girls enjoyed the afternoon activities.