Carol's Chickens

I decided to move the small nest boxes to the floor instead of on top of the large nest boxes. I think this will make them easier to access for the girls.

We moved the storage cabinet along a bit to make room for them.

The small nest boxes are in a new position

I think they will be better on the floor

Luckily the chicken shed door just swings over the top of the small nest boxes.

Speckles checks out the new arrangement

Speckles is checking out the nest box

I think Speckles may start laying soon. She came into the chicken shed this morning while I was poop picking and was much more vocal than usual. She checked out all of the nest boxes later this morning.

Both her and Topaz have been checking out the nest boxes so it will be interesting to see who lays first.

Topaz settled in the bigger nest box and I thought she might finally lay her first egg of the year.

Topaz is settled in the nest box

Butterscotch looked like she wanted to go in too

I felt sure Butterscotch wanted to get in the nest box too but after a few minutes she gave up and went to one of the perches in the run. Perhaps she was just being nosey.

It did give me the chance to get a close up of her comb though.

Butterscotch’s poor comb and head

When I first saw some blood spots in the chicken shed I checked all the girl’s combs and couldn’t see any sign of pecking. Now that Butterscotch is missing some head feathers I can see a spot of dried blood on the tip of her comb and at the base of her feathers where there are some missing. You can see from this photo how difficult it is to see this against the black colour of her comb.

I feel so sorry for her but she seems her usual self and it doesn’t seem to be bothering her. She chased Barley away just after I took this photo.

I will make sure that she is not next to Honey at bedtime for a while. I think that what probably happened is that Honey pecked her comb and made it bleed. If there were spots of blood on her comb and her head feathers this probably attracted Honey to pulling them out. I am surmising of course but knowing chicken’s behaviour this seems most likely.

Meanwhile Honey was having a lovely dust bath and Speckles really wanted to join her. These two do seem to spend time together and have a bit of an alliance with each other. Peaches and Barley often chase Speckles from the dust bath and yesterday was no exception. I sometimes call them “the mean girls”.

Speckles wants to dust bath with Honey

She almost manages it

But Barley chases her away

Topaz then came out of the nest box shouting her head off. I went to check and once more there was no egg. Topaz is such an odd girl or should that be “unique”!

At bedtime I checked and Butterscotch and Honey were next to each other so I moved Butterscotch to a different position. Honey then gave Barley a peck on the comb so I am sure she is the culprit and my theory is probably correct. I felt sorry for Barley but as soon as it gets darker she won’t be able to peck her and at the moment Butterscotch needs protection the most.

Just when I think things are running smoothly there always seems to be more drama.

Topaz practised laying throughout December and the first half of January and then stopped. It was as if she suddenly realised that she was practising too early and gave up.

This morning she was very vocal and had a look in the small nest box. She looked quite cross as if she felt that the small nest box wasn’t up to standard for her.

I opened up the large nest box and she went straight to it to have a look.

Topaz has been looking in the small nest box

I opened up the big nest box for her

She went in briefly but was soon back out again and still being very vocal. I think she may be getting ready to start laying again but you can never be sure with Topaz. She does need an awful lot of practice.

Speckles is getting a lovely red comb and wattles.

Speckles is getting a lovely red comb.

Speckles looks in the nest box

Speckles is looking in the nest box. I think it may not be long before Speckles starts laying.

It sometimes seems that when ever I think things are going smoothly there is always another problem round the corner to throw a spanner in the works.

Every morning when I poop pick the chicken shed I always do a quick inspection of the perches and the walls of the shed just to check that there are no dreaded red mite.

For the last couple of mornings I have spotted little splashes of blood on the back of the shed, chicken head height, behind the perch. I know there is some pecking at bedtime (sometimes it seems quite brutal) and I inspected all the girls combs to see if they had been pecked. I couldn’t see any peck marks and was perplexed as to what was going on here.

Yesterday I thought that Butterscotch was having a bad hair day and put out this photo.

Butterscotch is having a bad hair day (yesterday)

This afternoon I realised this wasn’t just a bad hair day after all. Butterscotch is missing some head feathers and there is a spot of blood on her comb where the feathers have gone but with her comb being black it’s very very difficult to see. Yesterday her feathers looked swept back by the wind (and it was very windy yesterday) but I now think that the missing feathers in front of the swept back ones gave this appearance.

Today more feathers have gone and it has become more noticeable.

Butterscotch is missing head feathers

From a different angle

I have looked back at the recent photos of the bedtime line up and the blood spots are in the middle of the shed which is where Butterscotch perches and she is next to Honey in the last few photos.

I have watched the girls whenever I could today and haven’t seen any plucking. I am coming to the conclusion that it is probably Honey plucking her head feathers at bedtime and that has caused the blood spots.

I am so horrified by this. I have had this sort of problem in the past and can’t bare the thought of it happening again. I also know how impossible it can be to stop this behaviour.

I decided that tonight if Butterscotch was perched next to Honey that I would pick her up and move her to another spot on the perch. However Butterscotch solved the problem for now by perching between Topaz and Speckles so no action needed.

Tomorrow morning I will clean away the blood spots in the shed. I need to do this in the morning so that any damp patches have the day to dry. I will then be able to tell if there are any new spots.

I am hoping this is a phase (Butterscotch’s hair do may be irresistible) and that it will pass. I can’t bring myself to contemplate what it would mean if it develops in to full scale feather plucking. This is actually my biggest worry amongst my flock because of the past history. Honey was the only member that was part of the flock during that time and I hope this isn’t a behaviour that she is remembering and continuing.

I have to just hope this will pass because otherwise I don’t know what I could do next. I will be watching the situation very closely.

Butterscotch is having a bad day. She is often sporting a spiky hair style from standing under some drips but today it was really windy and it dried like this.

Butterscotch is having a bad hair day

Last night I put the corn pot down while I checked something and all the girls immediately started pecking at the tub but I didn’t have my camera.

Tonight I couldn’t resist putting the pot down while I had my camera. A bit of a tease, I know, but I gave them an extra bit of corn to make up for it.

I put the corn pot down and all the girls ran to it

Toffee was the first to peck at the lid.

The girls can’t work it out

Topaz has a peck at the side of the pot

Emerald has a peck at the lid

She tries the side of the pot

If they could only work out how to get the lid off they would have a feast. It’s a good job the pot has sturdy clips around the lid. What fun they would have if they could open this.

Yesterday I gave the girls some yogurt as a treat. I put it in four dishes with two spaced out on the patio area and one on each of the two wooden blocks. Despite spreading them out like this seven of the girls went to the four different dishes and it looked as if Speckles was still going to miss out.

Speckles really wanted some of the yogurt. She suddenly got braver and decided to try to take some.

Speckles is getting braver

Speckles gets some yogurt

Well done Speckles

I was so pleased to see her getting braver and getting her share of the yogurt. Well done Speckles!

Butterscotch was back in the nest box first thing this morning so I decided to lift her out and shut all the nest boxes. I would like to break her of being broody as quickly as possible and I hoped this would be before the other girls started laying. I felt this would be the last time I could do this as once there are other girls laying I will just have to let her be broody but make sure she comes out several times a day. Usually if I shut her out of the nest boxes she loses interest in just a couple of days.

Butterscotch is looking for the nest box

Butterscotch beside the blocked smaller nest boxes

I blocked the smaller nest boxes as I felt that if she went in one of these I wouldn’t easily be able to get her out again.

A disgruntled Butterscotch

Butterscotch decides to sit next to the smaller nest boxes

Barley checks her out

Barley then went into the chicken shed and started scratching around in there. I wondered if she was getting ready to lay and decided to put one of the smaller nest boxes in the chicken shed in the hope that if she did want to lay she would use that.

A little later my husband was by the chicken run when he heard a commotion. He said Barley was standing over an egg besides the food dish. Once again I felt really guilty that I had closed the nest boxes just as a girl wanted to lay.

It did prove that yesterday’s egg was Butterscotch’s though. Butterscotch’s eggs are a beige colour and are round. Peaches and Barley’s eggs are pure white and are oval. This first egg was long and slim. It doesn’t always show up in a photograph so I took one of the eggs laying down and one of the eggs stood up.

Barley’s egg is on the left and Butterscotch’s egg is on the right

Barley’s egg is quite different from Butterscotch’s egg

Now that she has laid her egg I will leave the nest boxes closed until at least mid morning tomorrow. Last year Barley started laying a week and a half before Peaches and missed a few days between eggs before getting into her stride so I may just have time to dissuade Butterscotch from sitting in the nest boxes. I will have to keep an eye on Barley and make a decision as we go along.

Today I had planned to write a post about the girl’s combs and how I can see by how red some of them are that some of the girls are getting ready to lay again. I took my camera with me each time I went into the run. Somehow as the day went along the post changed into Butterscotch’s day.

Butterscotch lays for three weeks then goes broody. Today is day twenty one. Yesterday she was in the nest box all morning and I was sure she was going broody. She has also started the clucking that she does when about to go broody. After lunch I decided to lift her and was surprised to find an egg under her. She didn’t return to the nest box after that so I thought maybe she has another day or two to go.

Today she went into the nest box first thing this morning. I took it as a sign that she is going broody as after laying an egg at lunch time yesterday I knew she wouldn’t lay one in the morning. She usually lays an hour later each day. I decided to leave her until midday then lift her out.

She was cross as she usually is, clucking away, but she went out for food and water and a scratch in the run. We wanted to go out for a few hours and I knew she would return to the nest box while we were out but I decided to lift her again on our return.

When we returned I lifted her out again and she sat flattened on the patio area.

I check on Butterscotch in the nest box and Barley has to check too

Barley has a look in the smaller nest box

Butterscotch is flattened on the patio area

As always when Butterscotch is going broody she remains flat after I lift her out. Peaches and Barley check her out.

It is as if Peaches and Barley are wondering what Butterscotch is doing flat like this

Speckles comb is getting more colour

Speckles comb isn’t as red as Peaches, Barley’s and Topaz’s but it is getting a bit more colour.

Honey is looking older

Some of the girls are one year old and some are two years old but Honey is three years old and is definitely looking older now. She is slower and more portly than she used to be.

At this stage I decided to close the little coop nest boxes to keep Butterscotch out and try to break her broody spell once more. I didn’t bother about the smaller nest boxes because she has never shown any interest in them and I thought she would be too big for them.

When I went in with the bedtime corn Butterscotch was missing. I thought she was probably in the chicken shed but decided to check the small nest boxes first.

Butterscotch is squashed into the smaller nest box

I was really surprised to see her in this nest box. The good news is that if Butterscotch will use this nest box then I feel sure the smaller girls will. Butterscotch is our biggest girl.

I can’t lift her out of here as the lid doesn’t open and she is too tightly squeezed in to take her out. Instead I put the small nest box down on the patio and rattled the corn container in front of her. She squeezed herself out and went off for the corn.

To my surprise there was an egg in the small nest box

I have to assume that it is Butterscotch’s egg as I haven’t yet seen any of the other girls go in the nest boxes. Several times when behaving like a broody she has laid one last egg. I felt quite guilty that she wanted to lay after I had closed the bigger nest boxes but at least it proves that these smaller nest boxes are acceptable. I reopened the little coop nest boxes as the drama was over.

At dusk I went to check on the girls. No girls were outside so I looked in the chicken shed.

Where is Butterscotch?

I checked the nest boxes.

Here she is

This means she is definitely broody as she is back in the nest box, after laying her egg, instead of going to bed. I lifted her out of the nest box and placed her on the perch just as the automatic door started to close.

I placed her on the perch

This photo shows how red the combs are on Topaz, Peaches and Barley. All the other girl’s combs are still paler. Butterscotch has a black comb but I know her routine so well. She lays for three weeks and today is day twenty one and then she goes broody. She has laid fifteen eggs this time and I am certain today was her last one for a couple of weeks.

She takes a two week break so it will be interesting to see if Peaches and Barley start laying during this time. Topaz is a law unto herself so I can’t speculate when she will start laying.

It would be lovely to have some eggs from some of the other girls as Butterscotch has single handedly kept us going through the winter. Butterscotch is an amazing character.

I have mentioned before that Butterscotch goes to bed quite a bit later than the rest of the girls. Last night I decided to photograph her.

Butterscotch is very much her own girl and has loads of confidence. Sometimes Topaz will give her a quick peck to let her know that she is below her in the pecking order but Butterscotch hardly flinches.

Very often all the girls will be perching on the ladders and branch perches but Butterscotch will be drifting around the run pecking and scratching. Sometimes she perches with them but not all of the time.

The girls go into the chicken shed about forty minutes before the automatic door closes but Butterscotch goes in about twenty minutes before the door closes. I often wonder how she knows when to go in but she has never yet missed the door closing.

Butterscotch at near dusk with her spiky hair do

The rest of the girls are getting into their bedtime positions

Butterscotch has some pellets then some water

Butterscotch looks as if she is about to go in

Is she going in?

The feet inside the shed belong to Peaches. She has jumped down so that she can jump back up again next to Barley.

She didn’t go in and is now pecking at stray pine shavings

She has some grit

Meanwhile the rest of the girls have settled

Butterscotch has some water

Now Butterscotch takes up her bedtime position

Jackie asked recently if the girls always faced a particular way. It seems to be quite random. I had thought that the first ones up with plenty of turning space would turn to face the front and those last up with no turning space would end up facing the back of the shed but I see in this photo that Emerald and Honey have space to turn but are facing the back of the shed.

It does appear to be completely random. The only constant is that Peaches and Barley always try to be next to each other and Butterscotch is always around the middle. It may be that because Butterscotch is last into the shed the middle position is the easiest place for her to jump up.

It is quite interesting to see how they line up and that Butterscotch doesn’t just follow the flock but very much does her own thing.