Carol's Chickens

The garden really has a feeling of summer’s end at the moment. The days are getting shorter much too quickly. This is something you are so aware of when you keep chickens as they come out later, retire earlier and they have shorter days outside and longer nights inside.

At this time of year I love the late colour that sedums bring to the garden.

This sedum brings a welcome splash of colour to the garden

And another one

Looking up towards the chicken run

And another splash of colour

I don’t know the name of this plant as I was given a bit of it by a relative many years ago. I have since moved it from two past gardens to this one and it took ages to get going here despite being rampant in previous gardens. Finally it has become established and is looking lovely. It echoes the colour of the sedums.

The veg plot has been a bit of a mixed bag this year.

One side of the veg plot

There are loads of tomatoes and I am ecstatic that it’s the first year we have had no blight on them but they are very slow to ripen. I hope the corn cobs ripen but if not the chooks will have them. The leeks have been the best we have ever had but the courgettes have been the worst we have ever had. They get to about two inches long then rot, blossom rot apparently. I have always grown them in pots before and will do so again next year.

The other side of the veg plot

The runner beans have also been the worst crop we have ever had with only a few meals from them. Behind them are the potatoes. We have cut off the dead stalks and are digging them up one plant at a time as we need them they are quite good. There is another sedum next to the beans which is a self seedling.

The girl’s dandelion and chard patch

The girl’s dandelion and chard patch is looking really good and I pick them leaves and pass them through the wire every day. They love to peck them from my hands as it’s easier than from the ground.

Plus a few more leeks

There is also an overflow of leaks here but as I use them I am replacing them with more salad leaves for the girls. They are a mix of leaves that will keep producing as they are picked and will go on through winter.

Last but definitely not least the girls. Butterscotch has now laid three eggs, since she came out of being broody, despite dropping more feathers than any of the other girls. I just can’t believe she is laying while moulting so heavily.

I have only two more days of worming to go before completing the seven day course but I haven’t seen any worms since that first one which made me decide to worm them now. I am surprised that I haven’t seen any more since I started worming.

Peaches and Barley both look really scruffy now but the rest of the girls don’t look bad while moulting. The girls have been having loads of dust baths during the day.

I do wonder how long Butterscotch will continue to lay, having a girl moult and lay eggs is new to me.

Speckles is still quite wary of me but Butterscotch will now take greens from my hands and seems quite comfortable with me. It took Toffee quite a long time to be comfortable with me so I think it’s the same with Speckles. She is still wary of the other girls, as well as me, apart from Toffee.

All in all though I feel the flock has settled together really well and they often hang out together in a tight group. I love seeing them sticking close together and feel that apart from the usual pecking order issues they are a happy flock.

I am looking forward to spring when the girls are all fully feathered and start laying again. It will be interesting to see how well Speckles lays and how often Butterscotch goes broody and if Topaz stays just the same. These are all things to be discovered in a new year but at the moment the girls are settling in to the coming winter months whilst making the most of dust baths in any available patches of sun.

This morning after the morning corn Butterscotch was trying to find the door to the closed little coops again. I shut the pop hole to the chicken shed thinking that if I could keep her out for another day I could stop her going broody.

I went off to do my lunch deliveries and when I returned there was an egg in the run. It was Butterscotch’s round slightly pinkish egg. I felt so bad! She wasn’t going broody after all, she just wanted to lay her egg.

In my defence I didn’t think hens laid while moulting and have never had one do so before. From now on the little coops and the chicken shed will remain open. I did tell her how sorry I was. If only she could talk and tell me she wanted to lay an egg.

Butterscotch’s egg

Its three weeks since she went broody and a week since she started to moult and she is still dropping feathers. It looks like this girl is going to be a REALLY good layer.

Butterscotch in a dust bath

I felt so bad but who would have thought a girl looking like this would lay an egg. I wonder if it’s a one off or if there will be more.

Well done Butterscotch and I am so sorry. All doors open from now on I promise.

Yesterday afternoon when I went in to the girls Butterscotch was missing. To my surprise she was in the little coop nest box. I was surprised that she would go broody again as it was only two weeks ago that she got back to normal with no eggs laid in between and a week ago she started moulting.

I knew she wouldn’t be about to lay as she is heavily moulting. I took her out of the little coop and closed both the coops as I really don’t want her broody and moulting at the same time. She shouted for a bit then rejoined the flock.

This morning I went in and gave the girls their morning handful of corn. As soon as Butterscotch had the corn she started looking for a way in to the coops. She walked all around them and stood on top of them. I could almost see her brain trying to work out where the door had gone.

I went and grabbed my camera. By the time I returned Butterscotch had gone in the chicken shed and was on the top perch. It really looked as if she was searching for the nest box although how she could have thought she would find it from there I don’t know.

Is it over here?

Is it in this corner?

Or here?

Or down there?

Or down there?

When she realised that she couldn’t find a nest box she settled for this spot. Obviously our wine box nest boxes are not going to work for her but I am still hopeful the smaller girls will use them in spring.

Okay this will have to do

I put her out once more but I returned ten minutes later and she was back in the same place with loose feathers dropping from her.

I’m back here again

My close up, how cute do I look?

I am not happy and not looking quite so cute!

I put her out again and decided to close the pop hole. She shouted and shouted and I distracted her with some sunflower hearts.

I decided as no girls are laying that I will keep everything closed until bedtime. I just want to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible as I don’t think it would be good for her to be broody while moulting at the same time.

A little later when poop picking I found a worm in a poop. Uh oh! Time to get the whole flock wormed. I haven’t wormed the flock since getting the new girls and have had the new girls seven weeks now. Luckily after the shortage of flubenvet my vet is stocking it again and I collected some last Friday so that I had it ready in case it was needed. That was good timing.

I had some tinned sardines in olive oil  which I put in five little dishes and mixed the flubenvet into it. I spaced the dishes out on the girls patio area and made sure that they all got a share. I will do this for seven days.

This makes it even more important that I don’t let Butterscotch go broody. She will need to have her dose each day with the rest of the girls. There always seems to be some drama going in the chicken run!

I thought that I would have another attempt to explain my flocks current complicated pecking order. Below is a diagram to try to illustrate the relationship between the girls. The arrows show which girls are above or below other girls.

The top of the pecking order is easy with Topaz as top girl and all the other girls below her and Honey in second place with the rest of the girls below her.

The pecking order used to be a simple ladder with Topaz top, Honey second, Toffee third, Emerald fourth and Peaches and Barley joint bottom. It is the new girls arrival into the flock that mixed it up.

Peaches and Barley had what I call bottom girl syndrome. They were determined that the new girls were not going to move into a position above them. They easily showed Speckles that she was bottom but spent much more time chasing Butterscotch to make sure she got the message that she was below them.

Honey didn’t bother Speckles at all. She could sense the threat was from Butterscotch and chased her and pulled feathers from her back in the early days to make sure she got the message that her place was below her.

Topaz didn’t have to do much more than give a look, chase or a casual peck as she knew there was no threat to her position.

However Butterscotch set about rising above the middle girls. She chases Toffee and Emerald and they don’t contest her. So although Butterscotch is below the previous bottom girls, Peaches and Barley, she is above Toffee, Emerald and Speckles.

The really odd thing is that Speckles who appeared to be bottom girl started chasing Toffee and Toffee runs from her. Emerald chases Speckles to keep her below her but Toffee backs down and is now below Speckles.

On the positive side at least the bottom girl has one girl below her so is not completely bottom. I think Toffee and Emerald took their place above Peaches and Barley because they were only babies when they joined the flock and as they grew up they never contested their place in the order.

Butterscotch has a stronger personality and was able assert herself over the middle girls. Emerald has also always accepted her place below Toffee but Speckles must have been able to sense the timidness in Toffee and was able to make her move.

They reinforce the order by a swift peck or a bit of chasing and the order has settled into it’s current pattern. No doubt if we had new girls all would change again.

I find the pecking order so interesting and it is so important to the girls.

This morning Butterscotch was having a dust bath in the new soil, from the plant pot, that we put in the run yesterday. She was surrounded by feathers. I wondered if she had chosen the new soil as it wasn’t so dry as the rest of the run and would help to get rid of her loose feathers.

Speckles watched her while standing in another dust hole.

Butterscotch in a dust bath surrounded by feathers

Butterscotch twists

Butterscotch turns, while doing her impression of a feather duster

That feels better

She looks such a mess and it me amused how Speckles couldn’t seem to take her eyes off her and her feet have disappeared into the dust hole she is standing in.

That’s got to feel better having shed some of those loose feathers.

One of the plant pots on the patio was looking rather sad so my husband suggested tipping it the run for the girls. They have had a whole afternoon of entertainment from it.

Speckles and Peaches look at it with caution

The girls are getting braver

Topaz has a good scratch at it

Butterscotch and Honey join in

The girls soon have the soil flattened and spread around

As usual Speckles has some apple while the other girls are occupied

By the end of the day the soil is completely spread

A fun afternoon for the girls who are so easily pleased.

Mid morning I went in the girl’s run and saw about six feathers from Butterscotch. Uh oh! It looked as if she was going into the moult. By lunch time there was a pile of her feathers in the run. She is definitely moulting. Later after I had picked up all the feathers I saw her preening under the table surrounded by a circle of feathers.

It’s official, Butterscotch is moulting. This means that there will be no more eggs until spring. A little later Honey had one of her own feathers stuck to her foot. She must have walked in something, lost a feather and was walking around with it stuck to her foot. I crept up behind her and removed it.

This means she is the last of the flock to start her moult. I have never had eight girls moulting before because last year Peaches and Barley didn’t moult as it was their first year. This means it is the first year that I will have no eggs over the winter. Oh well, it had to happen eventually!

On a more positive note Honey seems to be looking happier so perhaps it was the impending moult that was making her feel a bit off her game.

I decided to put the rest of the turf in the run as it was beginning to turn a bit yellow. I rolled it out like a rug in the furthest part of the run and the girls have been enjoying it all day. At lunch time it had many of Butterscotch’s feathers on it.

The rest of the turf

Speckles and Butterscotch are enjoying the grass

A fluffy bottom

Butterscotch has such a fluffy bottom. She has taken over from Sparkle with the fluffiest bottom in the flock. Maybe not for much longer, depending on how her moult goes, but the girls will all look beautiful again once they have their lovely new feathers.

Today we went to the garden centre as we needed a few plants to fill a few boring patches in the garden. They had turfs reduced to a pound as they had had them a week so we bought one for the girls, bargain!

I put a few squares in the run and waited to see how long it would be before Butterscotch and Speckles tried them as they hadn’t seen them before.

The old girls went straight to the turfs

While the girls were occupied with the turfs Speckles eats some apple in peace

Speckles has the apple to herself

Speckles and Butterscotch try some grass

Speckles gets a chance at the grass and Peaches is caught mid scratch

Butterscotch tries the grass

The new girls soon got the hang of it. While we were putting in the plants we had an audience, as usual, waiting to see if we were going to turn up any worms. While the girls were distracted waiting for any possible worms, Speckles had the turf to herself.

I have noticed she uses this tactic a lot. She bides her time then gets whatever is on offer without the competition.

Another weird thing has happened with the pecking order. We have seen Speckles, who is at the bottom, chase Toffee away. Yet Toffee chases Emerald, Peaches and Barley and they never contest her. Emerald, Peaches and Barley all chase Speckles and she runs.

The pecking order is no longer a clear line like it used to be. I think Toffee is a timid girl but because Emerald, Peaches and Barley have always been below her, she has kept her position above them as they just accept it and don’t try to contest it. If they did maybe the order would change but they seem to accept that it’s always been this way.

Speckles who is below Emerald, Peaches and Barley, must have sensed the timid nature in Toffee and although Toffee is twice Speckles size, Speckles chases her off and Toffee runs from her.

So now, bare with me, we have Topaz firmly in first place and no other girl would dare to dispute that. We have Honey in second place and no one disputes that either.

Then it gets a bit odd because Butterscotch is above Toffee, Emerald and Speckles but below Peaches and Barley, who will chase her.

Toffee is above Emerald, Peaches and Barley but will be chased and back away from Butterscotch and Speckles.

Emerald, Peaches and Barley remain below Toffee but Emerald is only above Peaches, Barley and Speckles and she chases Speckles with no mercy to show that she is staying above her. Toffee will chase Emerald and then in turn Emerald will chase Speckles (pay it down again!).

Then Speckles who appeared afraid of her own shadow and firmly at the bottom has managed to have Toffee below her.

I have always seen a straight forward pecking order before and this is weird. You could say that instead of feeling so sorry for bottom girl, at least she has one girl below her. She seems really nervous but has worked out that she can get at the treats while the other girls are otherwise occupied and she does make it to the top perch each evening even though there is a bit of jostling and she ends up in one corner or another and she now definitely has Toffee running from her.

The flock also seem as one now whereas before they seemed to be the old flock and the two new girls. Now in the afternoons they all chill together and when I go up they all run to me together. They are one flock but with their own odd pecking order.

Other news is that Topaz started her moult a few days ago and just like last year I am finding piles of feathers in the chicken shed in the morning and in the run during the day. She doesn’t actually look any different and yet there are so many feathers you would expect her to be bare.

Only Honey is yet to start the moult (and Butterscotch who I assume won’t moult this year) and she continues to snooze a fair bit during the day but is as normal otherwise.

So picking up more feathers than poop has become the norm and all is good with a united flock that has it’s own peculiar pecking order.

My girls love nothing more than a patch of sun. Honey loves to sit in the sun while the rest of the girls love to dust bath in the sun while sticking close to Honey.

A patch of sun

Speckles makes a dust bath next to Honey and has to get the soil just right

After the pecking comes the scratching

Meanwhile on the other side of the divider Peaches and Toffee take a dust bath while Barley looks on

Toffee takes over Peaches hole

Emerald inspects Speckles hole

Honey and Peaches do their impression of dying chickens

Any one who didn’t know chickens would think there was something wrong with these two girls. They contort their bodies in the sun and have a mad glazed look in their eyes. We know, though, that this is shear pleasure.

Where ever there is a patch of sun the girls will find it.

I have been keeping a close and worried eye on Honey. She is snoozing an awful lot but otherwise is still doing all the usual chicken things. She feeds, poops, scratches, runs to the treats and perches on the top rung at bedtime.

Yet she can be found for a big proportion of the day dozing. I really do think she is feeling her age.

I did more research into the lifespan of chickens and the lifespan of bantams. I had read up and researched chickens before starting chicken keeping and had concluded that they could live up to twelve years.

Now that I have researched more intently it seems that although that is possible it is usually unlikely. Quite a few people that have kept chickens for twenty years said that the theoretical lifespan is twelve to thirteen years but that in their experience the average lifespan is five years.

I tried to find the average lifespan of bantam vorwerks but couldn’t pin that one down however I found information that gave bantam pekins a lifespan of four to five years.

The surprising difference between breeds was that game bantams came out the longest with a lifespan of ten to twelve years.

There were some stories of people having a hen for fifteen years and even a bantam hen for thirteen years but there were many others that had bantams for only three to five years. I have had to rethink my expectations and am now thinking that Honey may indeed be getting old for her breed.

Since she has been snoozing a lot Speckles can often be found by her side. Sometimes Butterscotch will sit near her too and Peaches and Barley often appear to be watching over her.

Speckles is still very wary of the camera though and when I tried to capture her sat next to Honey she was so fast to sprint away that she was just a streak. I thought it so typical of her that I decided to include it.

Speckles is a streak

Peaches, Barley and Honey

Barley watches over Honey

These five are often together

These four are even more often together

As she isn’t showing any other sign of illness other than snoozing a lot I think it must be her age although I shall keep an eye on her.

I would be interested to hear what age are your longest lived girls and what average age your girls live to.