Carol's Chickens

I know I have already put out photos of our rambling rose but I just can’t resist this last set of photos as it reaches it’s peak. This rose is called paul’s himalayan musk and was given to us as a moving in gift eight years ago. It was about three foot high back then and was a rose that I had long admired in a friend and neighbours garden. She told us that it was fast growing and would soon cover our arches and she was right.

I am taking loads of photos now because although beautiful and also full of a lovely perfume, it doesn’t last long and will soon be gone. Other roses in the garden are less spectacular but will last until October when we get the first frosts.

Therefore I feel we need to celebrate this spectacular rose as it reaches it’s peak so bare with me as I show it off one more time.

The right hand corner of the patio was in bud in the last set of photos but is now in full flower

A closer view

Walking up the garden

View from our bedroom window at the top of the house (loft conversion)

Our patio is surrounded by the rose

I also meant to photograph the chicken’s rose but have left it a bit late and it’s going over. However the girls love the rose petals as they drop and I thought this was also a good photo to show how good our perpetual broody, Topaz, is looking.

Topaz and the chicken’s rose

A jug of our rose indoors

I also have some of the rose indoors as I had to prune a few bits so that we could walk under the arches. Once it has finished flowering we will prune it as we now have to duck under the arches. Despite this we are fully enjoying this rose at the moment.

We had recently been considering re-homing our perpetual broody, Topaz, at the farm we got her from as she could have the chance to hatch some eggs there. I haven’t somehow been able to bring myself to ring Richard at the farm and run the idea by him.

We talked about this idea again yesterday and I have changed my mind about it. When we re-homed our big girls it was a difficult decision but it was for the good of the flock. The girls were being stripped of their feathers and some girls were being bullied.

At the moment the flock is happy and settled and although Topaz is perpetually broody, doesn’t lay eggs and is often grumpy, she isn’t causing any distress to the flock.

Topaz is also top hen and as Steve and Yu Lee pointed out when they visited last weekend, her going could massively change the pecking order. As top hen she keeps all the girls in their place and no one messes with her but she does it without her pecks connecting and there has never been any blood drawn. A look or a motion towards another girl is enough for them to back away.

When Treacle, our top hen at the time, passed away it seemed to be the trigger for the feather plucking. We have decided it would be best not to rock the boat. Topaz is beautiful to look at and is healthy and is a good top hen. The fact that she is perpetually broody, doesn’t lay eggs and is grumpy, is all part of her very individual character.

I don’t want to part with her and I don’t want to cause unnecessary stress to the flock. We have decided to leave things as they are and let our flock continue happily together whether they lay eggs or not. Topaz is just an individual, a conundrum, but so be it. She is our flock’s conundrum.

I actually feel a bit guilty now for even thinking of letting her go but sometimes it’s just good to throw your thoughts out there while trying to come to the best decision. For now I think we should just celebrate our flock and enjoy their mix of characters.

This morning I gave the flock some yogurt with a little limestone flour stirred in to help Sparkle with her egg shells.

The girls have some yogurt

The girls love yogurt

Looking at this happy flock, how could I think of risking upsetting them. The decision is made and we will stay as we are.

Peaches and Barley are always together. They are a really tight pair. I could put out dozens of photos of them together but this afternoon I couldn’t resist this one as it’s so sweet. All the girls were sitting in various parts of the run soaking up the sun but they were all sat in their own individual spot. Not Peaches and Barley, just like when dust bathing this pair could not get closer.

Peaches and Barley

Meanwhile Emerald has a loss of confidence as she is heavily moulting and the place all the girls choose when feeling a little out of sorts is the table.

My poor shabby Emerald

I don’t know why they love this spot but the table is the place they all go to when not feeling at their best.

The garden is looking really good at the moment and the veg plot is really coming on too.

The veg plot is looking great

View of the veg plot from the other direction

The garden is looking really full

Looking great in front of the chicken run

The poppies are huge and these lovely pale ones have just opened

The rambling rose is just starting to flower

A few days later this is the rose when walking up the garden

Left corner of the patio

Right corner of the patio with lots more buds yet to open

view walking back down the garden

I know I am showing a lot of photos of this rose but it so amazing at this time of year and there are still masses of buds yet to open. We planted this rose when we moved here eight years ago and it’s now a huge feature of the garden at this time of year.

We positioned it to grow over these arches to give us some screening from the neighbours and to soften the roof of the cabin which is for our catering business and it now performs perfectly. It also has a wonderful scent. It doesn’t flower for long so we have to celebrate it now while it’s reaching it’s peak.

Once this rose starts to go over the other climbing roses in the garden begin so we have a succession of flowers to see us through the summer. This is my favourite rose though and is the most spectacular.

I could become a bit of a garden bore but as I bore most people with endless chicken photos it makes a change to have an alternative subject. Normal chicken photos will resume shortly.

Toffee and Emerald are in the full swing of their moult now. Toffee has lost her tail and Emerald is looking really shabby.

Toffee has lost her tail

Emerald is looking really scruffy

Toffee no tail and Barley playing at bookends

Peaches meanwhile is busy at the mash

A very tatty Emerald joins Toffee and Barley

Meanwhile Topaz and Honey are in the nest box

Topaz is still in her perpetual broody limbo. She has a lovely red comb and wattles but her only desire is to sit on eggs. On the odd days that none of the girls lay she doesn’t bother to go in the nest box but as soon as a girl is in there she will join them. She will then sit on their egg until I remove it and then she comes out shouting in anger.

Sparkle doesn’t look happy despite a lovely red comb and wattles

Sparkle has been looking pretty much back to normal lately then yesterday she looked like this. I recognise this look and felt sure she was about to lay a soft shelled egg. The good news is that if she is about to lay again she must be over her recent health problems. The bad news is that I rarely see her eating the pellets and if she is not eating enough pellets she will struggle to form a good egg shell. I am so familiar with this stance.

Because of this I have been putting a dish of mash out each day to try to encourage Sparkle to eat more. The problem is I can only try to tempt her but can’t force her to eat. The other girls are loving the mash but I don’t see Sparkle at the dish very often.

My only hope is that if she gets a soft shelled egg out okay she will then return to normal. She did lay a soft shelled egg when she laid her first egg this year and was fine after that.

This morning when I went out to the girls first thing I looked in all the nest boxes as I do every morning just in case there has been an early egg laid. In the left little coop nest box I found an egg with no shell at all.

Ann egg with no shell

After I took this photo I lifted it out for a closer look and there wasn’t even a membrane round it. I have never found an egg with no shell at all before. Sparkle looks fine this morning and I have again put a dish of mash in the run.

I really hope she will gradually regain her appetite and get fully back to normal. Once she lays an egg with a proper shell I will really know that she is back to normal.

Yesterday we had my eldest son, Steve, his wife, Yu Lee and her mum, Ai Seng to visit for the day. We had planned a trip to Bekonscott model village as Yu Lee had wanted to visit it for ages and had obtained some bargain tickets. Her mum wanted to come too and see our chickens.

We had such a lovely day and the icing on the cake was that it was sunny too. Steve and Yu Lee live in Cambridge and Ai Seng in London so they stayed with her the night before and travelled from London.

We had a few things for Steve to help me with on my computer and took Ai Seng to visit the flock then decided to have some lunch before setting off to the model village.

I had taken my boys to Bekonscott when they were children but hadn’t been back for many years. We were all really impressed with the place, there was lots to see and it was really well maintained.

I took a photo from the viewing bridge.

Bekonscott model village

From left to right, Yu Lee, me, Richard and Steve

From left to right, Ai Seng, Yu Lee, Richard and Steve

We were so lucky to have such a sunny day and when we returned home we sat in the garden and chatted and laughed a lot. Later we went to our local pub and again sat in the garden to catch the last of the sun. We were going to eat there but found they don’t do food on a Sunday evening so we came back and put together some food at our’s.

It was just a perfect day and we all agreed we must have a day out together again soon as it was such fun.

Topaz lives to sit on eggs. Topaz doesn’t lay eggs herself (at least, she laid six eggs last year and eight eggs this year) but spends her entire life waiting for her flock mates to lay their eggs so that she can sit on them. Once I remove the eggs from under her she comes out of the nest box shouting.

She is perpetually angry, because I think in her mind, she sees me as someone taking her future babies from her every day. I am spoiling her life by not letting her do what her heart truly desires. I can’t put her in a separate nest box to just sit it out because as soon as she sees any girl go into a nest box she is right there beside them, waiting for her chance to sit on their eggs.

I have never seen Topaz go into the main coop nest box. The only girl that uses the main coop nest box is Honey. There is a slow down in eggs at the moment due to Emerald and Toffee moulting  and Sparkle recently not being well. Honey is the only girl that likes to use the main coop nest box. Yesterday when Honey was missing I looked in the main coop nest box and there she was with Topaz squeezed in next to her.

I went back to the house to fetch my camera to try to get a photo of the two of them together. However once I opened the nest box again I infuriated Topaz and missed the shot of them sat together. Instead I got a shot of Topaz leaving the nest box and shouting out her anger at this double disturbance.

Topaz is leaving the nest box in a huff

An angry Topaz shouting at me

I have started to consider the idea of letting Topaz go to somewhere where she can sit on eggs and raise chicks. This is only an idea at the moment and may not go anywhere but I am wondering about having a chat with Richard at the farm that I got the wyandottes and game  girls from. He needed reliable broodies for his breeding program and I wonder if he would take Topaz back.

She is so beautiful but she doesn’t lay eggs and most importantly I feel she isn’t as happy as she could be because I am not allowing her to fulfil her desire of sitting on eggs and raising chicks. With Richard she could do this and I think she would make a wonderful mum.

Because she is top hen and is feisty almost to the point of aggressive, I feel she wouldn’t be vulnerable going into another flock. She is the only girl in my flock that would peck me. I have to move her off the eggs with a net as she will peck me and at bedtime I have to pick her up from behind or she will peck me. None of my other girls peck me and I feel that all this anger is because she is desperate to brood and is not able to.

She also pecks all the other girls out of her way. I am aware that if she were to go it would upset the pecking order massively but I wonder if that is a chance worth taking.

If Richard would be willing to take her, I would ask if I could buy another gold laced wyndotte and another game girl to accompany her so that I could introduce two together to my flock (I think it is better to introduce two at a time). This would bring my flock back to eight girls. I know I would be taking another chance on getting a broody but I am really beginning to feel that Topaz would be happier in an environment where she could raise some chicks.

This may come to nothing in which case I would keep Topaz and plod on as we are but it’s just something that I am mulling over at the moment. I hate to think that I am constantly holding her back from what she wants and she has now had two summers with me resulting in her being deprived of being properly broody.

This is all just a thought process at the moment but I felt that I should air it and would welcome any one else’s thoughts on this.

I think that sparkle is pretty much back to normal. She hasn’t resumed laying eggs and I’m not sure she will this season but she is moving a bit quicker than she has been. She is dust bathing and she is eating pellets. She has a red comb and wattles, fluffy and intact feathers and when I pick her up she feels robust and a good weight.

I am happy that we have weathered the storm with Sparkle and she is going to be fine now.

Emerald is in full moult and is looking more shabby than she did last year. Her face has also now become as pale as it was last year. Toffee has also started to moult as I am finding her feathers in the run and she last laid an egg ten days ago. She still looks good at the moment though.

We are now down to three girls laying. Sparkle hasn’t laid since she was unwell, Topaz is perpetually broody so doesn’t lay, Emerald and Toffee are both moulting so not laying leaving Honey, Peaches and Barley still laying. Having seven girls and only having three laying at this time of year is a bit disappointing but as long as they are all healthy that is the most important thing to me.

I have a theory on the game girls although I am only guessing really. When I researched the breed it said they were not good egg layers. I wonder if that is because of a short season rather than their egg laying ability.

I got them In June last year so have now had them for one complete year. Last summer Emerald had only laid one egg while we had her and Toffee had laid five. I know the farm I got them from kept them as they make good broodies so they may well have had a broody summer.

This year since they have been with me they haven’t gone broody and have laid well. Emerald has laid thirty nine eggs and Toffee has laid forty eggs. I was surprised when I counted how close their tally was. Maybe that is enough for them and so they have come to the end of their season and started their moult. Maybe game girls moult earlier as they started their moult in June and July last year.

One thing I can say is that I love these game girls and if their egg laying season is short so be it. They have already exceeded my expectations by not going broody. Topaz on the other hand laid six eggs last year and eight eggs this year and is perpetually broody and bad tempered with it. She is a beautiful girl but the least lovable because of her nature.

I photographed each girl today to demonstrate their condition.

Poor Emerald is looking very shabby

Toffee looks okay apart from a slightly ragged tail

Topaz looks great as usual but has her usual mean look in her eye

Sparkle actually looks really good

Honey looks good but always has sad eyes, Amber had much happier and prettier looking eyes

Peaches and Barley look great

Peaches on my back

Peaches and Barley still like to jump on me whenever they can. As I was photographing the girls Peaches jumped on me and I handed the camera to my husband who was stood at the gate. Unfortunately I look terrible as usual as I was trying to move my hair from my face but Peaches looks great.

In the better ones of me Peaches had turned her head away so I decided to go with this one. I am quite used to walking round with Peaches or Barley or sometimes both on my back. I still find it amusing that they like to do this although they often leave my cloths with muddy or dusty footprints. A small price to pay for the fun of this behaviour.

So all in all I think the flock are doing pretty well considering. I am sure they will throw some more drama my way soon.

I wanted to wait for a few days after I’d finished giving the flubenvet to do an update on Sparkle as I felt she had more chance of being back to normal without any medications in her system.

Sparkle is much better than she was but I would say she isn’t quite back to normal. I’m not sure if full recovery will just take time or if this is just as good as she will be.

While on the flubenvet she seemed only to eat the treats and I didn’t see her eating pellets but for the last few days I have seen her start to eat pellets again. She is still not dust bathing as much as usual and is still slow, although she has always been the slowest girl. But when I throw out bits of chopped grapes she isn’t quick enough to get them even though I drop some right under her beak. She is not willing to compete with the other girls. She also spends her afternoons perched in her favourite spots.

On the positive side, her comb is a lovely red colour and when I lift her from the perch at bedtime she feels robust and a good weight. I think she will be okay and it’s just going to take time. I will know she is back to normal if she starts laying again but I am not sure that she will lay again this season. Only time will tell.

The table is one of Sparkle’s favourite spots

This is another of Sparkle’s favourite spots

I love the way the three of them turn to look at me but Barley’s ridiculously large comb blots out her face.

Emerald, Sparkle and Barley

Barley overcomes this by turning her face the other way. Sparkle has a red comb and the fluffiest bottom of all the girls. I am not worried about her now as she seems okay and is eating better. I think these things always take time.

For the past four days I have been finding Emeralds feathers in the coop in the morning when I poop pick and in the run during the day. When she perches up at bedtime feathers flutter down from her and when she makes any quick movement in the run they flutter from her.

It seems very early in the year to be moulting. I looked back at last year and both Toffee and Emerald started to moult half way through July. The rest of the flock started to moult in August, September and October.

I wonder if the game girls moult earlier than the other girls. I also wonder if it may be that last year Emerald may have been broody at the farm where I got her from so she had had a break from egg laying, then while with me she laid only one egg, then started her moult. This year she hasn’t gone broody and has been a really good egg layer. She started laying in March and has consistently laid six days out of seven and her eggs are also the biggest of the flock.

Emerald laid an egg four days ago but before that hadn’t laid for seven days and before that was laying almost every day. I wonder if she just needs a break. Her comb and face are red and she seems in really good health.

The other thing about Emerald moulting is that she never seems to look any different. I find lots of feathers but she never has any bare patches. She is still looking almost as good as ever.

Emerald is moulting

Emerald’s tiny comb and face are still a good red colour

Her feathers are beautiful

I pick up at least this many feathers every time I go in the run. Her feathers have such a lovely sheen. Emerald is the picture of health so I am not going to worry about her moulting early.

Toffee started laying in April which was a month behind Emerald. She lays five days out of seven and her eggs are smaller. I think this may mean that she will start to moult later.

This is the earliest moult one of my girls has had yet. As long as she looks happy and healthy with a good appetite I am not worried, they are all quite different.