Carol's Chickens

Last summer Sparkle was my best layer. She laid four or five eggs per week throughout the summer and was last to stop laying and begin her moult. Sparkle’s eggs were the smallest of all the girls. They were the same pale colour as the other girl’s eggs but were narrower and had the least white inside them.

Since she has started laying again this year her eggs are bigger in size (more white inside them) and darker in shell colour. They are a very light brown or perhaps beige. I wonder if this change will be ongoing and is because she is more mature or is it because she has just started laying again. She is only laying one egg in nearly two weeks at the moment so I wonder if it is being held longer at the stage when the pigment goes on.

Only time will tell if her eggs return to how they were last year (but perhaps with an increase in size) or if they will stay like this. I quite like the difference in colour as it makes it easy to tell which are her eggs. Last summer I could tell her eggs by their narrow shape.

I thought I should record this so I can compare later when she hits her stride in the summer.

Sparkle’s egg on the right

The egg on the left is a medium sized shop bought egg, next is Topaz’s egg followed by Barley’s egg laid yesterday and on the right is Sparkle’s egg laid yesterday. Sparkle’s eggs used to be as pale in colour but narrower than Topaz’s eggs and are now slightly bigger and darker. I find this quite fascinating. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Of course to most people this doesn’t matter in the slightest, but as us chicken keepers know, all egg laying changes are a source of fascination.

Yesterday the three girls that are laying at the momet all wanted to lay at the same time and in the same nest box. To add to this Amber also thought she wanted to lay too or maybe just to practice.

I got home at lunch time to hear a lot of shouting from the girls. Amber was in the left hand little coop and Sparkle was in the favourite right hand little coop. Topaz and Barley were watching Sparkle and shouting their heads off. I went into the house to grab my camera.

By the time I returned Amber was out and Barley had taken her place it the left coop. Topaz was shouting at Sparkle in the right coop.

Sparkle is in the favourite nest box  and Topaz is outside shouting at her

Topaz wants this nest box

Barley has given up and gone into the other nest box

Sparkle left the right coop and Topaz quickly took her place.

Before long Barley decided the left coop wasn’t good enough and she really did want the favourite nest box.

Barley joins Topaz in the right coop

Barley gets close to Topaz

The next time I checked Barley was in the left coop again. I guess Topaz didn’t make her welcome.

I checked back a few moments later and Barley was out again and her warm egg was in the left coop, hurrah!

Sparkle was next to lay her egg and then Topaz returned to the favourite coop. It’s like a game of musical coops!

When I went up to give them their pre bedtime corn they were all out in the run waiting. I checked the coop again and Topaz hadn’t laid. I can’t believe after all the fuss today she didn’t even need to lay but this happens all the time with Topaz. She had only laid her egg two days ago and is only laying one a week at the moment so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Two eggs in a day is good at the the moment though. The last two egg day was two months ago. Spring is definitely on it’s way and the girls are getting ready to increase their laying.

For the last couple of weeks Amber has come in and sat in the nest box every morning while I poop pick the coop. This behaviour plus her being very vocal makes me think she is getting ready to start laying again.

Amber comes in and has a twirl around then she sits herself down and stays there while I clean the coop. As soon as I have finished she promptly stands up and marches out. It is really amusing to see and I have no idea why she only does this while I am in the coop (or at least my head and hands are in the coop).

Sometimes Honey will come in and watch her and most days Peaches and Barley come in and watch her. Emerald nearly always comes in as she leaves and has a quick scratch around in the nest box but doesn’t sit like Amber. Sparkle occasionally comes and has a peck and scratch from outside the pop hole or just inside.

Topaz doesn’t bother with the main coop but goes and sits in her favourite right hand little coop on some of the days in between laying her egg. It’s as if she is never quite sure on which day her egg will come but she has always behaved like this. Toffee is the only one of the girls that hasn’t shown any interest at all so far. I guess when she is ready to lay she will just get on with it without the need to practice.

I have been trying to remember to take my camera out with me in the morning to capture this and this morning I finally remembered.

Amber goes into the nest box

She has a twirl around

She sits herself down

She has a look below

Once Amber leaves it’s Emerald’s turn

She likes to try facing both ways

Once Emerald has had a scratch around she also leaves. The funny thing is that all this activity takes place every morning while I clean the coop and yet none of the girls even lay their eggs in this nest box. They all prefer the little coops.

I wonder if it’s something to do with being around the leader of the flock (me) I class myself as leader as obviously Topaz is top hen and my role is completely different. I also find it interesting that given the choice they prefer to lay their eggs in a place other than where they sleep at night.

I have to say that I do enjoy this little ritual with the girls each morning.

I have been concerned for some time now that there is a lack of light in the chicken run and have wondered if this has contributed to the lack of eggs from the girls. At the moment Topaz is laying one egg a week and Barley is laying one egg every two weeks. Peaches seems to have given up for now and after Sparkle laid her first two eggs of the year she hasn’t laid since which was two and a half weeks ago.

Honey and Amber started laying half way through February last year but haven’t started back this year so far although their combs have become red again. It’s not just about eggs though it’s more that I want the girls to be happy and don’t want the run to be a gloomy place for them.

A few days ago I decided to see what I could do to let more light in. I realised that the corrugated plastic roof over the chicken’s patio area was covered in wet leaves blocking out the light. There are a lot of big trees behind our garden.

I got a step ladder and a broom and decided to try to remove them. I soon found that they wouldn’t brush away as they were sodden and filled the troughs of the corrugated roof. I found that I had to turn the broom side ways and reach out as far I could and pull the leaves along the groove. I then picked them up and put them in a bin bag. It was quite painstaking as I had do each groove one at a time and it was quite an arm aching job. It has made the patio area much lighter though.

The next thing I decided to do was to take the tarpaulin off of the newer part of the run. It hasn’t been successful at keeping this area dry as the rain still blows in and it’s just another layer blocking out some of the light. I also felt that once it was off I could then open up the panels on dry or sunny days to let in more light.

Once I had completed these two jobs I felt the run was much brighter. It may or may not make any difference to egg production but it’s got to be nicer for the girls.

The girls get some apples on their lighter patio area

All the girls pecking at the apples

The run will get more light as the days get longer and hopefully we will get some sunny days. Roll on summer and hopefully more eggs too.

We have a plant that we know as “mind your own business” growing alongside our front path. Every year at this time we cut it back as it encroaches on the path. My husband cuts it with kitchen scissors as it’s like a mat of root.

We then give it to the girls to peck and scratch at. It had the added bonus of three worms of which Topaz got two and Sparkle the other one.

The girls take a look

They take a closer look

They get stuck in

An hour later I went back to check on them and they had broken it up and spread it around.

Spread around

These girls are so easily pleased and this will keep them going for a few days yet.

It’s been cold, grey and often wet recently but it is encouraging to see some signs of spring in the garden. There are many different types of snowdrop and we have a few in our garden.

We have large single snowdrops

We have pretty ballerina like snowdrops

To fully appreciate these snowdrops you need to look underneath the flowers

The hellebores are also lovely

Hellebores also benefit from being seen from underneath

So pretty underneath

It is lovely to see a bit of spring in the garden and I can’t wait for a bit of warmth and sunshine too.

Last night at dusk my husband came in and said that he thought we had another little bird in trouble and I should come out and take a look. There was a baby blue tit inside the suet feeder. He said it’s mum had been calling it like crazy from the nearby fence but it wouldn’t come out of the feeder and eventually she left.

I said that it looked to be engrossed in feeding on the suet and I thought it had just got carried away. My husband was concerned that it was getting dark and no other birds were still out.

I went to get my camera. As I took a couple of photos this was enough to cause the baby bird to realise that it should go. I got one of it in the feeder, the next of it emerging from the feeder, then it flew up and over the fence towards to the trees.

Baby blue tit in the feeder

Baby blue tit makes it’s exit

I am glad I took the photos because it seemed to be enough to cause the bird to fly to safety. Hopefully this little bird will get to live another day.

After Sparkle’s first egg, which had a thin shell, I added some limestone flour to some mash the next morning. The following day Sparkle laid her next egg and it’s shell was normal. It was also the normal size with the slightly narrow shape that her eggs have.

We had Topaz and Sparkle’s eggs for Sunday breakfast this morning then I put the shells in the oven with it’s residual heat and dried them out. I then crushed them and added them to another dish of warm mash as it was a frosty morning. I thought this would give an extra boost of calcium to the girls.

Warm mash on a frosty morning

Mash with crushed egg shells

These days I only put out one large dish as they circle around to find a spot to get at it and the ones that get chased away return later when the others have had enough. A large dish lasts most of the day but by the end of the day it is always all gone. I don’t have to worry how much they have as it’s just their normal food but becomes a treat because of the different texture.

I think a little calcium boost at the moment will be good for the girls as I think they may all start laying soon. All of their combs are getting more red and Amber has been sitting in the nest box each morning when I poop pick the coop. She is also much more vocal at the moment. I always dread her starting to lay again as she has such problems with it but each year I live in hope that it will miraculously be better for her.

It will be interesting this year to see how well the game girls will lay and to see if they will be prone to going broody. Also to see if Topaz will continue to lay well and to see if she goes broody or not this year.

It will also be just lovely to have more eggs again. With the big girls I had to give so many eggs away as there were many more than we could use. I think with bantams though we will probably be able to use all the eggs ourselves. This is partly because being smaller eggs we eat them two at a time (when there are enough that is) and partly because they are more erratic layers. I can’t wait to have an abundance of eggs once more.

Today Sparkle laid her first egg this year. It took us both by surprise! It just so happened that I went into the girl’s run to do my lunch time pick up when I noticed that Sparkle was missing. I went to the little coop and found Sparkle sitting just in front of it and looking distressed. I picked her up and checked her and found nothing that seemed wrong so I put her down again in the same spot.

Suddenly she stood up and her beak was open. I really thought something was wrong with her when right before my eyes her egg rolled out. It was slightly cracked and I wasn’t sure if this was because it had hit the corner of the ramp to the little coop or if it was thin shelled.

Sparkle sat for a moment then walked off and was back to normal.

Topaz’s egg is on the left for comparison and Sparkle’s egg is on the right

Sparkle’s eggs were always smaller than the other girls and narrow. This one is larger than usual and darker in colour.

I later cracked it in a dish to check the shell and it was thin. Sparkle has never laid a thin shelled egg before so I think it may just be because it’s her first after her winter break. I will scramble it and add it to some mash with a little limestone flour tomorrow morning to give her a little calcium boost.

This egg also had more white than usual as Sparkle’s eggs always had the tiniest amount of white. I think all these things are probably down to it being her first of the year.

Sparkle has only taken a break of three months. Topaz also started laying three months since her previous egg but Honey and Amber haven’t laid for five months now. It is eight months since Emerald laid her one and only egg since I have had her and seven months since Toffee last laid. All of the girl’s combs are getting more red though so I think it won’t be long before they start again.

The reason Sparkle’s egg was so unexpected by me was that Topaz was practising laying for ages before her first egg of the year. I also think it must have come as a surprise to Sparkle as she didn’t make it into the little coop which is something else that has never happened to her before.

Sparkle’s comb and wattles are a lovely red colour

Topaz and Sparkle

Topaz and Sparkle’s combs are very different. Topaz has a much bigger comb and wattles. Sparkle is also my fattest girl. The girls all have the same diet but what I think makes the difference is that Topaz is always scratching. She is always the last one scratching before bedtime. Sparkle scratches a bit but not nearly as much Topaz. Sparkle waddles while all the rest of the girls sprint. It is definitely the old adage of “eat less, move more”. I can’t put one girl on a diet though and I can’t make her exercise more.

It was the same with Pepper and Dotty. I seem destined to have one plump girl. The flock are happy and healthy though so I am not going to worry about it.

It will be good to have our best layer back on track. Maybe now I can stop buying eggs and we can have our own lovely eggs again.

The strawberry plant that I gave the girls yesterday has been completely dismantled. The girls have spent all day again today pecking and scratching at it and the compacted roots with some quite woody pieces have been broken down. They still enjoyed scratching and pecking at the soil from the pot too.

The strawberry plant remains are still entertaining the girls

Towards the end of the day Barley and Peaches were still scratching and pecking at the remains

Meanwhile Sparkle and Toffee were enjoying a dust bath.

Sparkle

Toffee

While these girls were having a lovely time in their dust baths Topaz was in her favourite little coop trying to lay her egg. Barley and Peaches were very interested and went to have a look at her which started her shouting. Topaz is our grumpy girl and not at all tolerant. I lifted the lid of the little coop to take a photo and got a very angry stare.

Topaz gives me the evil eye

You can see by her eye and her body language that Topaz is not at all impressed by this intrusion. I apologised and gently lowered the lid.

The good news is that when I next checked the little coop there was Topaz’s egg. This is rather special because this is her sixth egg this year which equals her total of six eggs for the entire year last year! I really do think this is going to be Topaz’s year to shine on the egg laying front which goes some way to make up for her being such a grumpy girl. You have to love them for all their different personalities.