Carol's Chickens

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.

We have a herb pot planted with wild strawberries. I first put them in this pot because when in the garden they spread too rampantly, however the soil gets washed out through the side holes and although I have topped it up many times it has sunk again and looks an untidy mess.

We also have a hanging basket of strawberries but this is about five years old and well past it’s production time.

I decided to put both pots in the chicken run today and let the girls have some fun with them.

The girls are very cautious

Amber is intrigued

I tipped the larger strawberry plant out of the pot.

The whole flock are intrigued

The flock are very interested in the plants

The girls were having a lot of fun pecking at the plants and scratching at the bigger plant’s roots.

I went back later to find most of the green gone so I decided to empty the herb pot. I left the soil in a heap and went back indoors to get my camera. On my way back up to the girls I stopped to chat to my neighbour for a few minutes. By the time I got back to the run the heap had gone.

The soil from the herb pot has been spread already

There wasn’t much root on the smaller plants and the contents of the pot were very quickly dispersed.

The girls were enjoying scratching in the fresh soil

The roots of the strawberry plant are getting lots of attention

I think the bigger plant will keep the girls occupied for a few days. They love pecking and scratching at the roots and the rosemary I gave them last week ended up looking like a tumble weed with it’s roots completely bare. The strawberry plant’s roots are much more compacted so should occupy the girls for a bit longer. The girls are so easily entertained.

We always feed the garden birds and have a diverse bird population in our garden due to having woodland behind our garden. For the last few years we have had a few pairs of beautiful bullfinches visiting our feeders.

Yesterday there was a young bullfinch in the garden all day and we were able to get unusually close which isn’t a good sign.

Here is the young bullfinch in the rose

Most of the day it was on the path

We were able to get quite close to it and it seemed to have a problem with it’s beak and was struggling to try to eat the bits that had fallen from the feeders above. It was trying to eat the husks from the sunflower seeds that had been discarded from above.

I dropped some sunflower hearts nearby along with some crumbled meal worms and crumbled chicken pellets. The only thing it attempted to eat were one or two sunflower hearts. Knowing how quickly all the finches go through the sunflower seeds on our feeders we knew this wasn’t enough food to keep it going for very long.

When I went up to put the chickens to bed as it got dark we looked for it again and it was still on the path with it’s head tucked under it’s wing. It looked so cute but was so vulnerable. We knew it couldn’t sleep there as it would be taken during the night or at first light by the many cats we have around us.

We decided to bring it in for the night. We picked it up and put it in our egg basket on some shredded paper with a tea towel over the top.

In it’s bed for the night

We felt that if it was going to die in the night then it would be better to go, warm and safe indoors, than cold and vulnerable to cats outside. We put the basket in the bathroom in the dark and when we checked in on it a few times it was still breathing and was settled.

I rang the R.S.P.B. for advice and the lady who answered said that I had done the right thing and if it didn’t survive it would die with dignity. She said the R.S.P.B. were unable to help but that I should call Tiggy Winkles, the animal sanctuary.

I called them and got their answer phone which said that they were open twenty four hours for animals to be taken to them but their office phones would be answered at nine thirty in the morning.

I know from keeping chickens that the little bird will sleep during the hours of darkness so I decided to call Tiggy Winkles in the morning. For now our little bird could sleep in safety. I knew there was probably little chance of saving the little bird but I knew I would sleep better knowing it was safe and warm indoors rather than out on the path where it would be preyed upon in the morning if not before. If it didn’t survive it would have had a comfortable and safe night.

At eleven o’clock I checked on it and it was still sat in the same position and still breathing. I went to bed knowing that it was in the safest place for now.

First thing in the morning I checked in on it again and sadly it was laying on it’s side and no longer breathing.

Poor baby bullfinch

I knew the chances of saving it were next to nothing but at least it died warm and comfortable and safe. Outside on the path it would have been taken by a cat. As the lady at the R.S.P.B. said, we helped it to die with dignity. I know that many garden birds don’t survive but I feel sad for this beautiful poor little baby bullfinch. At least we know that we tried to help it, we did our best.