Carol's Chickens

For the last few days Topaz has been going into the nest box as if practising egg laying again. This is exactly the same procedure she went through weeks before laying the few eggs that she did.

Given that she has just come out of being broody and is now half way through moulting it seems very unlikely that she will start laying eggs just yet. Has anyone told her that though!

Topaz in the nest box

Topaz is looking scruffy

She has lost the feathers around her face

Does my tattered Topaz really think she is ready to lay eggs! It seems that while being so far, next to useless at egg laying, my princess still thinks she could lay an egg. I wonder if this girl is a bit deluded!

I feel like I am becoming obsessed with Peaches and Barley’s combs at the moment but a comb is such a good way of recognizing a chicken. In fact it is thought chickens of the same breed will recognise each other by their combs.

Honey and Amber used to look as similar to each other as Peaches and Barley do now but today a glance at their combs would set them apart even if nothing else did.

Peaches comb flops to the left

Barley’s comb looks as if it may flop to the right

It may be too early to tell yet but Barley’s comb does have a very slight curve to the right at the moment.

I would love it if their combs flopped opposite ways as I would easily be able to identify them.

I wonder if there is a common way for their combs to flop. I wonder if it’s like being right handed and is more likely one way than the other but not impossible to flop either way or is it fifty fifty. It’s something I haven’t thought about before but will do some research.

My Bluebell (adopted by Jackie and now re-named Blossom) is a chalk hill blue and her comb flops to the right.

This seems to suggest it is possible that Barley’s may also flop to the right. I would be interested if anyone has any thoughts on this.

As far as Barley is concerned only time will tell. Watch this space.

For about four days I was picking up loads of feathers from Topaz but it now seems to have slowed right down. It seems that maybe she is going to moult in waves whereas Emerald and Toffee lost feathers every day then suddenly seem to be fully feathered again.

Topaz lost so many that her neck became bare but a few days later I could see the pin feathers coming in.

Topaz has pin feathers coming through on her neck

Another view of Topaz’s pin feathers

It’s difficult to catch her with her head up to photograph her neck but the little white lines are the quills poking through (ouch!).

Emerald looks good after her moult

Emerald is looking sleek and her feathers have a lovely green sheen (hence her name).

Toffee is also looking good after her moult

Toffee from the front showing her lovely breast markings

I can’t wait to get them all through the moult and have them all looking beautiful again. Some eggs would also be an added bonus.

Today the chicks, I must stop calling them that as they are no longer chicks, were sparring again. They raise their ruffs, circle each other, then in turn aim mock pecks at each other. I grabbed my camera as I would love a shot of this. As usual it was impossible though because as soon as I walked through the gate they ran over to me, sparring all forgotten.

They came up close so I couldn’t resist a few more shots of their combs. They then ran to a bit of apple together and straight from that to the water together. It’s so funny to see them sparring one minute then so in unison the next minute doing something else.

I think they are such close pair and they love to do everything together but the pecking order still has to be sorted. They are well aware that the two of them are at the bottom and have no need to do anything other than be submissive or mostly just get out of the way of the other girls. But between themselves they need to sort out which one is actually at the bottom. It seemed pretty even today.

Look at my floppy comb

Look at my huge wattles

Look at my upright comb

We should have a quick peck at this bit of apple despite it being covered in dirt

We should just have a quick drink of water

At the moment it’s easy to tell them apart as Peaches comb has flopped and Barley’s hasn’t yet. It won’t be so easy for long I think.

Only a few days ago I was speculating whether Peaches and Barley would have floppy combs. In just a few days they have gone from upright to starting to flop.

Peaches comb is starting to flop

Barley has one prong leaning while the rest is still straight up

Peaches face and comb are starting to get the leghorn look

In fact her beak and proud chest all have that typical leghorn look now. My girls are maturing.

For the last few mornings I have been picking up Topaz’s feathers from the coop. After two weeks broody she has been back to normal for less than a week before going into the moult.

It seems like Topaz is determined not to lay eggs. She has laid a total of five eggs in five months. She laid three in June then took a month off then laid two before going broody and now straight into the moult.

In this same time span Sparkle has laid eighty eggs. I had both wyndottes at the same time (5th April) and they are about the same age.

I was talking to my next door neighbour about her yesterday and she said that Topaz was my princess and is so beautiful that she doesn’t need to lay eggs as well.

For the last few mornings I have been finding a handful of feathers in the coup but Topaz didn’t appear to look any different.

Topaz’s feathers in the coop

They are so beautiful. I found a handful under the perch and a few in the run. An hour later when I went back I saw feathers where she had had a dust bath.

Topaz’s dust bath

Topaz is now losing feathers quicker than the game birds were. She shook herself in front of me and another handful fluttered from her.

I collected the next wave of feathers from the run

This is just from this morning and Topaz is now beginning to show where her feathers are coming out.

Topaz is just beginning to show her missing feathers

Topaz is now looking slightly ruffled

I am surprised she doesn’t look worse than this considering how many feathers I have picked up today. It seems like topaz’s moult is going to be fast.

I wonder if when this is over she will get into her stride with some egg laying. I guess that remains to be seen.

We got Peaches and Barley at six weeks old and they are now fifteen weeks old. They have changed so much that I had to look back at them as chicks to remind myself how they looked then. I took the photo below when we had had them a week.

Peaches and Barley at seven weeks old

Peaches and Barley at fifteen weeks old

I always consider that they are truly fully grown up once they start to lay eggs but in appearance I think these two are pretty grown up now.

I was expecting their combs to flop over but I have been looking at photos of bantam brown leghorns and some have a floppy comb and some have an upright comb. I think we will just have to wait and see. I love their spiky combs and would be quite happy to see them stay upright. They will be beautiful either way.

This afternoon we heard all the chooks shouting. This often happens when their is a cat in the garden and we went up to see what was going on.

To my surprise Peaches was stood on the table shouting. Up until now the chicks have only made a squeaking sound but there she was stood up proudly and very loudly shouting “boc boc BOC – boc boc BOC”

A few seconds later Barley joined in. It was if she thought that anything Peaches could do she could do too. With that the whole flock joined in and there was an enormous din as all eight were shouting.

I decided to distract them with them some corn.

Once they had hoovered up the corn Peaches and Barley settled on a perch together.

Peaches and Barley perching together

They are so alike

Peaches is the furthest away in the photo. I only know that because when I stood behind them I could see that peaches is slightly bigger than Barley although Barley looks bigger in the photo because she is nearer.

I am hoping that as they mature their faces will be different. When Honey and Amber were this age I could only tell them apart because Honey was bigger than Amber but as they grew up they looked more and more different and now their faces are completely different. It’s hard to imagine that, with these two at the moment, but I am sure they will look less alike as they grow up.

I only hope they don’t turn out to be too noisy for the sake of the neighbours. They were certainly very loud today but I think they were just practising their new voices.

Peaches and Barley are always together. They are such a tight pair. They are both in the food bowl, at the water, in a dust bath, perching together, preening together and of course at bedtime perching next to each other.

Sometimes they are sitting in the sun or in a dust bath and they are almost on top of each other. Their heads flutter under and over each other. They both suddenly run off together. They are inseparable and it is so sweet.

They were both at the food bowl together when I decided to go and get my camera but when I got back they had moved on. However they were just together somewhere else.

Always together

We preen together

First one then the other

We sit together

Their combs have really grown and are red and spiky. They are now fifteen weeks old. They may start laying in a couple of months. They are beautiful and endearing and I love their togetherness.

I had arranged for my chicken friend Jackie to visit yesterday to see how my angry bird was behaving. This was the first chance I had to invite Jackie over as we have had family staying and visiting for the past two weeks.

When I went out to the girls at seven in the morning yesterday, I was surprised to see that Topaz was out in the run. I gave the girls some corn and Topaz then went back into the nest box. I thought to myself that that was one less time to have to get her out.

When I returned a couple of hours later I was surprised to see that Topaz was out again and was much calmer. She was still out in the run when I left to do my deliveries.

I returned at lunch time and Topaz was still out and behaving normally. It seemed that she suddenly wasn’t broody any more. It was like a switch had been flicked and after two weeks of being an angry broody she was suddenly completely back to normal.

It was so lovely to see her out with the flock and no aggressive behaviour towards her flock mates.

When Jackie visited all was calm and normal as if Topaz had never been broody at all.

Topaz is back to normal

Topaz is back with the flock

It is lovely seeing Topaz back out with the flock doing all the usual chicken things. Even at bedtime when I lifted her down from the perch to put her in the coop she didn’t try to peck me. My sweet topaz is back again.