Carol's Chickens

All five girl’s are back laying eggs again. Yesterday we had four eggs out of five for the first time since September. Only Pepper didn’t lay and she had laid the day before and laid again first thing this morning. Bluebell is currently laying for three days in a row then missing one day. Pepper, Dotty and Honey are laying every other day. Amber is laying on average once a week and her eggs are the smallest. I think she hasn’t hit her stride yet.

Yesterdays eggs

Bluebell’s egg is on the left then Dotty’s then Honey’s and Amber’s egg is on the right. What a sweet little egg. It is so nice having plenty of eggs again. Well done girls!

The chicken run gets plenty of sun in summer but only a little in winter, that is when it’s not raining of course. As with the last few weekends, today once again, we had a one day break from the rain with blue sky and sunshine.

There was a little patch of sun in the corner of the run and the girls all piled into the corner to sit in the sun.

Some sun in the corner of the run

I had to take this from outside as I knew that as soon as I opened the gate the girls would come running to me.

Snoozing in the sun

As I expected the girls did come running to me but they wandered back to their patch of sun.

I did a few chores in the run and the sun moved round. The girls moved to the new patch of sun.

The sun has moved round to the branch perch

As I approached with my camera Pepper jumped down to greet me.

Perching in the sun

Pepper jumped back up causing Dotty to jump down.

One up and one down

Dotty sprang back up and Bluebell jumped down, she is under the perch. It’s like musical chairs on this perch! I love how they always find the sun.

Dotty has been looking ready to start laying again over the last few days. She has been going to the grit, squatting if I get close to her and sneaking a look in the nest box. Dotty started laying again after her moult, laid for a month, then stopped for a month.

Yesterday she and Honey wanted to lay at the same time and in the same nest box. Dotty would stand by the coop door while Honey was in the nest box and shout louder than I have heard her shout for a long time. Honey would pop out and Dotty would go in and then Honey would shout louder than I have heard her too, for a little girl it was a big shout. The girls always make such a drama of this. There are two nest boxes but they always want the same one and the big girls will not share with the little girls.

Finally Dotty got her egg laid and shouted again to let me know. I collected Dotty’s egg and Honey settled in the nest box, the next time I checked on Honey she had just laid her egg. At last peace resumed.

All five girls are now laying

The interesting thing is that the eggs look different even from the same breed. Bluebell’s egg is on the left and being blue, of course, could never be mistaken. What I find interesting is Pepper’s egg is next and is always a uniform oval shape and has a little bit of colour. Dotty’s egg is in the middle and her eggs are always a longer shape and paler. Next is Amber’s egg which is smaller than Honey’s on the right and also has a little more colour than Honey’s.

I love being able to tell the girls eggs apart (most of the time).

Before I begin I thought I would put out an up to date portrait of each of the girls in the order of their pecking order.

Pepper

Dotty

Bluebell

Amber

Honey

Last February my girls started feather pulling. At the time I put it down to the stress of losing Treacle who had been top hen. We had to have her put to sleep after being very ill for three weeks and having completely stopped eating no matter what we tried.

I tried everything to stop this behaviour, anti peck sprays, telling off and water spraying when I saw it happening, boredom busters in the run, added protein, nothing worked.

I couldn’t separate them as they were all doing it and it seemed to be a bonding activity that they enjoyed. They would pull out each others feathers while in the dust bath.

All the girls had bare necks and heads except top hen Pepper who had a bare behind instead.

The girls moulted in the winter and at last got their feathers back again. I was so pleased to have them fully feathered again.

About the same time of year, this year, two of the big girls were getting their necks plucked again. I started to notice on other blogs and forums some similar behaviour. On “Hen Cam” Terry had noticed this behaviour in her hens and like mine it wasn’t bullying. She called it “preening gone haywire” which is exactly what I felt it was with my girls. Terry felt the same as I do with my girls, that although we don’t like it, they aren’t bothered by it and we have to just leave them to it. That is if there is no blood or injury of course.

Today I have noticed several posts on the “Down The Lane” forum saying they are experiencing this too. I wondered why it is starting at this time of year and then had a light bulb moment. This is the time of year the hens start laying again.

My two little bantys started sparring with each other just before they started laying both in the summer and again recently after their moult. They would fly at each with their neck feathers raised, despite usually being really close. It only happened twice each time then they settled back happily together. I concluded that it must be hormones to do with coming into lay again

Could it be the same thing that sparks the feather pecking?

I have also noticed that since coming back into lay Pepper has been a little more aggressive towards the bantys. Whereas she was tolerant of them before it is as if she needs to remind them of their place with a swift peck now and then.

I discussed my theory about the feather pulling with my eldest son last night (he used to keep chickens) and he suggested it may not be coming into lay that effects the feather pulling but rather the moult itself. He said that maybe when they moult they stop pulling feathers as the feathers are falling out and then when all the feathers are back in they resume the behaviour.

I thought he may have a point but then I realised that the girls have been fully feathered for a while now. The bantys were through the moult and fully feathered by November and the big girls by December so there has been a four month gap of no feather pulling.

The other difference this time round is that the bantys haven’t had any feathers pulled yet. I wonder if it’s because they are mature now and move away. I really hope this is the case because I would hate to see them plucked again. At the moment it is just Bluebell and Dotty that are missing some neck feathers and it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse for now.

I would love it not to get worse but I know that only time will tell.

This is just a theory on my part but it does seem a coincidence. I wonder what others think. I would love your opinions.

The link to “Hen Cam” and “Down The Lane” is on my side bar.

Yesterday as it was such a nice day my husband and I went for a walk. Last weekend when we went for a walk I didn’t take my camera and afterwards wished I had, so yesterday I made sure I had my camera with me.

Last weekend we saw that about a quarter of the huge old horse chestnut tree on our village green had come down in the recent storms. There was a huge pile of debris and the local children were climbing in it. When I passed it the next day most of it had been sawn into logs and taken away. Before I could go back with my camera it had all gone. It had very quickly and efficiently been cleared away and my chance to photograph it was lost.

We decided to go through the fields then the woods before dropping back down to the village green.

A tree is down in the field near where we live

This is a huge old tree

It’s completely rotten inside

It’s also been eaten away by something

It was a pretty big tree

The woodland floor is strewn with fallen branches

This fallen tree fills this driveway

I took this from the bank opposite which is why there are wires in the foreground.

This was the best shot I could get from the road as the sunlight was dazzling

The old horse chestnut tree on the green has lost a quarter of it’s branches

This photo doesn’t show how much of the tree fell as it was removed so quickly but the pile of debris reached as high as the break in the branch.

The cellar of the pub on the green has been flooded for many weeks

The water is constantly being pumped out into the road

We are very lucky compared to some parts of the country that have had their homes flooded but even we have water laying on the ground that will take a long time to go and lot’s of tree damage. Luckily I feel the trees that have come down are old and it’s natures way of thinning the woodland and the rotting trees will break down and complete the woodland cycle of life.

I just wanted to make a bit of a record of recent events to look back on. Even our little neck of the woods has it’s own local drama.

We seem to get one very welcome day each weekend when there is a break in the rain and we have blue sky and sunshine.

Today it made the garden feel springlike.

A patch of crocus opens in the sunshine

A bed of snowdrops

These hellebores look good against the brick work

This one seeded itself

The girls get a dandelion

Pepper and Dotty share the dandelion

Amber’s head feathers are looking better this morning as she gets her own bit of the dandelion

I am really pleased to see that Amber’s feathers had been pooped on and not plucked out. Her head feathers look almost back to normal today with only a little bit of feather still sticking out a tiny bit.

Both the girls and I are enjoying this bit of spring.

I was shocked when I went into the girls this afternoon and immediately noticed that Amber looked as if she had a bare patch on her head.

My first thought was that she had had a bunch of feathers plucked out. I felt shocked and worried.

Amber looks like she has a bare patch on her head

I opened up the nest box knowing that this always draws her in to see what I am up to. I could then take a few photos and pick her up to assess any possible injury.

Amber’s poor head

There was no blood, I then gently stroked the feathers and they were stiff. They felt like they were glued together. I think that perhaps she was under the garden branch perch when she got pooped upon. I felt relieved as this is not a permanent problem. I toyed with the idea of trying to clean her up but as it had been a cold day with a frosty start, I wasn’t sure this was a good idea.

By late afternoon her head feathers seemed to look more normal. I decided to let nature take it’s course.

It seems sometimes that the girl’s throw a potential worry at me and by the end of the day it resolves itself. Maybe I need to be a bit more chilled!

An egg from each girl laying at the moment

Okay, this may just look like another photo of some eggs, but this is special. The egg on the left is Pepper’s, the next is Bluebell’s, the next is Honey’s and the egg on the right, wait for it, is Amber’s. Hurrah, she has laid a normal shelled egg and in the nest box too!

After finding two of Ambers’s soft shelled eggs in the doorway of the coop I have had the girls on limestone flour. This afternoon I went up to the girls and Amber was missing. When I checked I found her in the nest box. I quietly retreated as I didn’t want to draw attention to her and have Bluebell chase her out. I hoped this was a good sign that a normal shelled egg was on it’s way.

I checked a couple of times to see if she had returned to the run. The next time I checked she came running to greet me so I went in and opened up the nest box with bated breath. There was a perfect little egg with a hard shell.

I can’t tell you how pleased I am. I think the little girls have finally got the hang of this egg laying lark. Both little girls laid for four and a half months in the summer and for a lot of that time they would look quite ill and miserable before laying each egg. Amber looked miserable for a longer period of time than Honey and I was actually quite relieved when they started to moult and stopped laying.

Both little girls started laying again two weeks ago and have both shown no sign of being miserable this time. Amber, like before, laid two soft shelled eggs though. I now hope this means that laying eggs will be normal for them, as it should be.

Only Dotty isn’t laying and I am not sure why she has stopped but she looks happy and healthy so I’m not worried. Dotty started laying after her moult for one month then stopped again one month ago. It is odd but she is her usual self with a red comb and a good appetite so I am not going to worry.

This morning Pepper, Bluebell and Honey all seemed to want to lay an egg. Pepper always takes her time and was in and out of the little coop. Bluebell then went into the little coop and Pepper was strutting around shouting. She wanted to be in there and refused to back down and go into the other nest box.

Meanwhile Honey kept hovering by the little coop too. She couldn’t go in there because Bluebell would never let her so there was a lot of shouting. I had go out so had to leave them to it.

I returned before lunch time and was surprised that Pepper was still shouting. I went to check and Honey was missing on parade. I lifted the little coop roof and there was Honey sat on Bluebell’s and Pepper’s eggs. I removed the eggs and everything calmed down.

I returned a little later and Honey was still missing. I again lifted the little coop roof and there was Honey’s little egg but no Honey. I lifted the nest box and there was Honey. I am sure she doesn’t realise when she has laid her egg.

For most of the afternoon Honey stayed in the nest box.

Honey in the nest box long after she has laid her egg

All the girls come to take a look

Amber and Bluebell are in the foreground, Pepper is between them and Dotty has her head in the doorway.

The inspectors

Bluebell chased Honey out which I thought may not be a bad thing as she didn’t need to be in the nest box. However Honey kept returning to the nest box until late afternoon when she finally gave up and rejoined the girls in the run.

It’s odd that both little girls just don’t seem to know when they have laid their egg. I do hope this gets easier for them with a little more practise.

Pepper and Dotty are a really close couple of chickens. Yesterday afternoon when I went into the run they were sitting together on one of the wooden blocks. They were snuggled up together and dozing. It was heart warming to watch.

Dotty and Pepper chill together while Bluebell preens in the background

Dotty and Pepper look so content together and Bluebell is in full preen mode

Time for a snooze

They remind me of a big fluffy pair of slippers.