Carol's Chickens

Pepper has finally finished her moult. I looked back at my egg records and both Dotty and Pepper stopped laying for two months while moulting. The bantys haven’t laid for four months now and Bluebell continued laying but is just laying less than during the summer.

I knew Pepper was getting ready to lay again as she was going to the grit and would squat down every time I got close to her.

Yesterday morning when I cleaned the coop Pepper came into the coop and sat in the nest box and was gently clucking. I felt certain she was going to lay. As the day went on she would shout for a while, go and sit in the nest box for a while, then come out again. Pepper has always taken ages to lay her eggs and during the heat of summer I used to worry about the length of time she spent in the nest box.

By the end of the day Pepper finally got her egg laid! Hurrah! We have two girls laying again. Dotty laid for a month after her moult then stopped again and hasn’t laid again for two weeks. She looks happy and healthy so I’m not worried.  This is the first big moult the girls have had so it’s all new to us.

I had wondered if hormones on the approach of egg laying again was effecting the girls and could be behind Amber and Honey scrapping. I think there may be something to this because with the approach of and the laying of Pepper’s first egg after her moult she has been more aggressive to the little girls. She is giving them a peck whenever they are near her whereas she is usually tolerant with them.

I have also found some feathers in the run which I think have been plucked. They are dominique feathers, Bluebell’s feathers and banty feathers so all of them have succumbed. I then noticed that Bluebell’s neck, which has been gradually getting more plucked, had some blood spot’s on the feathers.

Bluebell in turn has taken her aggression out on the little girls. When giving the bedtime corn I saw Bluebell grab Honey’s comb and hang on to her. Afterwards I noticed that Honey’s comb was bleeding. In my last post I said as long as there is no harm done I will try not to worry.

I decided that we should spray Bluebell’s neck with the blue spray at bedtime. This is antiseptic and covers any red so that it’s not a target for pecking.

Pepper is through her moult and is all feathered again.

Pepper looks back to her usual fat self. She felt lighter during the moult but is now back to normal and looks fatter than Dotty again. Her wattles are more red than they were but her face and comb are always paler than Dottys.

Dotty has a red comb and wattles but has stopped laying at the moment

Bluebell is looking quite tatty

Whereas the other girls dropped loads of feathers then grew them back, Bluebell has just lost a few at a time and is looking rather tatty.

Honey’s comb has blood on it after Bluebell pecked her

Bluebell’s neck has been plucked a bit more

At bedtime we let the little girls go in to the coop and the big girls line up on the coop roof. I put Pepper and Dotty in then held Bluebell while my husband sprayed her neck with the blue spray. I felt so sorry for her because she was so eager for me to pick her up then didn’t like the spray at all. I wondered if perhaps it stings but my husband said maybe it’s cold. I put her in the coop and felt horrible for doing this to her. If only we could tell them we do these things for their own good.

Hopefully by the morning she will have forgotten about it. Maybe I will take a photo of her blue neck. I only hope it helps her and reduces the pecking a bit.

I think my girls have shown some bad behaviour today but that’s just my opinion. As far as they are concerned their behaviour is perfectly fine.

It started when we had to go out and I went up and locked the chicken’s gate ready to leave. Pepper and Dotty were having a lovely dust bath together when I saw Pepper start plucking at Dotty’s neck feathers. I shouted at her but as I was outside of the run she took no notice of me.

The next minute the little girls had started scrapping again. I ran back to the house for the padlock keys and let myself back into the run. By now Dotty was on the branch perch, Pepper was looking innocent and the banty’s skirmish was over (much shorter and less aggressive than a few days ago).

We had to leave and I consoled myself with the knowledge that they probably do all these things when I am not there and there is nothing I can do about it.

I have done some research into the fighting and haven’t come across anyone else with girls fighting after being happy together most of the time. I am wondering if it is hormones. The first time the little girls scrapped like this was just before they both started to lay eggs last summer.

They haven’t laid since they began their moult four months ago but Honey’s comb has recently got much redder and she has been going to the grit for the last few days. Amber started laying a few weeks later than Honey in the summer but had been showing all the signs that she was getting ready.

I wonder if the fact they are getting ready to lay again has caused a rush of hormones and they are testing the pecking order. I also think it must be part of their breed, they are very feisty and full of attitude. Amber is definitely the top girl of these two.

Honey has a lovely red comb again

This photo shows that Amber has a bit missing from the top of her comb

Amber was always the most feisty and during the integration period with the big girls she had the top part of her comb pecked off.

I can’t imagine the big girls scrapping like these little girls do but I think there are probably many reasons for this. Pepper and Dotty (and Poppy) had been together with us from two months old but even before that they were kept together at the farm while I waited for them to be old enough for us to collect and bring home. We brought Bluebell home a month later when we took Poppy back because Poppy turned out to be a cockerel. Pepper and Dotty have always been totally bonded and Bluebell has been a bit of a loner.

Honey and Amber had been together in a big mixed flock at the farm where we got them from. We collected them nine months ago at about six months old. What they had in common was being about the same age and size, the same breed and arriving together to join our flock. This means they stick together but are not bonded like Pepper and Dotty and right from the start Amber would peck at Honey to show her that Honey was below her in the pecking order.

At bedtime I went in to the girls and the little girls had settled together in the coop.

Dotty is always the first to settle on the coop roof

Pepper joins Dotty on the coop roof

Dotty will often flutter her head under Pepper and snuggles right up to her. This is why I know the plucking is not malicious and what I think of as bad behaviour they just do as part of their bonding.

Bluebell joins them but I don’t know what they are all looking at!

Finally maybe it’s a bad habit that they don’t go in the coop at night but wait for me to put them in. My eldest son says I have trained them to do this but I didn’t mean to it just seemed to happen. Somehow I have spoiled them!

If these things are bad behaviour, I will have to just accept it because it is just the way they are. As long as they are happy and healthy I will just have to try not to stress about these things. They will do what they want to do and they are so full of personality that I really can’t hold a bit of behaviour against them. They are our funny girls and I love them dearly.

This afternoon I was cleaning up the run when Amber and Honey suddenly started fighting. I have seen them do this a few times before but this was the worst yet. They had their ruffs raised right up and were really flying at each other. They would hold on to each other by the neck feathers and drag each other round.

I tried to part them with my arm but they barely seemed to notice me and Amber had Honey by the neck feathers and was pulling at her. I grabbed the water spray and sprayed them both but even this didn’t stop them.

The big girls watched with what looked like shear amazement. If one of the little girls came past one of the big girls the big girl would give her a swift peck.

Eventually they parted and Honey went and hid behind the bush but Amber was still stalking her. I felt sorry for Honey because Amber would chase her out from the bush and then Honey would get a swift peck from which ever big girl was near her.

The big girls seemed upset and were all shouting as was Amber. It seemed so vicious and reminded me of seeing cock fighting on television wildlife programs.

I have never seen the big girls fight like this. They used do a bit of chest bumping as babies and the odd peck is given from time to time, but never this sort of fighting. I don’t know if this is usual for bantams or peculiar to these two girls or something to do with this breed. It was the whole of the black neck feathers that were raised up. I will do some research on this and report any findings.

I can’t imagine the other girls ever behaving like this. The bantys have been together in a big mixed group at the farm I got them from, since they were babies and together with our flock since they were six months old. Pepper and Dotty have been together since babies and with us from when Pepper was two and a half months old and Dotty was two months old. They are so bonded that in the two years we have had them, I have never ever seen them peck each other and during the bedtime routine when they go to the coop roof, Dotty still flutters her head underneath Pepper, like babies do, which reaffirms their bond. Bluebell has always been more of a loner but although Pepper and Dotty will peck her if she gets in their way, they still never fight.

Amber shouting and looking dishevelled

Honey looks okay but subdued

They both have little spots of blood on their combs

Amber walked into the photo just as I clicked and you can just about see a little spot of blood on the middle ridge of her comb. Honey has a tiny spot of blood on her comb just above her beak and another spot on her eye lid just above the pupil.

Amber looked worse with ruffled feathers but she is definitely the top one of these two and I assume that this is probably what this is about. It’s definitely worse than the usual pecking order stuff though and at one point it crossed my mind that I might need to separate Amber.

Yet once it was over they just carried on as normal and a little later you would never know it had happened. Ambers feathers returned to normal so I assume she preened them back into place and the little girls were together as usual.

Amber’s feathers have returned to normal

The two little girls are back to normal

The three big girls all take a drink together

The girls all settled to their usual routine at bedtime and I love the way once one goes to the water they all go to the water.  The little girls went into the coop together and the big girls went to the coop roof where I lifted them down and put them in.

Harmony seems to be restored once more. I did say to my husband that if I hadn’t been there to witness it I would never have known it had happened and he pointed out that any blood on the little girls combs would probably have been blamed on Bluebell.

I still can’t quite believe it all happened with so much ferocity and I wonder what starts them off. I am glad there doesn’t appear to be any lasting damage.

All the girls have been on a slow down with egg production due to their moult and shorter daylight hours.

I have also noticed an odd thing happening with the size of Bluebell’s eggs. She has been moulting one feather at a time and is the only one not to stop laying this winter but she has slowed down. Bluebell is now laying an average of four eggs a week. The odd thing is, that when she misses a day, she usually lays a large egg the next morning. She will then lay a smaller egg the following afternoon. Every time she lays two days in a row her eggs are smaller but when she misses a day they are larger.

This does seem to make sense to me but it is a new winter thing as in the summer most of the time the eggs are the same size with just an occasional larger or smaller one. I wonder if this is common or if it is peculiar to Bluebell.

Bluebell’s eggs

The egg on the left was laid after missing a day and the egg on the right was one from her laying two days in a row

I took several photos as it’s difficult to show the difference

This pattern has been repeating with a couple of smaller eggs then a missed day then a larger egg, time and time again. I find it quite fascinating.

After my disappointment at Dotty’s neck being plucked a few days ago the good news is that there has been no further plucking, much to my relief. I hope that it was just because it was such an awful wet day and not a return to a habit. I can cope with the occasional bit of bad behaviour but would find it really upsetting if it went back to how it was in the summer.

I have no doubt that it will happen again but as long as it’s not a continuing habit I will be happy. Not that the girls will take any notice of my feelings about the matter, of course, but it would make me happy if it doesn’t occur too often. I would rather see them with feathers than have eggs and that’s saying something because we are missing the abundance at the moment, but it does make every egg very precious.

I have to say our girl’s eggs are so lovely, they are a rich orange colour and are delicious. They are a real bonus added to the pleasure and entertainment value I get from my girls, whatever size the eggs are. I think we are all looking forward to spring and hopefully an end to the rain and longer, lighter days.

This morning when I went into the girls everything was good and they all looked beautiful. I visited them several times again up until lunch time. After lunch both my husband and I went in to them and the first thing my husband said was to look at Dotty’s neck. I was so disappointed to see that it had been plucked again. I really thought we had got beyond this. It’s been two months now since Dotty started laying again after getting all her feathers back in after her moult and had up until now remained pristine.

Yesterday in the late afternoon we had a storm with torrential rain and fierce winds. Today it has rained relentlessly all day. I wonder if this has sparked this behaviour again. Bluebell and Dotty have also not laid any eggs for the last few days when they had both been laying every other day if not every day. I wonder if there is some connection.

I am so upset to see this as they have all looked so beautiful since getting all their feathers back after their moult. Bluebell never did get her neck feathers back and I was never sure if they never came back or got plucked out again straight away. It doesn’t show much on Bluebell though and I thought if all the other girls kept their feathers then I was happy with that.

Now I worry that this may continue to Dotty’s head again and to the little girl’s necks and heads. I really hope not but it’s going to be a case of wait and see. It would be such a shame as it’s been so lovely seeing them looking so beautiful.

I set about trying to take a photo of Dotty’s neck but it wasn’t easy to catch her with her neck stretched up and in fact took until bedtime to get the shot.

Bluebell’s missing neck feathers

Bluebell is easier to photograph and you can see her missing neck feathers which have been like that for almost a year now.

Look at Honey’s muddy feet

Amber also has those muddy feet

I now find the little girl’s the easiest to photograph because they love to be close to me and if possible on eye level. This makes them so easy to get good shots so if there are more of them that is the reason why.

Honey poses for me again

All the girls gather around the coop during the downpour

Amber in the coop

Amber doesn’t like the sound of the heavy rain and retreats to the coop. I love the way Dotty and Pepper inspect from the doorway.

Pepper’s close up

Pepper is still getting the last of her feathers through after her moult and has the little spiky feathers around her comb just like when her comb first grew. This gives her a quizzical look.

I got some good close ups of Dotty but not showing her neck

Dotty has missing neck feathers

At bedtime dotty likes to stand on the coop roof and stretch, at last giving me a chance to show her neck. There is a v shaped bare patch under her beak. I really hope it doesn’t get any worse than this but we will have to just wait and see. I know from past experience that there is nothing I can do to stop this, I have tried everything before. I just have to hope for the best.

With all the continuous rain we are having parts of the run remain muddy. Luckily the middle part is dry and today the girls were enjoying dust bathing.

Dotty and Pepper having a dust bath

Honey having a dust bath

Bluebell having a dust bath

Here you can see how muddy the run is at the veg plot end. The leaves have given the girls two weeks of fun but were now wet and muddy too. I decided to pick up all the leaves and dig over the run.

The run looks a bit cleaner

In the bottom right hand corner are the girls cabbage leaves. By the end of the day they will have disappeared.

Bottoms up

I threw the girls a few sunflower hearts and beaks went down and tails went up.

Yesterday my husband was watching me poop pick while the girls followed me around. Bluebell was stood on my back and the little girls were doing their usual thing of circling me and trying to pluck up courage to jump up too. Suddenly he said that one of the little girls had jumped on to my back but as Bluebell was there she fluttered straight back down again. This was the first time she had done this and she was so light that I couldn’t even feel her.

This morning when I was cleaning the coop out the big girls were in the garden and Honey was in the coop watching me to make sure I was doing a good job while Amber was beside me. Suddenly I felt the light weight of Amber on my back. She stood there for a few seconds then fluttered down.

We have had the little girls for nine months now and they have only just worked up the courage to jump on me. I felt really pleased because I love this interaction with the girls. I think they must learn this from each other because the little girls always watch when the big girls jump on me and have looked as if they would like to join in for ages.

When I clean up the little girls are always with me and get so close to my hands and feet and love to get on eye level with me but they absolutely don’t want to be picked up or touched. They like to get really close to me but completely on their terms. This makes it all the more special when they jump on me.

It will probably take a while to get a photo but I hope we will get one at some stage.

This morning was frosty and cold and when it’s cold the girls like to perch on the branch in the run. Mid morning I went up to them and saw all three big girls on the perch but no sign of the two little girls which was unusual. When I went in to them I saw the two little girls snuggled up together on a bed of leaves. They looked so cute that I just had to take a photograph.

The little girls nestle on a bed of leaves

Honey is in the foreground of the photo and you can see here that she has regained what I call her “peacock eye” feathers on her back.

The little girls were so comfortable on their bed of leaves that they didn’t move when I approached, what a sweet pair they are.

When I visited my friend Jackie this week she gave me another bag of leaves for my girls which I decided to save for the weekend. Yesterday morning I tipped them in the run in a pile for the girls to scatter. I know I have shown this quite a few times before but the girls have so much fun with the leaves that I couldn’t resist taking a few photos again.

A new pile of leaves, let’s take a look

The little girls colour blends in with the leaves

Bluebell scratching through the leaves

The leaves have been scattered

By the end of the day the leaves were scattered over the entire run. The girls really love scratching through them over and over. They will have fun in these for days.

This morning I threw a few sunflower hearts into the leaves. They scratch through the leaves long after the sunflower hearts are gone just in case!

My friend Jackie has had her two new girls for a week now and I arranged with her to pay them a visit. Jackie has had them separated by the divider in her run but able to see and hear each other at all times. She was ready to let them have some time together but despite having done this twice before was a bit nervous so decided to wait for my visit to give her some moral support.

Jackie lifted the divider up and the two old girls went straight into the half with the two new girls. There were a few light pecks but nothing too bad and the two new girls quickly got the hang of getting out of the way.

We went inside to watch them through the patio doors. I stayed for about an hour and we both felt it had gone very well. It went much better than when I integrated my new girls and we both agreed that not rushing it seems to really help it along.

Jackie decided that as it was only an hour until bedtime she would leave them together for the rest of the day. I think it went really well and am sure they will soon all be fine together.

Willow and Shadow stay close together

Bonnie gently moves Shadow and Willow along

I shall look forward to an update from Jackie to see if they spend the night together.

I have mentioned a few times lately of constant rain, mud and surrounding floods. Usually we like to walk at weekends and holiday times but this Christmas we didn’t walk at all as the rain was so constant. Yesterday was forecast to be the first dry sunny day in ages so we decided to get in our first walk of the year. We walked from Wooburn Green to Bourne End, which takes about an hour, to see how the river was looking. We ended up being out for three hours.

As we approached the road disappeared into the flood water

The riverside pub on the right hand side of the photo was cut off by the flood water

The riverside facing the opposite direction

People with wellies and waders were crossing the water

A car turns into the car park

The next road along from the river

This is a cul-de-sac, not part of the river

We have never seen the riverside here like this before. The cul-de-sac above was the next road along from the river but it looked like part of the river. We felt very sorry for the houses here as it must be very worrying. They had sand bags lining the houses and the water had not yet reached the doorsteps so hopefully they will be okay.

As it was the first nice day in ages there were lots of people out wearing wellington boots and carrying cameras.

We are so lucky that our house is high up and is approached by steps. Our garden path then climbs upwards towards the chicken run. My husband says if we ever got flooded it would be up to the chimney pots on the road outside our house.

It was amazing to look at the flood water but I do feel so sorry for people who have their homes flooded and appreciate how lucky we are even if I do complain about the mud.