Carol's Chickens

I have got very behind with blogging lately. I thought I was overdue a post and thought it would be good to do an up to date portrait of each girl. I did them in order of who has been with us the longest.

All the girls are looking beautiful. Their faces and combs are beginning to get red. Autumn’s is the most red as she is the only girl laying at the moment but some girls started laying last February so it could be soon that we have more girls laying.

It’s been a while since my last blog post. It’s just been so cold that I try to get my chicken chores done as quickly as possible and get back indoors plus not much happens in the chicken run at this time of year.

With the short days Autumn has decreased her egg laying from every other day to every three or four days and then every fifth day from the beginning of January. She sometimes goes in the chicken shed and sits for a while in between but comes out without laying. It is as if she thinks she should still be laying more often.

I have been emptying the chicken’s water at the end of the day and refilling it in the morning because it is easier than dealing with frozen water.

Sugar spends a lot of time on the shelf in the wooden shelter when it’s either wet or cold. Sugar is also always the first one to find a spot in the sun. The morning sun is, if there is any, is on the branch perch above the ladder. Sugar is always first to that spot and then is gradually joined by the other girls. Autumn often gets the spot next to Sugar.

There is blue sky and sunshine but frosty foliage beyond the chicken run and freezing temperatures over night and only just above freezing during the day. The photo is deceiving as it looks nice but it is just above freezing.

I think the girls as well as us can’t wait for warmer weather. Roll on spring!

This year I have had to wait right up to the end of the year to do this post as Autumn has continued laying from the beginning of October right through December. I am putting this post out this morning as Autumn laid yesterday so I know she won’t lay today.

Salmon – 6 years old – laid none last year and none again this year.

Sugar – 4 years old – laid 36 – in 8 months, March to October.

Dot – 3 years old – laid 118 – in 9 months, February to October.

Gold – 2 years old – laid 93 – in 8 months, January to August.

Storm – 2 years old – laid 69 – in 7 months, February to August.

Cloud – 1 year old – laid 39 – in 4 months, June to September.

Mango – 1 year old – laid 32 in 5 months, June to October.

Autumn – 9 months old – laid 37 in 3 months, October to December.

The variance in some of the girls is due to broody periods causing breaks in laying.

The total eggs for the year is – 424.

Surprisingly enough this is very similar to last year (442) despite this being a slightly different flock to last year but despite losses and additions the flock has remained at 8 girls but with 7 laying as Salmon hasn’t laid for 2 years.

As I always say every egg is a bonus so thank you girls for your lovely eggs. The most important thing to me is that girls stay happy and healthy.

And I wish a Happy New Year to all my readers and your families.

As is tradition in this household the girls have a Christmas Day treat of fish.

And as an extra bonus Autumn laid a Christmas Day egg this morning. Thank you Autumn!

I would like to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

We have had awful weather lately with lots of rain most days and it’s a while since I have seen more than one girl at a time have a dust bath. It’s Autumn that has been dust bathing the most. She likes the small space between the wooden blocks and the chicken’s patio.

Then one day last week we had a sunny afternoon. All eight girls were dust bathing at the same time and for quite a long time too. I took some photos to do this post but then got busy and didn’t get round to it so I thought I would do it now.

It was difficult to get a good photo of all eight of them together as three of them were on the other side of the wire so this was the best I could do.

Dust bathing is often a communal thing but usually one or two girls are wandering around “helping”. They will peck at the dust on the girls and scratch around them. This is often Salmon and Storm and then they will dust bath as the first girls start to leave.

So seeing all eight girls at the same time was heart warming. They must have spent nearly an hour dust bathing and they looked so happy.

Since Autumn had her short break in egg laying she has laid another four eggs. I now think she will continue to lay but perhaps not quite as regular as before. It’s enough to give us one or two breakfasts a week. Any eggs are a welcome bonus!

Autumn laid fourteen eggs in October and fourteen eggs in November. I thought that she may lay through the winter but then she stopped laying. Autumn would sit in her corner of the chicken shed for a while and then come out without laying. It was as if she thought she should be laying.

I thought Autumn was finished and then today she laid an egg after a week’s break. It may be her last egg this year though as Mango did the same at the end of her laying. Mango also laid an egg after a week’s break and then no more so it may be the same for Autumn. Time will tell.

Also today for the first time Mango jumped on my back when I was cleaning the chicken run. she always follows me around and has often looked like she wanted to jump on me but couldn’t quite manage it. Today I was bending over close to the chicken’s patio and she jumped on me from there.

There isn’t much to report at this time of year. The girls have short days and are not so active in the winter. I am sure that like us they will be happier when the days get longer and warmer again.

Edit

Autumn laid another egg two days after her last one. Perhaps she was just taking a break and will continue to lay over winter after all. Well done Autumn!

I decided to give the girls another fish treat as Dot is going through a really tough moult this year. Sugar’s tail feathers are now at almost the usual length which actually looks quite cute. All the other girls are through the moult.

Dot’s moult seems to be going on forever this year. The dropping feathers have slowed but I am still picking up quite a few from the chicken shed every morning. Dot looks a bit scruffy and her comb has now gone very pale. She looks very sorry for herself. I thought she could do with a bit of a boost.

I will be so glad when Dot is properly through her moult. She does have her tail feathers back in but is still full of pins especially on her head.

Autumn continues to lay every other day like clockwork and occasionally two days running. She always lays in the same corner of the chicken shed and is very quick at getting her egg laid. Autumn, unlike most of the girls, doesn’t give the egg shout after she has laid. She just casually strolls out of the chicken shed. I don’t know if she will always stay as quiet as this.

Autumn is a very quiet girl. We have only heard her join in with the girls shouting occasionally when there is a cat in the garden and even then it’s only been a few times and sounds a bit of a strangled shout. She chats to me all the time when I am in the run but she has a very quiet and subtle chatty voice. It is one of her many charms that she is a quiet girl.

A few days ago I gave the girls a yogurt treat which they absolutely love.

I love to see the girls with their yogurt beaks. They scrape their beaks against the patio to clean them afterwards. The dishes end up so clean that you would think they were able to lick them. I just love seeing the girls enjoying a treat.

This morning Sugar’s last two tail feathers were under her roost spot in the chicken shed. Overnight she has lost her tail. Oddly enough Dot’s last remaining tail feather is still hanging on.

Sugar looks quite sweet with her short tail. It will soon grow back to it’s usual length. Apart from Autumn all the girls’ combs have now turned their pale winter colour.

Autumn’s comb is bright red and she has gone from laying every other day to laying two days running some of the time. Autumn is keeping us going with those bonus winter eggs.

It will be good to see the rest of the girls through the moult. It seems to have dragged on this year.

Dot has continued to drop feathers wherever she goes and to leave a heap under her roost spot overnight. A few days ago she was down to her last tail feather. I was going to do a before and after but a few days later that ragged lone tail feather is still hanging on.

Dot looks so sad during the moult. She spends time in the shelter and when I give out the sunflower hearts she waits the other side of the wire from the rest of the girls for hers. The girls always seem to lose confidence when having a heavy moult.

I am still picking up piles of Dot’s feathers from the chicken shed each morning. It’s a wonder she isn’t bare by now. I’ll be glad to see Dot through with the moult as I am sure so will she.