Carol's Chickens

I love the garden at this time of year. There is so much colour and I love the way one thing grows through another which is the result of time and the garden maturing.

On the other hand some things get too big and we have to do some cutting down and cutting back but having no gaps keeps the weeds out and any moisture in.

The chimney pot is giving a splash of colour

A pretty hedge has developed up by the chicken run

I love the way that the planting now hides the fence

The lavender and lilies grow through each other

The flowers on the leeks are now nearly all open

Rambling rose

The standard rose is now huge

Himalayan honeysuckle

I love sitting in the garden in the lovely sunny weather we are now having. I am soaking up the sun and the colour.

I thought a fish treat would give the girls a bit of extra protein to help with their moult. I divided the fish between four small dishes.

A fish treat

The fish rapidly disappeared

I was amazed how quickly the fish got devoured. I think I can safely say the girls enjoyed this treat.

I am really pleased with the new chicken shed. It is so much quicker and easier to clean up in the new shed and all the girls have got used to where to go now.

There was just one last thing that was still needed. When our automatic door opener wouldn’t work on the new shed I ordered a new one which was delivered the following day. There were several to choose from which all looked the same but were all different prices so I chose the cheapest one.

When I opened it and looked at the instructions I realised that it didn’t have a light sensor. I was kicking myself at not having read all the small print properly. It was cheaper because it only had a timer. A sensor is really important to me because it means the door opens at dawn and closes at dusk all year round whereas with a timer the time would need altering every month.

I sent it back and ordered another one with a sensor but this one said that it would be a week for delivery. In the end it came in five days. In the meantime I had left the pop hole open as it was very warm so wasn’t a problem.

The new one arrived on Sunday and we fitted it and it worked, hurrah.

New automatic door opener

I kept popping out to see what time it would close and it closed at ten o’clock. This is half an hour later than our last one but it’s because it’s nearer the run and therefore lighter.

In the morning I heard Speckles shouting at six o’clock (probably a cat in the garden) so there was no need go out and check it. I imagine it will be opening at about five o’clock in the morning. I am sure the girls are happy to be out as early as possible.

An automatic door closer is very important to me as I don’t want to go out at five o’clock in the morning and it also means we can be away overnight if we want to. This was the last thing to complete the new shed and I am very happy with it.

On Saturday we had one very hot day, for us in England, anyway. On Saturday it was 35 degrees C which is 95 degrees F. This was 10 degrees warmer (25 degrees C – 75 degrees F) than the day before and the day after.

I feel very sorry for France who are gripped by a heatwave with temperatures up to 45 degrees C – 113 degrees F. We only had one day so it’s not classed as a heat wave. However it was enough for the bigger girls to be feeling it.

The little girls are fine with the heat as they originate from a hot country (Malaysia) and they were sun bathing in the middle of the day. Speckles was panting with an open beak, Flame was standing in the shade with her wings held out and Ebony was sitting on the wooden shelter in the shade of the hypericum.

I decided to cool the girls down with some frozen peas and sweetcorn in dishes of water. This cools the girls by not only eating the cold peas and sweetcorn (they don’t stay frozen for long) but also taking on board some of the cold water.

The girls enjoyed the treat and they looked cooler afterwards. I soon noticed that Ebony was methodically picking out all of the sweetcorn. By the time the girls had had enough for the moment there were only peas left. As the afternoon went on the peas gradually went too but the sweetcorn was definitely more popular.

Frozen peas and sweetcorn

It started out as a fifty fifty mix but the sweetcorn soon disappeared.

Ebony is picking out the sweetcorn

The girls really seemed to enjoy this and they did look more comfortable afterwards.

We have several girls moulting at the moment which seems very early. Smoke and Ebony started off with feathers drifting around the run and carotene patches on their heads.

Marmite has always had a little bare patch on the back of her head where the feathers have never grown in. It was slightly smaller than a five pence piece and can just be seen here. Her collar (necklace) feathers look loose.

Broody Marmite with a tiny bald patch

Smoke with carotene patches on her head

Ebony also has carotene on her head

The next thing was piles of Ebony’s feathers all around the run and under her roost spot. I am picking up loads of her feathers every day and as she moves the feathers waft down from her.

Ebony looks really tatty

Ebony is a mass of loose feathers

Ebony went from the first photo to the two above within a couple of days. I was holding a dandelion leaf above her to get this shot.

Then it started to look like Marmite was being plucked. This is something that I absolutely dread. We kept a close eye on the girls and it was a while before we saw it happening. When I was taking broody Marmite out of the run for a break Vanilla was pulling feathers from around her bald patch.

I think that with her black feathers and white skin it was such a contrast on her bald patch that it was attracting attention and adding to that the fact that in her broody state she was just siting in a trance. I was pretty upset about this as plucking is something I really dread.

Marmite is now bald on the back of her neck

From then on I sat Marmite on the log when I lifted her out of the nest box so that she is out of harms way until she is up and running and I also ordered some purple spray. The purple spray is antiseptic but more importantly it covers the white so it’s not so attractive to attention.

Next I started to see some of Speckles feathers in the run. She has lost feathers where her back meets her tail and I saw some feathers waft from her as she moved.

Speckles has just started to moult

Marmite with the purple spray

The purple spray covers the white patch nicely. It will also help me to see if it is continuing or has has stopped. I really hope this is just a blip and will quickly pass. Marmite has now come out of her broody spell after ten days.

Marmite in a dust bath

The bare patch is now nicely disguised and as you can see larger feathers are dropping into the run too.

Next I started seeing a few of Flame’s feathers in the run. I think that because Ebony didn’t moult last winter and has just been broody for a full four weeks this has kicked off her moult. Speckles started moulting last year in August after her second spate of laying a few more eggs. I expected her to lay six eggs this year which she has so maybe that has kick started her moult.

Flame was very late moulting last year and started in December which I thought was unusually late. Flame was only broody for a week so I am surprised that she would start moulting this early but she has already lost most of her tail feathers.

Flame is missing tail feathers

Seramas are supposed to moult a little all year round so nothing surprises me with them. I wasn’t expecting to be picking up so many feathers in June though. Toffee and Emerald used to moult in July but they had a very short laying season whereas Ebony laid all winter, last year, leading me to think she was a first year bird and Flame laid until the end of November and moulted in December leading me to think that she was a second year bird.

It will be interesting to see how the year progresses and how next year will compare. In one respect it does seem more sensible to moult in the summer rather than in the winter.  It is early for the egg supply of the bigger girls to come to a halt although it is what I was used to with my previous game girls.

It will be interesting to see if this is the end of eggs this year from Ebony and Flame or if they get through the moult and lay a few more. Only time will tell.

Update

This morning Flame has lost the rest of her tail feathers.

This morning Flame has lost the rest of her tail feathers

Oh well, all three bigger girls are definitely moulting.

Today I saw an unusual looking moth on the patio outside the chicken run gate. I took a couple of photos and then googled it.

Moth

Leopard moth

It is a leopard moth. It has a wingspan of 35 – 60 mm. It is nocturnal but adults can be found resting conspicuously in the daytime. The larva feed on the wood of deciduous trees. It is common in Southern England. Adults fly in June and July.

Well all of the above facts fit perfectly apart from the fact that I couldn’t know what the larva feed on.

The caterpillar is hairy and black with red stripes. We have seen these in the garden and I think I have done a post before and then looked up the moth but hadn’t seen the moth itself before so this time it’s the other way round.

I guess they have always been around our garden but it’s just a case of luck to see one out during the day.

We certainly have a lot of wildlife in our garden. I think it’s because we have a good variety of plants and also woodland behind us. I love seeing all the different creatures.

At this time of year we have loads of baby birds in the garden. On the suet feeders we have baby tits of all kinds and on the ground we have baby dunnocks and baby robins. Yesterday I got up close to two baby robins. The second one looked too young to have fledged.

Baby robin in the chickens’ strip

It’s quite young as it has hardly any tail yet.

Closer

A bit of a drama followed. You can see Ebony taking an interest in the baby robin. After I had taken this photo the baby squeezed through the weld mesh into the chicken run. Oh no! I ran into the chicken run with my leg protector (pan cover) to try to guide the baby out as I know that we mustn’t touch baby birds, as if we put our scent on them, their mothers will abandon them.

Ebony ran towards the baby robin and I shouted “NO”. Baby robin flapped and Ebony ran from the baby and hid in the wooden shelter. What a woos! I am glad of that though and baby robin escaped back through the weld mesh with no help from me needed. Ebony stayed in the shelter for a few minutes which she never does. Just goes to show size means nothing!

The baby robin flew off and the next time I went up the path I saw an even younger baby robin. This one has no head feathers yet and a really baby beak.

Even younger baby robin on the path

Closer

I am a bit concerned that this little guy is too young to be out of it’s nest. There is nothing that we can do though as it’s too young for us to leave food for it and it’s always best not to touch.

A few minutes later it had disappeared. I am not sure if it will survive as there wasn’t any sign of a parent bird around. It’s so sad but there isn’t anything that we can do. I just hope it’s mum found it but I guess we will never know.

Half our marris peer crop of potatoes on our garden veg plot have blight. We have never had blight on potatoes before it is usually just tomatoes in late summer that get it.

I googled it and it is caused by wet and warm weather which is what we have been having. Luckily the same crop at the allotment are not effected. It is so open and often windy up there that the ground drys out whereas here everything is now water logged.

When I googled it it said that if you remove the yellowed foliage you can dig the potatoes up and they will be fine to eat but if you leave it the potatoes will go black. I dug up the new potatoes and there was enough for one meal.

New potatoes

It’s such a shame because they look as if they would have been a good crop. They were really easy to scrape though and were delicious with butter. We had them with salmon and salad.

I have a feeling the other half of our marris peer may go the same way. The red fir apple potatoes haven’t been effected though. At least we will still have potatoes from the allotment.

Yesterday there were three little gem lettuces ready for picking at the allotment. My husband picked them and took one each round to the other two couples we share with. It was great to be able to have one each.

It was so tasty that we ate the leaves whole with our fingers just sprinkled with salt. We had scampi and chips and had lettuce leaves instead of peas. No need for dressing or mayo as they were lovely with just a sprinkle of salt.

There are enough cabbages and broad beans to have with our Sunday roast this weekend. It is great to be getting some produce.

Yesterday we re read the instructions (for the hundredth time!) that came with the automatic door opener. We checked the wires and they were wired correctly. We followed the instructions again. We have done this many, many times over the last few days.

First we needed to calibrate the door. The door was going down too far exposing a gap at the top and I had to stop it with my hand. It was then going up to high and jamming. I tried again this time stopping it from going up too far with my hand.

This hadn’t been happening before so I thought that something was adrift. After the door is calibrated the instructions say that you need to scroll through the menu until you find sensor then select sensor.

I scrolled the menu and sensor no longer appeared. I think that what has happened is that the sensor is no longer working and therefore can’t be selected. If the opener is working it is supposed to slowly blink a red light to let you know it is working. This is no longer happening.

We decided that we would have to give up on it and buy a new one. This is frustrating as they are expensive however an automatic door opener that doesn’t open or close is completely useless.

I have ordered another one which is due to arrive the next day. I will leave the pop hole open overnight until the new door opener is installed. In the unlikely event that anyone new reads this my run is roofed and completely predator proof so I am able to do this.

Last night I kept popping out to see how the girls were getting on. The little girls have quickly got the hang of it and go in easily and go to the their perch straight away. I had to put Marmite in as she is still broody and even if I close the nest boxes she sits on the patio in front of the nest box.

The reason I put Marmite in the corner was because it was darker there and I thought it would stop her going back out again. When I don’t need to put her in the girls may spread out a bit more as there is plenty of space on the left end of the perch.

I kept the nest boxes closed for two days but Marmite would just sit in front of them so I decided to give up as the other girls need to get in to lay.

All the little girls are on their perch

What surprises me is that the little girls have had no problem finding the new pop hole and the new perch and yet the three bigger girls are clueless! They were walking around the patio area and looking in the old pop hole.

Eventually I pushed them all through the new pop hole. Once inside Ebony jumped straight up to their perch but Speckles and Flame just stood there looking confused. These girls can be awfully dim at times. Eventually I lifted them to the perch.

I helped the bigger girls in

All the girls are in

I hope that over the next few nights the three bigger girls will get the hang of it.

We had a really full on, busy, weekend but we did manage to get the chicken shed finished in between.

The new shed is finished and in position

I am pleased that all three nest boxes still fit and there was no need to move the storage cabinet (which is screwed in place). I had the nest boxes closed and broody Marmite was sat on top of one. I opened them to take a photo and she is already about to jump in.

We will block off the pop hole in the old shed later, when we have more time, so for now I have just blocked it temporarily to stop the girls going in there. I have emptied it and hoovered it.

The automatic door closer is on

The perches are in place

The wider perch is opposite the pop hole, as before, for the bigger girls. It only needs to fit the three girls so didn’t need to be too long. The longer, narrower, perch is opposite the door for the little girls.

The black square is black plastic glued in place to block the lower vent as I didn’t want a draft directly behind where the girls will be perched. There is another vent above the door and a slight gap around the left edge of the door due to our alterations. There are also small holes (pound coin sized) beneath the peaks of the roof. I hope that this will be enough ventilation. If it turns out we need more we will add more as the shed doesn’t need to be water tight as it is under the dry area.

Spangle is the first to investigate

We sealed the cut edges of the plastic for the pop hole with strong white masking tape and I sanded the plastic strip at the bottom so that there are no sharp edges for the girls to stand on.

I went out several times last night to see how the girls were getting on. All the little girls went to their perch which I was really pleased about. They all fit comfortably. The three bigger girls were obviously confused by the new arrangements. All three ended up on top of the nest box outside the plastic shed.

I am not too disappointed by this as at least they chose to get as near to the new shed as possible. I think I should be able to train them over the next few nights.

The disappointing thing was that the automatic closer didn’t work. I checked  it several times, the last time being at half past ten, when it was dark and it was still open. As it is really warm at the moment I left it open and we are going to look at the wiring inside today. The wires came out when we moved it and we think we may have them wired up wrongly.

If we can get that sorted out the shed will be up and running. We will see how tonight goes and I will report back in another post.