Carol's Chickens

The menfolk in our group have all been doing some work on the allotment. My husband, R, has been digging in the afternoons. T and D have been putting together raised beds from pallets and putting in posts to attach a net fence to for keeping the deer out.

T has bought raspberry canes and T and D have planted them and we have bought potatoes to start chitting.

Allotment with row of raspberry canes

The canes are small so difficult to see but there is a row which will be against the back fence.

All dug over and two raised beds in place

The two metal poles in between the raised beds will be for a gate. The duck boards stacked between the poles will provide a walk way.

A third raised bed and some wood to make a bench

There will be four raised beds with the next two in front of the existing two. In the background is the pile of weeds that R has dug out and the council will move it to the big heap with a digger/tractor.

A huge heap of compost has been delivered

The compost has been delivered for everyone to help themselves to.

Chitting potatoes

As my contribution I emptied the bags of potatoes on to paper lined trays and have put them in the front bedroom to finish chitting. I say finish as some have already started.

We have two trays of Red Fir Apple and four trays of Maris Peer.

We will take some of each potato for our own veg plot too. They were on offer as cheaper for two bags at a time and usually we need very little for our veg plot but the allotment plot is large so we bought the biggest amount we have ever bought. There is a total of two hundred potatoes.

It is all coming together very nicely. R is going to an allotment meeting at the pub tonight. It is a great project for us all and the menfolk are already dreaming of summer barbeques at the allotment.

I have been having more and more of a problem with Ebony’s exuberance and excitement recently. When I give out the morning sunflower hearts and the bedtime corn she pecks my legs. I find myself trying to back away from her or turn my back on her but when I did this she recently pecked the back of my leg.

When I take in a dish of mash she jumps up at me and nearly knocks the dish from my hand before I can set it down.

Ebony also sometimes tries to go out of the gate as I am coming in. The other day I put out my leg to keep her in and she jumped over it. I ended up picking her up and putting her back in. She isn’t  making a bid for escape but just wants to peck at the shavings that have blown out through the gate. I could understand it if there was grass outside the gate but it’s just a patio area and she is just pecking at shavings which are plentiful inside the gate!

The main problem though is the pecking of my legs. I know it’s not malicious and is just over excitement but none the less it is not good and it was making it difficult for me to get in the chicken run. This is a problem I have never encountered before during my time keeping chickens.

I wanted a solution that would protect my legs but not spoil my relationship with Ebony. I don’t want to punish her in any way or put her off me but I want to try to stop this habit. My husband suggest shin pads!

I decided that I needed something to hold in front of my legs. I came up with the idea of using the a frying pan splatter screen. I found one in the discount store for the pricely sum of one pound and seventy pence. I decided to hang it besides the gate and just take it in with me holding it in front of my lower legs.

My new piece of equipment

I thought that Ebony would probably peck the screen instead of my legs but instead she hangs back at about two feet from me. I then lay the screen on the patio and take the corn from the storage cabinet and scatter it.

It works like a dream and makes it easy for me to go in now without being molested! I am hopeful that it may train Ebony to stop pecking my legs. I will try without the screen after about a week and see what she does.

Such a simple thing has made such a difference. Another problem solved until the girls manage to find a new problem for me!

My husband has been popping up to the allotment most afternoons to do a bit more digging. At the weekend a couple that were tending to their plot gave him a sprout stalk.

I harvested the smaller sprouts from the top of the stalk for dinner yesterday and decided to give the rest of the stalk to the girls today.

Ebony is first to inspect the sprout stalk

Spangle is next to investigate

Speckles takes a look

Marmite joins in

By the end of the day the girls had pecked about half way through the sprouts. I will leave the stalk in the run for a couple of days to keep them occupied. It makes a change from their usual spring greens.

The weather has been amazing for February and it feels like spring but of course that could all change in March. I am hoping not though because I am enjoying the higher than usual temperatures and the sunshine and the garden is bursting out all over.

Miniature daffs

Crocus

The underside of the snowdrops

primula

Crocus in the sun

It a bit of sunshine makes you feel good.

I wasn’t expecting another, five egg day, so soon. It was a week ago that we had our first, five egg, day and a few days later Marmite went broody but a few days after that Flame started laying.

Yesterday we had our second, five egg day, and today it’s looking like Smoke is going broody again. It seems that just as one girl starts laying another girl stops and visa versa. Smoke has only been laying again for two weeks and has laid nine eggs in that time.

Marmite was only broody for about three days in the end. She was settling in the nest box at bedtime so after two nights of this I closed the nest boxes before bedtime. She spent some time looking for a way in to the nest boxes but eventually settled on her bedtime perch in the chicken shed.

The next night I closed the nest boxes before bedtime and she didn’t even look at them and settled on her bedtime perch. In the morning she came out and stayed out and that was the end of that.

Our second, five egg day, of the year

On the left is Jasmine’s egg, then Spangle’s egg, then Smoke’s egg then Flame’s enormous egg and then on the right is Ebony’s egg.

Yesterday’s eggs on the stand

Smoke looks broody again

Meanwhile Salmon was being very vocal and looking in the nest boxes. Flame was also wanting to lay and giving her mournful cry.

Salmon kept going in the same nest box as Smoke. She briefly tried the next nest box along but kept returning to the one Smoke was in.

Flame in the meantime was going between the chicken shed and the nest boxes and eventually she piled in with Smoke and Salmon. It’s the same old story. No matter how many nest boxes there are they all want the same one. At one point Spangle also had her head in the same nest box that Smoke, Salmon and Flame were in but I didn’t manage to get a photo of that.

Salmon wants the same nest box as Smoke

Salmon tries out the next nest box along

Salmon decides she prefers the same nest box as Smoke

Flame would also like the same nest box

When I next went to check on them it was all change. Flame and Smoke were now in the middle nest box and Salmon was in the nest box next to the storage cabinet.

Flame and Smoke have moved to the middle nest box

Salmon has now moved to the nest box next to the storage cabinet

I checked back a few minutes later and Flame was now out. I lifted Smoke and Flame’s egg was underneath her. I lifted Smoke out of the nest box to take a break. Salmon was now settled in the next nest box.

I went back to see how she was getting along and Smoke had now found Salmon and was settled next to her. Smoke was obviously following the girls waiting for their eggs.

Smoke has now joined Salmon

Soon after there was a bit of shouting from Salmon and she was now out of the nest box. I checked and it was a false alarm again and no egg. She seems to need an awful lot of practice!

Smoke meanwhile had settled back in the middle nest box. After checking that there was no egg under her I decided to leave her to it.

Spangle went on to lay her egg in the nest box closest to the chicken shed which is her favourite nest box and when I went back in to give them the bedtime corn I lifted Smoke out again.

I then closed the nest boxes. I have decided to continue closing the nest boxes at the end of the day when we have a broody. This way they won’t settle in the nest box at bedtime and it may also help to dissuade them quicker.

When I checked on them at dusk Smoke was settled in the corner by the pop hole and under the amigos bedtime perch. I lifted her and put her on the perch and there was her egg. After an entire day in the nest boxes she had laid at the end of the day. Last time she was broody she laid a few more eggs so I might have known really.

Never a dull moment in the chicken run!

I have just made and posted another card to John. I knew he had currently and in the past had several welsh terriers. I know that he has an aged bulldog and a black cat. I knew he had sadly lost an aged welsh terrier recently.

What I hadn’t realised until a recent post of his was that he also has a black scottie dog. I felt really bad that on my postcard to him of his animals and scotch eggs I had missed out one of his dogs.

I decided to put it right by making another card without the scotch eggs but including scottie dogs. I e-mailed and explained that I felt bad for missing one of his dogs off of my earlier card. I said that this card had nothing to do with the competition as all my cards had arrived before the deadline but this one was just for him to keep and put on his office wall with the others. I said that I just wanted him to have one that included all of his dogs.

A final card to John

John said on a recent post that it is lovely that he is still receiving some postcards so I hope that he will like this one.

Salmon laid one tiny, grape sized egg, on 17th January underneath her roost spot. Until recently she had shown no interest in the nest boxes but over the last few days she has become very vocal and has started investigating the nest boxes.

Yesterday she looked in the nest boxes from on top of them and then she went inside each one of them. After checking out all three she settled in the nest box nearest to the chicken shed. I thought she was going to lay as she was in there for about an hour.

Salmon came out of the nest box without laying an egg. It seems she was just practising as these little girls often do. I think she will probably lay her next egg over the next day or two.

Salmon has been looking in the nest boxes

Salmon tried all three nest boxes

Salmon eventually settled in the nest box nearest the chicken shed

Meanwhile I am still lifting Marmite from the nest box several times a day.

Marmite has a quick dust bath while Vanilla watches over her

Vanilla has a very red face and comb and I am surprised that she has shown no interest in the nest boxes as yet. Sienna hasn’t either but has been a bit more vocal recently so may be the next girl to start laying.

It is funny how Vanilla seemed to mature more quickly than the other amigos to the extent that with her honky sounding voice I worried at the time that she may have been a cockerel and yet she is the last to start laying.

I suppose different things mature at different rates for different girls. Vanilla was the first of the amigos to lose the baby cheeping sound  and yet she is the only one to show no interest in the nest boxes. Back then I would have put money on her being the first to start laying.

I guess she will get there in her own sweet time. There is certainly no lack of eggs for us at the moment so it doesn’t matter how long she takes.

I had forgotten how enormous Flame’s eggs are and how noisy Ebony and Flame can be! Yesterday there was lots of shouting going on.

While Flame took her winter break all had been quiet. Ebony laid her eggs in either of her two favourite spots which are mostly the nest box next to the storage cabinet and occasionally in the back, left, corner of the chicken shed. She would lay her egg quietly with no fuss at all.

Yesterday both Ebony and Flame wanted to lay their egg at the same time and guess what! Yes, Flame wanted to lay her egg in the same nest box as Ebony. There was lots of shouting. I had also forgotten how loud Ebony could be.

Eventually they both settled in the same nest box.

Ebony and Flame in the nest box together

Meanwhile next door is broody Marmite

A little later there was shouting again. I checked and Flame was out of the nest box. I felt under Ebony and found both Flame’s egg and her own. I removed them and Ebony then left the nest box.

Flame’s eggs with one of Ebony’s

The egg on the left is Flame’s second egg, the egg in the middle is Flame’s first egg and the egg on the right is Ebony’s egg.

I am removing Marmite from the nest box whenever I go in to the chicken run. Marmite shows none of the anger that Smoke did and doesn’t puff herself up when out of the nest box. She is a much more determined broody though.

When I lift her out she sits in the trance like state that broodies do until another girl gives her a peck. Marmite is then off and running. She will speed scratch or speed dust bath or speed preen then go to the water then the food and then will return to the nest box. I think we will just have to ride it out.

Ebony’s attitude towards me has changed since we first got her. At one time if I approached her when in the nest box she would always peck me. A few days ago Smoke was in the nest box and a little later she was out again but was shouting which is unusual for her. Ebony was now in the nest box and I assumed sitting on Smoke’s egg which usually causes some shouting.

I reached underneath Ebony and removed Smoke’s egg. It then occurred to me that she would never have let me do that when we first had her. That’s why I was confident enough to reach under her and take both Flame’s egg and her own egg yesterday. She now takes no notice of me touching her. It will be interesting to see what she will be like when broody though as that can make some girls angry.

Speckles is always jumping on my back whenever she gets a chance. This is something she has been doing since not long after we first had her. A few days ago when I was on the patio area Ebony jumped on my back. I was wearing my coat and with her heavier weight and the slippery material of my coat she slipped straight off again but it showed me how far we had come with her trusting me.

There is a down side though. Ebony gets so excited when I go in to give the girls their bedtime corn that she has started to peck my legs. I know it is not malicious it is just her way of telling me to hurry up and give out the corn. The problem is that her peck hurts. The first time I wasn’t expecting it and got a hard peck. It didn’t break the material of my leggings or break the skin on my leg but it left a purple bruise.

Since then I back away from her or turn round so the pecks either miss or don’t have so much momentum. It is a nuisance though and I don’t know how to stop her doing it. It wouldn’t be good in summer on bare legs. It’s a pain but as she is so much friendlier now I don’t want to do anything to change that. Any ideas would be welcomed.

It takes time to gain the trust of older girls. The young ones are used to me being around them as they grow up but the older ones have to learn to trust me.

When we first had Speckles she was really nervous and was firmly bottom girl. She wouldn’t approach the other girls or me. One day when my eldest son was meeting the new girls and watching me in the run with them I commented on how when she was blocked by a girl one side and me the other she would choose to run past the girl and get a peck on the way past rather than run past me who had never hurt her. My eldest said that that was because she knew she was going to get a peck from the girls but she didn’t know what she might get from me.

That made me see it in a different light. Better the devil you know. It is only over time that they learn that I don’t hurt them but protect them and bring them treats. Once Speckles learned to trust me she became quite the opposite and followed me around and developed the habit of jumping on my back.

It is amazing to think that from that lowly position Speckles has, over time, worked her way up to top girl position and is now confident and sure of her position. It was noticing the change in Ebony that reminded me of this.

The girls have so much trust in me that I have to be ultra careful not to tread on them. I always watch where I am putting my feet as they have no fear of my feet at all. I assume they trust that as I have never trodden on them I never will. The thought of standing on a foot scares me so I am always aware of my feet.

It is the same with the fork. They love to follow the fork to see if I will turn up some worms. I have to also be ultra careful of where I put the fork. They have no fear of the fork.

It is very rewarding to have their trust and is part of the joy of chicken keeping.

Usually the bigger girls start laying again in March but Ebony and Flame seem to have a longer laying season than my previous game girls probably because they have more of a wyandotte mix in them.

I could tell Flame was getting ready to lay again as for the last few days she had been making her mournful sound and had been a bit manic. She was digging holes in all four corners of the chicken shed and looking in the nest boxes.

Yesterday I checked the nest boxes and Ebony’s egg was in her favourite nest box next to the storage cabinet and Smoke’s egg was in her favourite middle nest box. Spangle’s egg was in her favourite nest box next to the chicken shed and beside it was Flame’s egg.

Yesterday’s eggs

On the left is Flame’s egg followed by Ebony’s egg then Smoke’s egg and Spangle’s egg on the right. Flame’s egg is her usual large size and pale colour.

It seems that at the moment as one girl stops laying to go broody another girl starts laying. It will be good to have two large egg layers again. We are getting a plentiful egg supply at the moment.

I will start with a warning that this is a long post. I have written it over a month, adding to it, as it goes along.

One of the blogs I follow is “Going Gently” by John Gray. Sometimes he has a competition. He had one on pictures made from fruit and veg (a year or two ago) and I entered my jelly fish made with satsumas and my husband’s apple bird.

He is now running a postcard competition, it’s purely for fun. We are to send the postcards to him with an appropriate stamp and the competition runs from 16th January to 16th February. I am writing this post as it goes along, ready to put it out, after judging day.

The postcards should be standard size but can be bought or homemade and we can send as many as we like and for as many categories as we like. John is judge and will send a prize for each category.

The categories are:

Best animal – Best gay – Best country of origin – Best retro – Best saucy – Funniest – Most beautiful – Best scotch egg – Best not in any category and Best message on card.

John Gray is famed for his love of scotch eggs! He is also an animal lover and has dogs and a cat and has had assorted other animals in the past.

When I started to think of what card I could send my husband suggested that I send him our book of boring postcards. We bought it about ten years ago from an antique shop and have had lots of fun showing friends and family the book.

I thought it was a great idea and agreed it was time to send it to a new home. I thought that it would be the sort of thing that John would like.

We don’t have postcards on sale in our area, it’s probably not considered interesting enough, so all my postcards were home made.

I decided to choose one of the most boring post cards from the book as my first one. I put another postcard inside the book to write a gift message on as I didn’t want to write on the book.

Boring postcard book

It has boring postcards such as these

My first card

I just cannot imagine why this would have been made into a postcard or why anyone would want to buy it. I suggested on the card that John should add a, most boring postcard, category.

There was a comment on John’s blog saying “That nursing home had me laugh out loud!” referring to my card above.

I wish now that I had thought to take a photo of each card but it didn’t occur to me at the time. The one inside the book was a Christmas card cut down to postcard size of some sheep in the snow at Stonehenge.

The third card I sent was also cut down from a Christmas card and was a scene of a pretty cove with boats which was painted by an artist friend of ours. Every year her Christmas cards feature one of her paintings.

My fourth card

This was a greeting card that I again cut down to postcard size. I thought John would like this one.

My fifth card

John is photographing the cards each day on his blog and at this point, out of well over a hundred cards, there hasn’t been a scotch egg card. I made this one myself and am hopeful of it standing a chance in the scotch egg category. I was rather pleased with this one.

John has now received my card above. He titled his post – SCOTCH EGGS (AT LAST). He said that he has received 281 so far. My card was the first on this post and was captioned – The First Scotch Egg Postcard!

My scotch egg postcard got the most comments so far. Comments on this post included:

“Glad you got your scotch egg card. Patience is a virtue!”

“Glad you are only looking at scotch eggs on a PC rather than eating them!! x”

“Do you know how hard it is to find a postcard with scotch eggs on it? Bravo to the sender!!!!!”

“When a scotch egg is cut in half, it’s like two monstrous yellow eyes are looking back at you. The stuff of nightmares!”

“You just love those scotch eggs!”

“Are scotch eggs crispy or soft? Do you eat them hot or cold?”

In answer John replied –  “The ideal scotch egg has a breadcrumb coating and is deep fried. It’s not crispy. It can be eaten hot or cold”

“I wouldn’t have believed there was such a thing as a scotch egg postcard, but there is! That is amazing.”

“My card was supposed to be a scotch egg card. It was the answer to the crossword”

“John – eat the scotch eggs to keep warm”

People seem to have lost sight of the fact that we can make our own postcards. I am saying nothing in answer as I think it’s more fun not to give away who sends the cards.

I can’t believe how many comments the scotch egg postcard got. That’s more than any other card and I’ll take that as my claim to fame!

John originates from Sheffield but now lives in Wales. John said that anyone giving their address would receive a return postcard from him. That’s going to be a lot of postcards for him to send!

I received my return postcard with a thank you message and John’s postcard of his home town of Sheffield could also have gone into the boring postcard category but I was touched to receive it.

John’s return postcard

I decided to send one final card. This one was cut down from one of my husband’s birthday cards.

Card number six

I am happy that I have done my bit to take part and will now await the results. This has been a really fun competition.

John has now received over three hundred post cards and has just received a second scotch egg card! Just when I thought I was in with a chance of winning this category I may have been scuppered.

It is a hand drawn card of a scotch egg with a drooling dog beside it, simply drawn, in black with the only colour being a yellow centre to the half scotch egg. It’s the last week of the competition too. I so nearly made it. Oh well, it is only fun and we shouldn’t try to be too competitive I suppose. 🙁

I have just checked today’s postcards and there is another scotch egg card drawn by the same artist. This time both halves of the scotch egg in colour with a black knife and fork either side and below them a dog’s ears and paws. I am definitely beaten now! I know this artist as I read her blog but I am not naming names … yet!

Okay, I didn’t realise that I had a competitive streak! I decided that I would make another postcard. John has welsh terriers, a bulldog and a black cat. I decided to make a collage of these combined with scotch eggs.

The things that John loves

I must admit that I was really pleased with this one. I told my husband that I was captioning it “The things that John loves” and he said  – As well as “The Walking Dead” and he hasn’t had one of those either. Uh oh! I couldn’t resist.

The Walking Dead postcard

I decided to be the first to send a “Walking Dead” postcard too. It’s also a favourite of mine and returns for the second half of the final series at the weekend so this seemed fitting. So this is card number eight from me. These two cards are definitely my final entrants.

Much to my surprise I received a second post card from John thanking me for my entries. It was a photo of his garden back in Sheffield. I wondered if he had forgotten that he had already sent me one. I am feeling very honoured.

John’s second postcard to me

My latest two postcards haven’t arrived yet but in John’s latest batch of cards is another scotch egg one. This is a different take on it. It’s a picture of a drunk chicken clutching a bottle of whiskey. In the background some chickens are chatting and the speech bubble says – “Yeah, But She Lays A Mean Scotch Egg”.

Quite a few comments are saying that they love this card and I do too. A few comments are saying this is the best batch yet. The competition is hotting up. John reminds us there is only a week to go!

Okay – this is the very last card. Card number nine.

Snowdrops postcard

I took this photograph of the water droplets on the snowdrops in the garden after a rain shower. I was pleased with how well it came out. As John had sent me a postcard of his Sheffield garden I thought that I would send this one to him in return.

This is definitely my final postcard as time is running out now. I have enjoyed sending the cards and checking John’s blog each day to see if they have arrived. This has been a fun competition.

And then disaster struck! John put out the photographs of the day’s postcards. My “Walking Dead” postcard was first.  He wrote underneath it – The first homemade WALKING DEAD postcard! We now know one prize winner.

There was a comment saying “I should have thought about The Walking Dead! Great card”.

Second was my “Things John Loves” postcard but half the photos had come off in the post. The right hand portion of the card was missing. The bulldog, scotch egg and two welsh terrier photos were gone and part of the flowery background of the greetings card I had stuck the photos to was revealed making it look ridiculous.

I was gutted as I thought this was my best card so far. I e-mailed John and explained what had happened and attached the photograph that I had taken of it before I posted it. I asked if he could show it even if it doesn’t go in to the competition.

He e-mailed straight back and said the photo would appear on the blog the next day. What a sweetie! In the morning he e-mailed again to say the photograph was on the blog. It appeared between the “Walking Dead” card and the card with a part missing.

John has said all the postcards may go on his office wall and he will photograph them for us to see on his blog. Because of this I decided to make a replacement card just for him to put on his wall.

The problem had been that I used a greeting card as the card’s base and stuck the photos to the shiny, picture, surface, as I needed the white background to form the side of the card that gets written on. Lesson learned! This time I stuck plain paper over the picture part of the card and then stuck the photos to the paper.

I couldn’t find all the exact same photos again so I just made it as similar as possible.

John’s replacement card

This is my tenth and final, final, card. John says he has now received over 450 cards so far.

Two days to go and John has now received 471 cards so far. Today’s first card is another scotch egg card. It is two halves of a scotch egg which look three dimensional, as if the halves are just sat on a postcard. The caption underneath the egg halves is “Just For John”.

John is judging on Friday and posting the results on Saturday.

Today my remade card appeared on John’s latest batch of cards, very sweet of him to include it. He says that he has now received over 500 and no duplicates which is amazing!

One more day to go and a total of 515 before the final day.

Among the last day’s postcards was another scotch egg card. It is a scotch egg planet with mini scotch eggs circling it. The total is now 552 received and winners to be announced later today.

The results are in and I am chuffed to bits. Five of my cards appear on the short lists and I have one winner and one special mention.

My scotch egg card appears amongst six in the first short list along with both the hand drawn ones, the planets one, the chicken drinking scotch whiskey and the three dimensional looking one.

The three dimensional looking one captioned “Just For John” is the worthy winner.

I won the most boring postcard with my very first entrant of the, convalescent home, chairs from the boring postcard book, hurrah!

There were four finalists for best hand made cards and I was surprised that my snowdrops appeared as well as the card that I re made of “The Things John Loves” as the first one fell apart in the post.

Finally I got a special mention for my “Walking Dead” card which wasn’t actually one of the categories so I am well chuffed with that.

The comments have starting coming in and one said ” Carol’s, most boring card, winner was totally fabulous. Well done to all who participated and those that won a category”

John replied “Nicely put”.

I commented how chuffed I was to be in several short lists and to win a category and said how much fun it had been and John replied “And you dear Carol seem to be the champion of champions x”.

Fame at last! I am chuffed to bits!

This has been so much fun and I have loved taking part and am on cloud nine with how many of my cards appeared in the final and the comments received. I am a little sad that it’s all over. It’s been amazing!

In two weeks time John is going to award another winner for the best late entry. I will update again then.