Carol's Chickens

After blogging every day about the new girls there hasn’t been so much to say after the first week as things have settled between the new girls and the main flock. The new girls have got more confident around the flock. They have also become much friendlier with me which is lovely.

I have hand fed them spinach which means they now come to my hands to see if I have anything for them. At first they used to move away from the camera but were not bothered if I took photos on my phone. I guess that’s what they have been more used too. But now they are used to my hands they are not bothered by my camera and in fact Ginger comes right up close now, sometimes too close.

They always look so funny straight on and she would have put her beak on the camera if I had let her.

At the end of their first week I decided to close their corner with their little coop and see if they would follow the main flock into the chicken shed. I kept popping up to check on them.

Mango stayed out later than usual and was on the patio area keeping the new girls away. Once all the main flock were in I decided to put Silver in as she is the braver one. I perched her next to Red as Red is usually the least aggressive. It was awful. Red pecked Silver’s head mercilessly. Silver cried out each time and then jumped down and left the chicken shed. I opened up the new girls’ corner and both Silver and Ginger rushed into their little coup.

This is why I haven’t tried mixing them at bedtime again. I feel that Silver and Ginger would soon get the hang of it but it’s the other girls that won’t let them at the moment. We need to wait until they are older and more able to stand up to the other girls.

Red, Storm, Snow and Gold always perch on the back perch and Mango and Cloud always perch on the side perch. I now think that this may have been the reason Mango and Cloud liked me to put them in. They were the bottom girls and probably got similar treatment. Now they have learned to perch on the side perch away from the other girls. But this means that if the new girls perch on the side perch they would be at the mercy of Mango and Cloud who being the previous bottom girls are now the worse aggressors to the new girls.

It has always worked out in the end before so I have decided for now to just leave things as they are and give it more time.

In other news Red is now moulting. She is leaving heaps of feathers especially when she has had a dust bath.

This is actually good timing because that means she is probably finished laying and it makes easier to keep the whole flock on growers pellets.

Snow is the only girl still laying. She has laid five eggs since her last broody spell so is half way through the amount she lays before going broody again. I plan to leave her broody this time round so that she will probably finish her moult and also finish laying.

We had Snow’s eggs for breakfast this morning and I was pleased that they had good, hard, shells so she seems to be doing okay on the growers. I am giving yogurt once a week at the moment to give her some calcium. And that is all the latest news from the chicken run.

The day after Silver found the ladder and the branch perch on one side of the run both Silver and Ginger found the other ladder and branch perch.

These two girls are very adventurous and have quickly found their way round everything in the run.

I have now opened up the wire between the two ladders as it makes a good escape gap for the new girls if there is any chasing. It is a week today since we collected them and they have come on such a long way already.

Today when I mixed the girls the new girls got much closer to the rest of the flock. The rest of the flock took no notice of them.

Silver discovered one of the ladders today. Several times she went up to the top of the ladder and also on to the branch perch above the ladder. Silver is definitely the adventurous one.

I am very pleased with how it’s going. Yesterday Ginger and Silver kept away from the rest of the flock most of the time, often being at the other end of the run from them.

Today they have got much closer to them and the main flock haven’t taken any notice of them. They all seem to be getting used to each other. It’s great progress.

Today I mixed the girls together for an hour in the morning.

Storm was the first one to chase the new girls. Later Mango and Silver raised their ruffs to each other. Later Cloud chased them too. Gold took no notice of them. I had left broody Red in the nest box and Snow was also in a nest box which surprised me as I didn’t expect her to come back into lay as she is dropping feathers everywhere.

Ginger was breathing through her beak so I put the new girls back on their own side in case it was because she was stressed. I think it was more likely because she was hot as she had been stretched out in the sun.

When Snow came back out into the run I checked the nest box and Snow had laid after a break of only eleven days.

After lunch I decided to mix the girls again with Red and Snow now out in the run. I had lifted Red from the nest box and closed both nest boxes.

Silver is definitely the braver one and she ventured on to the patio because their were some bits of apple there.

Red ran at her but Silver bounced around Red and went back to the apple. She is a very brave girl.

The new girls seemed very settled and there was no more hassle so I decided to leave them together for the rest of the afternoon. I returned them to their own space at the end of the day.

I forgot to mention that after the new girls first night with us they have since settled on top of their little coup at bedtime. This makes it easy to lift them off and put them in each night. It also shows that they now feel safe and don’t stress about going high anymore.

This has gone so much easier than I expected. These girls are not as timid as past new girls have been.

Today I switched the main flock and the new girls to each other’s sides of the run. As there are three sections it’s easy to do as I get the main flock in one section and then let the new girls into the other side and then open the two sections for the main flock and reverse this when I want to put them back again.

The new girls wanted to get back to their side with the big girls at first but soon settled to exploring the other side.

It didn’t take them long to find the food and water. These girls are more adventurous than previous newbies.

After an afternoon on the other side I switched the girls back again. Tomorrow I will put a fourth feeding station at the bottom end of the main flock’s half and then give both lots some time together. The new girls are dictating the pace and they seem keen to mix.

They will have some supervised time to mix and we will see how they get on.

As predicted Red has now gone broody. She has laid eight eggs in thirteen days which is exactly the same as last time she went broody. These girls are so predictable.

Having been a bit grumpy this year about the lack of eggs I am now happy with the situation. It’s turned out to be really good timing. This will probably mean Red will go on to moult and that will be the end of egg laying for this year for the main flock. If if she doesn’t moult and comes back into lay again it won’t be for a while yet.

This means I can put the whole flock on growers pellets and get straight on with integrating the new girls. When it looks like the new girls are getting near to laying I will move them on to half growers and half layers and then gradually make the switch to layers pellets.

This whole process is happening much faster than I thought it would but that’s really good. I will let the new girls dictate how quickly we move forward now as it doesn’t matter if it happens sooner or a little later.

Well, the new girls didn’t go in their little coup at bedtime which wasn’t a surprise to us. I don’t think any of our new girls have ever gone in their coup at bedtime as far as I can remember.

As the main flock were going in the new girls started to get a bit stressed and were looking up for somewhere to go at bedtime. It was obvious that they had had a high perch to roost on before, possibly a barn with high perches. They were constantly looking up and a few times flew into the wire. At one point Silver flew up to the top of the dividing wire.

I decided to pick them up and put them in their little coup. Ginger was the easiest to pick up and I put her in first and she settled down straight away. I then manged to pick up Silver and put her in and she bumped about for a minute and then settled.

I then cleaned the run and opened up half of the run for the new girls in the morning. I lifted out the dividing hatch and closed the gate to the run in the bottom half. I also set up another feeding station in that half of the run. It will mean when the girls are mixed the new girls will know where another feeding station is.

This morning when I let the new girls out they soon explored the bottom part of the run. Silver lead the way and is definitely top girl out of these two. Yesterday she had occasionally given Ginger a gentle peck on the head to let her know she was top girl.

Ginger seems to spend most of her time in the food dish but I am happy with that as it’s a good sign. She was very quick to find the new feeding station.

I am wondering if they might settle at the top of the ladder or the branch perch tonight. If so they will be easy to lift down from there.

In other news Snow is now moulting. I had been finding long tail and wing feathers from her in recent days but today the run was an explosion of white feathers. This means she will have finished egg laying for this year.

I am now thinking that the broody spells leading to early moults may work in our favour to get the new girls integrated more quickly. Red is now the only girl still laying. If she goes broody at the end of her “clutch” that may also trigger her to moult. If this happens that will be the end of egg laying for the main flock for this year.

That would mean that I could put all the girls on growers pellets and start integrating the new girls. It was obvious today that Silver really wanted to join the big girls. She was patrolling the dividing wire this morning. Meanwhile Ginger was at the food dish.

Red laid eight eggs before going broody last time and has already laid seven eggs this time so will probably go broody soon. So my plan is to get the new girls used to the whole run as soon as possible. Tomorrow I will switch the main flock and the new girls to the opposite sides of the run to get them used to the other side.

I think this may be a faster integration than I first thought which would be good.

After a three month wait today was the day we bought our new girls home. We are really impressed with “Chickens To Your Door”. We had an email from them a month ago confirming Tuesday 12th August as our pick up day. Another e-mail a week ago confirming that 11.30 in the morning was our pick up time. Then another e-mail yesterday with lots of information so we knew exactly how it all worked and a phone number to call if we had any problems at all with our new girls.

We arrived a little early this morning at 11.15. There was a sign telling us where to park. Immediately a young lad asked for our surname. He disappeared into a shed and returned a minute later with a box with our two girls in. He gave us a chicken treat ball and a sachet of powder to go in the water which is a hydration supplement and electrolytes to be used for the first few weeks.

The journey was fifty minutes each way and we had the windows open to keep it as cool as possible.

Once home I popped the new girls in their little coup and kept them closed in for five minutes. I always hope this will mean they will know where to go at bedtime although it is hit and miss whether it actually works.

Going with my usual tradition of descriptive names I am calling the Dutch bantam Silver and the citron sebright Ginger. They are beautiful girls.

After five minutes I opened the ramp and waited with my camera. Nothing happened for five or ten minutes. Eventually a beak appeared and Silver ventured out. After another five minutes I opened up the lid of the coup. Ginger then ventured out.

Not long after that we saw them both go to the water and have a good drink. They then went to the food. This makes me very happy. I always feel happier when I have seen new girls eat and especially drink.

They are four months old so they are on growers pellets whereas the main flock are on layers pellets. This means they will have to be separate for up to two months or until they look like they are getting ready to lay. Leading up to mixing time I will start the integration process but that’s a little way of yet.

It will be interesting to see if they put themselves to bed tonight or if I will have to put them in.

I am very happy with the way they have settled on their first day with us. They soon found the food and water and have explored their area and have been in and out of the shelter which very often new girls avoid. They look very happy and settled already. It’s been a very good start.

Yesterday I suspected that Red was getting ready to lay again. Red was in the grit and oyster shell and she always does this the day before starting to lay again. I wonder how she knows.

Yesterday Snow laid and continued to stay in the corner of the chicken shed where she lays her eggs. At bedtime she settled in the corner of the chicken shed. I lifted her to the perch and she dropped down again several times. I knew Snow was broody. I perched her again when the pop hole closed and she stayed there.

Today Red settled in a nest box and Snow settled in the corner of the chicken shed.

When I later returned Red was out and Snow was in the nest box Red had been in. I lifted her out and there was Red’s egg.

As usual it’s one in and one out. Snow has gone broody after laying eleven eggs in sixteen days. Red has come back into lay after a break of ten days.

Meanwhile Gold is moulting heavily so she won’t be laying again this year. Once again we have only one girl laying. Every egg this year is a bonus.

All three game girls are moulting but Storm is behind Mango and Cloud who are growing their feathers back in. Storm has always moulted slowly in the past and has never looked much different.

This year Storm has moulted much quicker and has looked tattier then she ever has before. It’s the first time Storm has noticeably lost her tail.

It is funny seeing her like this but she will soon be back to normal.

Three days after Gold went broody Red went broody too. Red had laid eight eggs in thirteen days which is the exact same amount she laid last time before she went broody. So once again we are down to only one girl laying, that being Snow.

I have been keeping the nest boxes closed until Snow wants to lay. Once I open them Red and Gold occupy both boxes and Snow always chooses Red to share a nest box with.

In other news it has now been three weeks that Mango and Cloud have been going in the chicken shed at bedtime. I thought it had been long enough to uncover the nest boxes and see what they would do at bedtime.

After our evening meal I went up to check on the girls. All the girls were already perched in the chicken shed except Mango and Cloud who were on top of the nest boxes! I couldn’t believe it after all this time.

I lifted them down and recovered the nest boxes. Mango and Cloud instantly went in the chicken shed and perched.

I decided that we would need a more permanent cover for the nest boxes. We came up with the idea of stapling a piece of thick tarpaulin that we had in the shed to the marine ply behind the nest boxes. I then rolled it around a piece of broom handle from the shed and let it drop over the front edge of the nest boxes. I can then lift it up to access the nest boxes.

I used to worry when the girls jumped on the nest boxes that they might hurt their feet on the ramps when jumping down so this will stop that happening too. It will also stop the top of the nest boxes getting pooped on.

We then added a hook to the marine ply so that I can hook the cover up when I open the nest boxes. This leaves me two hands free for lifting out broody girls.

Hopefully this means girls sitting on the nest boxes will now be a thing of the past. It will be interesting to see what Mango and Cloud make of it tonight. Hopefully they will just ignore it.

Edit

After our evening meal we checked on the girls. They were all in the chicken shed and perched, hurrah!