The automatic coop door now closes at four o’clock in the afternoon and opens at eight o’clock in the morning. I go out to the girls at half past seven and shine my torch on the door to open it and give the girls an extra half hour outside. I then poop pick the coop by torchlight and by the time I have finished my morning chores the door has opened again on it’s own.
The days will soon be getting longer again so this is the earliest the door closes and the latest it opens. I can’t wait for the longer days again.
At bedtime the little girls go in to the coop just before the door closes. The big girls started going in on their own in September last year but this year they haven’t gone in on their own and seem to have developed the habit of waiting for me to lift them from the coop roof and put them in.
I wedge the door open with my cockerel shaped metal doorstop when doing my end of the day sweep and clean up. The big girls line up on the coop roof and I return to them at dusk or occasionally if I am later with my cleaning up I just stay out with them. I stand by the coop and they shuffle towards me and lower their wings ready for me to pick them up in order of nearest first. One by one I lift them down and put them in the coop then remove the doorstop and allow the door to continue closing. I always then say goodnight to them as I lock up the gate.
Last year Treacle was top hen and made sure all the girls were in the coop just before dusk. We lost Treacle last February and Pepper took over as top hen but shows no inclination to get the girls in at bedtime. I have probably spoilt them and they now rely on me to put them in but If I didn’t they would just stay out on the coop roof all night and I don’t want that. It does also give me a chance to handle them each night and check their condition and weight and have some close contact with them.
I had a photo session with the girls at bedtime last night but just before this I went up to them and found the little girls sitting in the apple tree. They looked so sweet sat either side of the tree.
Two little girls sat in the apple tree
Amber is on the left and Honey on the right.
Two little girls on the coop roof just before bedtime
Honey is on the left and Amber on the right. The little girls always like to go to the coop roof first before the big girls get up there. Once the big girls settle there the little girls go into the coop for the night.
Dotty
Dotty is looking magnificent with a full bedtime crop and a fully feathered head and new tail feathers.
Pepper
Pepper still has a tatty tail and a loose wing feather but I have stopped finding piles of feathers in the coop each morning so I think her moult is almost over.
Bluebell
Bluebell is usually the first of the big girls to go to the coop roof, mainly so she can chase the little girls down. She also likes to go to the top of the store cabinet and last night decided to sit here for while.
Dotty and Pepper
I love this close up of Dotty and Pepper together. The other thing I noticed last night was that they seem to have grown. Dotty was always slightly taller than Pepper and Pepper was fatter but now Dotty seems slightly larger than Pepper. It doesn’t show here because Pepper is in the foreground but side by side Dotty is larger.
The little girls on the top of the store cabinet
The little girls also like to have a turn on the store cabinet and they and Bluebell do a bit of jumping across from the coop roof to the store cabinet and back again in turns.
The big girls on the coop roof
Finally the little girls go in to the coop for the night and the big girls settle on the coop roof.
Dotty likes to step across to my shoulder and I tied to blindly take a photo of her but only managed to catch a bit.
Dotty on my shoulder
It’s a hopeless photo as I had no clue where to point the camera but I decided to keep it as it shows her standing on my shoulder which is something she likes to do whenever she can.
When I do my poop picking in the run all three big girls like to jump on my back. I often struggle to move around with two of them on my back “helping” me. The little girls often look like they would like jump up too but can’t quite work up the courage. They follow me and peck at my cloths and jump on the big perch when I am near it to get on eye level with me. They look at me, twisting their head as if about to jump but so far haven’t actually done so.
The other bit of news is that yesterday when I checked the little coop to see if Bluebell had laid, I was really surprised to find a pale cream egg. I thought it was Pepper’s because it was silky smooth and I had noticed her going to the grit the day before. I now think it’s Dotty’s as I found another one today next to Bluebell’s egg and my husband said he had noticed both Bluebell and Dotty were missing at the same time. Maybe it doesn’t have any calcium bits on it as she has just started laying again and isn’t taking as much grit as she used to. It would make more sense that it’s Dotty’s as she has finished her moult. I shall be watching them closely over the coming days.
Pepper hadn’t laid for three weeks since she started losing tail and wing feathers. Dotty hadn’t laid for two months since she had a sudden moult. The bantys haven’t laid for three months since they started moulting. Bluebell still lays five days out of seven and has only twice missed two days in a row.
I really wasn’t expecting the other girls to start laying again until spring so this was a lovely surprise. Apart from Pepper and Bluebell’s remaining tatty tail feathers, the girls are all looking really good and I haven’t had to buy any eggs since they started laying last winter.
Click here to see the history of my flock.