Carol's Chickens

Blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground lately. It’s been a combination of lots of work and family stuff going on and not much happening in the chicken run.

No news from the chicken run is actually a good thing and I just haven’t had much time to take photographs but to prove that the girls are all okay here are a couple of group photos that I took this morning.

The girls perch together

Combs are getting redder

The flock is so together. I look out of the window and often see the whole group in one spot then in another spot. They do everything together. They are a really close flock which is so lovely to see.

It’s also been very cold and frosty but the girls seem to be managing it okay. The moulting has slowed to me picking up just a few feathers a day and their combs seem to be getting redder.

I do believe this is the happiest and most harmonious flock I have had yet. I would love to get more little girls when the better weather arrives but it will risk rocking their world a little.

We have been lucky and haven’t had the amounts of snow that other parts of the country have had. It has been very cold with frosts some mornings. This morning I woke to a little snow.

I think it was actually from last night but the cold, frosty, temperature had frozen it and preserved it until this morning. The flakes were large and once frozen it looked pretty. It looked even prettier later when the sun was shining on it.

Snow this morning

Snow in the sun

I haven’t had much time for blogging this week. I don’t know why but business has been exceptionally busy this week with several morning’s breakfast deliveries, large lunch orders, late orders and orders for nearly every menu that we offer. There is no rhyme or reason with our business!

There has also not been much to say about the girls which is a good thing, no drama! The good news is that it’s the first frosty spell, this winter, that hasn’t caused Dandelion to have eye bubbles or a crusty eye or a sound to her breathing. I really thought that this long cold spell would set her back again and I am so pleased that it hasn’t.

There is still occasional and quiet sneezing from all the girls but no other symptoms at all and they look well and happy. I am quietly thinking that we have come through the mycoplasma for now. I think that if they can get through this cold spell without a relapse then they should be okay. I am happy with how they are looking at the moment and looking forward to spring.

I like to give the girls an apple to keep them occupied pecking at it throughout the day. Because their little beaks struggle to get through the peal, I peal their apple, quarter it and remove the pips. My little girls are quite spoilt.

The girls have an apple treat

They love a bit of apple to peck at

By the end of the day the apple will have completely disappeared. A healthy treat for the girls.

I love seeing the snowdrops in the garden at this time of year. These snowdrops were already in the garden when we moved in twelve years ago and they look equally good every year. They are always the first to appear.

Early snowdrops

These snowdrops we planted a few years after we had moved in. They are a much plainer shape but are bigger and appear a little later. They still haven’t fully opened up yet.

Later snowdrops

I like having both kinds but I think the early ones are the prettiest.

Since Freckles has come through her moult both my husband and myself have commented on what a spectacular serama shape she is. If you look at seramas on google that are up to show standard (not that I would have any interest in showing and nor could I with the mycoplasma in my flock) they should have their, rounded chests out, their wings down and their tails up.

I commented recently that a friend had said that Cinnamon was a “proper, normal, chicken, shape” and I think of her as a miniature chicken more than a serama in shape. I decided to take some photos of them both to demonstrate this but in fact when I looked at the photo of them side by side I realised that they are actually more similar than I had thought.

It’s a bit of an unfair comparison because Freckles is through her moult while Cinnamon is still moulting so Cinnamon still has a few tail feathers to grow in before she will look pristine. I can always do another comparison later but I thought this would be fun for now. I had to take quite a few photos to give a fair comparison as they do look different from different angles.

I also have to say that it matters not a jot to me anyway because I think Cinnamon is the cutest little girl and her extra small size just adds to her cuteness.

Cinnamon’s shape

Freckles shape

Cinnamon side on

Freckles side on

Cinnamon

Freckles

Cinnamon and Freckles side by side

Up until this photo I thought that they looked quite different. This does show that they do have a similar shape but Freckles tail feathers are more square edged whereas Cinnamon’s are more rounded. I think that is what makes them appear to look different.

I then started to look at tail shapes from behind and couldn’t resist doing a comparison of fluffy bottoms.

Speckles and Emerald’s fluffy bottoms

Freckles fluffy bottom

Cinnamon’s fluffy bottom

Dandelion’s fluffy bottom

Apricot’s fluffy bottom

Of course, silky feathered, Apricot is a fluff ball so her bottom is fluffy and her tail feathers are thin and wispy.

Dandelion’s frizzle feathers exaggerate the arched shape that the tail feathers have. You can see that arched shape in Cinnamon’s tail whereas I thought that Freckles squarer tail was flatter and didn’t have this shape but once directly behind her you can see that she does have that arched shape but is more triangular in shape.

Who would have thought that they would all have such individual fluffy bottoms and tail shapes. At the end of the day I think that they are all beautiful.

I love the way the girls do things together. One minute they are all in the food dish and the next they are all around the water. It’s as if one signals that they all follow.

Three little heads in the food dish

Apricot waits her turn

However by the time, bottom girl, Apricot got there the other three left. I thought I was going to get a shot of all four little girls round the food dish but the other three left too quickly for me to get the shot. Oh well, it’s still quite cute.

Today has been one of many days, recently, where it has rained most of the day. On wet days the girls spend time in the shelters even though the run is roofed. When they hear the rain they seem to like the security of being under another roof.

All the little girls are in the small shelter

Speckles decided she must join them

Emerald was in the big shelter. I think she decided the small shelter was too crowded!

Cinnamon loves to dig. She is always digging and when she wants a dust bath she spends ages digging the deepest hole of any of the girls. Emerald was dust bathing a little further up the run than Cinnamon. Emerald makes a shallow well and dust baths while sitting on the almost level soil. Cinnamon keeps on digging until she nearly disappears into her hole.

Cinnamon digs and digs

And pecks at the soil

She has to get the hole just right

Cinnamon spent so much time on her hole that I eventually gave up and left her to it. The next day she was dust bathing in Emerald’s dust hole. Maybe it was just too much effort to dig her own hole again.

Cinnamon dust baths

Cinnamon still has white pins on her head

Cinnamon is pretty much fully feathered again apart from the pins on her head. Seramas seem to have pins on their heads for a very long time. Cinnamon’s show up more than the other girls because of the contrast of the white pins against her brown feathers. It will be good to see these open eventually.

Cinnamon is the smallest of all the girls but the most active. She is rarely still for long. She is a little cutie!

Little splashes of colour are beginning to appear in the garden giving us hope that spring is on it’s way.

The winter flowering jasmine has been flowering all through the winter

Snowdrops are up

They are so pretty underneath

Hellebores

Also pretty underneath

Pulmonaria

Miniature cyclamen

There are also yellow and pink primula but they didn’t photograph well. I love seeing the first flowers of the year giving the garden a little colour and the promise of more to come.

Our flock is a very united flock but just occasionally they separate into two groups.

All the little girls together

Four little girls in a line

Two bigger girls together

Speckles and Emerald

These two know that this is where the sun always is in winter. The little girls soon joined them here. I love having such a united flock.