Carol's Chickens

The girls are all coming through the moult although I am still picking up some feathers each day. I have noticed that their feather colours change slightly with each moult.

Spangle is the most changed of all but the other girls have subtly changed. Spangle started out with a brown (spangled) pattern on her back and the brown feathers have disappeared with each moult until now they are almost completely gone. She has gone from lots of brown to almost just white.

Sugar has gone the other way. Sugar was mostly plain white and has gradually got more colour. It started as very faint and fine and now she has delicate salmon coloured feathers throughout especially on her neck.

I think that Salmon’s colouring is paler than it used to be. Smoke had gradually developed white feathers on her head and now has dark, almost black, patches behind her wings.

Shadow doesn’t seem to have changed although I think that she may possibly have more grey and Flame hasn’t changed but her tail hasn’t fully grown in at the moment.

Spot is also dropping small feathers but still has her stained wing and tail feathers. We won’t be able to see her true colour for a while.

It is interesting seeing the changes in the girls feathers. I think they have all grown more beautiful as they have matured.

Flame seems to be having a moult in two halves. I am putting it down to Flame having a couple of broody spells late in the summer which kick started her moult.

In September she stopped laying and started dropping loads of feathers. Flame didn’t look as bad as she had some years despite feathers wafting from her with every movement.

Flame had a short tail rather than no tail as she usually had and I put this down to the long tail feathers dropping out and revealing the new shorter tail feathers growing in underneath.

However Flame is dropping feathers again and has now dropped her tail feathers leaving her with next to no tail. She has one short tail feather remaining.

The good thing about Flame having her moult in two halves is that she doesn’t look any thing like as tatty as she has in the past when having one heavy moult.

Apart from Flame’s lack of tail she is looking pretty good. It won’t be long before Flame’s tail feathers grow back in and she will be back to her beautiful self again.

After two weeks with us it’s as if Spot has always been part of the flock. She has fitted in so easily.

After numerous dust baths Spot still has discoloured wing and tail feathers. The run she had been kept in must have reddish soil and as it was muddy it has stained her feathers.

I have toyed with the idea of giving her a bath but have decided to leave her be as I don’t want to stress her and prefer not to give baths so late in the year. The feathers are also quite tatty so she may moult them.

Hamburgs usually start to lay at six months but I think it’s too late in the year for Spot to lay this year. I am expecting Spot to start laying in the spring. Her comb isn’t red yet.

Despite her stained and tatty feathers I think she is beautiful and she will become more beautiful as she matures. She is a lovely girl.

Constant poop picking the chicken run causes the soil level to drop. This is most noticeable in front of the chicken’s patio area. The drop has become huge over the years.

Years ago we put some wooden blocks there to provide a step down but I try to keep the drop from the patio beside the wooden block from becoming too big.

Whenever I dig over the run I then use a spade to heap soil from further out in the run to the the front of the patio area. I also buy bags of compost every now and then to add but it never makes much of a difference.

Recently we were on the look out for the best value compost for the raised beds at the allotment as they didn’t produce so well this year. We found an offer at our local Homebase of five large bags for fifteen pounds. They are five ninety nine for one bag so that is really good value.

We bought some for the allotment then decided to buy another five to top up the chicken run. This is the biggest improvement in the level so far.

The level will settle a bit as the compost is very light and dry but it’s the best improvement for many years. The girls will also spread it a bit too and will enjoy scratching in it.

I am pleased with the improvement and I am sure the girls are too.

We have been giving the girls the greens from the allotment that are not up to up to standard. It’s purple sprouting broccoli that didn’t form as it’s too late in the season and has now been attacked by caterpillars.

The girls love it and Spot soon cottoned on to it as well.

This afternoon I checked on the girls and found Smoke missing. Smoke was in the nest box.

It’s been a month since Smoke and Sugar last laid with Sugar’s last egg four days before Smoke’s last egg.

Sugar gave up being broody about a week before Smoke did so it will be interesting to see if Sugar also starts laying again or waits until spring.

When I next checked Smoke was out in the run and her egg was in the nest box.

Well done Smoke!

I am so thrilled with how well Spot has settled into our flock. By her fourth night she found her own way into the chicken shed at bedtime. Not only that but she perched in the middle of the little girls on the back perch rather than on the side perch where I had been putting her for the first few nights.

A couple of days ago I kept checking on the girls before bedtime to see how easily she was getting in. I found that she is now among the first girls to go in which is very sensible.

Spot was on the perch next to Shadow and Smoke and Flame were together at the other end of the perch. Flame is always the first girl to go in. Salmon, Spangle and Sugar were still outside and were last to go in and settle on the back perch.

Spot has perched at the back, in the middle of the little girls, every night since that first time. This shows that she is accepted and not being pecked away.

Although the little girls chased her a bit during the first few days to show her that she is bottom girl there has been no pecking or ruff raising. Spot has been hanging out on the edge of the flock from the first day and wherever the flock was she would be close by.

Gradually she has progressed to being among the flock. Spot has shared in the communal dust bathing and preening sessions.

At first Spot was going to the food and water on the patio area when the rest of the flock were elsewhere but now she is confident enough to go to the patio area when the other girls do.

At first Spot would go to the food and water and join in with corn or sunflower hearts but she didn’t understand the white treat dishes or the fruit. Spot is a very fast learner though and half way through the first week she was pecking at the mash and fruit along with the rest of the girls.

Spot has also quickly become used to me and doesn’t move away from me like she did for the first couple of days. She is also getting used to the camera.

I think the flock accepted her quickly as they didn’t see her as a threat and she is such a fast learner that she learned everything she needed to to fit in. From the first few days she wanted to be around the girls rather than staying away from them and I think this helped her settle quickly.

I don’t think this would have been as smooth had we still had Ebony in the flock and Ebony has settled really well into her current flock so it couldn’t have worked out better.

I am so pleased with how everything has worked out and feel that we have a lovely, happy flock.

Spot is growing in confidence. She has been getting closer to the other girls and closer to me too.

Today Spot was enjoying a communal dust bathing session with the rest of the flock. This is so good to see and I am really pleased with how well and how quickly she is settling in.

Happy flock, happy me. I am so pleased with how it’s going.

Update

I have just been up to check at bedtime and on only our fourth night Spot has got herself into the chicken shed. Not only that but instead of being on the side perch she is on the back perch in the middle of the little girls.

I am so proud of her!

I am happy with how Spot is settling in. On her first evening I herded her towards the patio area before dusk so that she would settle somewhere near the chicken shed rather than perching out in the run.

Last night I went out a little bit later than the night before and Spot was settled on the chicken shed roof. Although she hadn’t found her way in, it’s early days yet, I was encouraged that she was heading in the right direction.

It made it easy for me to lift her from the chicken shed roof and put her on the side perch like I did the night before. I expect it will take a little while of doing this before she gets the hang of going in herself.

I thought I would give a bit of information about bantam hamburgs.

Hamburgs have a german name but are generally considered to have originated in Holland.

They are active, flighty birds. They are good egg producers of small white eggs and start laying at about six months old.

They rarely ever go broody and are very cold hardy. They have a rose comb and no feathers on their feet or legs which are a slate blue colour. They come in many feather colours.

I would add, now having spot, that they have big feet and long legs and a fairly long neck. She reminds me of a smaller version of a game bird. She is also very speedy. In size Spot is in between Flame and the seramas.

I think Spot is the perfect addition to our flock.

I have been waiting for a hamburg since last year. The breeder got ninety percent cockerels last year and couldn’t part with any hens so we decided to try again this year.

This year she again got ninety percent cockerels which she said is the highest percentage she has ever had. She had only one hen of five months that she could let me have.

As I have now discovered how much easier it is to add a single girl I was happy to take her. It was late afternoon when we got back.

She had been in a muddy run so has muddy wings and tail but I am hoping that she will soon get the hang of dust bathing and clean herself.

I put her in the run and our girls took very little notice of her. She soon explored the run and I threw out a handful of sunflower seeds which shared with our girls.

She soon found the perches and the top of the shelter. She hasn’t been used to having photos taken so it was difficult to get photos.

I wanted to stay with our tradition of a descriptive name. I considered Magpie, Harlequin and Patches but in the end we settled on the more simple name Spot.

The photos are not great as I couldn’t get too close but they give an idea of Spot.

As dusk approached Spot followed the girls up to the patio area and discovered the food and water. I hoped she would follow the girls into the chicken shed but she didn’t know where to go. She kept looking up to see if there was any where to perch.

I stayed to see what would happen. The pop hole door closed and Spot was still outside. I tried opening the door for her but she couldn’t work out how to go in. Eventually she settled on top one of the nest boxes and I was able to pick her up.

All the girls were on the back perch so I put Spot on the side perch. She seemed really happy to be on a perch and settled straight away. I hope that once she finds her way out in the morning it will help her to know where to go the next day. If not I will put her in again until she learns to go in herself.

This morning I went out to check on the girls as soon as the pop hole had opened. Spot was standing next to the food and water so that’s a good sign. I threw out some corn and Spot shared in it without any chasing so that’s a good sign too.

I am very pleased with how well it has gone so far and I think Spot will soon settle into the flock.

Ebony hasn’t been the easiest of girls in our flock. She has always been a bit of a thug.

Ebony won’t allow any of the little girls to be near her or especially the treats. She chases them and sometimes pulls a beak full of feathers from their backs as she does so.

But the worse thing is that she will squat over the little girls, pinning them down, while wiggling her behind. It puts me in mind of a cockerel. I have never had this behaviour in our flock before and sometimes Ebony is quite brutal with the little girls.

One of her other traits is trying to peck my legs when I give out treats. I have stopped using the, protective, frying pan cover and now simply raise my foot so that if she pecks it’s the sole of my flip flop/boot.

Ebony also shouts the whole time Flame is in the nest box during the summer and she has a very loud voice when she shouts.

Ebony isn’t an easy girl to love but I have felt that it is just something we have to rub along with.

But now we know someone who had three chickens and has recently lost one. She is upset that she has been left with only two. She is the landlady of our local pub and my husband has been looking after the pub garden since mid summer.

He asked her if she would like to take Ebony and she said that she would love to. We have said that we will take her back if it doesn’t work out. Ebony should go from being top girl in our flock to bottom girl in her flock which should stop her being a thug.

My husband will be able to keep an eye on her and I will be able to visit her. It seems like a win win situation.

I am still hoping to get a couple of Hamburgs at the end of the year and integrating them will be much easier without Ebony. I think this move will make for a happier flock and the landlady of the pub will be happy to have three girls again.

Moving Day

We took Ebony to her new home and stayed for half an hour to see how it went. We opened the cat box and Ebony went quickly out into the run. At first the two girls and Ebony took no notice of each other at all.

A few times the light coloured girl gave Ebony a quick chase to show that she was top girl. The blue coloured girl stayed well out of the way. It looks like Ebony is going to be middle girl in this flock. The two girls have names but I can’t remember the bluebell’s name so will just refer to them by colour for now.

I couldn’t get the bluebell in the photo as she was staying out of the way. The landlady is going to stay in touch by text. We have said that if it doesn’t work out we will take Ebony back but after half an hour we all agreed that it was going really well.

K texted me a couple of times with photos of Ebony later that afternoon and said that all was still going well. She checked that Ebony found her way to bed at dusk. After the first night Ebony should get the hang of where to go.

K texted again in the morning and said all is still good and Ebony has been eating and had a treat of meal worms.

K has said that I can visit any time which I will be doing and we will be keeping in touch. I am optimistic that it is going to work out well.

One week later

We have kept in touch most days and we visited a week later. Everything has gone well.

Ebony is doing all the usual chicken things and there is no bullying.

It is lovely when I give out treats to our flock to see all the girls share them together. Before the little girls had to wait until Ebony had moved away before they could have a chance.

Ebony is on an equal footing in this flock and the three of them share the treats together. Ebony is eating , scratching and perching with her flock mates at dusk. She also had a dust bath while we visited.

It has all worked out very well.