Carol's Chickens

One of the great things about having chickens is that no allotment or garden produce ever gets wasted. The broccoli we tried to grow on our garden veg plot hasn’t worked. The cage to keep out the butterflies, followed by caterpillars, isn’t tall enough.

The broccoli wasn’t able to produce heads. We have had some lovely broccoli from the allotment so we decided to take a hit on this and pulled up some stalks for the girls.

By the end of the day I expect to remove just the stems.

Moulting seems to have started early this year. After their recent broody spell both Ebony and Smoke are moulting and I am picking up little piles of feathers from the chicken shed each morning plus a few from the run. I don’t anticipate these two girls starting to lay again for a while.

Flame was laying every other day until four days ago. For the last few days Flame has been sitting in the nest box for a while but not laying. I think she may have come to the end of her season but doesn’t seem to realise it yet or maybe she is just taking a break.

Sugar was only out of lay for two weeks including her broody spell and a one week break after she came out of it. It always amazes me how quickly Sugar starts laying again. She started laying again two days ago.

Other than Sugar we have Salmon, Spangle and Shadow laying. Shadow also took a break for a week which she does from time to time and has laid twice since then. Spangle is an erratic layer and only lays on average once a week. Salmon has hit her stride and has been laying every other day for three weeks now. This is really good for her.

The girls are just about keeping us in enough eggs for now. It is great to be between broodies at the moment but I know it will be Sugar who will go broody again when she has laid her quota of eggs.

I am used to the routine now though and will just make the most of this time between broodies.

Edit :

Flame has just laid, later this afternoon, after her four day break so it looks like she hasn’t finished after all which is good news.

I wrote this post too soon. The next day Smoke laid again which is three weeks from when she went broody. Looks like we have our two best layers back for now.

Sugar had three nights in the broody crate and then was through with being broody. This works really well with Sugar.

Having three broody girls at once meant there wasn’t much egg laying going on. We have been getting just one or at best two eggs a day. This meant that I could keep the nest boxes closed and try to break all three girls at once.

The reason Sugar spends the nights in the broody crate is because she refuses to perch in the chicken shed when broody while Smoke and Ebony will perch. Sugar perches on the perch in the broody crate though. I think she doesn’t like sitting on the paper lining the crate.

For the last two nights I left Sugar in the run and she has perched at bedtime. It is so nice to see all the girls perching together.

Today I opened up the nest boxes and none of the girls that had been broody took any notice so I think they are now all through it. Hurrah!

As well as sharing our allotment produce with our neighbours the girls also get a share. They get to have anything that goes to seed.

The girls also get any soft tomatoes and chopped tomatoes is one of their favourite things.

It is so good to see all of the flock together again. I don’t suppose it will last long but I will enjoy it for now.

Smoke has now been broody for nine days. Sugar has been broody for five days and Ebony went broody three days ago. It’s getting ridiculous!

I go up to see only half the flock in the run and if a girl is laying even less girls out. The nest boxes are clogged up making it awkward when a girl wants to lay.

I just can’t manage with three girls broody at once so decided I need to break them out of it.

I decided to start with Sugar because she is the easiest and three nights in the broody crate is enough to break her out of it. She had her first night in the broody crate last night.

This morning it was obvious that Flame wanted to lay. She didn’t lay yesterday so was ready for a morning egg. Flame always makes a mournful sound when she wants to lay so it’s really easy to tell. I put Sugar back in the broody crate and opened up the nest boxes.

I decided to put Smoke in with Ebony to leave another nest box empty for Flame. When I returned to check on them this is what I found.

Flame is the girl most happy to share a nest box and she wasn’t put off by there being two girls in there already. Flame soon laid her egg and I closed the nest boxes once more and returned Sugar to the run.

We then went up to the allotments to pick some produce for our Sunday dinner. There is an abundance of produce at the moment.

The amount we picked has made little impression on the amount of produce still to be picked. We are sharing our harvest with our neighbours and will message our allotment sharers to go and pick too.

It is that time of year when everything comes faster than we can keep up with. I don’t like rhubarb myself but we pick it and pass it round the neighbours as it needs to be picked. Luckily our neighbours are happy to receive produce.

Sugar has now gone broody as well as Smoke. Sugar has laid nine eggs in twelve days. The gap between going broody and the amount of eggs laid seems to be diminishing for both of them.

Having two broody girls in the two favourite nest boxes makes it awkward when the other girls want to lay.

Today when I could see that both Ebony and Salmon wanted to lay I decided to put Sugar in with Smoke to free up another nest box. On the same day that Smoke went broody Salmon started laying again.

Ebony immediately took up her position in the favourite nest box and Salmon settled in the third nest box by the gate.

The next time I checked on the girls Flame had settled in the nest box with Ebony. It seems that sharing is a must at the moment.

A little later Salmon laid her egg in the third nest box. The next time I checked both Ebony and Flame had laid their eggs side by side.

I was pleased that three girls got their eggs laid without any shouting. It is so much easier when the girls will share nest boxes.

Luckily we had built up a collection of eggs while all the girls were laying for a short while so we will be okay with two girls out of lay for a while.

Our lilies have been amazing this year. I took some photos before the rain came to bash them down.

Smoke is broody again. She has laid eight eggs in eleven days. Smoke is out of lay for longer than she is in lay. This year has been a record even for her. This is Smoke’s seventh broody spell so she is broody on average once every month.

I guess I should be used to it by now and I guess nothing is ever going to change her.

Yesterday was the second time this year that we had six eggs from our seven girls. The first was on 28th March and this time on 21st July. On both occasions it was Salmon who didn’t lay.

Salmon wasn’t laying in March after her, soft shelled egg, experience and she isn’t laying at the moment after her brief broody spell.

It was a very hot day yesterday and I was sitting in the shade with a book. The garden is looking so colourful with the day lilies being the best they have ever been due to the clumps growing bigger and the red of the crocosmia in the foreground is framing the view beautifully.

Anyway back to the chickens. I sometimes think there is something hormonal that passes between chickens causing them all to want to lay on the same day, at the same time and of course in the same nest box!

Being a hot sunny day all our neighbours were in the garden and I was very much aware how noisy the girls were being. The little girls all wanted to lay at once and were all shouting.

Sugar laid first then Smoke and Shadow wanted the same nest box. I had been checking on them and Shadow was in the nest box and Smoke was shouting and she is a very loud girl. Then I heard Spangle shouting and I checked again. Smoke had forced Shadow out of the nest box and Shadow had laid her egg on the patio just outside the nest box. Sigh!

Next time I checked Spangle was in with Smoke which was brave of her and both girls had just laid.

Straight after that Flame and Ebony both wanted to lay. Ebony would shout when Flame was in and then Flame would shout when Ebony was in and they were constantly changing places. They too have a very loud shout with Ebony being the loudest of all.

I kept worrying about what the neighbours would think and was constantly going up to them to try to quieten them.

It was so hot that both bigger girls were open beaked and panting in between shouting. I tried giving cooling cucumber, tomato and grapes to cool and distract.

At last it went quiet and I checked again and both bigger girls were in the nest box together.

They didn’t look too thrilled to be sharing and it can’t be great in the heat. Soon after they both got their eggs laid and peace returned once more. Phew! Thank goodness that was done for the day.

It’s probably just as well that we don’t have many, six egg, days. All was peaceful today with just three, little girl, eggs.

The girls love it when I dig over the run. They follow me with excitement to see if there will be any worms. Ebony got all the worms because she is such a thug that she keeps the other girls away and there were only a few worms.

But afterwards the little girls love to peck and scratch and dig in the freshly turned soil. Smoke in particular loves to dig deep holes. The two bigger girls were down the bottom part of the run having a dust bath in the freshly loosened soil.

I love to see the girls having such simple fun.

We have had slow worms breeding in our garden in all the years that we have lived here. We know that they breed here because every year around March we see the tiny baby slow worms. I saw them this year in March but by the time I grabbed my camera they had gone.

Throughout the summer months we see the slow worms gradually getting larger, long and slim. Occasionally we will see a really big slow worm, long and thick, so we have them at all stages.

A few days ago I saw one that was long and slim. It was probably one of the tiny ones I had seen earlier in the year. This time it was still on the path when I returned with my camera.

I definitely think this is one of this year’s babies growing up. It was perfectly still and I couldn’t resist gently stroking it on the centre of it’s back. It wiggled it’s way, at speed, into the undergrowth. There is nothing slow about them when they want to move.

The garden is looking amazing at the moment. This is when the garden looks at it’s best.

I love all the different heights, textures and colours in this part of the garden.

And on to chicken news. After a week of being broody I put Sugar in the broody crate for three nights. That was all it took to break her out of it and exactly a week later she is laying again.

Smoke also started laying again a week after she gave up being broody. Flame started laying again after her one month break. Ebony and Shadow are laying. Spangle has laid one egg after a two week break. Spangle is an erratic layer. Salmon is still on her post broody break.

We have gone from next to no eggs to back in the swing again. We are in one of those lovely periods of no broody girls which we have to make the most of because it won’t last long.

I knew Flame was getting ready to lay again as the day before she starts laying she always has a twirl round inside the nest boxes. It’s as if she has to check them out first. Then when she is getting ready to lay she makes a mournful sound.

Flame laid her first egg yesterday after exactly a months break since she came out of being broody. She has also stopped dropping feathers. I decided to get a photo of her in the nest box for this post and just happened to catch her laying.

It is good to have one of our best egg layers back in lay. Eggs have been thin on the ground recently with only Ebony and Shadow laying.

Meanwhile Sugar has now been broody for a week and is showing no signs of coming out of it. With Smoke if I lift her out every time I go in the run she starts to come out of it after a week. When I get Smoke out she has a dust bath and she has water and food and she gradually stays out for longer periods.

When I get Sugar out she will occasionally have a frantic dust bath and she has water but she gradually stops eating. I have seen her go to the pellets and pick one up and then drop it again and leave. She will often just go straight back in without even visiting the food or water.

Anyone who has had broody girls will know about the broody poop. It’s the huge poop they do on the occasions when they are out of the nest box. There are no broody poops from Sugar and I think that’s a sign that she eats very little.

I feel now that I have tried this method with Sugar and it isn’t working that it’s time to put her in the broody crate again. I don’t want her to remain broody for the long haul like she did the first time. I feel that different girls need different treatment and Sugar won’t come out of her broody spell without doing this. Sugar has now had two nights in the broody crate.

I have put a dish of water and a dish of mash in with Sugar. She has eaten some mash and done some small poops so that is a good sign. I put her back in the run with the nest boxes closed when no girl needs to lay. I put her in here when a girl needs to lay and then in here overnight.

It has only taken four nights the two previous times so I am hoping it will only take that long this time too. Lets hope we will soon be broody free again for a little while.

This really is the year of the broody! Salmon gave up being broody after only two days like last time. If only they were all like Salmon!

Salmon isn’t so committed. She will only sit in one of the two favourite nest boxes and they were mostly occupied. One was occupied by broody Smoke and one by which ever girl needed to lay. This kept Salmon out.

Salmon also continued to perch at bedtime rather than sit in a corner possibly because it is either the two favourite boxes or nothing for her.

Smoke has now been broody for a week but she is coming out of it. My tactic is to lift her out every time I go in the run and she is now staying out for longer periods so I think she will give up in a day or two.

The more annoying thing is that Sugar is now broody again after only nine eggs in eleven days this time. The first time Sugar was broody for six weeks and then after four days in the broody crate she came out of it and started laying again two weeks later.

The second time I put her in the broody crate straight away and she came out of it after four days and started laying again after a further four days.

This time round I am treating Sugar the same as Smoke. I am not sure if her six week session was a one off or if she would be like that each time but the only way to find out is to try it this way.

I don’t object to using the broody crate when I need to but I would prefer not to have to use it on regular basis. I will keep lifting Sugar from the nest box and see if, like Smoke, she starts to come out after a week or so. If it starts looking like it’s going to go on for the long haul again then I will switch to the broody crate.

In other news Flame has only one remaining tail feather.

Flame isn’t having a bad moult so far. She is dropping breast and tail feathers but not too many at once and isn’t looking too shabby. I wonder if she will moult in two halves with a second moult at the end of the year. Time will tell.