Carol's Chickens

We are very lucky to have good neighbours. Our newest neighbours next door to us moved in in December and they are a lovely couple of a similar age to us and a refreshing change from the previous neighbours we had.

Before the lock-down our friends opposite ordered three boxes of veg plants for the three of us sharing an allotment plot. They said that the three of us could use them on our garden plots or on the allotment, whichever we felt, most beneficial.

At the beginning of this week the boxes were delivered and our friends opposite left ours at the end of their drive for us to collect ( we have been keeping in touch by phone or text ). We collected our box and left a box of crisps in it’s place.

We had the box of crisps for our corporate lunches which are no longer needed and with two boys in their household we felt that they would be of more use to them.

The wood on our vintage car had suffered terribly over the very wet winter. My husband decided to sand down the wood and varnish it to bring it back up to condition again. He gathered all that he needed before the lock-down and the project gives him something to do.

I have been taking photos of the progress and will do a post on it when it’s finished. Our new neighbour is a part time painter and decorator and when my husband was running short of sandpaper he left some on our drive. We in turn left them a couple of tomato plants on their drive.

We have all exchanged numbers and said that we should call each other if we need anything. It is good to have supportive neighbours.

The missing spaces are where we have given our next door neighbours some tomato plants.

In the box are broccoli, red cabbage, sweetcorn, tomatoes – red, yellow, regular and tumblers, Courgettes – green and yellow and chilli peppers.

We are intending to sell the car when things return to anything near normal as we feel it needs to be kept in a garage and we don’t want to be doing the wood every six months/year.

We also plan on selling one of the vans and eventually buying a car instead.

We have had a think about our business while we are on an enforced retirement period and have decided that we will not be starting back with the corporate lunches. We will just continue with private functions and afternoon teas. This will mean we will no longer be committed and can choose which functions we want to do.

If we don’t want to do a function we can always say that we are busy and we can accept some functions when we need a boost. This will put us more in control and will make it easier to retire completely if and when we wish to.

I think a lot of people will be rethinking their lifestyles during these difficult times. We are keeping in contact with family and friends and trying to stay positive and above all we are all in this together.

We have been getting an average of between two and four eggs a day from the girls. Yesterday was unusual as none of the girls laid which was the first time that has happened in over a month.

That meant that all of the laying girls wanted to lay today and all at the same time! Smoke had been very vocal for the last couple of days and I knew she was ready to start laying again. It has been a week since she came out of broodiness which is the usual length of time before she starts laying again.

Smoke settled in her favourite nest box by the chicken shed. Flame settled in her favourite nest box next to the store cabinet. Ebony settled in her favourite nest box by the gate which is also Salmon’s favourite nest box.

Salmon stood on the ramp to the nest box that Ebony was in and made a mournful sound. Every time she got the courage to go up the ramp and try to sit in front of Ebony, Ebony would peck her away. Most of the girls will share a nest box but not Ebony!

Salmon tried several times to get in with Ebony but each time received a swift peck. I tried putting Salmon in with either Flame or Smoke but she bounced straight back out again. After a while Salmon settled in a corner of the chicken shed instead.

After hearing a whole load of shouting from the girls I went to check and found that Ebony, Flame and Smoke had all laid. I checked the chicken shed and Salmon was just in the process of laying and was being watched over by Spangle.

I am amazed that all the girls can lay in sync like this. I took a few photos of Salmon and Spangle and a minute later Salmon had laid. Another four egg day. It is good to have Smoke, our best layer, back in lay again.

Spangle is always the easiest girl to photograph because she gives me her full attention.

Another bit of good news is that Salmon has finally stopped wheezing. Over the last week or so I had noticed that she was wheezing much less. Over the last few days I noticed that she had stopped altogether but didn’t want to say anything too soon in case she started again.

I haven’t heard her wheeze at all for the last few days. It has taken since the summer for this stop and I had thought that maybe it was permanent. I am so pleased about this. This bodes well for her future. Well done girls!

I always worm the girls in March and September. Now that we are between broodies it’s a good time to do it.

I like to add the flubenvet powder to mash as all the girls love mash and it is an easy way to get them all to have a share.

On the first day I put it in one large dish. The big girls had the first go and the little girls couldn’t easily get a position around the dish. I then remembered that I usually put it in several small dishes.

As the flock is smaller than it’s been in the past I decided that two larger dishes would work. I spooned half the mixture into a second dish and this worked fine.

I have now been dividing it into two dishes each day since then and it has worked well with all the girls getting a share and both dishes empty by the afternoons.

This needs to be done for seven consecutive days. I took some photos on the first day.

I think the girls actually enjoy the worming process. They look on daily dishes of mash as a treat and it makes the process so easy.

The day before yesterday I shut all the nest boxes and the chicken shed pop hole after Spangle and Salmon had laid their eggs.

I expected the two broody girls, Smoke and Marmite, to settle in a corner of the chicken shed once I had opened the pop hole at bedtime. To my surprise both girls perched at bedtime. Hurrah! That is a good sign.

Yesterday morning I could tell that both Flame and Ebony were ready to lay. I recognise their vocal calls when they want to lay. Flame has a mournful call and Ebony has a shouting call.

I opened up both Flame’s and Ebony’s favourite nest boxes. Ebony is the only girl to favour the nest box by the gate. I must say the girls were being very cooperative. Both Flame and Ebony settled in the nest boxes straight away after I had opened them.

I expected Smoke to join Flame in the nest box but to my surprise she didn’t.

Ebony has placed a few pine shavings on herself. Great camouflage, we can hardly see her now!

When I checked back about twenty minutes later both girls had laid their egg and I closed the nest boxes. This was all going rather well.

At bedtime Smoke and Marmite were again perched up in the chicken shed. This was great news.

This morning I decided to try opening all the nest boxes and Smoke and Marmite took no notice. We are done with being broody! That’s probably the easiest I have ever broken broodiness. I think the key is to do it quickly before they have really settled into it. Hurrah.

Happy Mother’s Day Mum xx.

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers.

It is a strange Mother’s Day with the current situation meaning no socialising. My Mum is in Norfolk so already at a distance. I am in the south east, outside London. I sent Mum a gift and card through the post and phoned to wish her Happy Mother’s day but of course I like to put it here too.

My eldest son is also at a distance in Cambridge. He too sent me a gift through the post and we talked on the phone too.

My youngest son lives near by. Even so we were careful. He and my daughter in law called to give me a gift but insisted that they wouldn’t come in. They stood at a distance outside the front door while we stood inside the front door.

It felt very odd but as they are both still working at the moment and mixing with people they wanted be to careful and we are staying in and not socialising.

I was truly touched by my gifts. I hope everyone was able to have a good Mother’s Day despite everything.

The day before yesterday Marmite laid and then yesterday she went broody. Marmite has laid fifteen eggs in twenty eight days compared to Smoke who laid thirteen eggs in seventeen days.

Smoke is the best, little girl, layer and the most broody. Marmite is the second best, little girl, layer and the second most broody.

Spangle and Salmon are both fairly erratic layers but have never been broody.

Usually, these days, I just leave the broody girls to get on with it. I lift them three times a day for a break and I had to lift both Smoke and Marmite from the nest box to the chicken shed at bedtime last night.

During the current circumstances the girls’ eggs are much more important to us. It wasn’t so bad having one broody girl but having both the best laying, little girls, broody at once isn’t so great.

I decided that I would try to break them from being broody to get them back to laying more quickly. If I leave them to it they won’t lay for three to four weeks. If I can break them out of it they will start laying again between one and two weeks.

Also the sooner I start this process the shorter time it takes to break the broodiness. Smoke has been broody for two days and Marmite only for one day.

As it happened Flame laid yesterday, late afternoon, for the fourth day in a row which is the most days in a row this year and Ebony also laid yesterday and she lays every other day at most. Salmon and Spangle who are more erratic both laid this morning. This meant it was the perfect time to close the nest boxes as none of the girls would need to lay. I closed all three nest boxes and blocked the chicken shed’s pop hole.

I will unblock the pop hole just before bedtime. Smoke and Marmite will probably settle in a corner of the chicken shed at bedtime but once it’s dark enough I will lift them to the perch.

I hope that I can stop their broodiness fairly quickly. At least I am home all the time to keep an eye on proceedings. The other reason this would be good is that I worm the girls in March and it will be easier to do this with no broody girls. While spending their days in the nest box they may not get their share of mash with flubenvet mixed in.

To brighten up a post of just text I thought I would add a photo of our winter hanging basket. It seems to have suddenly gone from no blooms to a mass of blooms.

It is lovely to see all the signs of spring in the garden during these difficult times.

A few days ago we noticed that Marmite was looking poorly. She spent all day in one spot. Her stance was, the humped tail look, that seramas have when all is not well and her eyes were closing.

I didn’t think it was myco but looked more like an egg related problem. I couldn’t understand why she would have an egg problem though as she had been laying with no problems up until now.

The first day she looked like this she did join in with the bedtime corn but the next morning she didn’t join in with the morning sunflower hearts which wasn’t a good sign.

Marmite then went into the nest box and I thought that if it was an egg problem it would be a good thing if she laid and then bounced back. A while later she was back out of the nest box but there was no egg. However there was a little pile of black feathers.

I wondered if she was going broody as sometimes they pull out some breast feathers ready to warm an egg. It seemed at odds though to be poorly when about to go broody as that’s not usual and also she hadn’t returned to the nest box. I was puzzled.

The following morning when I cleaned the chicken shed there was a little heap of black feathers under Marmite’s roost spot. The penny dropped and I realised that she was moulting. Seramas moult, a little at a time, all year round rather than at the end of summer like the bigger girls. Moulting can often make a girl look a bit off colour.

Today Marmite got her egg laid and that too was surrounded by little black feathers. Marmite had bounced back to normal. Crisis over!

At the same time that Marmite was beginning to look better Salmon looked a little off colour. She had the same humped pose and also her eyes were closing.

Salmon didn’t look as poorly as Marmite did but wasn’t her usual self and I always worry about her more because of her wheeze. I always think that Salmon is our most vulnerable girl.

Whereas Marmite looked off colour for two days Salmon only looked off colour for one day and then bounced back. I had noticed the odd loose feather sticking out from Salmon so I think she is moulting a little too.

I am now feeling happier that this was just a slight moult making these two feel a little out of sorts. The good thing is that they all have lovely red combs so that helps to reassure me that they are okay.

Meanwhile in other news Smoke has gone broody again. Smoke had laid thirteen eggs in seventeen days before going broody.

This is the favourite nest box and broody Smoke accepts any other girl laying their egg next to her. Once Flame had laid Smoke rolled the egg underneath herself until I came along and removed it.

You can tell Smoke is broody by her tail feathers coming forward when I open the nest box lid. She also has the usual angry glint in her eye.

It’s a shame that our best layer will be back out of action again for a while but I am just glad that the poorly looking girls have bounced back with no illness after all. I really don’t want any poorly girls in the current difficult times and am just crossing my fingers that they all stay healthy.

Every single blog I follow is talking about Coronavirus and I have so far held off mentioning it but it has come to the point that I can’t any longer.

This is having such a huge impact. For us as self employed caterers our business ended abruptly. Every single lunch or event we had in our diary has been cancelled. All our corporate companies have informed us that they won’t be having catering until this has passed.

We had two events booked for April which would have given us a boost but both have now been cancelled. Our diary is empty which is really weird.

However we are very lucky that we were already downsizing towards eventual retirement. We are debt free and have some savings so we will sit it out. We feel very sorry for businesses that will be much more badly effected. This last week with no work has felt like a practice retirement.

A few years ago when we had a mortgage, overdraft and a loan on the vans this would have put us terribly in debt. We have worked hard in the past to become debt free so we would be able slow down and thank goodness this has now put us in a position that means we will be able to cope. Our hearts go out to all of those that will be very worried at the moment.

Because I have had a week with nothing to do I have been shopping for ingredients and cooking every day to make meals for the freezer. We have a large work freezer with no work in it so it seemed wise to fill it with healthy home cooked meals.

We are preparing for the possibility of having to stay indoors soon. At the moment we have only ventured out to go to the shops while we still can. We are doing no socialising but are keeping in touch with family through phone calls and e-mails.

I have also stocked up on chicken supplies. We do have the advantage of a supply of eggs from the girls.

These are very worrying times and I hope everyone is doing what they need to to stay safe. I wish for everyone to stay healthy while we wait for this pass.

I thought that Salmon was getting ready to lay as she was at the grit yesterday and quite vocal and once again went in the nest box by the gate for a few minutes.

Yesterday Marmite laid her egg at bedtime and at dusk I had to lift her from the nest box to the chicken shed and her egg was in the nest box beside her. It is the first time this year that she has laid two days running.

This morning Smoke was in the nest box first thing and laid her egg which is the usual large size for a little girl.

At lunch time I checked the nest boxes and Spangle’s torpedo shaped egg was in her usual nest box and there was another egg in the nest box by the gate. This could only be Salmon’s as all the other little girls had laid. It has a good shell but has quite a pointed shape.

I am so pleased with this as it is a good sign that all is well with Salmon.

There isn’t an egg from Ebony as we ate it for breakfast yesterday!

We now have all the girls laying apart from our old girl Speckles so this is all good. I am so pleased that Salmon laid a good egg with no problems. I think her eggs will probably be normal from now on.

This morning I found another tiny egg in the chicken shed. I now know that it is Salmon laying them. Yesterday afternoon Salmon was very vocal and sat in a nest box for a few minutes then gave up. I felt sure she was ready to lay.

Ebony and Flame are laying. I don’t really have any expectations about Speckles this year. Smoke, Marmite and Spangle are all laying regularly now. That only leaves Salmon.

Salmon has been wheezing since last summer. I have treated with tylan three times and it has had no effect on her wheezing. Yet Salmon looks healthy and is doing all the usual chicken things and she has a beautifully red comb and face.

I wonder if her wheeze is why she is laying these tiny eggs and yet I am not altogether sure that is. Salmon has always had difficulty laying and laid several soft shelled eggs last summer. Salmon used to look poorly before laying which isn’t the case now so as long as these eggs stay tiny I think that it isn’t causing her any problems.

It is most peculiar though and I have only come across these tiny eggs before when a girl is laying for the very first time. The shell is soft and when I picked it up it dented which is why the top is flat in the photo below.

At least I now know these eggs are from Salmon. It will be interesting to see what her next egg is like. If Salmon’s comb was pale I would be worried about her but as long as her comb remains red like this I don’t think there is anything to worry about.