Carol's Chickens

Yesterday Marmite was very vocal and I felt sure she was getting ready to lay her first egg of the year. By the afternoon she looked as if she wanted to lay but seemed to have forgotten where she was supposed to go. Marmite is our dimmest girl, nice but dim, is how I think of her!

Marmite kept going on top of the nest boxes. I put her in the nest box a couple of times but she would come back out and go to the top again. Eventually she sat down on top of the nest box. At this point I decided to put her in the nest box and close her in for a while.

I checked on Marmite a couple of times and she was settled in the nest box. The next time I went up I opened the nest box and Marmite casually sauntered out. There was her egg in the nest box so she had finally got the job done.

I am hoping that Marmite will now remember next time where to go but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Smoke’s round egg is on the right and Marmite’s egg is on the left. It is small, pale and pointed. Well done Marmite! It is good to have another girl laying.

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I have had a feeling over the last few days that Smoke was about to go broody. She has laid nineteen eggs in twenty eight days. Smoke often lays three days in a row then misses a day then another three days in a row.

This morning she was in the nest box after already laying three days in a row. Later she was joined by Flame. Flame has been laying every other day and has laid four eggs so far. Flame’s and Smoke’s eggs are usually side by side as they both like the same nest box.

When I checked a little later Flame was just coming out of the nest box. I lifted the lid and no egg was in sight. I then lifted Smoke and there was Flame’s egg. Smoke had snaffled it underneath herself.

A little later I lifted Smoke out for a break. She sat for a minute in the usual broody pose.

Smoke has done well to lay nineteen eggs before going broody. As the season goes on she will lay less eggs between broody spells if last year is anything to go by.

Meanwhile Ebony laid eight eggs and now hasn’t laid for a week. She is looking a bit tatty so I think that she is moulting in stages.

Marmite has recently been quite vocal so I think that she will be the next girl to start laying. Without Smoke we now have only Flame laying for the moment. We had just started to get more eggs and now they have fallen back again. Oh well, lets hope Marmite starts laying soon.

By the end of the day Smoke had laid another egg making it twenty eggs in twenty eight days and four days in a row. Smoke often lays one last egg at the start of being broody.

Yesterday morning first thing I checked the nest boxes as I do every day in case of an early egg. One of the nest boxes had a wet patch in it. My first thought was Speckles.

However when I put on a disposable glove and started to clear it I could see egg yolk and realised that it was a soft shelled egg. In fact it appeared to be a shell less egg as there was no egg shell at all.

My guess would be that it was from Salmon. Her comb has got very red over the last few days and she has been looking in the nest box. Last year at the beginning of egg laying Salmon had laid a couple of eggs with either no visible shell or soft shell. She is the only one of the current seramas to do this so it is most likely that it was her egg.

The good news is that she looks great. Sometimes the girls look really poorly before laying a soft shelled egg but Salmon looks really good as do all the girls. I am hopeful that this is just a glitch and once she starts laying properly they will have good shells.

Salmon looks really good so I am sure it is nothing to worry about. Her face and comb are a lovely red colour.

Flame laid her second egg today, two days after her first, so that’s another regular layer started. No more shop eggs needed for now which is great.

It was just over a week ago that Flame looked as if she was getting ready to lay but she hadn’t shown any interest in the nest box after that until today.

Today Flame was manic and I knew this meant she was going to lay this time. When Smoke and Ebony started laying they just chose a nest box and got on with the job. Ebony did a bit of scratching around in the nest box but that was it.

First of all Flame flicked loads of pine shavings out of the nest boxes. Next Smoke wanted to lay and whichever nest box she went to Flame wanted that one too. This caused Smoke to keep coming out and shouting. For a serama Smoke has the loudest of voices.

Eventually we closed Smoke in a nest box so that she could lay in peace and I kept checking on her so that I could let her out as soon as she laid. Flame kept jumping on the nest box Smoke was in and pecking at the closed door and making a mournful sound.

Next time I opened the nest box to see if Smoke had laid Flame jumped in with her. I checked under Smoke and found her egg and Smoke left the nest box followed by Flame.

When I next checked on Flame she was running from one nest box to the next making her mournful sound. She kept looking at me as if she wanted my help and at one point looked she was going to jump on me which she has never done before. I decided to try stroking her and was amazed that she let me. Flame has never let me stroke her before. She is usually quite indifferent to me and would just move away if I reached out towards her.

The next time I checked Flame had at last settled in a nest box. As usual she had put some pine shavings on her back. I returned a short while later to find Flame back out in the run. I checked the nest box and there was her first egg of the year.

Smoke’s egg is on the right, Ebony’s egg is in the middle and flame’s egg is on the left. It is her usual large size and pale colour. This is why it is so easy for me to tell who has laid which egg, not that I could have missed it today, with the fuss that Flame made.

It is great to have another girl laying and I just hope that Flame lays her next egg without quite so much fuss.

We got our new chicken shed in July last year. At the time we had seven little girls and three bigger girls. Before getting seramas I did a lot of research about them. I read that a broom handle is just right the size for bedtime perches for them.

With this in mind we put a broom handle perch across the back of the shed for the little girls and a wider perch across the side for the three bigger girls. This worked like a dream and the seven seramas were always perched at the back and the three bigger girls were always perched at the side.

The little girls filled the back perch and I knew that this was the maximum size of flock for this shed and in fact would have preferred a bit more space but the girls found their positions every night without any problems.

As time went on we lost three of the little girls. Now the four remaining little girls looked rather lost on their perch. There was loads of space on their back perch.

At this point Ebony started roosting on the back perch in the right hand corner where the two perches are close together. I worried that this wouldn’t be good for her feet and every evening I lifted her and placed her on the side perch.

Ebony protested at being moved and sometimes if there was enough light she would move back. I knew that the reason she was doing this was because there wasn’t much space on the three bigger girls’ perch whereas there was lots of space on the little girls’ perch. It made sense, as our biggest girl, that Ebony wanted to perch where there was more space.

I considered if it was possible to make the back perch wider in the corner that Ebony liked to perch. I went back to researching the correct size perch for different breed’s of chicken.

My research showed that different sized breeds, such as standard sized birds and bantams, need different sized perches and in a mixed sized flock there should be different sized perches available. It said that the way to measure it is that the hens toes should not meet around the perch. There should be a gap between their toes but equally their toes shouldn’t be stretched out so that it would be difficult to grip the perch.

With this in mind I checked Ebony’s toes on the smaller girls’ perch and found that there was still a good gap between her toes. I tried Flame and Speckles on the smaller perch too and it was the same with them. I also checked the little girls’ toes on the small perch and the size looks perfect for them.

This has put my mind at rest that Ebony is fine on the little girls’ perch. It will be less stressful for her to leave her to choose where to perch at night. Since I been leaving her to it she has roosted in the back corner spot every night.

Notice how different Spangle looks in the photo above and the photo below. She has lost most of the black plumage. She is our most, changed girl, ever.

I am happy with the space that the girls now have and having checked their feet on the perches I am now happy to let Ebony perch where she wants to.

Sometimes it is good to research these things again for peace of mind. I want our flock to be as happy as they can be.

On another note I am really pleased with this shed. I recently cleaned out the shavings and replaced them. It is so quick and easy to do this and it only takes one small bale of pine shavings instead of the large bale that the old shed took.

This shed is so easy to keep clean and to keep red mites at bay. I have also checked if there is any condensation over the winter and there hasn’t been any. This is definitely the best chicken shed we have had. The girls look happy with it too and the space is perfect for them.

At the moment we still have only Smoke and Ebony laying. Smoke has laid eleven eggs in fifteen days and Ebony has laid six eggs in thirteen days. Smoke is a really good layer. She will eventually go broody though.

Flame hasn’t shown any interest in the nest boxes since the day when she was in the nest box putting pine shavings on her back. This is surprising as I thought that meant she was ready to start soon.

Speckles also hasn’t shown any interest in the nest box since that day either. There have been wet poops under her roost spot since that day though. This, I think, is definitely proof that this is a hormonal thing for her. As soon as her comb goes red and she starts looking ready to lay she starts with wet poops again.

Speckles seems absolutely fine in herself though and this has now been going on for the last few years so I am not worried about her. I think it will probably be a while before she lays if at all.

Spangle was just being nosy about why Speckles was in the nest box and also hasn’t looked in a nest box since that day.

Marmite hasn’t yet shown any interest in the nest boxes and she is the second best, little girl, layer.

Salmon also hasn’t shown any interest in the nest boxes which doesn’t surprise me as Salmon and Spangle are erratic layers.

Salmon is still wheezing though. This has now been going on for a long time. I have treated with tylan several times and at one point went on for three weeks and it made no difference. My experience with myco in the past has been that once treated the strong girls get better and the girls with any other under laying problem or weakness decline until we lose them.

Salmon has proved different. Salmon hasn’t got better or worse and seems absolutely fine in every other way except that she has a wheeze. I can tell when she is nearby because I can hear her. This is so odd. We have wondered if she has some sort of blockage causing her wheeze although at the back of my mind the prospect of myco is always there.

There is nothing to be done but just wait and see what happens with Salmon. Apart from her wheeze she behaves just like any other of the girls.

The flock looks great and I am very happy with them. The number at the moment is a good number. The only reason I increased the flock size when I brought in the five amigos was that I wanted to guard against losses as the seramas seem so fragile.

I had only ever added two or three at a time before. I think it was the right thing to do as I lost five girls last year which was a blow. The flock size now is perfect and there is ample room in the smaller chicken shed.

I just don’t want to lose any more. That’s a daft thing to say though because, of course, we never want to lose girls. I just hope that we can keep this flock as it is for a long time. I am always aware that the vulnerable ones are Speckles because of her age and Salmon because of her wheeze.

I just hope that despite that we can stay as a flock of seven as long as possible as the flock is so lovely as it is now. I know that things never stay the same in chicken world but I hope that it does so for a good while to come.

I love seeing snowdrops in the garden even if they are in drizzle.

They do provide a bit of brightness in what has been a very wet winter.

I have been surprised to see Speckles going in the nest box over the last week. Last year she laid one egg in March and five more in June. I wasn’t really expecting her to lay at all this year let alone to start earlier. It has been a milder winter though.

Yesterday Flame also tried out the nest box and she started laying half way through February last year so the milder weather may be having an effect on the girls.

After all this nest box action just Ebony laid yesterday and just Smoke today. I am sure that Flame will start soon though as this was typical practising before getting started. It seems that Speckles is thinking about it too but I think it will be a bit longer before she starts. I think Spangle was probably just being nosy.

It is quite amusing to see all this action around the nest boxes. I am hopeful that I won’t have to buy any eggs soon. It will be lovely to have enough of our girls’s eggs to not need to supplement with shop bought eggs.

I promise my blog isn’t turning into a blog about jigsaw puzzle reviews and normal chicken news will resume tomorrow. It’s just that this jigsaw was the last one in the cupboard from last year’s Christmas gifts.

I think that last year we just didn’t have spare time for things like jigsaws so it got forgotten and then was rediscovered this Christmas. This year we have more time due to cutting back on our business.

I started this jigsaw at the weekend and it took three days to complete. It has seven hundred and fifty pieces and it was a joy.

I have realised that what makes a good jigsaw is when it is addictive. I couldn’t resist adding a few pieces every time I walked past it. Every time I spent time on it I had to remind myself when it was time to stop and get other things done such as cooking dinner.

It was like six jigsaws in one as it was divided up into six squares. It was fun being able to move from one square to the next. There was so much colour and variety that it was interesting to do and there was no frustrating end to it. Also it was obvious when the pieces fitted and I didn’t have to keep redoing areas like in the last jigsaw. This jigsaw was completely satisfying.

I think this may have been the most enjoyable jigsaw of all. My favourite square is the reptile on the bottom left. He is so beautiful and the crab is also so colourful.

And that is it for jigsaws for now. I have taken some photos of the girls for a post tomorrow so watch this space.

We have had our leather settee for nearly twenty years. It was expensive at the time and we bought a matching chair with it. It has moved three times with us so it was never bought with our current sitting room in mind.

It was very big and only just fitted in this sitting room. It was very comfortable though and I would curl up in my corner of the settee every evening while we watched television.

Recently the leather on my cushion wore through. I asked my lovely husband if he thought it could be repaired and he said that the whole thing was tired and it didn’t owe us anything.

It was a chance to choose a smaller settee that would fit the room better. We measured our settee and set out to look for a replacement with it in mind that it had to be smaller.

We very quickly found one that we thought was perfect. It was a small two seater settee and as luck would have it it was half price. This was because it had been in the showroom a while and the three seater settee and the chairs had all sold leaving just this settee.

We had decided that we weren’t matching a chair this time. The chair that came with our settee was not comfortable and we have barely used it. It was also rather big for the room. We had decided to look for a leather Chesterfield or Queen Anne shaped chair that would be taller but narrower. We have furnished our home from antique shops and a few family pieces so we are used to putting different pieces together.

The new settee is reclining which wasn’t something we were looking for. However as we looked around a few furniture shops it soon became apparent that all the leather settees were reclining. It must be the current trend.

This settee was much less expensive than our original settee and to our surprise came with a fifteen year guarantee on the settee itself and a five year guarantee on the leather plus the usual leather care kit.

We saved more money by taking it away ourselves as it came apart into two pieces and fitted in our van. Another bonus was that our friends who live opposite us said that they would take our old settee for their boys to have in their playroom.

The colour is lighter which fits in well with our wooden furniture. The side table came through my husband’s family and was hidden before by the height of the arm on the old settee.

It looks much better with the room and it is quite soft. I think it will be reasonably easy to find a chair that will fit with it. We are really pleased with our new settee.