Carol's Chickens

Yesterday Flame was perched above one of the ladders when I noticed feathers drifting from her and attaching themselves to the weld mesh or landing in a heap below her.

Flame’s feathers floating down to hang on the weld mesh

This morning when I opened the chicken shed there was a mass of feathers below the spot Flame had perched.

An explosion of feathers under flame’s roost spot

Flame doesn’t look at all bad but she has lost her long tail feathers

I am amazed that Flame looks so good when there have been so many feathers all around the run today. She must have been getting her new feathers in underneath already. Her long tail has gone but rather than no tail she has a shorter tail already grown in.

It is just over a week since her broody day and her last egg. Now that she is in full moult I realise that she isn’t a first year girl but is just a very good layer. I am going to record her as two years old.

Ebony has dropped a few long feathers overnight but laid today. She has slowed down and has laid three eggs in the last week. I am thinking that she will probably soon stop laying too.

In comparison to how good Flame looks Dandelion looks really shabby.

Dandelion has a head and neck full of pins

I am hopeful that she will get her feathers through before the really cold weather.

In the comments on my last post David said that he had the same thing at bedtime with the lower ranking girls being blocked from the pop hole by the higher ranking girls.

He got round this by wedging the door open to allow his bottom girl to get in.

We are going to be out on Sunday afternoon as we have our Christmas get together with friends. Usually we meet up one evening but this year it was decided to meet up for a late Sunday lunch instead. We are meeting at a near by pub at 3.30pm for drinks and are eating at 4.oopm. This cuts across the time that the girls go in (the pop hole is currently closing at 4.oopm). I am thinking that it may be about 7.00pm before we get home.

It is forecast to remain mild so I am not worried about it being cold but just a bit concerned that the amigos will be shut out in the dark when they are used to me letting them into the shed as soon as the pop hole closes.

So I decided to try David’s idea of wedging the door open. If I can get the amigos used to this over the next few nights maybe they will get themselves in on Sunday and I can close the shed door when we get home.

The shed door is wedged open

I wedged the shed door open a bit with a box of disposable gloves inside and the bucket that contains the pellets outside. I then borrowed a couple of logs to form a step.

I intended to go up before the pop hole closed and try to guide the amigos through the door. I miss timed it and when I went up the pop hole had already closed. Three of the amigos were still outside so it had partially worked.

I shepherded the remaining three through the gap in the doorway so that perhaps they will know where to go tomorrow.

I then helped them to get perched and closed the door but left the logs in place so that they can get used to them.

I have a couple more evenings to try to get them used to this. Tomorrow I will try to get the timing better. As always these things are a work in progress. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow works out.

Tonight I went up to check on the girls before the pop hole closed and to take some photos of what is happening at bedtime.

This is what is happening at bedtime

The silky girls are blocking the pop hole

What happens is the amigos wait outside for the silky girls to perch. By that time the pop hole door is closing and some of them are not making it in.

When I opened the main door the amigos wanted to play too

This is where I become a distraction. By opening the main door it just encouraged the amigos to peck in the shavings too. Eventually I closed the door. The pop hole closed and I opened the door a little bit and put the silky girls on the back and the amigos on their perch.

I swept the patio as they had scratched shavings out and checked back in. Salmon was sat on Vanilla’s back! Honestly, these girls! I put her back on the perch next to Vanilla and closed the door once more. I waited a minute then looked back in and took two more photos.

The girls are now settled at the back

The amigos are settled at last

As it was dark it was a pot luck photo but I didn’t want to unsettle them by taking more than one.

I think that I make it worse when I go up at bedtime so I will check on them when the pop hole has closed and just put the stragglers in. I don’t think bedtime is going to get any better than this for now.

If the silky girls and the amigos were all part of one group I don’t think there would be a problem but because the amigos are below the silky girls in the pecking order they don’t have the courage to get past them when they are blocking the pop hole.

We had talked about trying to train the amigos to go to the perch on the other side or making a perch on their side that was the same shape as the one on the other side but in the end I think that nothing will solve the problem because it is down to Sienna and Jasmine blocking the pop hole.

At the end of the day it is a pecking order thing and that won’t change any time soon. By next year the dynamics of the flock may have changed but for now I will just have to put the stragglers in each night.

Tonight and the night before last Marmite had been shut out on her own at bedtime. Last night both Marmite and Spangle were shut out. They were both sat on top of one of the nest boxes and tonight Marmite was on top of the nest box on her own.

I felt so sorry for her. She whimpered as I went through the gate and I picked her up and placed her on the amigo’s perch.

Marmite is shut out again

I checked on them near to bedtime last week and this is what I think is happening. It was getting dark and the bigger girls and Cinnamon and Dandelion were on the back perch. The silky girls were pecking at shavings in the pop hole and blocking it so that the amigos couldn’t get in.

I don’t think this is particularly intentional. They just enjoy pecking at the shavings before settling and it’s by the pop hole that it’s light enough for them to do this. The amigos being lower ranking have to wait for the silky girls to perch at the back before they can make their way in. By this time the door is closing.

On the day that I saw this happening two of the amigos got in in time and three got shut out. I think that because Marmite is firmly bottom girl and is timid she is the one who mostly doesn’t get in in time.

All of this wouldn’t happen if they went in earlier and I am not sure why they are leaving it so late. I think it is going to be inevitable that one or more girls are going to be shut out each night. I will continue to go up to them either just after the pop hole has shut or just before the pop hole shuts to make sure that they are all in.

I had wondered if I was a distraction for them and if by going to check on them later they would have more of a chance of going in but this clearly isn’t the whole story. Luckily I will always be here to put them in so it’s not a huge problem it’s just a bit annoying that they can’t work it out for themselves.

Seramas don’t usually moult very noticeably but Dandelion is very obviously moulting at the moment. Seramas are said to lose a few feathers at a time all year round so that you would hardly notice. I have never seen Dandelion looking as tatty as she does now.

The only good thing about this is that it is mild at the moment. Dandelion feels the cold the most out of all my girls so I just hope that she gets her feathers back in before the weather turns really cold.

Dandelion with only pins on her head

And pins on her neck

I really hope those pin feathers hurry up and open. I can’t wait to see Dandelion fully feathered again.

One of the small branch perches that was attached to the ladder recently rotted and came away from the ladder. As it was still attached at the other end I decided to leave it for now and just pushed it downwards into the soil.

Recently the little girls have been obsessed with pecking at it. They have stripped some of the fine bark away and have been pecking at the soft wood that I had pushed in to the ground. I then noticed that the bigger branch perch on the other side of the hatch has also been pecked away.

This used to be a small perch

Patches of bark have been pecked off along the branch and at the bottom the soft wood has been pecked away.

The end of another perch

The little girls have been pecking away here too.

In the past I had researched chickens eating some pine shavings and it said that it isn’t harmful and aids digestion. Not really sure how that works but I thought that if that is the case then pecking at the wood is probably not going to harm them.

However I decided to research this too and found that people had said that their girls do the same thing. One had said that they put a tree stump in the run and the girls had gradually broken it down completely.

Some thought stripping bark may be to get at bugs but the branch perches have been in the run for many years and are unlikely to have any bugs. Everyone agreed that as long as the girls had a good diet it was unlikely to do any harm.

It seems to me that it is only the soft wood and they will be getting bits the size of dust. All the girls eat well with pellets and greens daily plus apple and corn and other occasional treats. I don’t think it will do them any harm and if they were in a free range environment they would have access to branches which they could peck at.

I think they just enjoy this. It’s odd though that it is something just the little girls do. I haven’t ever seen the three bigger girls do this.

I wonder if any one else has seen their girls do this?

I thought that following on from the bedtime posts I would do a morning post. Before I start I will just do a quick update.

Flame perched at bedtime after her broody moment and the following morning she didn’t show any sign of wanting to go in the nest box. It seems that she is very quickly over it and will probably take a short break from laying now.

Last night at bedtime when I checked on the girls the automatic door was closed and all five amigos were shut outside. If I was away overnight they could certainly get shut outside which would be really bad for them. Luckily I don’t intend to be away overnight in winter.

They were all calling out to me as if asking for my help. They ran towards me and then ran towards the shed door. I opened it and they all went in. They have now got used to being able to go in through the main door.

I shone the torch on the perch and a couple of them jumped up. I then put the rest of them up. As usual I closed the door and then peaked back in to make sure they were all still in place. I think bedtimes will probably continue to be a bit hit and miss with these girls. The other girls all get to the back perch in time but the amigos just seem to leave it too late sometimes.

The pop hole is opening quite late now as the mornings have not only been getting darker but sometimes it’s been foggy or raining so even more gloomy. I was going out at half past seven but now delay it until quarter to eight as the pop hole is opening between eight o’clock and quarter past eight. There is no point me going out earlier as it’s too dark but the girls do like to get out a little earlier than the pop hole opening.

As I go up the path and get near the gate the girls can hear my footsteps and they start to call out. As they hear me unlock and open the gate their calls get louder and I start hearing some thuds as some of the girls jump down from the perch. I talk to them so that they know it is me.

I then open the main door and the girls flood out and the chatter reaches a cresiendo. It reminds me of the chatter of children at the indoor swimming pool where there is a hub bub of sound.

I think the girls are really happy to get out after the long nights.

The bigger girls are always out first

The little girls sometimes pause to peck at the shavings

The little girls coming out

The girls are all out

The girls mill around waiting for me to give them a few sunflower hearts to start off their day. It looks dark in the run but it soon gets lighter and the girls are happy to have a little earlier start to their day.

The red pyracantha berries are still looking pristine and next to the winter flowering jasmine are giving a splash of winter colour.

Winter flowering jasmine and red berries

A warm splash of colour on a dull and damp day.

I recently ended up with one odd corn cob from a bag of frozen corn cobs which is rather annoying. I decided to give it to the girls. The reason I haven’t given a corn cob for ages is because they always used to get rolled from the patio area into the dirt and then abandoned.

I had a light bulb moment and decided to put the corn cob in a dish so that it would stay put. Only Speckles has had corn cob before but the girls associate the white dish with treats and Ebony is always first to any treats.

Ebony is first to check out the corn cob

Ebony tries the corn cob

Vanilla shows an interest in the corn cob

Dandelion and Cinnamon are interested in the corn cob

Flame had gone straight to the nest box after the morning sunflower hearts which I expected after moving her from there the evening before.

When I returned to check on the girls at lunch time, after my deliveries, I was surprised to see that Flame was still missing. I opened the nest box and Flame puffed up her tail. I realised she was broody at this ridiculously late stage in the year.

Flame is broody

I went to lift her out and she went to peck at me. I ended up putting on a pair of gardening gloves to lift her out. Ebony and Flame only peck me when they are in the nest box but they peck like they really mean it and have bigger, sturdier, beaks than any of the other girls.

Flame had laid an egg but the broody girls often lay one last egg. I assume she will probably take a break from laying now.

I decided to close all the nest boxes as Ebony had laid her egg in a corner of the chicken shed a couple of days earlier so I felt sure she would do so again if she needed to lay.

Meanwhile the corn cob in a dish idea hadn’t worked. The dish was still on the patio but was empty and the corn cob was in the dirt.

The corn cob is in the dirt but Ebony is still pecking at it

After I moved Flame from the nest box she sat on the patio for a few moments. She then rushed out into the run shouting angrily and had a mad scratch around in the dirt. She then spotted the corn cob and pecked it with such fury that my photo of her is blurred but it gives the impression of her.

An angry flame furiously pecks at the corn cob

Meanwhile Ebony was settling in a corner of the shed.

Ebony settles in a corner of the chicken shed

Flame soon stopped shouting and started making her mournful sound. She chased any girls near her and pecked at the apple, had some pellets and walked all round the nest boxes. She jumped on top of the nest box and then she gave up. She returned to the run and seemed to be back to normal.

I am hopeful that like Ebony she is smart enough to know that if she can’t get in the nest box and can’t get to an egg then there is no point in sitting. Ebony came out of it in a day so I hope Flame will be the same.

I will leave the nest boxes closed tomorrow to make sure she doesn’t go back in. Tonight when I checked on them Flame was perched on the back perch with the usual girls.

The amigos however were still having the usual argie bargie. Spangle and Vanilla were perched this time. I moved the other three up to the perch but Marmite ended up next to Smoke. Marmite is so timid that every time Smoke pecked her head she jumped back down again. In the end I moved Marmite to the other side of the perch and they all settled.

It seems that Smoke will peck any heads perching next to her and Marmite as bottom girl is the most timid. I will make sure I don’t put Marmite next to Smoke in future.

What a mission bedtime is at the moment but they all get settled in the end.

I went up to check on the girls this evening just before the automatic door closed. To my surprise four of the amigos were still just outside the pop hole. I wonder why they leave it so late to go in.

Four of the amigos at dusk

Meanwhile Spangle was already perched

At this stage I realised that Flame wasn’t with the line up on the back perch

Flame was in the nest box

Flame had left it too late to lay her egg and the automatic door had now closed. I moved Flame to the perch at the back of the shed. She will have to wait until morning to lay her egg. If I hadn’t checked on the girls Flame would have been in the nest box for the night. I definitely feel the need to check the girls every night.

I moved Flame to the perch

The five amigos are perched at last

I shone the torch to help the last of these girls up to the perch. As usual it was Smoke and Vanilla who were last. I have often seen Smoke peck at Vanilla’s head when she tries to perch next her but tonight Smoke jumped down and chased Vanilla around the shed while pecking at her.

I don’t know why, when these girls hang out together happily during the day, they are so aggressive at bedtime. Smoke really doesn’t like Vanilla perching next to her.

Eventually I waited until Vanilla was on the perch then shone my torch at the perch for Smoke to jump up and then shut the door quickly so that it was too dark for Smoke to peck Vanilla.

I opened the door again for a quick photo and then shut it again. I don’t know why these girls have to make such a meal out of getting perched at bedtime. I have seen this many times before. Girls that will happily perch next to each other during the day don’t want certain girls perched next to them at night.

I often wonder what it is about a certain girl that another girl doesn’t like or at least doesn’t tolerate next to her. Smoke doesn’t behave like this with the other amigos. I guess it is probably because Vanilla is second to Smoke in the pecking order and must be kept in her place.

It’s a wonder they ever manage to get settled at all at bedtime but once it is dark they quieten down. They have to perch together for a long time over the winter. No wonder they are so eager to come out in the morning.

Recently Dandelion was having a lovely dust bath. When she left the dust bath I saw that she had left a little heap of feathers behind.

I then noticed she was looking really scruffy around the neck with bare patches and pins showing. Her head is also patchy and I could see fine, tiny, feathers wafting from her head.

I have never seen Dandelion moult like this before. Usually seramas moult a few feathers at a time and it isn’t very noticeable.

The last thing Dandelion needs is bare patches, at this time of the year, as she feels the cold more than any of the other girls. My theory is that frizzle feathers are not as insulating as straight and silky feathers.

The only good thing is that hopefully they will grow back in before the really cold weather.

Dandelion is moulting

She has pins on her neck

Dandelion’s bare neck

Dandelion is missing some head feathers

Dandelion makes use of this small shelter more than any of the other girls so at least she knows the best place to go on cold days.

I really feel for Dandelion and hope she gets her feathers back in quickly.