Carol's Chickens

It was a week yesterday that we started the five amigos going in to the chicken shed at bedtime and I thought that it was time to start encouraging them to perch at bedtime.

They beat me to it. When we checked on them after our evening meal they were just starting to head in. They were jumping up to the perch without any encouragement from me. All five of them jumped up several times and then down again as they hadn’t finished scratching in the shavings yet.

I took photos but as it was still a bit light I didn’t think I needed the flash. It turned out that I should have used the flash as the photos of them on the perch were out of focus as the light level was too low.

I will take more photos tonight using the flash but for now I will just put out the ones of them in the pop hole.

The five amigos getting ready to go in at bedtime

Marmite is last to go in

I was sure that this would mean that when I checked on them after the pop hole had closed they would be perched up. No, that didn’t happen! They were in their usual heap in the corner.

I tried moving them from the corner to the perch but by the time I had got number five on the perch the others had jumped back down. They started to sound distressed so I decided to leave them to settle in the corner again. They are obviously not quite ready yet.

I feel that as they obviously know the perch is there it will just be a matter of time before they roost there. I think that they need to do it in their time so I will leave them to it for now.

As for the bigger girls, to my surprise, Flame and Ebony had gone in but Speckles was perched outside on her own! I picked her up and put her in. I am surprised that she would want to be outside on her own but again I think it’s just a matter of time before she starts going in each night.

It’s a good sign that Flame and Ebony want to go in and I am sure once that Speckles realises that she will start to go in too.

So as usual it is evolving but I am happy that it is moving in the right direction. I am sure that all the girls will soon be perching in the chicken shed at bedtime.

The five amigos have formed their own little flock. They stick together. They have grown in confidence and no longer panic if one of them gets separated but they move around as if they are their own flock within the bigger flock.

The five amigos stay close together

They move together in a tight group

The top of the small shelter is a new favourite place

I don’t know what they find to peck at up here

They remind me of ducklings when they enter the water one after another. One of these five will fly up to the shelter then the second one is up then the third until one by one they are all up in quick succession.

When one jumps down they all pour down one after another. It’s the same when one goes to the water or the food bowl, they all go to the water or the food bowl. It is quite amusing to see them follow each other around the run.

Ebony and Flame are so noisy about their egg laying, or to be more exact, their need to be in their favourite nest box.

The frustrating thing is that they are so in sync at the moment. They both want to lay, not only on the same day, but at the same time. They are so noisy about the whole process. Flame will shout when Ebony is in the nest box and Ebony will shout when Flame is in the nest box.

Ebony will  want to lay her egg and Flame will go in the nest box causing Ebony to come out shouting. As Ebony is clearly above Flame in the pecking order I wondered why she would let Flame turf her out but came to the conclusion that it was just a case of Flame joining her in the nest box and Ebony leaving because she wasn’t happy to share.

Flame is also still doing her manic thing of looking in all four corners of the shed as if searching for eggs. She has kept this up for weeks now and yet still lays most days and doesn’t choose to sit on the eggs in the high nest box. I wonder if the shed appears more like the barn where she would have brooded eggs in the past and this is still lodged in her memory or instinct.

Yesterday the usual shouting was going on over the favourite, high, nest box. Ebony had been in and Flame had sent her out once more. Ebony was shouting her head off and is the loudest girl I have ever come across. While Flame did her manic run to the shed Ebony returned to the nest box. Flame stood at the foot of the ramp watching her and then joined her.

I waited for one of them to come out but they appeared to settle together. Would they settle for sharing the nest box? This would solve the problem if they would share.

Flame and Ebony appear to share the nest box

Flame and Ebony side by side

I had a moment of hope but a few minutes later Flame was back out and shouting again. A few moments after that Ebony was back out and Flame was back in. A further few moments and Flame was back out again.

I checked the nest box and there were their eggs side by side. They must have been desperate to get their eggs laid. Peace returned to the run until the next egg laying session.

Although it is lovely having their eggs I am looking forward to the end of their egg laying for this year to get some respite from this behaviour. I intend to line up the three nest boxes on the patio area over winter and I hope next spring they will follow the rest of the girls and lay in these and will have forgotten this obsession with the high nest box.

In August Flame has laid twenty five eggs and Ebony has laid twenty four so they are by far the best egg layers we have but the noise is a real pain. It has made me regret adding them to the flock at times but I keep hoping that if we stick with it, it may settle down next year. It is such a shame because they have settled in so well apart from this issue.

I am trying to remain calm about it though as no one has complained and once the egg laying is over all is peaceful once more. I wouldn’t have taken these two if I had known in advance how loud they would be but I just hope that in time it will get better.

Last night I decided to go out to the girls a bit later and went to check on them about ten minutes after I knew that the automatic door would have closed.

All was quiet and to my surprise the bigger girls weren’t perched out in the run.

The bigger girls have put themselves to bed

The chicks are settled in their corner

Hurrah! All the girls have put themselves to bed. Smoke is at the back this time so perhaps the order is just random.

I am not holding my breath that the bigger girls will go in every night just yet but I was very pleased with last night anyway. It was amazing to have all twelve girls go in on their own.

All the little girls have got bedtime sorted now. Last night when we did our usual check on the girls after dinner the new girls had already made their way to the patio area. It is a good sign that they now hang out near the chicken shed before bedtime.

They are making their way in earlier now that they know this the place to go at bedtime. Smoke is top girl of the new girls and I have noticed that at bedtime she is always nearest the pop hole and furthest from the corner. I wonder if she is last to go in. She is also the last girl to sit down.

Sienna and Jasmine have also continued to perch with Cinnamon and Dandelion. It seems that it is always the third evening that a new bedtime routine is established as we have found this in the past as well as this time.

The new girls put themselves to bed in their corner

Smoke appears to be standing guard. I am going to leave them to settle in the corner for about a week and then I will try perching them again. I don’t want to rush them into too much change too soon and I am not worried as all the girls get the hang of perching sooner or later.

Sienna and Jasmine now perch here

We seem to have three headless chickens in this photo.

The same cannot be said for the bigger girls. The darker, wetter, days had them going in but now that the weather has improved they continue to perch out in the run. They are easy to get in though. I just shoo them down from the perch and direct them towards to the chicken shed.

I am not worried as I know that once the shorter and colder days arrive they will return to going in before dusk.

I always feel that there is a limit to how long I can call new girls, new girls, but it is good to have some group names for the different groups. The last threesome to join the flock were going to become the second three amigos until Blue went and they then evolved into the silkie girls. I think that I will call the new girls the five amigos. It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it but I can’t think of any other suitable name for them.

I am so pleased with how the flock has come together this time round. Some past integrations have been really difficult but this year’s integrations have been a breeze. Long may it continue. I am loving having a complete and happy flock.

Last night I delayed going out to the girls until just before the automatic door closed. To my surprise Sienna and Jasmine had perched next to Dandelion and Cinnamon so I didn’t need to move them and even more surprising the five new girls had gone in on their own, hurrah! They were settled in a heap in their usual corner behind the pop hole.

It was only the third night of the new regime so I was really pleased. We have only had the new girls a week today and they have settled in so well. I am sure that they will go in on their own every night from now on.

Five girls perch together

I managed to catch them perching in a line this morning on the high branch perch. I love how confident these girls are which has made mixing the flock so easy. I feel that our flock of twelve is now quite settled and complete.

I am amazed how quickly the new girls have settled in and how adventurous they have become. We have only had them a week tomorrow and yet they have now explored every corner of the run, every perch, both grit boxes, all the dishes and even the patio area which is always the last area for new girls to explore.

They seem totally unfazed by the other girls or by me or even by my camera. All they need to learn now is how to put themselves to bed at the end of the day but I am sure that won’t take much longer.

Last night I herded them towards the pop hole once more. They are so unfazed by me that it actually makes the herding more difficult as they resist me. They will press against my hands rather than move away from them and will occasionally turn and peck at me, cheeky girls!

Once inside the pop hole instead of settling like past girls they try to escape. I ended up blocking the pop hole with my hands until it closed. I am herding them in just minutes before I know it will close. They push against my hands as if they could move me by brute force! After the pop hole has closed they twitter away quite loudly.

I am hoping that as they have fully explored the patio area this afternoon they may be less resistant to going in tonight but time will tell.

It is a bit more tricky taking photos of five girls so you will have to excuse missing heads or blurred heads. This is the first time we have ever added five and it makes taking photos more difficult but I wonder if it also makes them more confident as there is safety in numbers.

The new girls master the ladder and the high branch perch

You can just see Salmon’s head behind Vanilla and Spangle has her head under her wing.

They check out the patio area

They check out the corner by the pop hole

Smoke checks out the grit and oyster shell hopper

They check out the big girls food dish

I am just loving how easy this integration has been and if it takes a few more nights for them to get the hang of bedtime I am happy with that. Compared to past integrations this has been a delight.

Last night once the main flock had gone to bed I moved Sienna and Jasmine to the perch with Dandelion and Cinnamon. I am going to do this each night to try to train the silkie girls to perch there.

My reasons for this are that if the new girls perch they won’t have to compete with Sienna and Jasmine but can have the perch to themselves and if they don’t perch but huddle in the corner they won’t get pooped on.

The bigger girls are at last starting to go in on their own as the days are getting shorter and cooler.

I moved Sienna and Jasmine next to Dandelion and cinnamon

The three bigger girls had already settled in the back corner. Jasmine and Sienna moved to the end of the perch. They obviously didn’t want to be right next to Dandelion and Cinnamon.

We then herded the new girls into the chicken shed. They were not at all happy with this and kept coming back out. I resorted to putting them in their usual little coop and returned to move them once the pop hole had closed.

I picked them up one by one and put them on the perch.

I put all five new girls on the perch

A few seconds later they all jumped down and were in heap in the corner

I tried lifting them back up again but they all jumped straight back down. I think perhaps I am trying to rush things a bit so I have decided to let them settle in the corner for a while. I am sure that they will perch up when they are ready.

If I can get them to go in the chicken shed tonight without popping out again I will be happy with that. It usually takes a couple of nights for new girls to get the hang of it but I am sure it won’t take long.

I have decided to put a mix of chick crumb and growers pellets in the three dishes out in the run and a mix of growers and layers pellets in the dish on the patio area. Once the girls stop laying I will put growers in all the dishes until after the winter. By this time the new girls will be ready to go on to layers.

The new girls have already grown in confidence today and have been using the entire run and the perches. I am happy with the progress and integrations of late have been so much easier than in the past.

I have been feeling that the new girls were ready to integrate with the main flock but we had family staying for the weekend so I decided to leave it until they had left so that I could spend time keeping an eye on the flock.

I intend to try to get the new girls to go in the chicken shed at bedtime so I moved their coop back to it’s usual nest box position on the patio area.

I added a few more feeding stations with chick crumb and water dishes. The problem was that the new girls were now imprinted on their part of the run and I couldn’t get them to move from there.

The new girls stayed in the area they were used to

I tried herding them to the other part of the run but they would just run straight back to their part. I decided to remove the feeding station and close off this part of the run so that it was like it had been before but with the new girls on the other side of the gate.

The new girls are in the dryer top part of the run

Jasmine was the only one to chase the new girls from the food. As usual it is the bottom girl who wants to assert herself and move up the pecking order.

I put a feeding station either side of the wire as Jasmine couldn’t be in both places at once and added one more dish of chick crumb by the little shelter. I thought this might encourage them to use the shelter.

While in their part of the run the new girls had found all of the perches so I am hopeful that they will perch in the chicken shed at bedtime. I think that once they have spent a night in the chicken shed they will become more used to the top part of the run.

I will open up their part of the run tomorrow but with no feeding station in there. It will give them more places to get away but will hopefully get them used to the rest of the run where the food and water is.

I will report back tomorrow on how it goes at bedtime.

Before we got the new girls we put new tarpaulin over the triangular part of the run. The heat wave summer had caused the tarpaulin to go brittle and crack and then one windy day chunks of it blew away. It had been hot and dry for three months so we weren’t too worried.

I would like to put something more permanent here but it is such an awkward shape. Suddenly the weather changed and the rain came. One day it rained heavily for hours and that part of the run became very wet. I knew we needed to sort this out before I could think of getting new girls.

We found a much thicker, stronger, tarpaulin and re did it. We are hoping that it will last longer and shouldn’t need doing again for a few years.

Yesterday I also bought another “small animal house” as a third nest box. I think in the future with three bigger girls laying we will need three nest boxes.

Speckles stopped laying after she had re started and had laid a further four eggs. She had never laid so late in the year before. As soon as she stopped laying she started moulting again quite heavily.

Speckles is moulting quite heavily

It looks like this under her roost spot every morning at the moment and also around the run and in her dust holes. Sometimes the feathers waft from her as she moves.

Speckles checks out the top of the new nest box

It is a bit orange but I am sure it will soon tone down.

Dandelion tries out the new nest box

Dandelion laid her egg in here today so it seems that the new nest box has passed inspection.

Cinnamon is laying again

After Cinnamon’s three weeks broody she had one further week back to normal and then resumed laying with her first two eggs two days running. She has now settled back into laying every other day.

Ebony continues to lay most days

Flame is still manic

For a week Flame has been rushing about like this looking for eggs. She patrols the patio at speed and checks every corner of the shed and watches over any girl that is laying. The weird thing is, that while she is doing this, she is also still laying most days. We seem to have experienced all the different types of broody girls and this has been a new one for us.

I continue to remove the eggs immediately and once the girls have laid I close the nest boxes to limit her to the shed. I had expected her to give up by now but I am now wondering, if like Cinnamon, she is going to keep this up for three weeks.

Sienna and Jasmine are always together

The silkie girls are never apart and do everything in perfect unison.

I had hoped the new girls would find their own way into the little coop last night but like the night before they were still outside at dusk and chirping loudly. I managed to direct them towards the coop though, instead of picking them up, so that’s a move in the right direction.

I am hoping that maybe tonight they will get the hang of it.

A heap of chicks

They still like to hang out very close together. I have been grinding up growers pellets with my pestle and mortar  but found that they were eating the powder and leaving any whole pellets behind so I decided to buy some chick crumb.

I think these girls would be easy to integrate as both flocks have taken no notice of each other but I need to keep them separate until they are eating pellets. What I may try doing is letting the girls mix for periods of time, while I watch them, so that the new girls get used to the layout of the rest of the run.

It might be possible that if I put several dishes of chick crumb around the run maybe they would just eat that for now. It would be good to start integrating soon and once the bigger girls stop laying I could just feed all the girls growers pellets.

I will play it by ear a bit and see how it goes but at the moment I am happy with the progress. It will be interesting to see what happens at bedtime tonight.