Counting my chickens

Day 844: I give up

2011-12-20T18:58:00.000Z

And for the first time in 844 days, I've BOUGHT some eggs! I only plan on doing it once so went the full hog and bought 15.

Poor girlies haven't laid for... well weeks. I think Sophia's egg from a couple of weeks ago was her swansong LOL

So if you have to buy eggs, what do you look for? Well you know my thoughts on freerange versus barn/battery (barn = battery in my eyes, given the dreadful condition our poor ex-barn girls were in)... so aside from that...

Pick the eggs with the darkest shells you can find - a chicken's eggshells get lighter/paler as she ages and it's a known fact that the egg quality (consistency, shell thickness and possibly flavour) decline with age.

Did you know that if a boiled egg peels really badly (as in, the shell sticks and comes away in tiny fragments, not in one complete piece), then the egg is really FRESH and it'll be worth the effort!!! Eggs that are over 3-4 days old peel in one piece.

Oh and I had a boiled egg this morning (peeled in bits so that was good news!)... and I was really surprised as how pale the yolks were and how the flavour just wasn't like our homemade ones :o)

Come on girls, we're missing your eggs! That's OK, the days start to get longer from Thurs 22nd in the UK - yes it's the winter solstice in a couple of days. YAY!

Day 832: Sophia's laying again!

2011-12-08T18:02:00.000Z

Oh WOW! At the ripe old age of 2.5 years, about 8 months after she last laid (apart from the odd half dozen between April and June this year), SOPHIA laid an egg today! And boy, didn't she let us know!

We think it's because we've redesigned the run. It now has nice hardwood verticals and a clear insert in the roof so they get a lot more light :o) Not only that though - we've also swapped the feed to a new brand and they seem to be enjoying it :o)

Kittens are enjoying the chickens too! And the chickens are enjoying scaring off the kittens (who are 30 weeks old tomorrow) :oD

Day 740: And the babies are LAYING!

2011-09-07T20:05:00.000+01:00

Pretty little aqua blue-green eggs :o)

I hadn't thought about it though... I can't tell who's laying and when!
On Sunday, I saw Frenchie digging in a frenzy in the dustbath and I casually said to Mr Nora, I wouldn't be surprised if she was nesting and about to lay an egg.

Then just the next day, Mr Nora came in with a bluey-green (or is it greeny blue?) egg!!!

And today? TWO eggs - one the same colour, one slightly bluer!

And just in time as Angie's been laying softies lately. She's probably getting on for 2 years old and past her peak now, whereas the babies are just starting at 24-25 weeks old :o)

So tonight, the girls have fresh, clean Aubiose in their nest and I'm hoping for 3 eggs tomorrow LOL ;o)

Day 716: Oops. Chickens meet dog

2011-08-14T19:54:00.001+01:00

We had a visitor today, the in-laws' dog. Being careful, we made sure the cats were locked in the lounge AND the patio doors firmly shut (this is a clever dog, he can open doors!).

Just as I was about to open the garden gate to welcome the hound, I said to Mr Nora "Are the chickens in the run" and he said, they're in the playground. Uh oh!

WHOOSH! Puppy dog ran in, very excited to see the girls. The girls were horrified at the hound and the sendible ones went into their run. Rizzo, however, is either very dim or really clever. She flew up... up... up... and away over next door's 6ft fence! Next door were out so Mr Nora clambered over the fence (with the help of a handy step-ladder) and next thing I knew, Rizzo was poking her head over the top of the fence. She was quickly back in the playground and then she legged it into the run. Once in the run, there was a little bokking but then they felt safe and just ignored the hound. Who was fascinated by them... until he noticed the tomcat.

Tomcat sat in the kitchen at the patio doors hissing at the dog, who sat on the otherside on the patio wondering why his new friend wouldn't come out to play? I wonder...!!!

So an eventful day but none of us are any the worse for the hairy visitor :o)

Day 684: Room for a little one?

2011-07-13T21:42:00.000+01:00

So I've been putting the babies to bed in the cube and then going out later on, just to make sure they were OK and not being picked on. And one evening, I saw this! Room for one more?

Day 674: Babies all grown up so now in with the big girls!

2011-07-03T15:34:00.002+01:00

That's it, decision made. I don't know why it was so sudden and unplanned but, this afternoon, we've moved the chicks (pah! Bigger than Angie now!) into the run with the big girls :o) They were just getting too big for the Eglu run and, also, Sandy's wattles and combs are big and red so it may not be long before she comes into lay! Just in time too as we don't get enough eggs from the other 5 now (1 a day - I'm going to have to start buying them again soon!).
So the day went like this. We dismantled the Eglu and run, dug over the soil that was compacted underneath, then put the balustrade panels in place to double the length of the playground (as per our original plan which fell by the wayside when the chicks arrived).

Wanna see photos? We just need to do a bit of tinkering with some turf (so you can see a spade and fork in the mud) and the tunnel but we're pretty much done.

"During" with the green lid of the Eglu removed as first step of the dismantling process

After - it's not every garden that has a staircase in it!!!

So that's it. I think these cuties will always be called the babies :o)

If you want to reminisce, visit them at Counting My Chicks :o)

PS Chickens 0; Hens 5; Pullets 3

(pullets are pre-lay... chickens are in their first year of lay... and they become hens after their first moult, which happens at about 18 months old)

Day 657: It had to happen one day...

2011-06-16T20:25:00.002+01:00

It was bucketing down this morning (still is!) so I dug my coat out of the cupboard to wear when I went to check the girls. Sophia had already laid a lovely big egg and I put it in my pocket, thinking "I must remember to take this out before I go to work".
Hmm... Went to work, got through the day, home time came so I put the coat on and CRACK!

It had to happen one day...

Day 655: Cleaning

2011-06-14T19:55:00.000+01:00

Blimey I'm pooped - chicken pooped. Chickens are now clean and tidy. No hanging around, I got in from work and got cracking. I scrubbed the floor and house, a full-on industrial 2 hour clean with DEFRA disinfectant! Hmmm... smells yummy, fizzy strawberry shoelaces! I shut the girls out in the playground so I could crack on without them digging out all the old bedding that I'd just carefully shovelled in a tub (their usual trick!).

Clean straw alround!

Day 653: the playground

2011-06-12T17:48:00.008+01:00

We have a massive list of things to do around the house and garden... but yesterday we concentrated on the chickens' playground :o) Well, it was sunny so nice for all of us to be outside in the garden!

We made two proper ends and fitted one. They're removable (like a safety gate, as it's fitted with special clips) so it allows for access for de-pooing and weeding... AND, once the babies are finally in with the big girls and their Eglu and run packed away, we can extend the playground to the right (we'd made the 2nd long front panel at the same time as the first but the babies arrived and took up all the space!). The other end will be fitted once we work out how to connect the tunnel between the main run and the playground!

The new end panel, just clipped onto the front so it's removable.

We raked over the baked, rock-hard topsoil and then covered the earth with cocoa shell. It crossed my mind that it might be too dusty for the girls (they can suffer from respiratory problems so, for example, we make sure we buy dust-extracted bedding) so we left it for a bit before letting the girls out. (And today the rain's cleaned it right off!)

A nice big log from the public footpath and rockery stones that we brought from our old garden!

Spot Roxy, digging in the background! Doesn't it all look neat and tidy?

Sophia, enjoying the new rabbit water bottle - she really got the hang of it very quickly!

And they had a WHALE of a time! We had to scatter a bit of corn to encourage them out, as they were a bit terrified of the new surface (chickens - always terrified of anything new!). Angelina missed out on all the fun, as she spent about 2 hours laying an egg :o)

Eventually, we plan to make it fox-proof (replace the flimsy plastic strawberry netting with weldmesh and put on a weldmesh roof) so we can let the girls out into it when we're at work. It'll also need a flap of weldmesh at the bottom, either buried into the ground or flapping out onto the grass with slabs on top (all to stop foxes digging in).

Once it's fox-proofed, we'll make a third short panel so we can split the run into two halves and put the Eglu into the right half - useful for a hospital wing or for quarantining/introducing new girls (ahem). Clever eh? Hopefully won't be needed for a while yet - OK Roxy and Sophia are two and a half years old but they're doing well... for hybrids :o)

Spot the decking plank stopping the cocoa shell being flicked out onto the grass!

Oh! Nearly forgot to say but it rained a few hours later, on and off until it got dark, and our girls ALL went in when it rained and only came out when it stopped! Not so bird brained, eh?

Day 650: Oh ROXY!!!!!!! You minx!

2011-06-09T21:40:00.000+01:00

This used to be a lovely stone chipping path with four indian sandstone slabs set elegantly down the middle.

But not anymore. Thanks Roxy! She must have been quietly beavering away, digging up the limestone, as we didn't hear a thing and hadn't even realised she'd escaped from the playground!

Day 639: SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE? Can you believe it??!!

2011-05-29T21:33:00.001+01:00

I never thought I'd keep it up. I didn't keep up the "totting up my receipts and working out egg costs" as that was just too shocking (but I think I've stashed the receipts in a tin, just in case I get the urge to update a very-out-of-date spreadsheet!). But I did keep up this blog (and a few others as well now hehe) AND I'm still weighing the (golden!) eggs LOL

Anyway, it struck me today... 2 years ago, I knew diddly squat about chickens and now I know a little bit so I can tell a sick hen just by looking at her, which I couldn't do 18 months ago :o( So I guess I should be saying...

MY NAME'S CLUCKING NORA AND I'M A HEHAHOLIC!
Need proof? OK...

When I've been out chatting to the girls, I come back in and the first thing I do is wash my hands... so sometimes, I was my hands BEFORE I nip to the loo, as well as after!!!
Rubber gloves are a standard item on my grocery shopping list.
I have found run clips in my dressing gown pocket.
And straw in my slippers AND my turnups (turn UPS not turnips!) AND my work shoes!

I'm sure there are more where they came from :o)

The girls are doing well, they've just squabbled over mashed potato and a baked potato skin. I **know** I shouldn't be giving them treats and I **KNOW** they should only have their layers pellets. So I made them a bowl of pellet porridge with extra calcium sprinkles, to make up for the naughty treats ;o)

Aww but they loved the mash - they even got out of bed for it hehe the daft monkeys.

Day 624: inside the run

2011-05-14T21:49:00.000+01:00

Someone was asking about roofing a run and I thought I'd share photos of how clever Mr Nora is, how we designed and built giant ladders to screw onduline (corrugated, bitumen panels), and how brilliant they were when we moved - just a doddle to whip off then put back into place on the new run! So here are some photos - may not be that good, as it was dark LOL

Day 620: Auntie Nora was asking about the run and the playground

2011-05-10T17:18:00.000+01:00

So what better than a photo?

Eventually, the green Eglu will be retired back to the shed, once the babies are grown up and can move into the Cube with the big girls. Once the Eglu and run is out of th eway, we can extend the fence down and double the size of the chicken playground behind it. Looking smart but still some work to do - we need to make the tunnel at the end secure, as it's a bit cobbled together at the moment but it works. Sometimes. Last night, Xena stuck her head out of the gap where the two tunnels join in the middle and was nibbling the grass!

We need to attach struts across the top to the garden fence to get it properly vertical but mainly to stop the playground fence wobbling - it's fairly sturdy but struts would improve it :o) It's freestanding, there are bricks screwed to the bottom of the poles (rather than sinking thm into the ground). We also need to finish the mesh at each end - there's black strawberry netting behind the balustrade fencing, which keeps the girls in AND it hardly shows!

All jobs for another time though... it'll be a couple of months before we extend with the second length of balustrade (already made and in the alley!), as the Eglu needs to stay there until the chicks can either join the hens (when they're big enough to defend themselves) or the Eglu is moved inside the run... Haven't decided yet!

Day 619: Our eggs come in many colours. And many sizes...

2011-05-09T21:01:00.000+01:00

We don't know what these girls are thinking of lately. In the last two days, one's laid a whopper, two have laid their usual eggs, one hasn't laid at all. And then there's Gabby. As Mr Nora declared when he came walking in from collecting the eggs today... "I don't know what's going on!!!"...

Please excuse the poo and bedding!

Yes, Gabrielle - the green egg layer - has popped out a mini egg. How cute! It's the size of a quail's egg. We don't know what's going on - perhaps eating too many treats? Or has next door's cat spooked her? Don't think so, cos she was teasing him tonight. She was pecking out of flower pots and he was sitting RIGHT next to her. As she moved on to the next pot, he'd have a look in the one she just left. He didn't touch her. I think he's a little bit in lurve... hehe.

(hopefully, NOT famous last words!)

Day 607: First fence panel made

2011-04-27T20:40:00.000+01:00

Did I tell you, we bought some wood to make a fence? It might sound like a bodge but wow, I'm really pleased with the result!

It's 2.4m long and we just need some posts to hold it up properly. We've nailed some black mesh behind it which I challenge you to spot!

Part 2 will be done probably over the weekend. I quite fancy making it look like a verandah on a log cabin in the Sarengeti... I can dream, can't I? LOL

Day 606: the playground

2011-04-26T22:00:00.000+01:00

We've been talking about making the playground more secure. Xena and her partner in crime Angie regularly break out of the flimsy plastic netting that we've put up with bamboo canes so something more permanent needs to be done. And soon!

So today, Nr Nora gave me a shopping list and off I went. Only they didn't have everything in stock - and it's a gallon of petrol there and back - so I improvised and bought something else. And he was pleased with my idea!

So this Friday, whilst the rest of the nation watches the Royal Wedding, we'll be making a right Royal muddle in the garden LOL

PS I bought some half-sized sandstone slabs for stepping stones. Mr Nora wasn't impressed - but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity as they're on clearance!

PPS I had the NOISIEST trolley in the universe! So noisy in fact, that customers were wincing, I was only able to go a few yards at a time (my ears needed a break) AND the staff had their handyman meet me with a can of WSD40 before I'd even reached the checkouts. It still squeeeeeled so he helped me to my car so he could take the trolley out of service LOL. He had it upside down with the wheels off before I'd even reversed out of the space ;oD

Day 599: A sunny day

2011-04-19T14:45:00.000+01:00

And the chickens were letting me know that they wanted to play in their playground. So when I got back from shopping, I opened their escape hatch. They've pottered around in there but, it's so hot today, they keep going back into the run for a nap, grub, drink and some shade! They're all inside now and Angie just can't keep her eyes open. I know how she feels and could do with an afternoon nap but I have jobs to get on with!

So a few quick photos from earlier today whilst they were in their playground...

Day 597: More photos... yawn...

2011-04-17T15:02:00.000+01:00

It's a lovely sunny day and we're working in the garden so the girls are in their playground, enjoying the sunshine.

Sophia the Light Sussex hybrid - or Dirty Gertie, as she's now known!

Xena, the dark-brown-egg-laying Suffolk Noir. Posing.

Gabrielle, the green-egg-laying Columbine. In her own little world!

Day 595: Gratuitous chicken photos! In the chicken playground :o)

2011-04-15T21:27:00.003+01:00

So the hatch works. It's just a small flap that opens out into an area that's meshed off. Mr Nora didn't even have to show them where to go, they just bundled out in their usual graceful (not) style :o)

Anyway, photos of them in their playground!

Sophia the Light Sussex hybrid. She's meant to be white with black feathers in her tail and around her neck but today, for a change, the minx likes dirt. Took me ages to find some decent topsoil in our new garden - our soil is mostly builder's rubble, pah! The girls have this small trug and a much larger one.

Gabrielle, the Columbine. Lays little green eggs. Very shy but now eats out of my hand. It's only taken a year!

Gabrielle again

Roxy the Black Rock. Having a mini-moult so head and neck are slightly bald. Top Chook. Here she is scratching like mad in the mud!

Angelina's head (far left) and the Sophia the Light Sussex hybrid (middle). I think she's laying shell-less eggs at the mo so is on a calcium tonic. Xena the Suffolk Noir who lays darkish brown eggs and never stops chatting! She looks like Roxy, as her hybrid mix is very similar to Roxy's. Xena has a much bigger comb, darker face and legs and has flashes or red feathering, not gold like Roxy's.

Angie preening.

Gabrielle again.

Day 594: Chicks

2011-04-14T10:29:00.007+01:00

EDITED TO ADD - new blog is here!

Wow I'm tired. I was so worried about them not being warm enough (they can die if they get cold) that I had trouble sleeping hehe. I went to bed at midnight, after I'd raised them up to be closer to the lamp (by shoving an inch thick piece of polystyrene underneath them) and made sure they couldn't get their heads stuck in the cage wires (covered the door up with an Easter Egg box!) and sorted out the floor, making sure they couldn't get stuck under the j-cloth by pegging it down. And then I checked them again at 4am and yes, they were fine! And again at 6:30am and put in some plastic mesh to help their feet grip. Did I tell you, they have HUUUUGE feet?

They do sleep a lot. And when they're not sleeping, they are cheeping, eating, drinking, preening, POOING, stretching and taking short flights with a few flaps! They smell a bit so good job they're shut in the spare loo. We'll give them a week or so to settle then we might transfer them into the garage.

I might start a chick blog! I wondered about weighing them regularly (not every day as I don't want to stress them) and keeping photos, just so we can see our little girls grow up :o)

Oh and names? Current favourites are:

masked superheroes (Zorro, Batman and A.N.Other) because of the stripes over their eyes...
Fish, Sausage and Fritter (as in Fish and CHEEPS, Sausage and CHEEPS and FRITTER and CHEEPS)
Or continue with the Hollywood Actress theme and call choose from Greta, Zsa Zsa, Grace, Marilyn or Brigitte.

Brigitte would be the one with the biggest stripe bridging (geddit?!) her face from one ear to the other. Grace would be the gentlest one. But I've been watching them and they don't have a graceful bone in their body! These chicks have never heard of the word AROUND - they never go around each other, they just barge straight through, under or OVER! Little cuties though ;o)

If you have my email address, feel free to vote for names!

PS Did I tell you, these are PURE BREEDS? Oooh super posh chicks! They'll lay naturally, in accordance with the seasons and when they'd be rearing their own chicks - so spring to late Autumn then resting and recharging over the winter. Pure breeds have much fewer problems with their laying tackle than hybrids (like Tallulah with her abdominal tumour) and also live longer. Hmm, have to get these names right as these girls could be around for 6 or 7 years!

Day 593: Counting my chickens... Chickens 5; CHICKS 3!!!

2011-04-13T21:16:00.004+01:00

Yup, we've got some 3 week old Cream Legbar chicks!!! Cream legbars are auto-sexing - as in, girls are different colours to boys so no risk of getting a cockeral by mistake. Girls have the markings of a tabby cat, with a pale brown body, stripey head and super-charcoaled eye-liner!!! Boys are just plain yellow lol.

Anyway, here's the news:

They're in a cat basket as they are already trying to fly so we need to keep them safe, unstuck (they can get trapped in the tiniest of spaces) with a mesh lid (for good ventilation) and escape proof!
They're under a heat lamp to keep them warm
They have a tiny feeder and drinker but already are sitting and pooing in them both, even though I've hung them up (I made a chain of tie-wraps!) to try to stop them!
Newspaper on the floor to aid cleanliness and help them grip their feet
All this in the downstairs loo to keep them warm, draft-free... and cat free too!

Want to see? Okey dokes :o) Names are forming gradually...

How cute? Every now and again, they go quiet! But then, every now and again they make a racket as they toddle around, flap a bit, stretch a leg or a wing, have a quick preen :o) So yes, VERY CUTE!

And we SHOULD have... BLUE eggs next summer! YAY! They may lay later this year but I doubt it so maybe in a years' time?

PS we told the farmer about our skinny Tallulah and she said we had them on the wrong feed - ooer. Ours was too high quality for pure breed hens who only lay in the summer - so we've bought another brand for our regular, year-round layers and hope they put on some weight!

Day 591: RIP Tallulah

2011-04-11T18:06:00.002+01:00

So the vet said Tallulah was actually skinny! Her weight was from the swelling in her abdomen, which I suspected as she was waddling and did the tiniest poo this morning. The vet examined her for an egg or fluid or tumour... but found a "very, very large tumour" - so large that poo couldn't even squeeze past it. All of this explained the large abdomen, waddle and tiny poo.

The vet offered palliative care but said the kindest thing would be to have her put to sleep :o( So that's what we chose, just so she didn't have to suffer any more and didn't have to suffer a painful, slow death. We left the room (having seen the way chickens flap just after they die) but then I changed my mind suddenly and rushed back in, closely followed by Mr Nora, as I didn't want her to die without a friend there. We watched the injection and within a second or two, she flopped and quickly slipped away so at that point we left again. Then we heard the post-death flapping and a couple of squawks :o( A little while later, the vet brough her out in her basket. I was crying in the waiting room and didn't have a tissue but some kind lady with her cat rushed over with a packet...

Anyway, Tallulah's now buried in the chicken playground, under some heavy rocks so she can't be dug up.

RIP Tallulah. Some photos to remember her and her happy retirement:

First venture out on the day we got her and Ursula, 21st November 2009.

First roost - just not on the roost bar! 21st November 2009

Now they've got it. Ursula on the left, Tallulah on the right.

Free ranging. Ursula on the left, Tallulah on the right. Nov '09

First taste of snow. Dec '09

Bald head.

Scary - what's that green thing?

Little Miss Cheeky.

Sunbathing last Sunday 3/4/11

Still looking bright but not quite right. Head beautifully feathered. 3/4/11

Day 591: Signs of a poorly chicken

2011-04-11T12:49:00.002+01:00

It's well known that poorly chickens hide their illnesses - otherwise they'll be attacked by the rest of their flock. But signs to watch out for are:

sleepiness
closed eyes (instead of being "beady eyed" - round and alert)
droopy wings
droopy tail
standing still a lot
off their food (they should scoff treats like corn!)
pale/shrunk/purple comb.

For signs of respiratory problems or infection, add:

shortness of breath
runny eyes and/or nose
rattly chest.

Poor Tallulah has all but the last sign in the first list and seems to be breathing heavily. She's also getting fat and her legs are wide apart so, when she does walk a few paces, she waddles like a duck.

So she's off to see our chicken vet this afternoon - I think she either has a stuck or infected egg or a tumour, both of which are very common with ex-farm hens whose laying tackle is overworked and pack up early. Tallulah's about 3 years old (she was rehomed at 72 weeks and we've had her for almost 18 months) and sadly, that's a good age for a working girl - about half the lifespan of a pure breed hen (doesn't lay in the winter and who can live up to 7 or 8 years) and less than the 4-5 years you'd expect from a hybrid (who lays year-round).

Anyway, you can see for yourself... (click pic to enlarge)

I hope this isn't her swan song! Wish us luck but, if it comes to the worst, I'm honestly comforted by knowing that she's lived free with us and as a REAL chicken, scratching around and sunbathing in the sun, for as long as she was locked up on the farm and has been thoroughly spoilt during her lovely retirement. She loved sprouts, mealworms and corn - but not in that order!

Day 583: Gratuitous Tallulah photos

2011-04-03T16:58:00.000+01:00

For no other reason than we've had a sunny day and Tallulah (our aging ex-farm girl) looked beautiful with her golden feathers glinting in the sunshine. Slightly worried that she's really slowing down - but also accepting that she's squeezed a second season of sunshine into her retirement and, if she goes anytime soon, we'll have made her happy and not into a meat pie or cat/dog/baby food. Still, she's eating and drinking and sunbathing so hopefully she's bounce out of bed in the morning as usual :o)

Day 572: Cleaning and neighbours

2011-03-23T20:30:00.001Z

I had bit of a pants day at work today so the chickens are always my first port of call. I couldn't wait to get home, let them out in the sunshine and get to work, pottering around. Within half an hour, I'd scraped up all the flooring and disinfected the run. It was lovely in the garden in the sunshine - but no, the girls wanted to help me! As fast as I was shovelling little piles of used flooring, they were diving on it and scratching it all out again. I got there in the end, by scattering corn in the garden. They just can't resist food! Eventually, they figured out it was sunny and spent some time contentedly dustbathing, chatting to each other quietly, such a lovely sound!

They've been laying well and are clearly settled in their new home. Roxy still has her mini moult going on (a bald neck), Sophia has malteser toes again (so I'm soaking those every evening until the maltesers either drop off or disolve), Tallulah is happy and content in her well-earned retirement, Xena is chatty as ever, Angelina is as naughty as ever and Gabrielle is getting really confident and Roxy is finally letting her hang out with them in peace :o)

We've been handing out eggs and the neighbours are loving them! I was concerned that the girls were being noisy but the neighbours one side say they sleep at the front and the other said she's hardly ever heard them and then invited herself round to meet them in person LOL :o)

Day 554: Working

2011-03-05T16:26:00.000Z

We've been tidying up the run, replacing the old pencils with bargain decking boards which we'll stain - the run will look really smart when we've finished :o)

We've also filled in the gaps at the end of the run roof, so we'll be able to leave the Cube door open at night without fear of foxes getting in through the gaps. That means we can have a lie-in now, as we've been getting up at 6:30am to let the girls out!

Today, the girls laid their eggs in the afternoon for a change - at one point, Sophia, Gabrielle and Angelina were in the nest box together - Gabrielle laid a lovely little green egg and then I caught Angelina EATING Sophia's! I thought she was eating her own but later, she starting BOKKING really loudly and had laid her own... I think she might have followed Sophia in, just to eat her eggs, the cheeky minx.

We sold something on Ebay and a little lad came with his dad to collect it this afternoon, just as Angie was yelling that she'd laid an egg so he took home two really fresh eggs from today and a couple for the rest of his family from yesterday's clutch :o)

The girls had a good run around this afternoon but then put themselves into the run, as it was getting dark and dingy out. All in all, another hectic day! And we're slowly getting there... but we're just not "there" quite yet!

Day 545: Me and my big mouth...

2011-02-24T17:51:00.000Z

So yesterday we got our 1600th egg! And two more after that, bringing our total to 1602.

Today has been like a spring day! The sun was out so I fenced off the mudiest, wettest, sludgiest part of the garden and rescued the pot plants then let the girls out. Five out of six had a whale of a time. Roxy stayed put in the nest box for at least an hour before she emerged - but...

Still no eggs today!

They've been out with us again this afternoon. We're trying to break up the clay and drain some of the lakes and rivers from our garden so the girls were "helping".

They had a lovely time and I've just got the last one back in the run. I noticed Sophia had a malteser of mud stuck on a toe - it was rock hard, like it was baked on. It's been growing for a couple of weeks so I thought, about time it came off. I put her up on a perch and followed her around with a bowl of water, soaking her toe in it whenever she stood still. In the end, I think she knew I was trying to help her and she was very patient but, as soon as the malteser came off, she flew down to be with her buddies.

Day 1 of Flubenvet today. We've been in the house 3 months and not wormed them so they're definitely due a worming (and the proof was in the pudding, so to speak! As in, the poo trays...).

All in all, a great day in the sunshine :o)

Day 544: 1600 eggs and counting!

2011-02-23T14:11:00.000Z

I can't believe that we've had the girls a year and a half already... AND that we've had 1,600 eggs!

So what news? It's raining and the girls are in their run. They have lots of space, a dust bath and perches so I don't think it bothers them, as they have all they need to express proper chickeny behaviour. They even have treats of corn and porridge (just their pellets mixed up with warm water - they love it!).

We've been in the new house for 3 months now and we've noticed that the feed in the garage is getting damp. The feed is supplied in a sack made of layers of paper... but the garage is damp. To be fair, we were warned it would be when we moved in, as it's newly built but not heated like the house, which is drying out nicely. Even in the house, we've been warned not to wallpaper or floor the loft for at least a year, whilst it dries out!

So what do we do about the feed. Were looking for a large bin with a sealing lid to store it and try to keep it dry... but it's a long search. The best thing we've come across so far is a brewing bucket (for making beer) but we're not convinced that it will seal well. So the search continues...

Day 528: first free range in the new garden

2011-02-07T18:15:00.001Z

So I went to do my usual afternoon stuff (bit of poo-picking, collect eggs, empty poo trays, give the girls their afternoon tea of porridge or corn) and they all bundled out of the door! They've never done that before. They've not shown one ounce of interest in going outside! So I thought, "they must be ready" and let them get on with it! Thankfully, the mud was dry - it hasn't rained (much) for a few days so I wasn't worried about them (apart from the water filled holes).

So how did they get on? Well... They scratched around, searching desperately for worms and bugs (we don't have any, as our soil was only delivered 3 months ago!). They stretched their wings and puffed out their feathers... and then went barrelling up and down the garden like roadrunners. Then Gabrielle took off - all of about 5 yards and she looked more like a Dam Buster than elegant feathered friend, as she's so chunky and big after her moult :o) Tallulah went straight into the garage - they all hung around there for a little while so they must know that that's where the treats are kept (well, I did scatter a few mealworms for them in the mud!). Then they spent a good half hour just digging and scratching in the soil... and the stone chippings. Roxy was as enthusiastic as ever, with stones flying across the garden! They managed to find a few blades of grass (well, corn actually - some that I dropped a while ago!) but there's not much greenery for them. Apart from my hyacinths and daffs - I had to shoo them off a few times, especially as daffs are meant to be poisonous for them!¬

I was pleased that none of them noticed the gardens to our left, right and behind us! And then they put themselves to bed, but not before I dosed the Cube with lice, mite and disinfectant powder!

Six very happy chickens and two very happy adults :o)

Oh PS, tomcat went out of the front door and had a quick explore before going down the side alley to the back garden - his familiar morning territory! So we've all had a good afternoon :o)

Day 516: Gabrielle's laying again!

2011-01-26T17:26:00.000Z

Even though the days are getting longer, it's still quite dark when I get to say night night to the girls and give them their evening porridge.

Gabrielle's pretty much over her moult now. She's gone from a scrawny, featherless, timid little girl to a beautifully feathered HEN... who's not so timid any more! Every evening as I enter with the bowls of porridge, she flies up onto the perch and then flies across to the top of the roof and eats happily, without any complaints when I stroke her now :o)

Anyway, back to the point. I opened the egg port and saw the eggs... wondering if the lighter one was white or green. I couldn't tell in the dark... but when I took it out of the egg port, YAY! IT'S GREEN!!!

Clever girls :o)

We've been busy on the run, putting flaps in so I can access the poo trays. We've bought new plastic to make new windows and some bargain glowing globes (reduced from £12 to a pound each!) and lined them up along the front of the run! Did I tell you we've put new perches in the run?

All in all, it's coming together nicely but still needs some tweaking. And guttering, to stop me getting dripped on in the rain!

Day 490: Run modifications (continued)

2010-12-31T18:28:00.001Z

And I think they'll be continuing for a very long time!

We turned the cube around, putting it flat up against a mesh panel where we will eventually make an access flap so cleaning the poo trays is easier. We also put back some of the wooden perches that the girls had in the run at the old house and they just LOVE them! They've been up there all afternoon LOL. Now there's more space, we moved the feeders around and put the super glug back, so it's harder for Roxy to guard them all and stop the smallest (Gabrielle) eating and drinking. As I was positioning the rail for the superglug, all the big girls were trying to drink out of it even though it was empty! It's been months since they last used it and I'm impressed that they haven't forgotten what it's for! Tallulah was particularly busy with it - so I imagine they had lots of them in the farm... By the way, she's feathered up BEAUTIFULLY! She was shaking her tail feathers and stretching her wings this afternoon and she's a big, fluffy, feathery, buxom lady now :o)

Gabrielle actually ate and drank from bowls held by ME this afternoon without complaining too much. In fact, I even managed to stroke her ears (albeit briefly) without her even whining, which is completely unheard of. Her feathers are growing back beautifully - her neck is now fully feathered and she has lots of tufts on her wings. I hope they grow back the golden colour that they were before - at the moment she's very grey but I think that's just her downy feathers. So she's eating and drinking - she had nutridrops in private porridge again. I really think that all the pots I made her before might just have saved her life in the freezing weather we had!

So tomorrow, we'll probably do more tidying and possibly make the access hatch. We'll see! :o)

Day 489: Extended run

2010-12-30T19:53:00.000Z

Last night, when the girls were tucked up in the Cube (Mr Nora had to put Gabby to bed again, yep she's resorting to her old tricks), we extended the cube. Previously, we'd had two narrow panels joined together to make an end panel. So we separated them again, made up a new end panel and put the short panels on the sides to extend the run by another 3 feet. We put slabs down, moved the panels around, put the roof on and tidied up,

The girls this morning were over the moon! Next job is to design the opening panels to allow me to access the poo trays and egg port. We'll also fix up some perches and then we're ALMOST back to how we had the run at the old house :o)

Gabby is still in her moult - she's growing tufty new feathers and is looking more fluffy now, like she's covered in down :o) She's happily eating and drinking though and we think the extra space will help - gives her room to escape!

Day 478: Gabrielle update

2010-12-19T22:12:00.001Z

It's struck me that she's not EIGHT months old - we got her 8 months ago and she was 16 weeks old. So that makes her coming up to a year old - so her first moult isn't so wildly off, timing wise.

They're all fine, shame about the snow when two of our girls are moulting! They're all getting extra rations - corn in warm pellet-porridge. Corn is fattening so keeps them warm. We cut down on it in the summer months. I'll also give Gabrielle extra mealworms, as her moult looks to be getting quite severe now! The poo trays and nest boxes were all beautifully lined with her feathers {shock}. But she seems fine in herself. Just have to make sure she's eating up the treats and goodies, to keep her energy up. She needs to keep warm AND grow new feathers and that takes a LOT of energy!

They're all tucked up in the cube now - all six of them go to bed INSIDE now, we just shut the door to keep them toasty at night :o)

Day 476: Gabrielle news

2010-12-17T19:08:00.000Z

She's fine... eating, drinking, just not laying! In fact, she's.... drum roll.... MOULTING! A bit early - they're not supposed to moult until they're over a year old so I wasn't expecting her to moult this winter as she's only 8 months old! Still, it explains a lot. And she's happy in herself so no need to panic (I hope!), just a few feathers missing under her chin and a few sticking out and looking loose around her wings. Extra straw in their beds anyway, seeing as we've had snow a couple of weeks ago - and MORE today!

Day 470: Settling in

2010-12-11T16:40:00.000Z

So we're in our new house. The girls had a temporary run (the Eglu attached to a metal rabbit run) followed, a week later, by a temporary walk-in run (two fence panels making the two ends with parts of the old run to form the front and back). The girls seem happy enough - except for Gabrielle, the smallest and bottom of the pecking order. She's shy about getting food so I've been giving her private porridge with corn and mealworms and a splash of Nutri-drops to fatten her up. She hasn't laid for 12 days (yep, no green eggs for nearly a fortnight) so either she's a bit put out by the move or just off-lay for winter (well, she's the nearest we have to a pure breed and that's perfectly natural behaviour for them).

The other girls are all fine!

Day 442: Dismantling the run

2010-11-14T20:50:00.001Z

We've been really busy. We let the cat out this morning and he came back in dry so we thought... we'll dismantle the run today, rather than leave it til Thursday and then be in a panic of Friday when we MOVE HOUSE!

So we went outside and started dismantling the run at 8am. It might sound straightforward but it's been deveoped and added to over the course of the last year so it was bit of a mish mash and very tricky to take down. We were lucky as the sun was trying to break through the mist this morning and the rain held off for a few hours so we didn't get TOO soaked!

So the chickens are now in their painstakingly-cleaned pink Cube...

but minus the wheels, although propped up on planks of wood to stop the base getting muddy. Instead of being inside the walk-in run, the Cube is attached to a large rabbit run! I soon realised that the side door was too small to get their feeders and drinkers in so impossible to top them up; plus it was nigh on impossible to put their feeders in through the door in the roof when it was raining... so I've attached the Eglu run to the small door in the side of the rabbit run, like an annexe. It works a treat as now I can shut them in the main rabbit run whilst I fill their Grub'n'Glugs through the Eglu run door without them making a dash for the lawn. Also, I discovered this afternoon that they are fascinated by my fingers (pecking them as I was doing all the clips up to secure the Eglu run to the rabbit run!) so I've saved myself from pain as well. I've covered both runs with PVC corrugated sheeting to protect them from the rain and it's held down with bungees. Hopefully they get on OK as they'll be living in the same arrangement at the new house. A bit nervous about foxes so the Cube door is shut tonight and we have rocks behind the poo trays to stop anyone scratching their way in.

We're so glad we've finished this today as it took us about 10 man hours so Mr Nora would never have been able to do it on his own on Thursday - plus it could be howling down. So now Mr Nora can go to work on Thursday and save some of his holiday for next year.

Day 439: She's fine :o)

2010-11-11T18:43:00.000Z

Gabrielle is happy, eating away and there's no sign of blood on her comb - in fact, no sign of an injury at all!

I was a little concerned this morning when I put treats in for them (a hot-water-and-pellets porridge with a chopped up apple and pear mixed in - they go mad for it!) and Roxy and Tallulah (yep, gentle old lady Tallulah!) went to put her in her place, so I picked her up and put her on the shelf and they settled down.

I popped home at lunchtime to see how they were - all fine and happy. They had pellet porridge with tinned sweetcorn (rinsed to remove sugar and salt) and they went bonkers for that! Got home tonight and Xena and Gabby were on the roof - again - so I popped them into the cube and everyone was perfectly settled.

We can't believe that last night they ALL put themselves to bed in the cube properly for the first time ever - and Gabby was bleeding and Xena was pecking the blood. Aaagh.

I hope they can settle down together properly sometime without incident. Pretty please!

We were considering taking down the shelves and perches in the run this weekend in preparation for dismantling the run completely next Thursday for the big move on Friday. But we're going to do it all now next Thursday, just in case taking the perches down means they get bored and start squabbling with each other. Don't want a repeat of yesterday, thank you very much!

Day 438: Oh no, injury

2010-11-10T17:09:00.002Z

Mr Nora's just rushed in and told me there's blood in the run. It turns out, Gabrielle (green egg layer) has a cut (bite?) on her comb and a little blood is running down her face, making her flick her head and spread the blood. We opened the Cube - it's the first night they've all got in there themselves (well, it's cold out!) and lo and behold, Xena (yup, Gabrielle's best mate) was pecking her comb! It's not that Xena's hen-pecking her - rather, it's simply that chicken's can't resist blood.

So Mr Nora brought her in whilst I wiped up the blood. She's with him now, she's in a cat basket in the bathroom, having her comb bathed. And then he'll spray Gentian Violet on her - an antisceptic/anti-peck liquid. She's perfectly calm - it's me'n'him who were in bit of a flap! Oh no, I've just heard the latest news - purple spray EVERYWHERE in our white and pale yellow bathroom! 9 days before we move - and GV doesn't wash out. YIKES. Apparently she's perched on the bath, loo, top of the cat basket. She's very perky - and flappy so she seems happy in herself :o)

Will report back on her progress tomorrow but, right now, they're all asleep and all is quiet on the Western Front :o)

Day 436: It's winter

2010-11-08T20:12:00.002Z

I got home from work at about 4:30pm and the girls were all tucked up in bed :o(

So I tucked in the two on the roof (Xena had started taking herself off to bed properly on her own last week leaving just Gabrielle alone on the roof... but the pair of them were back together on the top tonight) and then I quickly de-pooed the run by the torchlight. Until the torch went flat within 5 minutes so it could probably do with a much better clear out tomorrow.

I was planning on changing the Aubiose but it'd be a waste, as we're moving in 11 days so will give them fresh Aubiose then :o)

Day 435: Just read my last post, HAHAHA

2010-11-07T10:53:00.003Z

"This time next month we'll be close to moving house"...

Hahaha, cancel that! We're moving a week on Friday! YIKES!

Anyway, reason for my post is this. Friday night ("Remember, remember, the 5th of November") was bonfire night in the UK. Aka Fireworks night. I work in a school and asked a group of 6 & 7 year olds if they knew any other names - Diwali came up but only 1 child knew it was actually "Guy Fawkes Night". Go back a few hundred years to 1605 and Catholic Guy Fawkes was one of the conspirators in "the gunpowder plot" trying to blow up the Protestant King (James Stuart, successor to Elizabeth Tudor I) at the opening of Parliament. They were caught red handed and either died or were executed for treason. I wonder if Guy Fawkes Night is to celebrate the fact that he was caught - or to celebrate his attempt to rewrite the history books!

Anyway, I digress. Back to chickens. Fireworks go off from Halloween the week before (sadly, Halloween seems to be merging with Guy Fawkes night as the early winter celebration) to the Sunday after. About 5:30pm every day for the last week (today will be my last day), I've been shutting the girls in the Cube and closing the door - hoping to keep the noise of the fireworks out and let the girls sleep overnight in peace. But it means I've been going outside at 6am in my dressing down to open the door. This morning, it was 5am and they were sound asleep hehe.

Which got me thinking about their daily routine. Get up, eat, drink, poo, lay eggs, play on perches, sunbathe, dustbathe, pester me when I get home for corn/mealworms/playtime free ranging in the garden, eat more, corn for supper, bed.

(Woo hoo 5 warm eggs this morning so the fireworks can't be bothering them too much!)

I was thinking of doing a "cat" blog but honestly, every day would be the same: "get up, eat, go outside for morning patrol/loo, come back in, eat, go to human bedroom, hop up on bed, sleep all day, she comes home, get up, eat, go to bed on armchair in lounge, human getting ready for bed, get up, eat, go to human bedroom, try really hard to keep her awake all night by stamping on pillow/her hair a lot or purring in her ear. Repeat".

So I don't think I'll bother! Maybe I will though, when we move house...??? We're thinking of banning them from the bedroom! But mainly because we don't want muddy footprints on our new carpets.

Day 422: Moving house

2010-10-25T08:24:00.003+01:00

This time next month, we'll be very close to moving. For the last few months, we've been busy emptying the loft/shed/garages, dismantling furniture and packing. Sorry if I've neglected the blog - but rest assured, the girls are fine :o)

Which reminds me... Yesterday, we took the shed down - so the run is now at the end of the garden on it's own. One side is now completely exposed (the side where the shed used to be) and Mr Nora said how lovely and bright it is now in the run.

But yesterday evening, whilst we were sitting watching TV, Mr Nora realised that this newly-exposed side only has weldmesh - no extra layer of chain-link fencing (as on the front) so perhaps the girls weren't as secure from Mr Fox now.

That was it. I rushed down to the Cube and shut the door, locking them in safely for the night. Their first night ever sleeping in the Cube with the door shut. We've not done that since we bought the Cube in the summer - and we didn't do it for ages with the Eglu, as it means getting up at ridiculous o'clock (dawn) to let them out. We won't be doing it when we move either, as we'll have 2 flights of stairs to stagger down.

So at 7am this morning, Mr Nora went out in the dark to let them out. They were very, VERY sleepy, very quiet, blinked lots, and just quietly coo'ed like pigeons. Until Angelina came galloping out! Perhaps we'll do it more often, now that we're up earlier than they are. No hang on, our clocks go back next Sunday so it won't be so dark at 7am... Oh well :o)

Right, next job is to put the pieces of shed up against the exposed side, just for peace of mind!

Day 401: Mass breakout!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-04T18:39:00.001+01:00

Aaagh, I got home after work and found the top half of the stable door WIDE OPEN! I stuck my head in and curiously there were still 6 chooks in there! So I shut the door and went indoors to do some jobs.

Mr Nora got home from work and announced, "There's a mass breakout on the lawn".

WHAAAAAT! I explained about the stable door self-opening and he realised that I HADN'T let them out! He shot out and fortunately we still have 6 chooks (there's a gap under the fence that we have to cover up before we let them out).

It would seem that we've had so much rain that the latch isn't closing properly so I have to be much, much more careful :o)

Phew, that was close!

Day 400: And I can't believe I'm still blogging!

2010-10-02T09:07:00.001+01:00

Yes, 400 days today.

So what do we plan to do on the major milestone? Probably the usual - change the Aubiose (to remove the stuff that's got damp over the last few weeks) and give the girls a bit of a treat. They've been shut in for a few days and haven't free-ranged since Thursday, when they got about an hour outside...

I think I'll do some tidying up in the run too :o)

Day 399: Rain, rain go away...

2010-10-01T20:16:00.002+01:00

And I'm pretty sure I've posted that before. Yep, it's chucking it down here again. Yesterday was fairly dry but today, the rain has just been torrential. So much so that the field where I work looked waterlogged - and then we saw a heron land and take off again. Must have mistook it for a lake!

Back to today. I got in from work and started draining the waterbutts as the guttering was overflowing. The rain was so heavy and the drainpipe feeds into the waterbutts via a tiny pipe - so we seemed to be getting some kind of overflow and the path was flooded. Nice!

So after sorting out the path, I went to see the girls - and saw the leaks in the run! Only a few but boy, the front of the run was soaked. I'll have to dry it out and replace some (or all) of the Aubiose tomorrow.

But meanwhile, I just rammed some bits of wood under the leaking joins in the Onsuline to lift them up and stop the water flowing backwards into the run. It's definitely only at the joins - today was the first time I'd seen the drips - so we won't have this problem when we move, as we're going to purpose build the new run to be narrower than a single sheet of Onduline! But I had to do something because the tray under the feeders (which is in place catch any spilt feed, which I throw away to ensure that I don't attract vermin) was under a good inch of water! And I felt sorry for the girls, obviously.

But the roof seems to be dry now, even though the bits of wood are random sized - and randomly fitted and look bit of a mess. I even used clothes pegs as wedges - well, I only needed 10mm of wood and they were the first thing that came to hand :o)

Day 398: Roxy's been laying a year today

2010-09-30T07:30:00.000+01:00

And she's not pet food, chicken pate or baby food :o)

That could be her fate if she was a battery hen - yep, they put them out to slaughter at between 18 months to 2 years old, after they've been laying for between 12 to 18 months :o(

Anyway, I thought I'd tot up how many eggs she's laid in that year... and it's 319! Way to go girl! That's an 87% lay rate :o) That's over 6 eggs a week - so she'd still be alive if she was on a battery farm (they send their hens to slaughter when the egg rate drops below 6 a week).

On another note, it's official! Roxy is no longer a chicken (in her first year of lay and before her first moult) but... drum roll... a HEN! We think she had a mini moult over the summer - she lost all her feathers on her chin :o)

Right, better go to work! Happy birthday Roxy!

Day 395: If cats have 9 lives, how many do chickens have?

2010-09-27T19:59:00.001+01:00

However many it is, Tallulah seems to be getting through them at quite a rate. We think she's used 3 in 10 months!

She used her first when she was about to become cat food (or was it baby food? Or chicken paste? Or chicken pie filling?)... but we came along and made sure there were a few more lives left in the old girl yet :o)

Then in the summer, she used up her second when she was doing really nasty splatty poos and wasn't getting out of bed - we thought her time was up then as she really wasn't very well (not that you'd know it now!) but she pulled through, with lots of private porridge and corn.

And then today, she used up a third! Mr Nora heard an almighty racket this afternoon and looked out the window to see Tallulah flopped over and limp, stuck by her neck with her head through the decking panel! Remember the decking panels?

He came barelling down the stairs - and by the time he reached the spot where he'd seen her flopped over, she'd disappeared! She'd figured it out and released herself and was found wandering off up the garden.

It seemed she reached up to stick her head through the widest part of the gap but... then bent down to nibble something on the decking and then freaked out when she couldn't get her head back out (she hadn't figured out that she's have to reach back up again before she could get her head out of the wide bit).

We don't know if she's clever, dim or plain Lucky. Or some or all of the above :o)

But they're all in bed now. The temperature's really dropping off at night (it was only 15 degrees Celcius this afternoon) so we're still putting the two girls (who sleep on the top of the Cube) to bed manually. I wonder if they'll ever figure it out?

Day 388: Clever girls :o)

2010-09-20T16:47:00.001+01:00

Mr Nora broke his watch sometime over the weekend - he realised yesterday that the dial was missing. It was a super cool surf dude's watch which not only told the time but the TIDES as well and was waterproof to a zillion metres. So no wonder he was gutted - and it could have been anywhere :o( We'd been shopping AND on a ramble down a country path AND looked around some new houses so it really could have been anywhere in a five mile radius from home :o(

So why are the girls clever? Well they'd been looking after the missing bits. I found one bit in THEIR RUN in the poo-yAubiose (so he might want to clean that bit!). I thought to myself, the other bit can't be that far... and it was a couple of feet outside the run, underneath a washing up bowl that we chuck the windfall apples into.

So that's why they're clever, they found the bits missing from his watch! YAY!!!

But also cos they've figured out an escape route from the shrubbery borders - I found out how today. One jumps up onto their director's chair (the perch I made ages ago) then hops up over the mesh onto saddle of the pushbikes that sit just there - then onto the plant tubs and then down to the decking. And very pleased she looked too when I caught her in the act! So cue even MORE mesh to block up this new escape hatch!

Day 380: Spring Clean

2010-09-12T18:42:00.004+01:00

I must confess, it's been a couple of weeks since I gave the Cube a good clean. So today, roof off, back panel off, roosting bars out and plenty of anti-mite spray for cleaning. The girls devoured their porridge this morning and then went out to play in the borders but of course, as soon as I was inside the run, they wanted to come back in. I flatter myself with the silly notion that they want to be with me but I secretly do know that, actually, they see me and just think "FOOD!!!!".

So we did some tidying up, cleaning tubs etc etc and the girls are now back in their run.

But it's got us to thinking... How will we design the new run, once we move? We'll certainly put a few extra doors and hatches in, so I can access the poo trays, egg port, feeders and drinkers easily; the hatch for the poo tray will also mean I can tuck the Cube into a corner, rather than have it in the middle of the run, as it is at the moment. I'd also have the stable door up the opposite end to the cube (rather than in the middle beside it) AND I'd have it opening in and not out (so the girls are pushed back when I open it, rather than all rushing at once to mug me and get out).

I'd have a sliding door to a tunnel for them to use to get to a purpose built area for free ranging (rather than nightmarish rolls of plastic mesh to keep them off the lawn!). Actually, when we first move in, they will have total free range over the whole garden - they are such good diggers, we're going to give them the job of breaking down and conditioning the soil :o)

I'll definitely keep lots of high perches, as they love to sit up there and preen in the early morning sunshine after breakfast. But I'd move the feeders and drinkers so they're underneath a solid shelf - at the moment they're just offset from perches and tend to make good target practice!

We've also decide to make the run the same width as a panel of onduline roofing - at the moment it's wider, which means we have joins in the panels which contributed to the leaks a few weeks back.

What else? If you think of anything, let me know!

Day 377: news'n'stuff

2010-09-09T20:59:00.005+01:00

Well, prompted by my girlies' Auntie ("Hello Sis!"), I thought I'd update the blog. Don't know what with but here goes.

I've at least updated the egg count spreadsheet. Somebody laid the 1,000th egg on Day 369! Yup, Wednesday 1st September. I don't know who did it - but I do know who DIDN'T and that would be Tallulah.

Tallulah hasn't laid an egg (or so we think) since Sunday 8th August - so over a month. Except yesterday, when there was wonky shaped, large egg that looked suspiciously like hers! But why would she suddenly spring into action? Hmm maybe Sophia is starting to lay funny shaped eggs now? It's a sign of age - but she's not even been laying for a year yet!

The next thing I noticed is that, not only has Tallulah gone part-time (or practically retired), but the others have started skipping days and their egg weights are down. I can think of two reasons; it's either because the days are drawing in (the girls are in bed by 8pm - well I say "in bed", four go in the Cube and 2 snuggle down on top so I've started putting those two to bed myself!); or it's because they have (ewwww) WORMS!

I saw a single live worm on top of the Cube the other day - probably not your common garden worm... and for a worm to come out in poo still alive, well it could be a lone worm but also it could be that the girl who pooped it has a heavy worm burden! The girls were last wormed just over 2 months ago - so that does it, they're all being Flubenvetted this week (inormally a 3 or 4 times a year thing). My thinking is that, if they didn't all get their fair share of the treated food last time AND they've been free ranging throughout the summer holidays eating mud, then their worm burden wouldn't have been cleared so time to do it again.

I think the worm was little Gabrielle's (the one with the hair do who lays bluey green eggs) as she never really tucks in heartily, often being chased away. So, she's been getting private medicated porridge morning and night :o) She's still small and slightly skittish but a really pretty little girl!

A quick bit of news about the others - Angelina (the white one who lays white eggs) has been sneezing and coughing a little (the drop in night-time temperature?) so, for the last couple of days, she too had private medicated porridge morning and night, with a splash of poultry tonic to perk her up a bit, and she's sneezing and coughing much less now.

And then, this morning, Sophia did a splatty poo. She went off to lay straight after so it could just have been a forerunner to the egg - and there's plenty of solid poos all around the run so it hasn't worried me. But just in case, she too had private medicated porridge this morning and tonight.

Which just leaves Tallulah (who wasn't well a month or so ago), Roxy (who's still moulting around her neck) and lovely, chirpy Xena. So what the heck, they all get porridge twice a day too.

Spoilt? But they deserve it, don't they?!

PS Did I tell you, the roof leaked so we've completely redesigned and re-erected it? Took us a couple of days over the bank holiday weekend but it seems to have done the trick!

PPS Daft cat's ashes are home, in a pretty little bone china urn that I bought on Ebay. She'll be coming with us to the new house, where we'll bury her ashes (possibly in a plant pot so we can take her with us if we ever move again). Bless her xxx

Day 366: Our FIRST Heniversary!

2010-08-29T20:21:00.001+01:00

And no, we didn't quite make it to 1,000 eggs.

988 in fact. But more than 1,000, if you count the softies and broken ones I've found in the poo tray!

We've had bit of a hard time of it with the rain. The run is under an apple tree which has been causing leaks. Yes, the apple tree caused leaks! Apples and leaves had blocked the corrugations, causing the horrendous rain we've had in the last few days to back up the roof and leak into the run.

We haven't been able to do anything about it - it hasn't stopped raining and we've been away a few days. But we really need to get the roof converted into modular panels before we move - we have no spare time now after tomorrow until the end of October and it'll be too late then (expecting rain!).

So we're hoping it'll be dry tomorrow and we can build individual roof panels, remove and replace the onduline. Then it'll be easy to dismantle when we move house (at the moment, the roof is one enormous 12ft x 7ft panel!!!).

On a sad note... Daft Cat died yesterday :o( She had a massive fit and, despite the help of a vet and drugs, she didn't recover :o( It was completely out of the blue - she'd been completely normal until her back legs went :o(

Very sad here today and difficult to think about anything chicken-related, really :o(

Day 362: Gerorrf!

2010-08-25T17:44:00.000+01:00

It's been pouring down for most of the day today so the poor girls have been shut in their run (I say "shut in", they have loads of space!). Of course, every time they see us, they cry to come out.

But I've figured out that they just want to be with us! When they're out free-ranging, I fence them into the borders so I can clean their run... and they cry to come back IN! They just want to be doing whatever we're doing, whenever we're doing it!

Anyway, back to today. I was crouched down cleaning their run, having given them some porridge to amuse them. Next thing I know, XENA had hopped up onto my BACK and wouldn't get off. My main concern was that she'd poo on me. I called to Mr Nora, who got there just as she jumped down again. Cheeky minx :o)

Day 360: Bargain perch

2010-08-23T16:08:00.000+01:00

We were in a DIY store this morning and, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pine rack in the kitchen section. 10p! And perfect as a perch for the girls :o)

So I've just fitted it as an extension to their shelf - only Angelina and Xena chose to get to it by hopping up onto the stool and then onto the perch :o) They were , of course, bribed up there with the promise of mealworms! And it worked!

We're having real downpours of rain today but interspersed with bright spells of warm August sunshine. The girls aren't too happy when we shut them in - but it's for their own good, they only stand and get soaked otherwise!

Talking of soaked, we've discovered that the roof had bowed under the weight of the overnight rain so the run's damp along the front. I did wonder if it was caused by rain coming in through the front mesh but it was pretty much covered with the plastic curtains so I doubt that was what caused it. Mr Nora has put in an extra brace but it's a bit flimsy (all the wood we had to hand) so fingers crossed it'll last for a few days :o)

Day 355: No pressure then

2010-08-18T07:55:00.001+01:00

Come on girls, you only have 12 egg laying days to our 1st Hen-niversary on Sunday 29th August 2010 (can you believe I've kept this blog going for over a year?).

But my question is... will we reach the "1,000" egg milestone?

Up to yesterday, we had 937 eggs (not including softies and broken ones). So with 12 days to go, they need get a wriggle on to lay 63 eggs to reach that magic 1,000 target! Which means Tallulah (the rescue girl who was very poorly last week) needs to start laying again - she hasn't laid for nearly a fortnight. So I don't know if we'll make it! Unless... I go back and start counting the softies ;o)

We had one from Gabrielle yesterday. I know it was her - it was only her and Tallulah who didn't supply an egg and this was laid on TOP of the Cube so it can't have been Tallulah - I've never seen her up there and yet Gabrielle sleeps up there every night :o) It weighed over 40g, even without the shell!

Day 347: Cube & Tallulah news

2010-08-11T22:54:00.001+01:00

I got up this morning - and Tallulah was up on the shelf! I made her porridge and she scoffed the whole bowl to herself, keeping the others (except Roxy, top chook) at bay - I was in charge of Roxy LOL

This afternoon, I stripped the cube apart again - the 2nd treatment, day 3 after the first so that the insecticide kills any newly hatched mites. Interestingly - and fortunately - there were NONE today. So maybe we were lucky on Sunday and had just found juveniles that were too young to lay eggs yet? Hopefully, we've nipped it in the bud and caught it very early on. So me going out and checking at 10pm 3 times a week has really paid off!

I've been thinking about the compost bin too - I've been putting soiled litter in there and, if the litter was contaminated, we'd have had a real battle on our hands. I'd found something crawling on me on Monday after I put something in there so I gave it a quick blast of insecticide on Monday. I checked it today and everything was dead - including earwigs and a shed load of eggs. Which I'm not sure is a good thing or bad thing - don't they eat aphids? Or are they just a pest? I'm going to have to google it as I honestly don't know! Should I have just let the compost bin to get hot and kill the mites? But it's right next to the chicken run so it would only have been a Sunday afternoon stroll for them to get back into the cube! I hope I've done the right thing...

I've tried organic powders, holistic approach, adding garlic to feed, regular cleaning, ground up fossils and nothing seemed to keep the blighters at bay. Once they move in, they take hold really quickly so it was a shame to begin chemical warfare - but it was either them or us. And we (as in the girls) are far more important. These pests can kill, if left to feast on chooks for any length of time.

Day 346: Tallulah's much better thank you

2010-08-10T19:46:00.000+01:00

Not 100% but definitely 90% and getting better with every hour that passes.

I didn't sleep very well last night - tossing and turning, thinking about Tallulah, is she going the same way as Ursula, mites! So I got up at 6am and put my wellies on and a waterproof coat over my dressing gown then braved the rain in a dash to the end of the garden (that makes it sound like our garden is long!).

Tallulah was still in bed - everyone else was up and noshing away, she was just whimpering. I was hoping she wanted to lay her softie but no. So I went indoors and made her her pellet porridge (with nutridrops etc etc) and took it out to her. She ate a little but kept turning away from me so I left her to it.

I went out again an hour later - and she was a little better. By lunchtime, she was happily eating corn our of my hand but not from a bowl. By 2pm, she'd eat out of a bowl. By 4pm, she was fending the babies off - proper "leave my grub alone" pecks!

I rigged up the grubs (x2), glug and Superglug - it has valves on the bottom so the girls just peck the valves and water drips out. It's meant to be a more natural way of drinking for them and Tallulah LOVES it! Roxy does too - you can hear her going TAP TAP TAP on the metal pins :o)

I've moved the gravity feeders up on the shelf, along with some cage pots. Hopefully, there are now so many feeding stations that if Talullah wasn't eating because everyone else was in the way, well there are enough places now for her to find somewhere to eat.

Oh, she got up onto the shelf of her own accord this afternoon! Yep, definitely 90%.

But WHY? I've been watching out for a softie all day and the only thing I've found (in the poo tray) was a weird soft thing that looked like a tiny brain, about the size of a 1p piece. I think it's a LASH, which is where a cyst or polyp develops in the egg-production machinery and is expelled through the egg duct.

OH! Nearly forgot. we're out of mealworms {shock}!!!

Day 345: Alarm call from Roxy and news on Tallulah

2010-08-09T20:03:00.000+01:00

WEIRD! This afternoon, for the very first time, we heard Roxy, our head chook, make the weirdest, loudest CROWING sound! She'd seen a HUGE bird fly overhead and she was warning the others, we guess, as they all just froze as they watched it fly into the distance.

But Roxy's reaction was strange too - her comb went completely pale, like we were watching the blood drain away to her vital organs (especially her lungs, judging by the volume :lol:) - we were a bit alarmed in case she was choking or dying but then the colour flowed back into her comb within seconds, right before our eyes, and then they all started being their normal chickeny selves again :lol:

Tallulah's been a bit off colour today. I noticed yesterday that she'd left runny poos in the poo tray overnight. She did a few more today, bright green and runny yellow. I read that it means she's not been eating properly so I made her private porridge - she came onto the decking and had half a bowl of corn/pellets/nutri-drops. After a couple of hours, we put them back in the run and she went straight to bed so I gave her a little bit of pro-biotic yoghurt - which the others seemed to enjoy LOADS more than her! Ouch my finger's sore now :o)

Fingers crossed that it's just a softie on the way and she's better in the morning (she's already done a more normal brown poo, albeit smaller than normal!).

Day 344: MITES!

2010-08-08T19:56:00.001+01:00

Aaaagh don't have time to post much, I've been checking the girls regularly for mites and lice (common with birds, unfortunately) but yesterday, I found half a dozen in the cube so it meant... dusting girls, dismantling the cube and spraying it with poultry stuff, letting it dry off, putting it back together, sweeping out all the old Aubiose and replacing etc etc... a BIG job! But hopefully it'll do the trick but we have to repeat in 3 days, to capture any eggs that hatch in the meantime.

Doesn't stop me itching though!

Day 340: What a whopper!

2010-08-04T17:16:00.002+01:00

Wow, Tallulah laid a whopper yesterday! I only weighed it this morning...

104.4g!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is

It makes Angelina's 96.1g whopper look diddy...

Day 339: Is Roxy moulting?

2010-08-03T18:09:00.000+01:00

I picked her up the other day and noticed she felt light. But then, I had just picked up Xena who is bit of a greedy madam and really very stocky.

So I've been observing them. I've been mashing up their pellets and adding warm water and smuggling a bowl to Roxy, trying to fatten her up. I separate her off from the others (honestly, she knows her name and comes running when I call her - as long as I have a bowl in my hands!). Anyway, she has her fill, plays a bit, has a bit more and then has had enough so I let the rabble in. Xena gobbles it and no-one shoes her away. Sophia is deputy head and sees of Angie and Gabby but nope, she doesn't see Xena off. Tallulah does her own thing and no-one sees her off either. But Roxy kind of gives way to Xena.

I wonder if Roxy is giving way to Xena??? I wonder if she's getting enough food with piggy Xena around? So that's why I've started smuggling food in to her.

I've noticed that her cheeks look a bit sunken - is that weight loss or dehydration or age?

Another thing I've noticed is that her neck is going bald. Is someone pecking her or... and this is what I think is wrong... is she MOULTING? It's an annual thing after they've been laying for a year or so. Roxy's been laying for 10 and a half months so I wouldn't be surprised if it is a moult. It can really knock a girl off her feet so tonight's porridge had some Nutri Drops (magic tonic for chooks) with Ribena to mask the taste and she LOVED IT!

Fingers crossed that's all it is. Well, she's chatting and pooing as normal and... leaping up for her porridge fine! That's how I took this photo of her neck :o)

Day 336: Angelina, she's a cheeky one!

2010-07-31T20:58:00.000+01:00

So Xena's shown her how to jump the fence and get onto the lawn!!! So We've fixed the fence so that it leans over onto the border a little (trying to make it harder to leap up onto) AND we've put a rake with a huge glove on the end to act a bit like a scarecrow LOL!

Does it stop her? Well it stopped Xena (the big lump - she's bigger than Roxy who's nearly a year older!) but NO NO NO it hasn't stopped Angie. She flies up onto the top of the fence and then walks down the slope, hopping off the last foot or so to land on the grass. She is a dainty girl so that's probably how she manages it.

The surprise was to see her climb up on the fence and WALK BACK THE SAME WAY when she got hungry!

How cheeky is that!!!

Day 335: That's better

2010-07-30T09:20:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, the girls were much more quiet. I'd kept the TV and radio turned off so the girls didn't know I was in... and they were much quieter! And same again today! It's almost like they shout for me to come out to them so, this morning, I ignored their bok bok bokking and let them get on with it. I counted 12 boks and then Angelina wound down (like her batteries were running out LOL) and shut up but Sophia started. A few boks from her then Xena joined in, but she has a lovely deep voice and hers was a nice tone (whereas Angie's is LOUD and grating!).

I'm working around the house today so will let them out in a minute - but I'm not going to do this every day I'm at home as they'll soon start expecting it and complain if I stop! They are creatures of habit who love routines so I have to make sure I always make sure I don't settle them into any patterns :o)

Day 333: Ouch that must've hurt!

2010-07-28T18:03:00.001+01:00

So dividing the nestbox into two hasn't helped. I think I need to divide it into three!!!

Poor Angelina... Or should I say, naughty Angelina? I don't know whether to tell her off or feel sorry for her. Angelina was shouting again this morning. She started at 8:15 and carried on for a good hour. The other four (not Gabby - she didn't lay until this afternoon and then she just shouted "hello" and hopped out, carrying on with what she'd been doing 5 minutes before!) were happy to share the nest boxes but Angelina still HATES it. I even made her a temporary nestbox but she wanted none of it.

Anyway, I found out why she was shouting so loudly.

She laid the BIGGEST EGG we've ever had at 98.2g!!! That's a "just under 4oz"!!! Poor girl, that MUST have hurt! The next bigger one was just over 95g so she smashed the record :o)

Day 332: Dividing the nestbox, photogenic chickens and tonic immobility

2010-07-27T19:32:00.001+01:00

If you didn't know this was a chicken blog, you'd be scuppered!

Right, dividing the nest box. Angelina made such a racket for nearly two hours yesterday morning that I had to do something about it. Her problem is that she doesn't like being watched when she lays her egg so she shouts at anyone in there, comes out, paces around, shouts some more, goes back into the Cube and has lost her place in the queue so shouts again. For a while, I've been wondering if she was announcing everyone else's eggs but, having observed her yesterday, I think it's the nesting that's the problem...

So I got an old shoe box and cut a template for a divide. It looked so neat, I decided to fashion one out of an old plastic place mat. Want to see the results? Here you go!

This photo above is taken with the back removed. The one below is a bird's eye view! So hopefully the girls will now think that the double nestbox (which they saw as just a big single nest box) is now in two :o)

Tonic immobility - I thought I'd check Xena for any creepy crawlies so I picked her up and turned her over (very briefly, in case it put any pressure on any internal bits - I don't know, I'll look it up in a minute) and she lay happily in one hand, perfectly still! I had a quick look and she's all clear :o)

Photogenic chicken - whilst I was out with the camera, I thought I'd take some photos of the girls.

Angelina is a poser!

Gabrielle was shy at first but then kept coming up for a closer look, standing perfectly still. What a beautiful hairdo!

Roxy, Sophia and Xena were all too busy digging to notice me with a camera.

Xena looks very much like Roxy and, from behind, you actually can't tell who's who. Xena has a much rounder comb with a dark patch at the front, her necklace is much redder (rather than ginger) and her legs and feet are much darker. Their characters are totally different though - Roxy is stubborn, determined and the boss, Xena is gentle, chatty (honestly, if you talk to her, she chats back - she even says hello as you approach) and just such a friendly, sweet-natured girl.

Tallulah was coming up to me, "What you doing?" but then darting away. She's the NON-photogenic chicken who just wouldn't stand still!

But we got there in the end... even if this first one is a bit blurred!

Day 327: Flying high

2010-07-22T16:59:00.000+01:00

I want to make a couple of, well, mementos for the two girls we've lost. I've practised on a gift for a friend at work - want to see?

Only thing is, it's taken me absolutely ages!

Day 324: And then there were 6...

2010-07-19T21:38:00.001+01:00

And I don't think they've even noticed that Ursula's not there :o(

If anything, Gabrielle has come out of her shell - well, Ursula was jealous of the attention we gave to the new girls as we trid to settle them in... so I used to make a special fuss of Ursula, my special girl, or she'd make a fuss and then go and annoy the smallest new girl... Gabrielle!

Missing her funny little ways, inquisitive nature, friendly chats, and her songs! I haven't heard anyone sing to me for a few days now :o(

Day 323 cont: Ursula died today

2010-07-18T17:27:00.001+01:00

A very sad day here today at Nora Towers. Our scatty, barmy, friendly, batty ex-barn girl Ursula succumbed to sour crop at 13:45 today. She fought so hard. Last night, she was up and about drinking but this morning, although we found her standing up, she lacked any energy. She stood up a few times but mostly laid down today. Then at about 13:30, she slipped into a deep sleep and died peacefully at 13:45, waking only 3 times to look at us and close her eyes again. We held her until the end.

Ursula had 8 great months, free from the intensive barn-farming system and saved from slaughter and becoming tinned cat food or chicken paste. She'd very clearly suffered in her life before us, as her beak was clipped and she was bald as a coot when we got her. She didn't know how to eat anything other than layers crumb. She'd never seen the sky, let alone the sun. She'd never dustbathed in clean, fresh air. She'd never gone to bed nor risen naturally, in tune with the sun - the barn was artificially lit 18 hours a day to make sure they laid all year round, even in the depths of winter when they're meant to have a rest.

But all that changed on Saturday 21st November 2009 when we collected two frightened little bald scraps who came to spend their well-earned retirement with us.

I'll cherish the video of her dustbathing in the sun with her mates on 15tth May 2010 - she's the brown one 3rd from the left. I took another short video of her on Thursday morning but won't put it here, as I want this post to contain happy memories of her, not sad ones of the beginning of her end...

Here she is enjoying a dustbathe in DECEMBER! Just a few weeks after we got her

She's now buried deep in the garden, next to Penny.

RIP you two, you can be cheeky together.

Day 323: Ursula's hanging on

2010-07-18T05:53:00.001+01:00

By a thread :(

She nibbles but then the gloop pours out of her beak, bringing any food with it so we don't think she's getting much nutrition. We're tried draining her a few times. Tried giving her olive oil and massaging her crop to loosen things up. Tried poultry tonic for an energy boost. Tried probiotic yoghurt. Tried maggots (they're meant to eat their way through any internal blockage) (the man in the fishing shop gave us a small bag - no charge!). Tried live mealworms. Now trying starving her. But she's very weak - stumbling and can't hold her wings up :o(

She's done a few poos with green stuff in - could be vegetation so fingers crossed she's now passing the blockage. If no improvement by this time tomorrow, she'll go on a final trip to the vets :o(

Very sad.

Day 320: Fingers crossed for Ursula please

2010-07-15T18:49:00.001+01:00

She just wasn't herself this morning. Quiet, sleepy, not talking, not eating or drinking, weird yellow watery poo...

I came home at lunchtime expecting the worse but she was the same. Booked a vets appt, expecting her to not be with us when I got home from work. Got home, no sign of her - she was hiding under the Cube.

Fished her out and put her in the cat basket. Drove to a chicken specialist vet... who diagnosed sour crop I thought it would either be the "in" end or the "out" end. Out end was good so turned her around to check her crop and watery fluid dribbled out of her beak. So nothing fibrous now - no greens, pasta, GRAPES OR RAISINS Just plain pellets, corn and water. Vet said ex-working girls lived on grains and their digestive systems can't cope with much else.

She's had some meds (Flagyl) and has to have it twice a day. The vet said we'll either see a quick improvement (as quickly as her deterioration) or... if she's not right by Monday, we need to do the kindest thing. So please cross your fingers for Ursula. It's down to Ursula now - but she's a plucky little lady! She's dozing now but has eaten a tiny bit of corn and had a drink :)

Day 317: Ebay again

2010-07-11T19:26:00.000+01:00

Right. The clearout has begun! One blue cottage on Ebay. One Eglu chicken base and poo tray on Ebay. One "surplus-to-requirements-since-I-P'exed-an-Eglu-for-a-Cube" Eglu run on Ebay. But I can keep my complete Eglu and run - yay! That was advertised briefly... but has now been withdrawn!

I tried out the rabbit run this morning - yup the one I bought on Ebay a few weeks ago. I married it up to the dog crate that Mr Nora brought back from the dump and it works a treat!

Take a look at this. Does it look small? Well, the run is 7ft (2m) long and goes way above my knees for height (and I'm not exactly short). Have you spotted the cat by the basket yet? She'll give you an idea of scale!

It's all been Virkon S'ed and packs flat for easy storage. I am SO VERY VERY please with the rabbit run - the whole set-up is a doddle to put together. The cube door will fit as well! Very pleased with myself today, can you tell?

Day 316: Ebay'n'stuff

2010-07-10T13:21:00.000+01:00

You may recall that we're moving. Over the last year, I've gathered a lot of chook keeping stuff so some of it (actually, most of it) (I think) will be going on Ebay so I've spent all morning in the blazing sunshine VirkonSing chookie stuff, ready to sell. I've advertised a few bits on a forum... but might just change my mind and keep some of it! Only, we need the space now. Well, not the space - but just less clutter to have to move.

Oh! There was a sizeble pile of poo on TOP of the Cube this morning so I guess Angelina spent the whole night there! That's the third time this week - I wonder if she goes up there on hot nights? It was sticky last night... and scorching today! Right, better get back to cleaning...

Day 315: Angelina

2010-07-09T23:11:00.006+01:00

Angelina didn't go into the cube tonight! Instead, she flew up onto its roof and settled down! After a hectic afternoon of tidying for a viewing, we were finally chilling out enjoying a quiet evening in the garden with friends so, when it was dark, I went to check on her again and she was settled in for the night :o)

Day 314 cont: cube photos!

2010-07-08T21:24:00.000+01:00

It's only taken me a couple of weeks (exactly!) to post these photos... here we go!

The back...

The side

With the roof slid forward, a view of the roosting bars where they sleep... and the slide out poo trays underneath

Talking of poo trays - two of them, rectangular so a doddle to clean out - lined with newspaper - just roll and compost!

The nest box is trough this pop hole - it should fit three or four but they can't stand being watched so queue up to use it!

And finally, with the back slid down - makes access to the girls really easy!

I've realised I haven't shown a shot of the front with the ladder. Give me time...!

Day 314: Ursula the rescued ex-barn hen

2010-07-08T17:50:00.002+01:00

Ooh she was looking fed up yesterday. Poorly, even.

She was hunched, her head sunk deep into her chest so you couldn't even see her neck, her tail feathers drooping down to the ground... I offered her water and she turned away (when she'd normally dive in). About 7pm, she went to bed! First AGAIN so I felt her crop (chest, on her right hand side) and it should be full, like a little solid bulge. The crop is where the food goes before it's digested overnight. Chooks eat grit and use that to grind up their food - as they don't have teeth. Which is where the expression "rare as hen's teeth" comes from!

Anyway, Ursula's crop was empty and I'd noticed black and green poo over the last couple of days so I googled "green hen poo" and it came up as lack of food. So I made her emergency fattening, protein-rich, hydrating rations. A bowl of corn, mealworms, choppecd tomato and chick crumb, sloshed into a porridge with water. She tucked in for a little while but lost interest. She sunk down and slipped off to sleep.

I went back out at 10pm and the other 6 girls were standing up in the Cube - I had to feel in and rummage to find Ursula but she was there, at the back where I'd left her.

I woke up this morning and my first thought was "Ursula!" so I dashed out of bed to see her. I made her some pasta, tomato and corn and smuggled it in to her, trying not to show the others. She had something to eat then I had to go to work.

I've worried all day. When I left work, I shot to the supermarket and bought corn on the cob, cucumber and grapes. I chopped them up for her and, somehow, managed to separate her from the rest of the girls (who were going nuts, knowing something's going on!). Ursula followed me down onto the decking and I gave her a bowl of tasty treats. I can just imagine her train of thought as she flicked the corn and cucumber out and tucked into just the grapes. "Cucumber, yuk, corn, yuk, JUST GIVE ME GRAPES".

I made sure they were all chopped up into tiny pieces - a whole grape can get stuck in the crop and ferment and make the chook very ill.

Well, Ursula's not ill anymore - far from it. I wonder if she's laid a softie somewhere today? I do worry about these ex-barn girls...

She also did a lovely poo with a white topping - the white is their wee (urates - they don't actually do separate liquids and solids) so that means she's got some liquids in today.

I've also been to the horsey tack shop and bought a completely different brand of layers pellets, after buying that second bag with plastic in the pellets at the weekend. I wonder if she doesn't like them, which is why she's not eating? So I'll try the girls on this new stuff :o)

PS All the others are FINE!

Day 310: The "chickens sunbathing" video and our first FULL HOUSE!

2010-07-04T11:07:00.005+01:00

Remember a long time ago (15th May!), I said I had a video of the girls dustbathing in the sun? Well, here it is! It's 8Mb so be patient when downloading it :o) Hope you enjoy it!

Make sure you have the sound turned up so you can hear them purring :o)

I'll post some photos of their new house later.

OTHER NEWS: We had a mate's daughter help us do some errands yesterday so we made her lunch. She picked her own eggs from the nest box and we had lunch in... our 1970s VW camper van! Cooked on the portable cooker and eaten in the van. She loved it. But she didn't just have fried egg, we cooked hash browns as well :o) I looked last night and there were 4 more eggs but then we went to a party and I forgot to collect them! I went out this morning at first cluck (ie first egg of the day) and there were 6 eggs there already - 1 warm and 5 cold. The random fifth one was green so I knew that, if Gabrielle laid again today, it meant that the random fifth one was yesterday's and that made a FULL HOUSE! And guess what? YAY Gabrielle laid another egg today!

So yesterday's green egg not only completed our first ever FULL HOUSE but was also... our 700th egg :o)

And when Mr Nora fried it for lunch, it was a DOUBLE YOLKER!

Clever girlies!

Day 309: End of worming

2010-07-03T20:27:00.001+01:00

Ursula has been on a go slow lately, laying about 1 egg a week (and VERY wrinkly at that!) for the last couple of months. They've all been wormed with Flubenvet during the last week and Ursula definitely had worms (saw the proof - ewww) so perhaps she's feeling a little better now? Anyway, she presented us with a HUGE but wrinkly egg!

OTHER NEWS. I bought some own-brand food last weekend from a country/farming superstore and I could not believe my eyes. PLASTIC and TIN FOIL in the pellets so it must be made by the same bunch that made the other food that I've sworn never to buy again. What a pity as the girls seem to be laying really well on it. But then again, they are gobbling it up like there's no tomorrow... There's a theory that, the less nutritious the food, the more and quicker they get through it as they're either hungry or it tastes so bad and they flick it on the floor (no evidence of that).

They've really got through the last two bags at a rate of knots.

The first bag was bought on Bank Holiday Monday (31st May) and started the Sunday after that (6th June) and lasted three weeks (to last weekend).

We started last weekend's bag (ummm) last weekend and we're already over halfway through it after just a week!

I'm going to have to change brand. Again.

Day 303: settling in... and other confessions. UPDATED!

2010-06-27T10:01:00.002+01:00

They all went to bed happily last night. All except Gabrielle, who just lately likes to be last to bed. It gives her time to potter around, scratch in the Aubiose, eat and drink on her own - all unchallenged. She's the bottom of the pecking order - such a baby. She's still skittish but is starting to come to me for a fuss (mainly mealworm induced - I even managed to pick her up last night without too much trouble and posted her through the new door).

At one point, I saw her dart across the run with something in her beak - considering I'm worming them right now, I think you can guess what it was! Dirty creatures.

They eat all sorts - snails, worms, bugs... I've even read reports of chickens eating frogs (ewwww). Now one morning last week, I found a frog in a plant pot... but I haven't seen it since. Gulp (I just hope the girls didn't!).

UPDATED TO ADD! We've had our first 7 egg day, a full house! But I feel a bit of a fraud as I suspect one of them is Xena's from yesterday, underneath the roost bars (how this diddy egg fitted down there, I'll never know). So if I'm honest, yes it's probably only a 6 egg day today. But It's as close to a full house as I'll get so it'll do for me! Yay!

They're much happier this morning. We've had a few egg songs already and they're much more settled. I've let them out to potter around in the borders - that should keep them quiet!

Day 302: Don't panic Mr Mainwearing!

2010-06-26T16:58:00.001+01:00

As Corporal Jones would say in the UK's favourite 70s sitcom Dad's Army, DON'T PANIC! But the girls did. Last night we turned the Cube through 180 degrees and, this morning, they simply couldn't find the door so couldn't figure out where to lay and they complained VERY LOUDLY!

The weird thing is, they went to bed that way last night... although I had to show some of them the way (but clever Roxy and Angelina figured it out all by themselves - ladder as well). The nest box in the Cube is enormous but they clearly don't like laying with each other looking. At one point, we had three of them in there - all complaining at each other. It was like the queue for the loos in the pub on Millennium Eve. Lots of pacing up and down... but we've finally had 5 eggs from the girls today :o) And it the right place too!

Day 301: First night in their new home...

2010-06-25T07:51:00.000+01:00

...and they were fine! I woke up at 5:30am and my first thought was "Chickens! Cube!" so I dashed downstairs to see them - and there they were, pottering around quietly. They'd got themselves up fine and got down the ladder fine too - apart from knocking over a drinker so I've moved that out of the way.

One of the tasks for this evening is to move everything around in the run to make it all fit. It's only temporary until we move house and then we'll design a purpose-built run around the girls' needs and their lovely new home.

Xena was looking tired this morning - head under her wing on a perch in the run and my instant thought was "Penny!". So they're all being wormed now - we've had the new girls 2 months and they're perfectly settled and I was going to do it in a couple of weeks anyway so I've just brought it forward a couple of weeks.

So I came in and prepared the Flubenvet (vet-approved wormer) and, when I went back out to see them, she was being her normal minxy self, in one of my plastic tubs pecking at anything she could find!

I don't know why I worry about them so much :o)

I'll take some photos later so you can see what all the excitement is about. I can hear my sister now... "Ohhhh..." :o)

Day 300: And the girls have been shopping AGAIN!

2010-06-24T23:23:00.002+01:00

I've told them, this has got to stop. The rate they're spending money, they're producing the world's most expensive eggs.

Their latest purchase is an Omlet CUBE! I can't believe I've (err I mean, they've) got one! I was on the omlet forum and it just worked out that someone wanted to downgrade. They weren't too far and were looking for a good condition Eglu with a cash adjustment... which of course, my purple one is, as it's only 6 months old.

So Mr Nora got scrubbing (he found 5 eggs in there hehe) and I got the Virkon S out (I love the smell of Virkon S!) and then loaded the car. He went off to karate and I went off to deliver my Eglu and collect the cube. It's a couple of years old and the lid is a little faded but I'm really pleased.

I got home at about 9:30pm and Mr N and I started assembling it. He'd shut the 7 girls in the green Eglu which was a bit alarming so we got a wriggle on and had it in place by 10pm. He went off to have a shower and I started decanting the girls from the Eglu into the cube. Not easy as they didn't like being woken up but we got there.

The green Eglu is now in the garden and I might just keep it for introductions. Well, he made the mistake the other day of saying we could have a bigger run and get a bluebelle. And the cube fits 10 chickens - it is big - it just about fitted into the car - the only thing that nearly didn't was ME, the driver! I had to drive home with my knees to my chin but I didn't mind.

I'm just happy to have a funky PINK house - lots of tidying to do tomorrow :o)

But a confession - the run I bought last Sunday is now surplus to requirements (ooops)... I'll keep it while we move but then sell it and try to recover some of the money I've spent on the upgrade :o)

Day 298: The girls have been shopping again

2010-06-22T21:50:00.002+01:00

I think they have their own secret Ebay account that they use to spend their egg money (and some of mine!).

So they bought the table. Then this weekend, they bought themselves another run for the second Eglu. Then today, they bought a rabbit run to extend the Eglu runs. To cut a long story short, we're moving house! So we need somewhere safe for the girls to stay in whilst we dismantle the run here and then somewhere easy and quick to assemble at the other end. So they'll have two runs attached two Eglus and then the rabbit run in the middle like a big playground.

Yes, we're moving. I joked last November with Mr Nora that, once we put the decking in, we'd move. It was a joke. But now it's coming true. Watch this space. But I cannot believe that we've just finished the garden and... we're going to have to start all over again!

But at least we didn't spend £2,000 on new doors! We had the salesman round here for a couple of hours but something stopped us from placing the order :o)

I might start a "moving" blog. But might not!

Day 290: Quickie

2010-06-14T22:15:00.001+01:00

We've been getting eggs from the new girls and the oldies - we had 5 eggs today from 7 girls! But that's not the reason for this message.

The first reason is that I was busy on Saturday evening during the England World Cup football opening match, bidding on that internet auction site to buy a... table for the girls! Hardly anyone was bidding so my first bid actually secured it! The girls paid for it themselves with their egg sales :o) And I was pleased to get a £100+ table for £10.50!!! So tomorrow, we'll clear the run and fit the new table in and put the Eglus on top. It'll give them so much more floor space to run around in.

The second reason is... Xena's eggs are getting darker and Gabby's are getting bluer! Yippee!

The third reason is... I went to put the girls to bed a little while ago. 5 in the top Eglu. 1 in the bottom Eglu. 1 missing.

I found her sleeping HIGH UP on a shelf. SO high in fact, I had to get a stool to reach her! She was only about 8 inches from the roof! I **KNEW** she was a flighty breed and remember when we went to see them at a poultry supplier - we were standing outside and asked if she had any White Stars and she said, yep and pointed to the roof - they were all clambering around about 20ft up in the air!

Right,I'll update tomorrow when the table is in and the run is tidied. It's going to be a bit of hard work, as I also want to clean-out the old Aubiose and disinfect everything :o)

Wish me luck!

Day 286: Rain rain go away

2010-06-10T17:44:00.000+01:00

Yup, it's raining here and the girls are fed up of it. They're shut in the run and complaining a little... OK, a bit more than a little - but only when we're there to listen to them!

OK, I promised photos of the green egg (did I tell you, Gabrielle laid a green egg yesterday??!!) so here we go. No more eggs from her yet - and nothing from Xena, which is surprising as she's been crouching longer than the other two newbies! Each day, I keep hoping for a chocolate brown egg. Patience is a virtue! So back to the green egg... here it is!

In this photo above, there's Gabrielle's green egg, Angelina's white egg, Sophia's pink egg and Roxy's brown egg. In the photo below, I added in a barnie egg - it's one of the wrinkliest eggs we have ever had! So much so, that we don't sell barnie eggs anymore but I use them scrambled for breakfast or in cakes :o) It's such a HUGE egg that I think it's Tallulah's (but if I'm honest, I'm not really sure - it could be Ursula's! Whoever laid it, the other granny lays them just as wrinkly but much paler - and less often!).

285: A green egg! A green egg!!!

2010-06-09T17:37:00.000+01:00

Did I tell you, we've got a green egg! And not olive green either but a lovely aqua-bluey-green colour!!! I must take a photo and show you.

I did the shopping and got home not long before Mr Nora. I'd just started poo-picking and he arrived so together, to a drum roll, we opened the Eglu egg-port doors and there, in the top Eglu, was a white and a blue egg! Downstairs, we found the really wrinkly cream egg - Talullah's, we think.

The girls are happily munching in the garden. Oh, I bought a plastic dog pooper-scooper bagholder - it's bone shaped with a screw-on end cap and holds a small roll of mini carrier bags (for collecting dog's waste on walks). I got home, took the bags out and filled it full of cabbage (12p in the supermarket) and threw it into the lions (=girls) and they LOVED IT!!!

Day 282: feeling cooler today

2010-06-06T08:29:00.002+01:00

YAY! The girls are fine and got themselves up with no fuss and were really quiet! We could have had a lie-in for the first time in months but, instead, got up even earlier than normal to check that they were up and behaving haha!

Day 281: Feeling hot, hot, hot

2010-06-05T22:16:00.003+01:00

We've had a busy day... visiting the folks, who appreciated a few of the girls' eggs and (hopefully) enjoyed chatting about the chickens. They've lost count of how many chooks we have so, for the record, still only 7!

We got back and did some work on the run - there's ALWAYS something that needs doing - filling up water, shovelling poo or topping up feed. Which reminds me...

We went to the County show on Monday and bought a bag of feed. I got back and checked a few reviews online and couldn't believe what I was reading - some of this brand was found to have plastic in! I assumed it would be a duff batch but held my breath as I opened the bag... and we sifted through some and this is what we found...

If you look closely (click on the picture for a close up), you can see bits of blue, pink, aqua and green PLASTIC in the pellets. You might not be able to spot what seems to be splinters of wood and bits of tin foil! I'm not impressed and I've emailed the manufacturer and the supplier to see what they have to say for themselves. I won't name the brand here, in case of repercussions!

Anyway, back to my lovely girls. They've pottered around all afternoon and then we put them in the run this evening whilst we watched the MotoGP practice and heard the shocking news about Italian motorcyclist Valentino Rossi (= hero) breaking his leg in a crash. Get well VERY soon Vale. Not that he'll be reading a middle-aged Brit's chicken blog ;o) But I read his so it's only fair!

So we watched a bit of the racing and then went out to tuck the girls into bed. As I walked out, I realised how humid and warm it is tonight... really muggy. Then we saw this in the upstairs Eglu... Can you see how many are in there (4 is the recommended number)?

Clockwise from the top, there is a white bottom (Sophia), then brown body (Tallulah), brown head/neck (Ursula), black body (Xena), ginger chook (Gabby) and, in the middle, black bottom (Roxy).

Yes, SIX girls in the Eglu!

So we opened the bottom Eglu and found this:

Angelina isn't daft! She was all alone and lovely and cool. Whereas, the girls upstairs were fanning their wings out and breathing through their beaks - so we shovelled some of them out and gave them water from a bowl, which they guzzled eagerly.

So to try to keep it cooler, we've tried to improve the ventilation - we've left the poo trays slightly pulled out, put the pop hole doors back loosely so there's a gap, left the front doors open and sprinkled a watering can of water over the flooring of the run. I'm glad they're safe in the walk-in-run - I would never leave the pop-holes or poo trays slightly ajar if they only had the Eglu runs!!!

I hope they're cool tonight... it's the first night EVER that we've left the doors open so I also hope they're quiet in the morning! Oh and Tallulah has swapped Eglus so is downstairs tonight. So the babies have company for the very first time :o)

Day 279: Sunny day

2010-06-03T21:33:00.000+01:00

We've had a lovely summer day here today and the girls have been out and about. Mostly about - jumping over the netting to nibble the lawn. If I had a pound for every time I put a chicken back, I'd have... ummm... quite a lot of money :o)

Angelina skipped a day yesterday but laid another egg today - her 4th. She is really calming down now and starting to chat and she lets me stroke her. During one of her escapades on the lawn, she came onto the decking for a little chat - and a bit of my sandwich, taken from my hands and not stolen! Yesterday, she even hopped up onto the new garden furniture, so I had to quickly pick her up and put her back onto the borders.

Roxy was making a racket this morning - don't know why. I think she just knew I was in the house and wanted to come out. I let them all out to free range not long after and we've all had a fantastic day. We've finished putting the edging around the lawn, so that looks lovely. So that's everything on the list ticked off... until I had an idea to put some slabs down by the run door! So we're still "nearly finished". Maybe our garden really IS a Never Ending Story :o)

Day 276: Yippee!

2010-05-31T15:42:00.001+01:00

A second white egg from Angelina! Here's a photo of her first egg from yesterday. Seconds later and it was gone. And it was DELICIOUS!

We've been to a county show today - the type of show where they have "best bull, cow, pig, miniature donkey, pygmy goat, lamb, sheep, chicken, cockerel" etc etc. All alongside an arena with motorcross display teams, dog herding, birds of prey, show jumping, archery, log cutting, tractor reversing. You name it, they had it.

We found two stands selling chookie related stuff so bought a sack of feed and new drinker (heavy duty - the old one cracked in the snow last winter so has a slow leak) and new gravity feeder and some little pots for treats.

On one stand, they had three bantam buff orpingtons. Lovely birds but two looked like boys and I wouldn't - couldn't - introduce a single girl. How funny, because I was only saying 2 days ago how I could fit a little home in the shrubbery border by the decking.

And then I saw the chickens in the neighbouring stand. Dozens of girls crammed into a house that I would keep three in... and one was sitting on a perch, not moving, I thought she was asleep so went to look from the other side - and that eye was open! So she had a manky eye, poor girl. As I was looking at her (no way would I buy her, she'd infect the rest of my girls), I heard a **cough** from one of the other girls in the pen. Poor chickens, they must be so stressed :o( I looked for a vet but the stand was unattended so I just have to leave it. Or maybe I'm just too soft *sigh*... but to me that epitomised the sad state of the lower end of poultry trade in the UK - battery-hen breeders and farmers... making a fast buck from novices jumping on the chicken keeping hobby bandwagon. Exactly where I was 9 months ago so I feel incredibly lucky that I've met some very dedicated, honest breeders and suppliers.

Would you like to see a photo of our garden, now that the Rhododendrons are flowering? OK, if I must! Note the GRASS - the wooden border isn't fixed yet but will be by next weekend :o)

Day 275: Bingo!

2010-05-30T15:44:00.000+01:00

I got up a bit late today so didn't let the girls out until 7am! I let the babies out first so they could have a good munch before the big girls came out to scare them away from the food. I had the idea last night when I went to check on them all and Xena and Gabrielle hopped out of the nest box hole and started eating, quickly followed by Angelina!

Back to this morning. After hearing lots of shuffling from the big girls, I thought I'd better let them out :o)

At which point, Angelina started honking quite loudly and pacing up and down. After a few minutes, she went straight into the upstairs Eglu. I left her there for a while but couldn't resist a peek - but I think I put her off as she came out a few minutes later.

So we did some jobs, went to Wickes to buy more giant pencils for the lawn and, when we got back, I couldn't wait to check the Eglus. And lo and behold, look at the 48.9g of deliciousness I found waiting for me! Slightly smaller than Sophia's first (hers was 49.1g) but a quarter bigger than Roxy's first (38g)... Here it is with some Roxy and Tallulah eggs :o)

A beautiful, china white egg. So we have a teenager in the house :o)

Day 274: This'n'that

2010-05-29T09:09:00.002+01:00

Not a lot really. Angelina is still NOT laying, despite crouching properly for weeks! In fact, Xena is crouching as well now and at this rate could be the first to lay!

Gabrielle is scatty, mad as a box of frogs. She's the only one to have worked out HOW to get over the mesh onto the lawn. Then she cheeps and wants to go back with her friends, can't find the way and starts to bomb around the grass, taking off. I wondered briefly if "Barnes Wallis" wouldn't be a better name for her, the way she flies and bounces around when she lands.

The weather is a bit glum today. Typical, we have a 3 day, Bank Holiday weekend and the sun's gone in. In fact, the forecast is for rain so I'd better get up and get myself sorted and do my jobs before it pours down.

Oh, one of my jobs is to take my radio back to the shop - it's stopped working (yes, I've tried changing the batteries! It's just the radio bit that doesn't work - the clock is fine). So I'm on the hunt for another one, shame really as it was my birthday present!

Right, better go... got to collect a water butt stand and get some more giant pencils to finish edging the lawn and then the garden is (dare I say it!) finished!!!

Day 270: I love my chooks

2010-05-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

They keep me sane. Kind of! I love the way they bimble around. I love the way they chat. I particularly love the way Xena boks gently to me, she's quite the chatty, friendly, cuddly one but she did draw the line at sitting on my lap having a cuddle. Whereas, you wouldn't be able to keep Ursula off!

I made a memorial today. I wonder if you like it? This photo doesn't really do it justice - you can see the feet in real life and the little beak! Looks much better in the flesh, if I'm honest :o) Yup, a little yellow chook :o)

Day 268: The Never Ending Story

2010-05-23T21:29:00.002+01:00

Our garden really is a Never Ending story. We've been out there (all of us, Me, Him, 3 cats, and 7 chickens :oD ) all weekend and my shoulders are a little on the pink side. The weather has just been glorious!

So what have we been up to? We've finished turfing the lawn (now that the sleeper is in place) and we've finished gravelling the path across the front of the run.

And then I had an idea! I moved our fountain to the rockery outside the front of the girls' run.

And then I had another idea! To move the mesh from the end of the grass further down the garden so that the gravel path comes into our area. Then I took it one step further and decided to make the mesh into a hidden tunnel running BEHIND the fountain. So the girls can still access both borders but not the lovely gravel path in front of their run or our lawn. They were on both yesterday and there was quite a bit of poo aaggh.

The tunnel is working a treat. The first few times, it was one way only and, if you were in the middle with Tallulah walking towards you one way and Roxy the other, then you were stuck hehe. But they've figured out that, if one ducks and the other stretches, you can pass each other and there's even space to turn around.

I wish I'd had my camera earlier. Tallulah was under the bushes, as usual. She hopped up onto a plant pot then hopped up onto some bricks that Mr Nora had dumped there temporarily. Then hopped up onto the ballustrade. Then hopped up onto... the barbecue! Fortunately it had the dome lid on and hasn't been used today so was cold but I had to laugh, I could just hear our Aussie friends saying "stick another chicken on the BBQ".

So here I am, pleased with myself and hoping for another cracking day tomorrow.

Day 267: Lovely day

2010-05-22T20:51:00.001+01:00

They've had a great day. The girls have been free ranging for most of the day (except when we went out to buy the sleeper, more giant pencils and some stone chippings) (and out for a pint after we'd done a lot of work in the garden WOO HOO!).

We got two eggs today, one from Roxy this morning and one from Sophia early afternoon. Then we put them to bed and the fun started! Angie was on the roof, Tallulah was downstairs with the other two babies, dishing out the odd peck. So I had to get Tallulah up, Angie down and, whilst I was doing that, Xena got up... I'll get the night time routine perfected one day. I'm thinking of giving up with Angelina and letting her roost up high at night, but it'll have to warm up a bit more first!

Day 266: Submission

2010-05-21T16:36:00.004+01:00

Yup, Angelina was beaten into submission this morning by Ursula - the full-on, jump on back grabbing the comb type :o(

Angelina seemed quite shocked by it - so I put her up on a perch out of reach and hung her own food and water up there and she had a good slurp and a little nibble. She shut her eyes and went to sleep. Proper "head under wing" sleep which I haven't seen since Penny was ill. I was alarmed but had my fingers firmly crossed that she'd be OK, as there was no blood drawn. But the shock can kill them. And suddenly I thought, she's smaller than the other two! But on the other hand, her breed is MEANT to be slightly built! So I'm going to make sure she always has access to her sneaky feeder and waterer, as the lowly chooks can be bullied away from food and water and waste away.

So I came home at lunchtime and she was FINE! Up on the director's chair perch in the run, and hopped down when she saw me and came running. Phew.

I've just got in from work (I'm sitting on the decking in the sunshine typing this!) and let them all out and they're having a handful of corn that I sprinkled under the bushes. I saw Xena peck Angelina a couple of times... and Gabrielle too so Xena is top chook in that mini-flock of babies. But she's not the brightest of the three! I called them down to the patch of shrubbery by the decking and Gabrielle was first to work out that you had to go AROUND the large plant pot that's been dumped in the way, and not try to squeeze between the plant pot and the plastic netting. Because you won't fit. Angelina was next to figure it out. Xena didn't figure it out at all - I had to dangle the corn in front of her and show her the way... oh well :o)

Day 265: Runaround again! Live and learn :o)

2010-05-20T16:29:00.004+01:00

Yup, they gave me the runaround alright! This morning, just as I was leaving for work, I thought I'd poke my head in and see if Sophia was OK. She is now but this morning seemed a bit off-colour or, possibly, just plain tired, as we had some friends round yesterday evening to enjoy a glass of wine on the decking,.. and they wanted to see the girls so we let them out again, even though they had been in bed! Ursula and Roxy loved it but Sophia was first back to bed. Anyway, I digress...

Back to this morning. I opened the top half of the stable door, took a peek and Sophia was still in the nest box. I thought, whilst I'm here, I'll do them some more water (it hit 23 degrees here today!) then check on her in a minute! And with that, as I leant in to get the drinker, Angelina hopped up onto the stable door and took off to the middle of the lawn! Cue another Benny Hill chase scene - only today, it made me late for work! Minx ;o) But I'm perfecting getting her back in again!

(Here's a lovely pic of her taken whilst she rests on one of the Director's chair perch)

So onto Sophia's egg. I'm very confused. I have four eggs in the nest box and it's been a LONG time since we've had four eggs! A lovely Roxy one, a large Tallulah-ish one, one with a chip in the shell and one which looks, umm, well slightly odd! The shell isn't formed properly and doesn't close at the end so the membrane is sticking out and the whole thing looks like a bit of a boob, to be honest. See what I mean?!?!

So I'm wondering if Angelina has laid her first egg! There's no divide anymore so we can't tell according to who sleeps where. The only thing is, it isn't white. And she's meant to lay large, white eggs. This one is roughly the same as Ursula or Tallulah would lay... I say roughly, because it's actually a few different colours! So I give up :o) We'll see what tomorrow brings :o)

Day 263: Runaround!

2010-05-18T19:55:00.001+01:00

I woke up early so vacuumed the stairs and by the back door :o) And the spare room too! But Mr Nora undid all of my good work by taking the ironing OUT of the airing cupboard - d'oh!

Finally, I was all set this morning for this afternoon's visit - all I had to do was buy some lettuce. So before I left for work, all I had to do was check on the girls and they were "getting on with it"... hopefully that'll transform into plain old "getting on" VERY soon. No blood today and only a couple of feathers in the run... and the babies know where to go for safety if they needed it. But when I left for work, Angelina was preening on the perch in the sunshine and they were all perfectly quiet and happy.

On my way home from work, I popped into the supermarket for the lettuce and got a text from my sister "Hurry up we're here!". They'd arrived early - so I quickly paid and dashed home in a few minutes. As soon as I got out of the car, Sis greeted me so I asked if they'd let the chickens out and they had! Cousin couldn't wait to see them! I also had a lovely surprise - Aunt had come too and she said something lovely, that my Granddad would be pleased that I have chickens :o)

Cousin and Sis had also fed the girls a shedload of mealworms - the girls thought it was birthday and Christmas all rolled into one hehe. But that's OK, Sis had bought them all so I'm glad she could see how much the girls really LOVE mealworms :o) Then I picked up the mealworm pot - but the lid wasn't on properly so I dropped shedloads onto the decking! We tried picking them up one by one but it was too fiddly. We knew exactly who to call for help - yup, we lifted the netting around the lawn and the big girls came barrelling down the garden to hammer away at the mealworms like woodpeckers. They soon had them all cleared up :o) Sister had brought some more mealworms (thanks Sis, you spoil those girls!) but didn't want to feed the girls by hand so I showed her how easy it is :o)

So the girls have been as good as gold together. Mr Nora called them into the run with some corn and ALL the girls (big and small) followed him in. Then we left them to work out where to go to bed - the babies put themselves to bed as usual in the downstairs Eglu and the big girls went to bed upstairs but got out of bed when I went to check on them. I had to leave them for a few minutes to settle down again.

So peace really did reign today. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Day 262: Introductions and other things...

2010-05-17T21:40:00.002+01:00

Evening everyone, just a quick one as I've been too busy being a Domestic Goddess (doesn't come naturally!) as my lovely sister and cousin are coming for tea tomorrow. We'll have a fab time and they've pre-ordered egg salad :o) I've vacuumed, cleaned floors, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and (gasp) polished selected things like the TV (everything else was just flicked over with the vacuum!). The only thing I haven't done is clean by the backdoor and stairs - and Aubiose gets everywhere! In my slippers, in the bath, even in the bed. So when I do vacuum the stairs, I'll just empty the cylinder back into the run :o)

Right, back to the point, I was late back from work today and Mr Nora was home already, with the girls pootling around in the borders. He said I should look in the run - the orange netting had fallen down so the 7 girls had been mingling together! And I've no idea how long! It was just like when we brought Ursula and Tallulah home... after 3 weeks, they did it all by themselves in exactly the same way :o) Actually, worse - Tallulah invaded their nest box and laid an egg!

So here's hoping that peace reigns, as I'll be too busy ironing in the morning to have time to refit the orange mesh! Unless I just hide the ironing in the airing cupboard... Hmm, that sounds like a good plan!

Oh good news - they've been using their new perches! It had poo on it so it was easy to tell ;o)

Day 261: And lollipops

2010-05-16T16:51:00.004+01:00

Actually, nothing to do with lollipops but I like the song "Sunshine, Lollipops" and yesterday's post was Sunshine so today's has to be... lollipops!

I've made ANOTHER perch for the girls! Two, in fact. We had a clear out yesterday of the shed and, at the back, we found two old directors chairs. I was given them in 1994 so you can imagine, they weren't in the best condition (and covered in white spiders nest). The seats were torn (and eaten, we think!) and the panel of fabric that makes the back is missing, presumed also eaten. So they were added to the pile of "take to the recycling centre". Then I had a moment of inspiration and retrieved them, turned them upside down, removed the arm rests and reattached them horizontally and... BINGO! Two awesome perches. Well, I think they're awesome. Even Mr Nora looked slightly impressed, which is a mini compliment. But the girls? Pah, they just want to play in the garden!

Which reminds me! I forgot to say yesterday that we've had a rejig of the decking screening panels and the upshot of it is, the girls have tons more border space to play in and we now have the decking and lawn. The decking panels were across the front of the decking, to keep the girls off the decking (and stop them poo'ing on it) which meant they had all the borders and the lawn - which they trashed and transformed into the mudio.

So when we laid the new turf, we put mesh around the edges to keep the girls off the grass but still allow them to play and scratch in the borders.Which meant our garden was divided in three sections, ours (= decking by the house), theirs (= run and borders) and the lawn, which became a no mans land.

So we decided to reclaim the lawn by moving the decking screen through 90 degrees - from the edge with the lawn to the side with the border. It's also replaced the old mesh we had there so double bonus! So now we have the decking PLUS the lawn - which makes our part of the garden a whole lot bigger (like 2 postage stamps instead of 1). Which is important when it's pretty small to start with and you want to hand your washing out!

So, now the screening runs down the side of the decking, we've also moved the mesh that closed the gap to the fence so the the girls now have LOADS more room under the bushes. Dare I say it, but the garden's coming together! We just need to sort out the gravel path outside the run, edging of the lawn and the step from the decking to the grass - we have a plan in mind so could be my half term project. Possibly!

PS it's just started to rain so I had to get the girls in. All except Xena were sheltering under the bushes - she was outside the run getting soaked. I've now perfected my lock-up routine - big girls shut in one of the borders, babies "encouraged" into the run with a rake/hoe, babies put behind the divide, run door opened and big girls let in. Sorted! Sounds simple in practice doesn't it?! I'm getting quicker, honestly.

Oh, and when the babies came in today, Angelina jumped straight up onto the new perch! Result :oD

Day 260: Sunshine!

2010-05-15T22:08:00.002+01:00

There's nothing quite like it for warming the blood (as the hippo said about the mud)... and the girls all LOVED it! They were out in their own halves for a while, then we had to go out (buy Aubiose and corn and donate the huge half bales wood shavings to the animal sanctuary - it's just will not compost so I was happy to get rid of it!) so we put them back into the run.

When we got back, we decided to let the girls out together to finally mingle! They got on pretty well, obviously with the odd "put you in your place" peck but no "swinging them around by their throats" type attacks. So late this afternoon, we took down the divide as well and they all came into the run together. Obviously, they got in each others' ways and Ursula wanted to assert herself, but she's so dippy I just called her and she forgot and would always come flapping over to me. We put up the two sets of Eglu Grubs and Glugs so, with the two pairs of big and one pair of mini feeders, there are now plenty of feeding and watering stations so there shouldn't be any squabbles over food or water!

So we've had a lovely day. I'm thinking of making another perching system for them... I've rescued 2 old directors chairs from the pile that's going to the dump tomorrow so I'll see what I can knock up from them tomorrow :o)

So here's a photo of the babies - I WILL have to stop calling them that, as Angelina's comb in getting HUGE and really quite red now! Might not be long until we get a white eggie... I need to take a photo of her tomorrow, seeing as she deliberately hid her comb in this photo (minx)...

I also took a video of my chickens PURRING as they dustbathed - but it won't load onto Blogger so I'll have to see if there's another way to get it on here! It's over 8Mb but well worth the wait :o)

Day 258: Wow, that MUST have hurt!

2010-05-13T21:43:00.000+01:00

Sophia laid ANOTHER whopping great egg today. Possibly twins again! The penny dropped not so long ago... I think it's the egg-laying season kicking in for her, making her lay whopping great eggs.

Nearly normal morning... except for the fact that all four big girls escaped and were running around the garden, being chased by me in my dressing gown, all before 7am! I got three in but gave up with Sophia, only to have Mr Nora get her in in 2 seconds flat.

Wind on to this afternoon and all the girls were free ranging in their own halves of the garden. Which was great, until it rained and I needed to get 7 excited chooks back into the run. I got two of the big girls in but they escaped. So I got two of the littlies in and they escaped too. So I got the big girls in, shut two in an Eglu (tempted in with corn) but the other two escaped. So I let all the big girls out, got two of the babies in (not Angelina, who was roaming the lawn), shut them off in the back section, then got the big girls in with a promise of corn, then coaxed Angelina in with more corn... and she roosted high up so persuaded her down with... more corn! And then they all went to bed. Eventually.

Another softie from Ursula (we think), broken in the nest box... Looking into ways to stop her laying!

Day 257: Cheeky Angelina

2010-05-12T19:06:00.000+01:00

Normal morning, normal day at work, then got home late and Mr Nora had let the girls out to free range. Angelina had hopped the fence and was nibbling the lawn! 3 out of 4 of the big girls were dustbathing in ONE hole! Then we got them all in. Gabby was last and had to be "helped" with the rake again LOL. As I opened the door, Mr Nora said "be quiet" and when I peeped in, there he was stroking Angelina (White Star), who'd flown up onto the trolley again. We put her down on the floor and she kept straining her head up, looking for somewhere to roost. She even went into the upstairs Eglu and poked her head out through the egg-port and perched herself on the door-edge! In the end, I had to pick her up and post her through the egg-port door to the downstairs Eglu, where the two other newbies were already in bed. We don't think it'll be that long before she gives us a white egg! Fingers crossed.