Make yourselves at home!

The Litlees keep staring into the Big Girls' Run; they seem fascinated by it.

So, whilst the Big Girls were out rooking underneath a shrub, I closed them off from their Run. Tehy can still get into their Cube, and under their Cube. Then I opened one of the Run doors so that the Littlees could get in.

And they did. They had a really good explore; they tried out the perches, the branches, the bench; they rooked around in the Aubiose. And then they tried the Dust bath. They've been in there for ages.

Meanwhile, I diverted the Bigees with a corn cob and a nectarine!

While everyone was occuped I swapped the reinforced netting, which has formed the barrier between the two areas, keeping the Littlees from the Bigees, for normal netting. So they are still separate, but their heads can easily extend into each other's areas now.

Moving the Eglu today we found a pile of pellets, which explains why the Grub was empty last night! The ground is looking really sad now. I need to relocate the Eglu completely in the next couple of days: I'm just not sure where to put it, or how to arrange it.

EDITED TO ADD:
After their bath, the Littlees relaxed on the Bench...

Part Exchange

Jasmine is showing signs of being very ready to mix with the Big Girls.

When the Biggies are in their Run, Jas stands outside watching them, or making a noise, can't describe it. The Biggies stare back at her and start bokking or growling. Jasmine also puffs herself up so she looks a similar size to them. Her comb is developing really well. Milly is still small. Age wise,she's only a week younger - but she seems 2 or 3 weeks younger in terms of her size and development of her Comb.

Today I thought I'd take advantage of a sunny spell, and I dismantled the Cube and cleaned it. As I had the pressure washer out, I did the Eglu as well. Then I thought I'd try swapping the girls over for a few mins.

So, the Littlees had the Run and Cube, and the Bigees has the Eglu. They all seemed very interested in having a look round, but no one visited the sleeping quarters, so I ended up picking them up and putting them in. Scarlett was mostly interested in eating the Littlees' food.

After about 15 minutes, I swapped them back again.

Tomorrow, the Littlees are having Layers Pellets for the first time. Their food will be made up of 1/3rd Layers Pellets, and 2/3rds Growers. If the weather is fine, I might try swapping them around for half an hour again.

Lovely neighbour

My Neighbour is lovely.

When she is going away for a few days she empties her fridge of veggies and brings them round for the Girls. Today's treat for them is a lovely melon - lucky girls!

Weighing In (upd 19 Aug)

We didn't weigh the Littlees until we had had them several weeks.

Tue 22 July: Milly 559g; Jasmine 810g
Tue 29 July: Milly 620g (+61g=+11% on prev week); Jasmine 892g (+82g =10%)
Tue 05 Aug: Milly 715g (+95g=+15% on prev week); Jasmine 987g (+95g = 11%)


We've been weighing their feed consumption, and it's really erratic. It's been between 80g and 260g each day, between them. And it's not constantly increasing, it's up and down. Of course, I'm not able to weigh how much grass and insect they eat!

Edited to Add:
Tue 12 Aug: Milly 825g (+110g=+15%); Jasmine 1084g (+97g = 10%)
Tue 19 Aug: Milly 954g (+129g=+16%);Jasmine 1045g* (+61g=+6%)
*weighed very late in the evening, so assume that crop was less full than Milly's.

Baby Steps

A couple of days ago we moved the netting so there was no no-hens-land between them.

Today, we've gone down to one piece of netting (albeit the reinforced one), and we've rearranged the Littlees ranging area so that there is a really long shared border.

Doing this has necessitated using unreinforced fencing for the rest of the Littlees ranging area. Milly#sbody weight had increased by 50% in the two weeks to Tuesday, so we're hoping that she'll be too big to get through the holes now.

So far, so good.

Milly, who has no sense of fear at all decided to go and rook around the border. The Bigees came over to rook on their side of the perimeter fence. Milly was oblivious to them. She is, however, absolutely *tiny* in comparison to them. I need to wait until she's bigger before we let them free range together.

Over the top

Jasmine managed to get out of the enclosure. We heard a fluttering of wings, and there she was: in thePampas, on the wrong side of the netting.

We don't know whether she flew over from the ground, or whether she jumped on to the Eglu and then from there over the fence.

Anyway, we managed to catch her and put her back in. A few seconds later, another fluttering of wings, and Milly! was out too. She's easy to catch, so it wasn't a problem. We don't know what method she used, either.

We're waiting for them to do it again so we can see how they do it, and that will help us decide our next course of action.

It looks like I need to find a pair of sharp scissors, as wing clipping may be the best option. I don't know why i'm so reluctant to do it, many (most?) people do it as a matter of course. I think I don't like it for my Girls because it means they can't fly up out of harm's way, should that ever be necessary.

Mind you, I suppose they are potentially flying into Harm's Way if I don't clip.

Jasmine

Jasmine, a Welsummer, has the most gorgeous colouring. If I was going to be ginger, I'd want to be her sort of ginger. Sadly, I can't get a photo which does justice to the amazing sheen on her feathers. Anyway, here's a close-up so you can see how her comb and wattles are developing.

Every hen's comb is unique, like a fingerprint. I might take some photos of the 4 girls combs (well, 3, as Milly doesn't have a comb to speak of yet). But in the meantime, here's Jasmine.

Closing the gap

Last night, we moved everyone.

The Big Girls' ranginng area was moved to the back of the garden, so they can range under the lovely shrubs there. The Littlees were moved off the "lawn", and into an area between the Big Girls latest free ranging area and their old one. They are still separate, with a no-hens-land (NHL) in between the two bits of fencing, but we've reduced the size of the gap. We believe that no hen can reach into the other hens' area, but they can easily reach a head stuck into NHL.

The Big Girls are very aware of the newbies. Jasmine is very aware of the Big Girls and has been running up and down The Border. She's also been lunging around stretching her wings, and has shown off by jumping up on top of her Run. Milly seems oblivious to it all; she really has no sense of danger!

We'll move the fences closer still over the next week or so, and then we'll go down to just one piece of netting between them. One step at a time.

No escape?

Milly continued to escape, but now it was by determination rather than by accident. We had bought extra fence poles, so the fencing was pulled tight. She patrolled up and down, testing a hole here, a hole there, until she found one she could jump through.

Close meshed garden netting helped. We draped it over the taut fencing. She found the bits we hadn't draped. We found more mesh, and covered all the fencing. She managed to get underneath the mesh and out through the fencing.

And so it went on. In the end we came back from the garden centre with some semi rigid plant support stuff, and DH cable-tied it all the way along the bottom of the netting. At least we could take off the close-mesh stuff, but the fence is much more of a nuisance to relocate now.

We're still moving the girls every two days, keeping them so that they are close to the Big Girls. Despite keeping the Eglu on the move, the poor "lawn" is looking a bit sorry for itself now. Mind you, it's not just the chickens. All the grass is looking starved of water.

The Littlees are not so little now. Had their second weigh-in yesterday, and thay have each put on more than 10% of their bodyweight in the last seven days. Hopefully it won't be long before Milly is too big to squeeze through the netting, as we've only reinforced the 7m length of it! At the end of this week, when they are 16 and 17 weeks, i;m going to move them off the "lawn", and put them at the chicken end of the garden. At the same time I'll relocate the Big Girls, so they are all in the same area - but still separated by netting-with-no-hens-land (NHL) in the middle. But the size of the NHL will be drastically reduced.

Jasmine's comb is shaping up beautifully. It's still very small and dainty. Her wattles are growing too, and no longer look like turned-over-lips. She weighed 892g, up from 810g. Sadly she no longer cheeps like a chick, but she's not bokking like a hen either.

Milly's nobby bits are now in a line, and I know from Jasmine's growth that they are the basis for a comb. No wattles yet that I can see. She weighed 620g, up from 559g. She's taken to screeching like a baby Pterodactyl.

Scarlett has taken to whingeing, making a sound like a frantic goose, for minutes on end. Honk honk honk honk honk honk. It starts off OK, but the volume keeps creeping up until it's very annoying. I'm sure it's attention seeking; maybe she regards me as a member of her flock and gets concerned when I'm not outside. I'm hoping she'll stop it when they are all down the other end of the garden.

Back to her roots

Our modern domestic chickens are descended from tree-dwelling fowl in Asia.

This evening, Jasmine decided she wanted to go back to her roots, and decided to attempt roosting in a tree.

First, she got on the Eglu run. Twice. And from there, she leapt up into the cherry tree and tried to settle down for the night. DH had to "rescue" her, and she really didn't want to be rescued.

Looks like I might have to clip one of her wings. I know this is a routine thing to do, but I'd rather not unless we really have to. We don't think she'd have been able to get up there without using the Eglu as a launch pad, so we'll see what happens.

Chickens!

Austrian chickens?

I had a wonderful surprise last night. My very dear friend Susi, who is from Austria, emailed me to say she would be in England, in my local town, for half a day, and would I like to meet up for coffee today.

Susi and I worked together for many years, she in Austria and me in the UK, until she left the Company six? years ago. We've remained good friends since, despite not actually seeing each other for several years. We email intermittently, and it's always as though we haven't been apart.

Anyway, what's this doing on my chicken keeping blog?

Well, took her four eggs, including one laid this morning in one of my "Laid by my lovely Garden Girls" boxes.... and it turns out that she has been talking to her husband about keeping chickens! He's not too keen (now where have I heard that before?). How cool is that?

I wish she had been here for longer, she and Gunthe could have come to my house to meet my Girls and their Cube. Next time, maybe.

Never a dull moment

Chickens!

We're still moving the Littlees' Eglu evey two days. Yesterday, Milly escaped more times than I can count, and each time she headed for the Choisya in front of the kitchen window. So, when we moved the Eglu last night (with them tucked up inside), we adjusted the netted area so it incorporated said shrub.

DH got up to open the pop hole for them at 7.20, but we kept them in the Eglu run so that they fill up on their nutritious pellets. At 9.30 I took pity on them and let them out, and they both rushed underneath the shrub. They have been rooking around under there ever since. They've only really started to exhibit scratching behaviour in the last week or so, and it's lovely to see them able to express it so fully now. Makes me feel even sadder for Battery Hens.

Meanwhile, the Big Girls have been up since 5am, we don't close their pop hole in the summer so they can get into their enclosed run whenever they like. We let them out to range at 9.00. I went out to hang out some washing a little later and heard that wonderful Motorcycle Noise of Contentment that hens sometimes make. There was Delilah, in her nest amongst the pampas (the resting place so beloved by Washburn the Ginger Cat), purring away.

And sometime later, we had the unmistakeable, ear-splitting, crow announcing "Lo! I Have Laid an Egge and It is The Most Wondrous and Beautiful Egge Ever Laid by Any Chicken. Ever. And Am I Not Wondrous And Beautiful, Not To Mention Clever, For Laying It?".

Although it's very sweet, it's not good to have them laying eggs in the garden as they could so easily get damaged (and I don't want the Girls to get a taste for eggs). So, tomorrow, they may find themselves confined to their (very large) run until they've had a chance to lay.

No sooner had Delilah finished crowing than Washburn appeared, and took up residence. They say if you want to stop a hen getting to a nest you should put a ball in, or an upturned flowerpot. We put a Washburn in. Can you spot him?

And then Delilah came to check it all out. I was sure she was going to peck his tail.

Cat, Hen, Cat, Mouse,Littlee

We've had to be on our toes the last couple of days.

The Big Girls ranging area now includes a large bed, in the middle of which there is an enormous pampas grass. The Girls like to get in there and rook around, sometimes getting right into the pampas to nest.

Yesterday, Delilah was standing in front of one of her nesting places making a huge racket. Her volume is usually much quieter than Scarlett's, so there was obviously something not Not Quite Right. I went to investigate, and eventually spotted Washburn (our ginger cat) curled up in Delilah's pampas nest. He was well camouflaged. Delilah was standing right in front of him, he could have taken her out with out having to get up. But he just lay there watching Delilah squawk!

He was there for hours, he came in for dinner and went out again. We found him later on the other side of the pampas grass, again with Delilah right in front of him. This time though she was just rooking through the grass. Cool Cat! We're very proud of his restraint.

I'll post a pic later.

Oh, Milly escaped and walked along the Big Girls' fence line. Without any hesitation at all, Delilah poked her head through the netting and pecked Milly hard on the top of the head! Milly was uninjured, and it served to reassure us that we are doing the right thing keeping them apart until the Littlees are bigger.

Anyway, on to today.

Today, Milly continues to pop through the netting. She doesn't seem to try to escape, she just stretches for a bit of grass and pops through. We've doubled the netting up all over the place, and I have extra poles on order. This morning we were having brunch outside. One second (literally!) she was inside the netting, next second she was outside. Fortunately she's very happy to be handled, so she stopped to let me pick her up and pop her back. A few minutes later I saw her climb on a brick and walk through the netting again. This time she'd spotted a dead mouse that the Cat had left on the path.

She picked it up, I picked her up - complete with mouse - and put her back in the netting. Chickens love mouse, and will kill a mouse that ventures withing beak range. Jasmine was very interested in Milly's acquisition, and we were treated to the unforgettable sight of Milly running round with a mouse dangling by its tail from her beak, hotly pursued by Jasmine.

The details get a bit gory; after a few minutes Milly's beak had done its job and the mouse went in in one go.

The Big Girls - who have never shown any interest in the Cat's offerings - were very upset that Milly had something, and spent the whole of the time running up and down their fence line bokking furiously.

Cat gets revenge

I found a cat turd in the Big Girls' dust bath today.

Big Girls raise the Alarm

Scarlett has taken to crowing a bit at about 7.30 in the morning. We aren't sure whether she just does it, or whether something sets her off. We have a footpath at the bottom of the garden, and people are always exercising their dogs there, so it's quite possible. She also gets agitated when Cyril the Squirrel is around, and he's been around a lot.

Anyway. Humungus amount of crowing this morning. It was 5.15 am, early even for her. DH got up, bleary eyed, and looked out of the window. Something was definitely up as the Isabelle (our Cat) was lying on the "lawn" near the Littlees Eglu.

I got up, pulled on a dressing gown, and came downstairs. Fumbled trying to find the door keys, I wasn't really awake. As I opened the door I saw the cat lying in an unusual position, and wondered what on earth was going on.

When I opened the door, Izzy tried to get up, but she was caught in the netting. She panicked a bit and struggled, andI tried to calm her down while I approached her. In fact, she managed to wiggle free just as I got there. She's fine. A bit embarrassed/put out perhaps, but no signs of any serious injury.

We don't know whether the Big Girls raised the alarm because the cat got stuck, or whether they raised the alarm because Izzy was investigating the Eglu, causing her to run and then get stuck.

At least we know there was a reason for it.

Not again :-(

Yesterday afternoon, Jasmine stayed in the dustbath on her own for a while. When she got out, she couldn't stand up. She kept falling over, tried to stand, fell over again. It was horrible. I got out all my chicken books, posted on the internet, to try and find out why she should be "off her legs".

After 5-10 minutes she was "OK". She was walking, then sitting, then walking. Much later, she was perfectly fine, no sign of problems at all.

I phoned the breeder for advice. Sounds like she's not getting the nutrients she needs. I feed growers pellets, which should be all they need; they have ad lib access to, and eat, oyster shell & grit; they've been getting cucumber and tomatoes as treats. They've been eating well (100-150g between them). The inputs are OK, which means that she might have a parasite which is stopping her getting the nutrients from the food she eats.

I was going to worm them next week anyway, so I started worming them yesterday. I've also ordered some stuff from my Vet which deals with/and is a preventative for other parasites, such as lice, mites and fleas; it'll be in today, so I'll start her and Milly on that as well.

She seems fine this morning, but we'll keep them in their Eglu run until later on today, then let them out for a bit of ranging. maybe she overdosed on grass instead of pellets for the last couple of days?

Fingers crossed.

the Dust Flies!

The Littlees have been out free ranging around their Eglu and Run for three days now. We've moved everything so it is sideways on to the Big Girls free ranging area, so they are now all very much aware of each other. Over the next week or so we'll move the areas closer together until they are adjoining.

As soon as we gave them free range access, we put a dustbath in the area for them. The Littlees have ignored this completely...until today.

They were having a joint bath together; Jasmine was making the Chicken Motorcycle Noise of Contentment.

Bless!

Give her an inch....

Decided to let the Littlees out for a bit. I staked out about half a square metre outside their Run door, opened the door and waited.

Milly came zooming out, not stopping for the netting. The netting caught her, she reversed up, and tried again. Stopped, ate some grass, looked around to see the Big Girls getting very agitated at the sudden appearance of two new hens.

And then Milly tried again. This time she squeezed and squozed, and popped through the netting. I scooped her up, she tried top eat my jumper at various strategic points, and was very curious about the world around. I put her down in the Run and doubled up the netting. She escaped again while I was doubling up.

She's obviously still a bit too small for Going Outside, so I'll let them have a bit longer this afternoon, while I'm watching them, and then put the netting away and try again next week.

Scratch that. Whilst typing that last paragraph I saw Milly walking down the garden. I rushed out and scooped her up and put her back in the Eglu run. Fortunately, Washburn was busy sitting on the fence and didn't seem to have spotted a small, snack-sized, chicken walking past.

Smile for the Camera

Monday
Mophead continues to be happy being scooped up and/or stroked, especially if cucumber is involved. She's as light as a feather, and very quick witted. The Welsummer (I'm trying "Sonja" now, as she's very red) is still shy. I picked her up from the nestbox, and she really doesn't like it. I'm having to take it very slowly with her; it's difficult to make progress as Mophead always wants to be the centre of attention!

They are both quite large now, compared to what they were when we got them. Mophead's wings still aren't straight, which worries me, but she's so bright and active.

I dusted them both with red mite powder yesterday, as a precaution. I don't think I'll be suffering from red mites in the near future either, as I'm also very well dusted.

They are still eating about 100g or so of pellets between them each day. We are keeping the pop hole shut overnight, at some stage we'll leave it open so they can get used to it.

Haven't let them out to Range yet. They are so small and light, they'd find it really easy to jump over the netting. I'm thinking I might wait until they are both 15 weeks (so 15 and 16 technically), as I'll be able to clip one wing then.

We've put an extra shade over the Eglu run, as it's very bright in there; and the corrugated roofing makes it a bit warm too.

Although they are in the line of sight of the Big Girls, the Big Girls don't seem to be taking any notice.

Mon Afternoon
Have taken loads of pictures, Mophead wanted to get in to all the photos.


We might have names (again). DH started calling Mophead "Mildred", apparently her hair-do reminded him of Mildred Roper in George and Mildred. Well, he had just come back from the pub, so what can you expect? Not too keen on the name "Mildred" as I'm trying to avoid "old lady names" (apologies to anyone I've just offended), but I can live with "Milly" I think. And the Welsummer, who has been through two names so far is now trying on "Jasmine" for size. I'd been reserving "Jasmine" for a completely different type of hen, but the poor baby needs a name! I'll try it for a couple of days and see if it sticks.

Not on the lawn!

Friday (start of week 2)
We continue to move the Eglu every 1.5 to 2 days. Because they are still confined to the Eglu run, the poo quickly covers the available area. We still haven't let them free range, we'll do that when they are a bit more tame.

Washed the Eglu out today. It's definitely quicker to do than the Cube, but it needs doing more often. The Eglu also destroys the grass it sits on - the Cube, being up on wheels, is a much better use of space.

The Legbar (who we've been calling "Mophead" while we think of a name for her), is really inquisitive and grabs anything and everything without any evaluation. She swallowed a poor spider who was minding her own business abseiling down the outside of the Eglu run. Unlike older birds who tend to peck gently, she pecks with a sharp jabbing movement, and with a lot of force. It actually hurts! I've had to get very deft at opening the door and shutting it without having her peck my fingers.

Saturday
Today we moved them to a completely new part of the garden. They are now directly in front of the kitchen window, on the one bit of back garden that we would classify as "lawn" rather than just "grass". This move puts them in sight of the Big Girls for the first time, although both sets of chooks are already aware the other exists.

In this latest move we had an escapee. The Welsummer (who may be named Saffron, we'll see) managed to get out and ran straight under one large shrub. Catching any free hen is a challenge, catching a Littleewho hasn't been handled that much is extra fun. We used some of the moveable netting to get her into a space where we could catch her, and popped her back home again. Her little adventure among the shrub and one of the flowerbeds seems to have done her no harm.

Saturday Evening
Well! I've managed to hold Mophead on my lap four times this evening. She doesn't run away when I stroke her in the Run, and she let me scoop her up and hold her on my lap. The cucumber I was using to bribe her with had more to do with it than my skill with birds did, but I'm still really pleased. Saffron (still not sure about that name) snatched cucumber from my hand, but skirted away from being touched.