The chicks are now coming up to 5 weeks old.   They are looking more like very small chickens rather than big chicks.

We've given them a large part of the garden, over 20feet by 12 feet, including 2 flower beds.   About a week ago, we moved them on to big feeders (as well as having the standard Cube feeders). Since this picture was taken, we've had to raise the feeder up by standing it on bricks - the chicks are growing fast. I just love their cute fluffy knickers.

As well as their Cube, we've put the Go in their netted area. It was in there originally as  a temporary retreat for one of them who had been injured.  We realised that some of them like to sit on or in it during the course of the day, so we've left it in there for now.

I also put an old garden chair in their area.  They love it, and it's surprising how many small birds it can accomodate, all at different levels.

 

In fact, the chair is such a useful item that we now put it inside the Cube's run, if the chicks have to be shut in at all.   Although to our human eyes it seems to take up a lot of space,  in fact it provides a huge amount of extra perching space versus the actual area the feet take up (if you see what I mean)

Sometimes, when we get back and open the Cube run so they can all run out,  they actually just carry on perching for a while. They look like they are busy having a bit of a natter..

We're still getting the usual jostling for position in the chickeny hierarchy, but it's normally just a quick spat.  Hopefully they have plenty to keep them otherwise occupied

Checked them all over yesterday,  and changed the rings on some of them.  All but one are now on 12mm rings.

We're reducing the length of time the Electric Hen is on over night, starting tonight.  babies are growing up!

Bee mishap

It's always easy to write about the things that are going well in our endeavours, it's sometimes harder to share when things don't go so well 

Yesterday, things didn't go so well.


One of the options we could have implemented when we moved the bees into their new home, was to swap the old and new brood boxes round.  We didn't do this, instead once the Queen was in the new brood box, we put a Queen Excluder underneath so she couldn't lay any more eggs.  The plan was to just wait 3 weeks or so, so all the eggs would have gone through thir cycle and hatched,  and then remove the old brood box completely.


When we did our inspection last week, we didn't see the Queen. We saw brood,  weren't sure whether we'd seen eggs (it was too bright).  The bees hadn't been drawing out the frames in the super, which surprised us. We'd waited until they started drawing it out before excluding the Queen.


During the week we discussed options.  In the end, we decided that we would do an inspection this week, and we'd check out the bottom brood box and possibly swap them over. This way we only had one Queen Excluder.

With hindsight, it's easy to see what we should and shouldn't have done,  but here's a condensed summary of what happened.


I was at home with the chicks, so DH did this on his own.   The bees got quite upset.  DH was stung through his veil by many bees, there is a design flaw in it (above the brim there is mesh,  and the bees can sting through the mesh).

He put the hive back together, and left the area so the bees could calm down.   He sat in his car for a while.  After about an hour, he went back to check on the bees. He didn't go close to the hive, he just approached the allotment to look from a distance.  He didn't have his bee suit on.   The bees wre still on alert, and bees attacked him and stung him quite badly.

He talked through what happened with our bee friend,  and she was very helpful, as we now realise that there were a number of little things which came together to cause the problem.  

The main issue was that we should have either done our bee inspection or swapped the brood box.  Doing both took a long time, and got the bees rattled.        We might have got away with this,  but the bees honey source has dried up in the last week, there is a general lull while one source of pollen and nectar has finished and before the next one starts.  The bees were likely to have been grouchy because of this.  In addition, the weather has been unseasonably hot, and the bees have been missing the rain. All in all,  our interfering with the hive as we did for as  long as we did, turned their irritability into anger.  


And of course, once DH had been stung he was carrying the scent. Even though he removed the stings,  he still carried the scent of a sting - so when he approached the bees the second time just to take a look, they were immediately on the attack.


And we have certainly found the flaws in our beekeeping jackets.  The veil has mesh above the brim around the top of the head.  This is done for comfort, to prevent the wearer boiling over... but because the mesh is against the head (rather than away from it as the face veil is) the bees can get their stings through the mesh.   The cap part isn't adjustable, so it moves around on the head, meaning different parts of the head are against that mesh bit depending on the angle, so the bees were able to sting quite a range of places.


DH thinks that wearing a cap underneath will fix the problem.  I'm going to get a different type of jacket now, one with the fencing-mask type of hood.  I'll be scrutinising them carefully to look for possible areas of weakness.

Anyway. We both went to see the bees today, to make sure they had settled down and weren't causing a nuisance.  They were back to normal.     Of course, we didn't go close to the hive - we don't want to risk upsetting them unnecessarily -  and we'll leave the hive well alone for the next week!

DH is OK, much calmer about the being-stung part than I would have been.    His concern is about the bees themselves, and making sure we don't cause a problem for our neighbours.     I share those feelings - I just think that I'd also be feeling very nervous about the whole being-stung-by-so-many-bees part.

Neverending

Poo.

Their bodies have apparently now changed emphasis, and the quantity of overnight poo means that we need to clean out the poo trays every morning now.  


The electric hen bakes the poo under it, so it's not a difficult task to remove.


Still, it's only a couple of weeks more. Maybe 14 more poo clean ups.

They go mad for blood

Two of the chicks have been much slower to feather-up than the other 31 and 1of them, Piglet, has been really slow.  He hasn't let it stop him though, he's been just as active and just as inquisitive as everyone else.


Today I was working at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and I could see someone giving his shoulder a good peck. Then I realised that several of them were pecking him.


There was quite a bit of blood.  It was one cut, which had bled quite a lot; and the others, attracted by the blood, had been pulling feathers as well.    We put some antiseptic purple spray on the wound,  and then DH fished out the Go and a small part of the run, and we isolated Piglet within the free range area.


I also put a small dustbath in with him, as rolling in the dust will help seal the wound.

He'll probably have to sleep in the kitchen this evening.

Dedication

Florence, our one-year-old Australorp, has been broody for a long time now.

She's been sitting patiently in the nest box,  although not on any eggs,  for at least 3 weeks.  She comes out twice a day for a poo and something to eat, and then goes back to her vigil.

I thought she'd get fed up with it after a few days, but she's persisted.

Bless.

Slippery little chap

High pitched squeak told me that one of the Cats had caught something and brought it in the house.  DH wasn't around, and I was hoping that it was going to be something I could deal with, like a mouse, and not something that would make me go all girly like a "Big Mouse".

Helpfully, Izzy had let it go in the hall, so I shut the hall door to prevent It getting into the kitchen and the living room.  I then joined her in the hall.  The Cats like hunting in pairs,  and Izzy was quite happy to drop back to let me try and get It out from the stuff under the stairs. This meant she was poised and ready to leap on It if it managed to escape my grasp.

Our under-stairs is open, it's where we put our pushbikes.   Today though, it also had three 20kg bags of chicken feed in front of the bikes, waiting to be put away.  I hoiked them over to the other side of the hall.   Then I fished out a couple of pairs od shoes belonging to DH. And then his beekeeping suit (we're using jackets only now).  Then I could move out the bikes, into the kitchen.

Fortunately it wasn't a mouse, and it definitely wasn't a BigMouse, although it was a largeish rodent. It looked like a small mole.  It managed to slip through my fingers a couple of times.  I got the hand-held Dyson Pet Vac thing out while I was down there and hoovered up some rather impressively sized dust bunnies.  And then I vacuumed around the sewing machine (which also lives under there) and whatever heavy piece of kit DH had parked undfer there some months ago temporarily. 

It dashed past me, and past Izzy who had got bored of watching me and wasn't really paying as much attention as she should.  Down the hall, and into the Corner.   I sighed, and followed it.

Of course it picked the Corner.  We have a plant on a plant stand,  our Roomba,  the charger for the PetVac; next to it there is a large wicker basket which contains kindling and upon which was a mountain of stuff that was ejected from DH's car recently and was awaiting rehoming.   I started to move the stuff around, and again I missed catching It.    As I'd now excavated the Corner, I decided I might as well vacuum up the dust bunnies lurking there too.  I contemplated tackling DH's Pile Of Stuff, but I couldn't work up the enthusiasm.

Izzy was on the stairs by this time, presumably disappointed that I wasn't taking this more seriously.

I've no idea where It is at the moment.  I've left the hall door shut and I've come here to try and find out what it is.  

It's body shape, size and fur looks very much like some of the pictures of shrews that I've found;  but there are other pictures of shrews which have completely different fur and very pointy noses, which this chappy doesn't have.

I do hope I manage to catch It and release it before the Cats get it.    If it was a HouseMouse (which we don't have) then I probably would be glad that the Cats were doing their job,  but it isn't.  It's a little thing from Outside that had the misfortune to meet Izzy this morning, and I'd like to save it.

Bees

Now that the chicks are happily settled in the Cube and its run,  we have a window of a few days where it is possible for us both to be out at the same time.  This is because they are still small enough that being shut in to the Cube run for a short period of time isn't a problem.


So, I went down to the Allotment with DH to do a bee inspection.   And to say hello to the chooks, as I haven't seen them for a while.


I tried to take some photos, but the combination of the strong sunlight and my mesh veil made it very difficult,no, impossible,  to see what I was snapping.   I took5 photos, and only 3 of them are even  vaguely worth sharing...but here they are anyway:

Looking down into hive

My first attempt at a close-up of a bee.

Brood frame showing a lot of "sealed brood". Sealed brood contains pupae, which will emerge as bees. Many of the other cells contain larvae (which haven't turned into pupae yet), and some will contain eggs (which haven't turned into larvae yet_

Cat Acne

Did you know that cats can suffer from Acne? Neither did we, until earlier this week.

Izzy, our partially white cat, is always getting grubby.  She lies in mud, in oil, all sorts of Unmentionables.   Sometimes she cleans herself up quickly, sometimes it takes a couple of days of concentrated washing for her to regain her Persil whiteness.

A couple of weeks ago she was a bit grubby from lying in wait for some poor unsuspecting rodent or other.  Most of her gradually cleaned up, but she had a bit of "five o clock shadow" under her chin  A couple of days passed, and we noticed that her shadow seemed to be growing.  DH had a feel around, and found a spot or bite under her chin.  We were concerned that she'd been injured and it would fester, so we made an appointment at the Vets.

The Lovely Lady Vet took a look and pronounced that it was Cat Acne.   Apparently, it's quite common. I googled it later,  and found that it really is common.  Upon inspection there were lots and lots and still more little blackheads under her chin.  Izzy was given an antibiotic injection, and we have some liquid to dilute and apply daily.  

Several days on, and it's improving.   She hates having her chin done,  and DH so far has been volunteered to be the Wicked Person who does it.


I'm not going to post pictures.

Moving up

Last night, many of the chicks took themselves to bed in the Cube.  Rain is forecast for the next few days, and DH and I discussed what was best to do.

In the end, we decided to leave them in the Cube overnight.  We put a thick fitted rain cover over the length of the cube run, it goes most of the waty down both sides.  The idea was that, although the grass could do with the rain,  we wanted to keep the area in the  Run dry.

Last night we had rain. Lots of rain. Thunder. More rain.   Poor chicks, I thought. Maybe we should have left them in the shed!   But we had made the right decision.


It was still raiing this morning, but we were able to let them out into the dry run.


It's not raining now, and it's been heating up.  I let them out into their free-range area a few minutes ago, and they all came tearing out.    They had their mad few moments of running around with their wings stretched (like little children pretending to fly), and then settled down - mostly - to eat.    


They do exhibit some funny flock behaviours. Every so often, someone will run to a completely different part of the pen, and then they all swerve and go chasing after, wings flapping wildly.


They are starting to move from being large chicks to being small chickens.

Next size up

Last night we were pleasantly surprised to see the a number of the chicks take themselves back up the ladder and into the Cube at the end of the day.  The Electric Hen (EH) was in there,  is in there and on all day, just in case the chicks need it).  We discussed whether to let them sleep overnight in the Cube now. 

It was tempting. It would make evenings and mornings much easier, as we wouldn't need to ferry 33 chicks to and from the shed.    It would also mean their waterers would remain cleaner (thety get a few bits of Aubiose in them in the shed brooder).  But they are a but young.

We did a chick-by-chick inspection,  and changed the ring sizes for many of them.  I also made some notes about the extent of the feathering etc.

It won't be long before we let them camp out. Still with the EH of course.

Chicks in detail

Because of the parentage of the chicks, it's not been that easy to tell which chick comes from which parent.  I've been making notes about the different chicks, in the hope that this may help us next year (assuming we have the same parents next year!).  It will be interesting to see if the colouring etc turns out to be an indicator of sex,  so I'm trying to make quite detailed notes.

Our friends R&C have a Light Sussex (LS) cockerel, running with a number of LS hens and also one rogue RHode Island hen.


We have a Sasso cockerel (which itself is a hybrid, and we aren't really sure what's in him), running with a Sasso hen (ditto)  and two Welsh Blacks.    The Welsh Blacks are Australorp x Indian Game.


It's been easy to identify those that are the offspring of the LS cockerel. We know we have 13 of those (plus Hannibal).  We're also fortunate that R collected eggs over just 2 days, so it's likely that only 2 (or 3) could be Rhodeys.  Looking at them, 2 of them ("pink" and number 18) seem to have a slight brown tinge to some of the wing feathers, and so I would guess that their Mum is the Rhodey. The rest (3,7,9,11,12,13,17,21LS,25,orange,purple) are either LSxLS, or the Rhodey gene isn't showing.


Of our own 20 chicks,  9 are black and so have one of our gorgeous Welsh Blacks for Mum.


The rest could be Sasso mum or Welsh Black mum,  but there are some interesting colourways going on, and I have made some guesses.

The rest of this is more for my own benefit, as it's very detailed and likely to bore the pants of anyone else.


Numbers 2 and 6 are almost identical,  and are different to the rest. They are much lighter sandy/ginger coloured, with a touch of black at the wingtips.  I would guess that these are Sasso x Sasso, and I think they are girls.


Numbers 15 and 21 have been very slow to feather up.    Both have enormous combs.   I would have guessed that these were Sasso x Welsh Black, but  on balance I think there is a chance that they are Sasso x Sasso boys.  I need them to feather up more to tell. 


Numbers 16 and 24 are mottled, but very black.   Sasso x Welsh Black.

Numbers 8 and "blue" (we ran out of numbers),  are mottled, dark, with just a touch of orange. Sasso x Welsh Black.

3 of them (22, no-ring, and "orange") are very orange, and I would say they are Sasso x Welsh Black.


However, it seems unlikely that with 20 eggs, only 4 are Sasso x Sasso. 

Fortunately, I've bought numbered rings in larger sizes so hopefully we can keep track. 

Bees

I haven't seen the bees since before DH transferred them to their proper hive.   I've been on chick-duty.

Things are progressing well.  DH put a second brood box on top of the first brood box,  and the Girls quickly drew out the wax frames.  Soon the Queen was laying in there, and we had some stores.     So, DH put a Queen-excluder (Qx) underneath the new brood box so she couldn't go back in there,  and also put a super on top.  Now we have a Qx on top of the brood box as well as the Girls have been busy drawing out the frames in the Super.


Later we were advised that we could have just swapped the boxes around and used one Qx,  which was obvious once it had been pointed out to us.  Never mind.

Now that we have the chicks in the Cube during the day, I think I'll try and go with DH next time he does a full inspection and see if I can take some pics.

Curiosity and the Cat

Both my cats, litter-mates, are incredibly curious.  More than that, they are downright nosey.   I've often tried to explain to them about curiosity and the cat, but they don't listen.   

Past exploits have included Isabelle being shut in the wardrobe, and getting shut in the loft on another occasion, and once she got shut in a bedroom on the day we went off on holiday (but was fortunately rescued by my friend S who visited to feed them).  Washburn has tried to get in the Ocado van and someone elses boot,  and he once got shut in somewhere all day and most of the night.  The list goes on. And on. And on.


One of the things they find particularly irresistible is boxes.  Any box.   They have to get in it.  Sometimes it takes them ages to work out how to do it, especially if the box is partially closed, or has something in.  


Anyway.  This morning, Wash didn't come in for his breakfast.  This is such a rare occurrence, it usually means he's got trapped somewhere (and once it meant he's been hit by a car and was lying injured by the side of a road);  we try not to panic until he's an hour late.

At about half-past breakfast, DH called me upstairs.   I looked into our small bedroom, where there is a large box suitable for packing a tailors dummy.  The box was wobbling.  A lot.  Then a cat's paw appeared.

Wash had been able to jump into the box, but the flaps had closed behind him and he couldn't get out.


Silly boy.

Babies and the Cube

Yesterday morning, Tuesday,  was a bit nippy so we delayed putting the chicks out until nearly midday.   We then put them in the back of the Cube, a few at a time, until all 33 were in.   Left them there for a few minutes, and eventually opened the pop hole to let them out.

A few heads peeped out as soon as the pophole was open.  Eventually one of the black chicks descended the ladder - part way, before going back up again.  And then they gradually started to come out.


Some climbed most of the way down,  some flew from the pop hole.   Some climbed back up again.


Later, I put a lettuce at the top of the ladder to encourage them to climb it.  That worked really well.


And later still, I opened the door to the run and let them out....

 

They really do run that fast, and flap their wings that much

Ready for the next step

We put the chicks away this evening and, as soon as they were tucked up in the shed brooder, we set about removing the Go and replacing it with a Cube.  We wanted to put the Cube in the same position as the Go, leaving the netted area as it was when the chicks went to bed, in the hope it causes less confusion tomorrow.

Everything is in place. The Go is now on the patio. We won't dismantle and clean it until we're sure the Cube is going to work.


Tomorrow, before we put the chicks out, we'll put the Electric Hen in Cube.  We'll also start by introducing the chicks into the Cube itself, and then we'll let them out throught the Cube's pop hole.      


A bit later on in the day, we'll put some lettuce at the top of the Cube's temporary ladder, to encourage them back up.


Here are some pics of the set-up:

We've no plans to get the chicks to stay in the Cube overnight just yet, we'll see how it goes and what the weather forecast is.

Fingers crossed!

Clever little monkeys

So, this morning DH constructed a ladder to go over the Cube ladder. This one had treads very close together.

Next step was to see if we could teach the chicks to use it.  We propped it up agains the Go run, and I putan enticing lettuce at the top.

A few minutes later, I saw that one of the chicks was eating the lettuce. Hurrah! I came into get my camera, and then I just had to laugh as I saw another chick climb up the vertical sides of the Go run (like Wallace in the Wrong Trousers) wings flapping to keep balance.

So, I moved the ladder to some of the netting, propping it up against a pole.

Shortly afterwards there was a bit of a "monthers meeting" underneath the ladder as the chicks were obviously trying to work out how to get to the lettuce...

...then someone was at the top (although I don't know if they jumped or climbed)

 

Some chicks underneath tried jumping up to reach the lettuce from below,  and some just waited for bits of lettuce to fall.

Eventually we had a few chicks at the top, so that was fine.

Next step is to try the Cube.

Next steps

We've been really luckywith the weather, so the chicks have been able to be out all day every day for the last few days.

We raised the Electric Hens (EHs) again today, ready for the chicks tonight.
 

This afternoon we got the other Cube out and scrubbed and disinfected it.
DH is going to make a ramp, so we can teach the chicks to use it over the next few days.   Ideally we'd like to get the chicks into it overnight, with the Electric Hens still in use. 


We'll see.

Houdini

"Number 25", aka Houdini, on one of his recent excursions:

We've found one of his escape routes now and pegged it down....

...but he's been out again since.  The Big Girls were not amused.

New day

Feeling better this morning. 


We rearranged the chicks netted area so that some of the grass could rest. To compensate, we gave them a flowerbed.  We thought they'd use it as a dustbath, but they are excitedly rooking through it, doing that chickeny salsa to turn over the earth.

I popped out to take a picture to find that they have all realised that it's good to dustbathe in...

We also have another character to keep our eye on.  "Number 25", aka Houdini,  has been escaping frequently from the run since yesterday.  We haven't been able to work out where he's getting out.  

Adter returning him to the run 4 or 5 times in quick succession, I sat outside and read a book whilst watching them yesterday.  for the hour or so I was outside, he didn't even attempt to escape.  I came in to get a drink and - you've guessed it - he was out again when I returned!

He's been out twice this morning, despite the rearranging of the netting.

 

Hannibal, again

Last night we left the four injured chicks in the big brooder with their siblings.  They'd been out in the garden together all day without any problem.    We brought the "small" brooder (actually a large lawnmower box) into the kitchen and put Hannibal in there, along with a dustbath   It was more roomy and there was a bit more for himher to do.

DH suggested that we put a couple of the whiter chicks in with himher for company.  I wasn't too sure but, as the four injured chicks had reintegrated successfully, decided it was probably a good thing to do. 

The three of them were really, really noisy.  We put heated up the pad. Still they cheeped.  We covered the box with a towel (and some mesh so the cats couldn't get in and the chicks couldn't get out), and eventually they went to sleep.

This morning the weather was gorgeous, so we put all the other chicks out straightaway.  DH hung up a couple of lettuces, which were a great success.  

We put Hannibal and his two friends out as well.  Everything seemed fine.  They ran around, eating, cheeping, barging, doing normal chicky things.  I came in to write my update,  and a few minutes later DH came in with the bad news: Hannibal had started again, not just a quick peck -  but trying to eat the feathers of the black chicks, actively seeking them out to so do.


No point trying any more.

Non-Chick close-ups

Decided to get a Macro lens for my camera, in the hope of getting some fab photos of the bees.


I've been trying it out all round the garden....

rosemary

unripe cherry

strawberry

clematis

virgina creeer

bluebelle

inside of a dandelion clock

no idea, probably a rose bush stem

Spinach? Lettuce? Something gone mad in a veg bed

Not sure. Quince flower probably

Hosta leaf

A different hosta leaf

Time for your close ups

Hannibal spent yesterday in the indoor brooder in the kitchen.   We spent quite a bit of time talking to himher,  and letting himher out to have a run around.   S/he's in solitary cofinement to protect the others, not as a punishment.  Of course the upshot of such one-to-one contact is that we're getting quite attached to him/her,  even though we know what the outcome will be for her if she won't stop her behaviour.

This morning we put the chicks out early, extending the netted area even more.   We put the four injured chicks out with the others, and watched to make sure there wasn't any trouble. 

DH cleaned out the big brooder pen (it's amazing how much mess they make, especially considering they are only in there overnight now!),  and will be making it bigger today.

Eventually, we decided it was time to let Hannibal out.  We were still hoping that time away would make himher forget their cannibalistic tastes,  but we were sadly disappointed.   S/he pecked several of the black chicks, pulling tails, etc. Again, it wasn't done with any malice or attack,  she's obvisuly just attracted to black feathers.    We hoiked Hannibal out again,  back in the brooder temporarily.    

DH then rigged up a corner in the outside run, with its own food and water,  so that Hannibal could go outside with the others, but be separated from them.  We're trying this method of separation to see if being in sight of the others helps.  It's certainly less distressing for him/her than being in solitary confinement.   We'll try once more tomorrow to see how s/he behaves.


S/he'll have to come into the indoor brooder tonight. We're planning to leave the 4 injured chicks with everyone else overnight; we want to make sure Hannibal isn't there in case (a) s/he attacks them overnight, and (b) they get attacked  by someone else and s/he unfairly gets the blame.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Chicken pictures

Here are the chicks in their newly-extended Go, with externally netted foraging area:

Two of the three panels on this side have doors; the middle panel on the other side has a door; and the end has a door.

Here are pics of two of the injured chicks - this one has purple spray all over his back...:

 ..and this is the one who has been most severely injured:

And, completely non chick related,  I had to bath Custard today.  She has a really odd shaped bottom - it sticks out below her vent so poo tends to get stuck on it.  This is her, after her bath:

The saga continues

Weather earlier today was quite chilly, sothe injured chicks (ICs) were in the shed, in a small brooder with their own Electric Hen, recuperating.  Hannibal was in solitary confinement in a brooder in the kitchen,  and everyone else was out in the newly extended Go.

DH came home,  had some work to do, and then he marked out a netted area.  The new door panels arrived, so the end of the Go run and one other panel were replaced, giving us (hopefully) easier access.   The chicks were then shut out of the Go run (so they were still in their extended netted area), so that we could give the ICs some time outside in the safety of the Go run.    The ICs took matters into their own claws though,  and soon everyone was together.   DH watched them carefully, for quite some time,  and decided that they were all getting on OK so we'd leave them all together for now.

More later.

 

Hannibal still a Cannibal

We put Hannibal back in the brooder with the others. He had a bit of a peck, but we decided to give him the Benefit of The Doubt.     DH rigged up the large Electric Hen (EH) in the Go, and we then moved them alll outside into the newly enlarged run. The 4 injured babies are still in the shed in their own little brooder with another EH.

I can see the Go from the kitchen window. A couple of times I thought I saw Hannibal peck some of the remaining black chicks, but I couldn't be sure.   I went outside and watched.  He did it. To several of them.  In a short space of time.  Then he was happily eating grass and taking no notice of the black chicks.  I watched some more. He did it again.  A bit of tail pulling here,  and peck on the back there.  

I couldn't catch him.  I came inside and pondered what to do.  I went outside again - no problems.  Then, there it was again. And Again. And Again.  Then it was OK.  I tried again to catch him, no chance.  I came in and got my Grim Reaper net.   The Big Girls, who had been lining up against their netting to watch the sideshow, ran away and hid.    The little chicks all ran up one end.  I put the net in, and tried to catch Hannibal as he ran past.  Missed him. 

I moved the net trying to get the chicks (including Hannibal) to run into the Go, reasoning that I could shut the door, then get him out from the back.  The other chooks ran in the Go, Hannibal ran the other way.  i moved the net again, and I managed to catch him in it (which was a fluke, and not what I was expecting at all).  I moved it slowly towards me so I didn't hurt him,  and there he was.


He's now back in solitary confinement, until DH comes home and we can decide what to do. hi specking doesn't look particularly malicious - but then, my cats don't catch things with the intention of killing them either, they only want to play. They still end up killig the plaything though,  and Hannibal is still going to end up drawing blood and hurting the others.

The morning after

Hannibal - Red Ring -  wasn't happy at being alone in the brooder in the kitchen.  I felt awful for himher, but I would have felt even worse if we'd left himher in with the others and then came down in the morning to find more bloodshed.  Chicks can tend to be copycats (copychooks, perhaps),  and we don't want this behaviour to spread.

This morning, he was fine, cheeping everytime we walked past him.   In the shed, one of the chicks had escaped the big brooder and was sitting on the spare Eglu panel which was acting as a roof of the second brooder.   Hmm. They have reached the stage of using the Electric Hen (EH) as a launch pad,  so we were going to need to put some form of roof on it now, especially as the EH needs raising again.

The four injured chicks were under their smaller EH. I called anc clucked, and a head appeared. I clucked a bit more, and two heads appeared.  In the end, I had to put my hand under the EH, and all 4 little chicks appeared.   At least we didn't lose the one who had been most injured.


I left them at that point, as DH and I are putting the extension on the Go run and putting a more thought-out netting run around.   When the two door arrive - hopefully later today - we can replace the appropriate panels. We can then put them out - separating the injured chicks initially - and reintroduce Hannibal and see what s/he does. 

Wish us luck.  I'll let you know how we get on.

Turn your back and what happens?

The chicks were out today,  my Aunt and her grand-daughter came to visit, everything was fine.


At the end of their visit,I took them to the station, 15 mins at most I was away. When I got back, five of the chicks had blood all over them. - mostly tail area, but a bit on the back. DH and I got them out and sprayed them with  Septiclense (an antiseptic spray, which disguises the red blood), and put them back in with the others.   ALmost immediately, the others were pecking them again. 

We separated them out, sprayed them again, and put them in the run attached to the Go; we made up a netting run for the others, so we could keep them apart.    We filled up some spare feeders,  made up a second dust bath so both runs had one,  and kept watch while we worked out what to do. One little chap, the most severely injured,  was very quiet.  I heated the Snugglesafe in the microwave and put it in the run for him, but he didn't bother with it.


We discussed options, and decided to make up a temporary second brooder pen for the injured chicks. Fortunately we have a second, smaller, Electric Hen.   We set this up in the shed and left it to warm up.


Amongst the uninjured chicks, we noticed that one particular chick seemed to be attacking the others.   I got out some leg rings, and we put a red ring on the one we thought was causing an issue.  We watched them for a little while, and he really was a problem.   We hoiked him out, and put him in the second brooder while we discussed what to do.


We decided to put rings on all the chicks, so we could identify any persistent trouble makers.     I had some numbered rings, so we put even numbers on those we thought might be girls, and odd numbers on those we thought were boys.   We only had 25 numbered rings,  so we then put blue on the remaining boys (different coloured chicks so we could still tell them apart),  and the remaining colours on those we thought were girls.


It ws getting late by this time, so we moved Red Ring (the trouble maker) into the old chick brooder in the house so we could put the poorly chicks to bed.  Don't like him being on his own, but it's better than letting him injure others.   The four injured chicks then went into the temporary brooder,  and everyone else went into their normal one.   We'll see how the injuries are tomorrow and then decide whether to continue to keep them separate or whether to try and reintegrate them. 

Red Ring can go back in with the others tomorrow, under supervision, and we'll pull him out again if he starts any trouble.

I'm covered in purple spray,  my clothes are covered - I didn't have time to change, so they aren't my chicken-keeping clothes, and  I feel drained!  I know I should be more resilient, I'm just sad that this has happened, and annoyed that it happened while I wasn't there to see what occurred. I think it's the "not knowing" what made it all kick off that is so horrible.  Was it an accident?  What sort of accident?  How can I stop it happening again?  Did something catch them from the outside? Was it a cat paw? 

Gnom Gnom Gnom!

Had slow roasted belly pork for dinner yesterday (from the half pig we butchered a while ago). It was fantastic.  Used Jamie Oliver's recipe http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/jamie-oliver/pork-belly-roast-recipe

Today we had the leftovers.  I fancied trying Chinese-style pancakes, with hoisin sauce, spring onions, and cucumber.  We've used flatbread recipe before, but I really fancied trying to make those extremely thin pancakes one gets in Chinese restaurants.   I eventually found a recipe on Videojug. I was a bit dubious whether it would work (especialy the separating bit) but I decided to give it a go. They were fantastic!  We've got pancakes leftover for the freezer, which we can reheat in a steamer another time.  The recipe is here http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-chinese-pancakes.  Definitely one for my cookbook!

DH cut up the remaining pork belly, and reheated it in a wok-style pan.  At the end he added some soy sauce.

Yum!  We ate so much, it was really hard to stop because everything(pork, pancakes, hoisin sauce) was so delicious.