It's been a while - have you missed us??

Well we are back! And mite free - yay! Ok, so it took an awful lot of cleaning and treating the coop, ending in us having to bring in an exterminator to do the coop and run! Wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, but cost enough. Mind you if I had done that from the start rather than buy loads of mite treatments first it would have been cheaper. Lesson learned, the only way forward when it comes to mites is Ficam W. Expensive, but does the job. Also need to stop feeding wild birds as these can transmit red mites.

Other than that, life has slowed down. At least one of the girls (Myrtle) is now going through a moult. Luckily she hasn't stopped laying. We are averaging 4 eggs a day now, which I think is still good given that we are coming up to 2 years now.

Just need to get them to start going into the coop on their own at nights now as its getting cold, yet they still try to sleep on top of the coop! Stupid birds!!

Arghhhh! The Dreaded Red Mite

So as you can tell from the title, we have mites! Whilst they are species specific for feeding, the little blighters can still crawl on us, and bite us, just not feed. Needless to say there are a lot of showers here at the moment!

Emma noticed about 6 weeks ago the girls started sleeping on top of the coop. An initial check in the day showed nothing. Turns out they come out at night! Checked early evening and found a few small black mites. Looks like the recent 'warm' weather is bringing them out. As they can live up to 8 months without feeding and once they do start laying eggs, which hatch every 5-7 days, its a case of getting on top of the cycle. So for the past few weeks we have been cleaning the coop with a multitude of anti-mite stuff (the latest being poultry shield) and then dusting with diatomaceous earth (DE) to help kill them. We are also dusting the girls with DE and adding it to their dustbath. Its proving to be a nightmare!

The problem with mites is that they can cause the chickens to become anaemic and as their health suffers, so does egg production and it can kill them. As they are still laying often we are hoping we are dealing with it before it gets too bad. Plus Emma is giving them extra treats and vitamins.

If the poultry shield doesn't work, we will be giving Ficam W a go. If that doesn't work we will have to replace the coop with a plastic one. Nightmare. As I said - Arghhh! Mites!!!

For those who don't know what a red mite looks like, I have put a picture below...











I hope it doesn't make you feel too itchy...

Edith update

We've just taken Edith to the vets to be checked out because although she spent the whole of last night on top of the coop (I think just to prove that she hadn't broken it) she was still holding it funny and Emma wanted to get her checked out...

So, off we went to the vets (Emma, Emilia and I) with Edith in a cat-box in the boot and went to see the only vet in the practice with chicken experience (I don't know if I should ask him what it's been doing with these chickens to get this experience!)

Anyway, 10minutes and £40 later we have a diagnosis...






...I feel this needs a drum-roll...









The diagnosis is...










...A swollen elbow. Possibly from a knock.

So we've got to give her a weeks supply of Metacam anti-inflammatory and not eat her eggs for 2 weeks. Hers are the dark brown ones for those who've forgotten / didn't care in the first place.

So for anyone who buys the eggs, the dark brown ones are off the menu for the rest of May.


*You can all sleep soundly tonight as I know you we're up worrying about poor Edith last night :-)

Edith has a damaged wing!

It looks like Edith had damaged her wing. No idea how. We let them all out yesterday morning and Edith was holding it in this funny position.

Emma has gone on her forums and we've had lots of diagnoses like "Angel Wing" which is a developmental abnormality normally found in ducks with a poor diet (fairly sure it's not that!) or broken which we don't think it either as I've seen her fly to the top of the coop which she couldn't do if it was broken.

Anyway, we'll see how she is tomorrow and maybe take her to the vets.

Fingers x-ed for poor Edith

Update from the menagerie

Right, Internet. I thought it was probably about time for an update.

We've kind of a routine... When I'm working, Emma does the chickens and I walk the dog. Emilia sits in her bouncy chair and watches mummy and the chickens. I've put a photo on of what she sees.

Emma has also realised that we don't actually eat any of our eggs so has started having boiled eggs for at least 1 meal a day!

Other than that, there's not a lot to report. We're still getting lots of eggs and all chickens are well (but looking forward to the summer as their run is still sodden. Last week looked like it was going to dry out but the the rain came... Again!

Its All Change Now

So life has definitely changed!

On 21st December our daughter made her way into the world - on her due date! Emma was in hospital for 2 days, from waters breaking to baby being born and discharged. That gave me two days to get the house ready!

Once baby was home we tried (still trying) to get into a routine, especially where the animals are concerned. Not long after Doris stopped laying. We also noticed lots of white feathers so wondered if she was moulting as this can obviously interfere with egg laying. Most days we are able to get the chickens cleaned and let them out for a run and have also got back into the routine of giving them their afternoon treats! Result being after 2 weeks of no eggs - Doris has laid this morning!

Will be interesting to see how the routine changes over the coming months!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

and its fair to say the girls are not liking it!

Been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. Emma is now in her last month of pregnancy and to say she isn't enjoying it is an understatement! She is now (in her own words) Huge! She is also struggling to walk due to her SPD/pelvic girdle pain (she's actually been given crutches by the physio its that bad) and she has been in slow labour for 3 weeks now. Lots of contractions but they dont progress. This now means that she struggles to do general house chores which means they get picked up by the rest of us (did i mention we now have a cleaner??). Em tries to do the chickens everyday but it doesnt always happen - and she hates it.

Anyway, back to the chickens! We have been having A LOT of frost lately and they do not like it. We have no greenery in the garden as it is (thanks to the girls eating it all) so when they do get to free range they struggle finding anything, or scratch at the ground (as its just frozen). They try to get to the seed that's down for the birds, so that keeps them occupied, and also chase off any wild birds that come into the garden - they are quite territorial! 

We are starting to give them a handful each of mixed corn before bed - apparently as its high protein it helps keep them warm at night when they are digesting it. We have also filled the coop with more bedding to try to keep it warmer. Its getting to -4 at nights now. We overslept the other morning and didnt get up until 7.45am to let them out. Normally by this time they would be awake a clucking, but nothing. Emma did wonder if they were still alive! When we opened the coop to let them out, they were not impressed and took a while to come out! 

We are still averaging between 3 and 5 eggs a day (usually 5) but I think thats more due to their age! This time next year may be a different matter.

So to try to keep them occupied, we have had a cabbage hanging from the run (they like this), brussel sprouts (they dont like them) and Emma also gave them a bowl of (dolphin friendly) tuna and grated cheese - its fair to say they LOVE that. Turns out chickens will eat pretty much everything!!!

Tomorrow we are trying them on pomegranates!

Tis a Frosty Morning

So lately we have been having more frost on the ground, today being the most so far. Its fair to say the girls are not keen on this cold white stuff - god help them when we have snow!

I have been giving them porridge on the mornings when its cold which is helping entice them out. Egg production is down a tad - only 3 yesterday. Mind you, a lot of peoples hens have stopped for the winter so we are lucky to get any!

Also been giving the girls more mixed corn to help keep them warm (its a high energy food so helps in this weather) and also tried them on a melon i wasnt going to eat in time - they loved that, seeds and all!

Other than that, not much is going on here. Waiting on snow to see how they react. They seem to still enjoy mud baths - even when the mud is wet, so now our two white chickens are not very white at all!

4 hens all in a row...

Let the ladies out this morning and then went back to bed. (Don't judge me, it was a restless night with a heavily pregnant wife!)

When I came back downstairs the sun had come out and was just peeking over the fence so all 5 chickens had perched on top of the coop

Doris jumped down when I got the camera!

So Winter's Coming!

Been ages since we last posted! Been very busy trying to get the run sorted and things. Its not as great as I had hoped.

With all the rain the run was just a mess. Plus the chickens have eaten all the grass, so the garden is a mess too. In fact its like one big muddy puddle!

we needed to worm them, so decided the easiest way was with Layers Pellets with the Flubenvet (wormer) mixed in. This requires them not to free range whilst they are on them (they did not like that!) so we took that opportunity to lay down some grass seed too. Well after 10 days, there was a tiny smattering of grass, so we have let them back out and resigned ourselves to the fact we may have to returf the garden in the spring!

We were also able to get hold of an old rabbit hutch (thank you Furry Friends Rescue) which is providing an excellent bit of extra shelter as they dont seem to like being in the coop all day and just sit out in the rain! We removed the doors (so its just a big box) but they seem to like it and use it daily.

I must admit, I do feel like a bad owner. We have covered the top of the run, put some wood up on some sides for a bit of protection, and put bark chippings down to try to control the mud, yet the girls stay out in the rain and then climb all over each other - the 2 white girls are constantly filthy. Even if we let them free range, they stay out in the rain, and Doris is still having regular mud baths! Going to try to find some clear plastic sheeting to maybe use to cover the sides, see if that helps, but its proving elusive.

Anyway, better get back to the other animals! Piper (the dog) has been petrified all night due to Fireworks (chickens didnt seem bothered though - i did wonder if we would be down any this morning). We have rehomed the remaining 2 fish and sold the tank. Just got to do some re-jigging of the chameleon cage and hopefully thats all the animals sorted for the rest of the year.

I blame the pregnancy! 7 weeks to go and Emma has suddenly turned into a crazy woman with things needing changing and it needs to happen ASAP!

Looks like the yolk is on us...

A week or so ago I posted that we had found a tiny egg from Doris. (No yolking matter). We assumed that it was an egg with no yolk.

Today we were proven wrong. It was a tiny egg with a tiny yolk. Unfortunately too small to dup anything with. I could try frying it but it would get lost in the pan!

Eggs for sale

We have 2 x 6 eggs for sale if anyone's interested.

(No photos but you'll just have to go by the other 300 photos I've put up here :-)  )

No yolking matter!

Emma went to check on the ladies and found 3 proper eggs and a tiny egg from Doris. We don't think that it has a yolk. Anyone want to try?

And Now For Something Completely Different!

So, Emma is also part of a pet forum where they often discuss food for the other animals. When we first got Piper we wanted to raw feed, got a freezer (from free cycle!) especially for dog food etc, but she was having none of it! In the end, Emma ended up cooking some food so we have progressed from there. As some people have asked what she does exactly, last time she cooked up a batch she took pictures to explain.

I would like to quickly comment this has been done over time, speaking with vets etc, and works for our dog. Anyone making a home made diet must observe their pet to ensure they are getting the right nutrients etc!

Anyway, down to the food! As its been a tough month financially (Emma suddenly decided we needed new carpets upstairs plus buying the last few big baby items) we only bought enough meat to do a months worth of food. As Piper doesn't seem to eat the chicken meals we once made, we just do lamb and beef. We get this from the supermarket, trying to buy British where possible.

So, we have a leg of lamb, a packet of 3 lamb hearts, some stewing beef, some beef liver, two bags of frozen mixed veg (if fresh is on offer we buy that), some brown rice, some corn oil (although Emma is getting fish oil to use) and some calcium powder. The oil, calcium powder and rice tend to last a while, so once you buy these you don't have to replace every time you do the meals. I think a tub of the calcium powder lasts us a year?? Oil probably the same (if Emma isn't using it for cooking etc, which if its fish oil she isn't!).

Anyway, back to the food!

We start off by cooking the lamb leg in the oven for the recommended time. Piper refuses pinky lamb, so it has to be cooked through. Towards the end we add the hearts so they are nice and cooked, and then left out to cool (I forgot to take a picture of the cooked lamb).

In the meantime, we add a low salt stock cube (usually beef) to some water and boil. We add the stewing beef and liver to the boiled water and let it cook through. Usually takes 10 minutes. Meat is removed and put to one side to cool. Don't throw the water away!

Bring to the boil again (now has beef stock plus beef and liver juices in the water). Add 1.5 cups of brown rice and leave to cook. Halfway through, we add one packet of mixed frozen veg. This obviously cools the water down so needs to reheat, but we like to think the veg is soaking up some of the beef flavour by doing it this way. Once the rice is cooked, strain rice/veg mix and put to one side. Repeat again with another 1.5 cups rice and veg (if you have a bigger pot do it all together and then halve the mixture when done).

When the rice/veg mix is cooling, we add a small amount of the oil (maybe a table spoon) and two table  spoons of calcium powder and mix through. In this instance Emma found some Oat bran in the cupboard and mixed some of that in, but usually if we have it we will add a cup of wheat bran - which is much better than oat bran!

Now comes the time consuming bit! Strip the meat from the lamb leg and cut the hearts up. These then go in the food processor and are blitzed! The shredded meat is added to one bowl of rice / veg mix and mixed up. Repeat the same for the beef and liver.

Once mixed, we then portion. We used to do 100g bags, but lately Piper seems to be eating more (I think its because Emma cut down on her treats!) so we have increased the portion size to 150g.

We just use the small food bags from Tescos. The food is portioned and using labels (cut and with either an L or B on them) we roll the bags and seal them. They are then put in the freezer and take a few out at a time to defrost in the fridge.

From the start of the cooking of the lamb (which takes the most time) you are probably looking at 4 hours here, but whilst the lamb is cooking I am usually doing things, so in all really this maybe took 2 hours max? Obviously if you have more freezer room (and cash) you can do bigger bulks and it will work out as less time as you could do 2-3 months worth of food in one go.

We ended up making 19 lamb dinners (plus naughty here - gave the lamb bone to Piper to strip the remaining meat - once you hear bone cracking it gets taken off her) and 18 beef dinners. Costs are as follows -

Lamb Meals -

Leg of Lamb - £15.02
Lamb Hearts - £2.24
1 x Bag Frozen veg - £0.75
Food bags (bag 60=£1.50, therefore 0.025p each) - £0.48

Total Cost £18.49 = 97p a meal

Beef Meals -

Beef - £8.19
Beef Liver - £0.83
1 x Bag Frozen veg - £0.75
Food bags (bag 60=£1.50, therefore 0.025p each) - £0.45

Total Cost £10.22 = 57p a meal

There are obviously the more ad hoc costs, such as the rice (£1.60 a bag, but lasts at least 6 months), Corn Oil (£1.98 lasts at least a year) and Calcium powder (£3.99 again lasts a good year). And gas, which I have no idea how to calculate, and time. But on the whole, for me, its a cheaper option as we know everything that is going into her meals so know the quality of the food she is having - and its cheaper than a lot of pet foods on the market.

We also give her raw bones from the farm shop as part of her diet. This helps ensure adequate calcium intake and also keeps her teeth clean. They can't sell them, so we give a donation to the local charity pot for them. We usually have some good bones for a donation of a couple of pounds - and they keep her happy and occupied for a while!

Obviously this works for us. We have discussed with our vets and they agree that Piper is healthy and not lacking anything. We have these meals through trial and error. I would like to do this for the cats, but its harder due to the more specific requirements for the taurine levels, so we are sticking with cat food for them!

Hope this give people some ideas!

Ernie "guarding" the chickens

Opened the curtains to this this morning.

We've noticed that he spends a lot of time up there. He's next doors cat but had taken a bit of an interest in the ladies.

To be honest, after Piper chasing them last night, I think they'd rather Ernie there than Piper running around the garden!

Chickens vs. Crickets

As a reward for the laying of 5 eggs in 1 day, Emma went shopping today to buy the ladies some treats. The biggest of which was some crickets that they apparently love.

I'll let you make up your own minds...

If you look closely, you'll see them jumping about in the sawdust.

5 eggs from 5 chickens

Today Emma went out to check on the ladies (literally about 5 mins ago) and found that all the ladies had laid!
Now, for those interested we have 6 more eggs for sale. - 1 looks like a double yolker...
Who's interested?

From left to right: Doris, Bessy, Edna, Myrtle, Edith

And a Newbie Started Laying

So yesterday (Tuesday) we came downstairs, let the girls out as usual and carried on with our day. By about lunchtime, Emma checked the coop waiting to see if they had laid (as they have been a bit off with the eggs lately, Myrtle not laying for 3 days and then laying a very strange shaped egg!) and lo and behold, we had 4 eggs! One was smaller than the others and we think this is from Edna. Took a picture for you all (I know how you must like egg pictures!). The one at the very end on the right is the new egg.

We think its from Edna as Emma has been doing some research and found out that a) technically the girls are not 'hens' yet - they are still pullets, which are chickens in their first year of laying. Once they hit a year of laying then they are hens, and b) you can gauge how far away they are from laying by feeling the distance between the bones in the pelvis and the colour of the combs and wattle. They start out dark, then go pink as they get older and when they are starting to lay should be bright red. This is apparently to indicate to any roosters, should you have any, that they are now sexually mature. we dont have a rooster so no chicken hanky panky! :-)

Looking at both Edna and Edith, Edna has the brighter red comb and wattle, so we think its her. Also she should lay brown eggs with a purple blush, whilst Edith should lay very dar brown eggs, and the new egg is not dark!

However, coming downstairs today to let them out Emma found two eggs in the coop again. One in the perch area, very pale and with a weak shell (but stronger than recent ones) and then one in the nest box. This was literally the egg in one part of the box, the shell, looking VERY flattened, near by. So not sure what's going on and who's laying what!!

Hopefully will be sorted soon!

Weird Eggs!!

So the 'old' girls are slowly getting used to the 'new' girls and the bullying from Doris and Bessy is calming down. I even saw Edith run up and steal some food from under Doris' nose and then quickly run away. Doris got it back but Edith put up a fight! Myrtle however is still being a big bully though! Edith and Edna also hang about in the coop if they are a little unsure, which means Myrtle is now VERY noisy if she wants to go in and lay and can't as they are in there. They often sleep in the nest boxes too which means they now seem to have poo in them a lot. I am going to have to find a way to close them off at nights so they sleep on the perches. I also had to put Edith and Edna back in last night as the didnt go inside before the others and therefore wouldn't go in. We will get there though.

We have also had a couple of very weird eggs. Yesterday I found two 'eggs' in the perches. I had also found a similar one a week ago. The shells are paper thin and one is very small. All my research tells me that these are the first few attempts of the pullets (Edith and Edna) as they start coming into lay. Its a little odd as we did not have these eggs with the others.

Wierd Eggs

The other odd thing is that we only had one normal egg yesterday, I believe from Bessy. Myrtle spent most of the day sitting in the nest box, but eventually came out to free range in the afternoon (after some persuading with probiotic yogurt). She never did lay yesterday and neither did Doris, and that's the first day since Doris started laying that we haven't had a white egg. They also seem to be laying later in the day. Not sure if that is due to us now being in autumn, and the days being darker for longer, and colder, or if they are going into moult (which I believed wouldn't happen until next winter).

So far today we have only had 2 eggs (Doris first, then Bessy) - so that makes 3 eggs, in 2 days from 5 hens! Not good!


P.S. Due to the reduction in egg production, and the increase in demand; we are now doing a 1st-come-1st-served system. Once we have a box of 6, I'll publish a post on here and the first people to request them can have them (for the usual £1).
Subscribe to the blog to not miss out...

Pics of our new ladies

I've taken a couple of pics of our new ladies, to introduce them to the world. When we get eggs, I'll put a pic of them next to their respective egg:

Edith and Edna

Edith and Edna

Edna and Edith

Edna is a "Blue Ranger" and lays a brown egg with a "plum blush" - we'll see what they look like soon, I hope.

Edith is a "Copper Black" and lays a very dark brown egg.

Who wants the first batch?