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).
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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?

And then there were five!

It's been a sad couple of weeks in this household. Obviously Mabel died, then one of the fish which has now ended with Lucie, our middle cat (aged 12) succumbing to heart failure (due to dilated cardio myopathy). Lucie died in Emma's arms on the way to the vets and Emma is understandably devastated. Anyway, on to the chickens!

As the nights are getting darker earlier, and the also getting colder, the decision was made to add two more chickens to the run and coop as the coop really is too big for just 3. Emma did some looking around and the people we originally got the chickens from had some more POLs, one breed which did blue eggs (which Emma's niece has requested). We made arrangements to go yesterday (Saturday) at 5pm but when we got there, they had sold all the blue egg layers. Emma was a bit annoyed, but decided to go ahead with getting two more as we want them to be as close in age as possible (the currents are probably about 20-22 weeks, the new ones 16 weeks).

So we came away with a copper maran (who lays very dark eggs) and a blue ranger (who is meant to lay brown eggs with a blush tinge) who have been named Edith and Edna respectively.

Now we have been naughty, and we know this. We don't have the room for a 30 day quarantine period, so the newbies were put in a dog crate at the end of the garden, in the shade, and we waited until the current girls were in their run and asleep, and then dropped the two new girls in through the roof. All seemed well.

Opened the coop up this morning to let them out. Doris, Bessy and Myrtle came out and started eating. All seemed well. Then Edna came out (blue ranger, smaller bird about Doris' size) and Myrtle just went for her and chased her to the end. The others then joined in on poor Edna. When Edith came out she had the same treatment.

I know we need to expect this for a few days at least, if not a few weeks, and just keep an eye out for blood being shed, but its very hard to watch. At present Edith and Edna are in the run whilst the other 3 are free ranging. All the text books and research say you have to leave them to get on with it, but that's easier said than done.

Decisions Decisions

So, after loosing Mabel we thought we would leave it a while and see how we go with the remaining 3 (who seem to be coping fine). However when putting them to bed the other night, we noticed them all bundled up together in one corner of the coop with a lot of room to spare and have realised that come winter when its a lot colder, they may struggle to keep warm, so we may have to add some more sooner.

As we have to add a minimum of 2 birds at a time, we thought we may aswell do it sooner than later, so have started looking at potential new breeds to add. The main determinant being that they lay different colour eggs! We like that we can currently tell who's laying what, as it allows us to keep an eye on  the individual birds, plus Emma's nephew and niece like the different colours.

As a blue egg has been requested, Emma is looking into breeds that can provide one of those! We are currently considering a Fenton blue (for blue/green eggs) and a cherry maran (for very dark brown eggs). We are hoping to go see some on Thursday (when Joe is off) so will update then! Emma is tempted to add a 6th chicken, then we can have 6 eggs a day (not that we use that many) - as "its an equal number". She's nuts that one!

Other than that things seem to be ticking along! The girls are very noisy when they know someone is in the house and they want to come out of the run - its almost like Myrtle is shouting at us to remind us she's there and can she free range please! Once in the garden they are very quiet, apart from the odd time when they peck the glass in the door asking for treats! And should they see you in the living room they come running to see if they can have something! We now have to keep the back door shut when they are free ranging as they just keep coming into the house and tormenting the dog!

They had another treat again today - crickets! Emma bought a tub when getting some locusts for the chameleon (we should have shares in a livefood company!!). They were literally tipped in the middle of the run and the girls went NUTS! It keeps them active chasing them, and they seem to love them too. Definitely more of a live food eater than pellets (if they get the chance!).

RIP Mabel

Dear All,

Unfortunately today was a sad day in our household.

After a few days of Mabel seeming like she was doing better, then a couple of days of plateau-ing; we gave her a little bath this morning as there was a lot of mess around her vent.
She was washed, rinsed and dried and put out to sit in the sun before we went out for a couple of hours.

When we got back, she was where we had left her and it was obvious to Emma (who went outside first) that Mabel had died. She was curled up, as if sleeping, but there was something about her that told Emma she was gone. She was dry and fluffy, but had been there for a while, her eyes half shut. Emma was obviously devastated as is worried that it was something we did, or didn't do. We had actually made plans to take her to a different vets on Tuesday, after the bank holiday and get a second opinion. We had also discussed the possibility of having her PTS if we couldn't fix what was going on, but I guess Mabel took that decision out of our hands (probably a good thing - Emma's not good at those decisions).

So, with a heavy heart we are down to 3 birds. We will keep an eye on them and see how we go. Should our confidence increase over the next month or two, we may add two more to the flock (Emma wants one that lays blue eggs!), but we will see for the moment.

We plan to contact the vets on Tuesday and find somewhere that will cremate Mabel and we will scatter her ashes in the garden.

Piper!

It always seems to be 2-steps forward and 1 step backwards with these animals.

On Sunday I noticed that Piper, although on a long-line wasn't keen to come outside too far and wasn't really paying the ladies any attention so I thought we'd turned a corner so we tried her offlead in the garden with them without a problem... 2 steps forward

Then today, we let the ladies out and gave Mabel her meds (yep, still on them).

Piper came out and paid them no attention until, without warning, she ran for them, in particular Mabel.  It was just chasing, no killing intended, but it shook the girls up......1 step back.

We also thought that Mabel was perking up. She's eating more, her tail was more raised and she seemed more active, and interactive with the others......2 steps forward. She now seems to have stalled where she is. Still eating and wandering round the garden, but still not 100%. Tail is not perky yet and still not laying........1 step back.

Just don't know what to do any more. Vets visits stress her out but she seems happy bimbling in the garden, just not right.