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?