October 2007

1 Aggie's furiously moulting again and looking duck-like as she loses her tail feathers.  Poor babe.
I'm puzzled by what Salt & Pepper's sleeping arrangements could have been before we got them.  As night closes, they try to get up high and had to be "rescued" from on top of the hen house this evening where they were scrunched up between the roof of the nest and the roof of the run.  Must have been quite difficult to fly up there and, at the same time, keep their heads down and bodies flat to get in the gap.  Crow had to lift them down, then onto the perch with Aggie & Tat.  Aggie wasn't happy with that, of course.  So some policing then had to ensue, until they settled. What a fuss!  (We love it, really.)
2 Salt & Pepper had their first foray out of the run late this afternoon. Later, Crow had to police the bedtime antics again......  and Aggie had a spell up on his arm, as she wanted the supremacy of a higher perch.
3 Lacey's leg is looking much better, but we gave her another vaseline treatment just to be sure. Crow's still helping the new babes up to the top perch for the night, otherwise Aggie sees them off.
4 Salt & Pepper share a nestSalt & Pepper have been learning what the nest is for and having a little practice sitting in it - sharing, of course.  

Lacey wanted rich tea biscuit so much she jumped up into my lap today.  Then she realised what she'd done and ran away.

5 Crow wasn't here to put the chicks to bed tonight and I went indoors when I thought they were settled with Tat & Aggie on the top perch 4, Clover on perch 3 and Salt & Pepper on perch 2.  As night fell, I checked again and found that Salt & Pepper had retreated to the right hand nest, all snuggled up together.  I had to leave them as I thought they would get very spooked if I tried to haul them out of the nest in the darkness.
6 The nest is blocked tonight so Salt & Pepper made it to top perch on their own.
7 Salt & Pepper have found one of the favourite resting spots, under the fir trees.  They came for treats and Pepper ate from my hand.
8 Salt & Pepper both ate from our hands today, although Pepper pecks so ferociously perhaps she should be called Pecker!.  
9 It has poured & poured with rain all day.  I let the chicks out, but after a couple of hours they were sheltering in the car port and then standing outside of the run "asking" to be let in, so naturally, I obliged.
10 Aggie is so very scraggy, with bald patches on her sides where so many feathers have dropped out.  Now that Lacey's leg is looking better we need to stop her broodiness so I removed her straw nest from the toblerone.  How cruel is that?
11 All six chicks were very "together" today.  Despite Lacey chasing the young ones around a bit, they just came back for more.
12 Such bold babies!!  Salt & Pepper have both been up on the table for corn with Tat.
13 Tat's been a little odd today.  She laid and I blocked the nest entrance to stop Lacey going in there and Tat spent a long time trying to get back into the nest.
Pepper came up right next to Clover on the arm of my chair today and we have strange sleeping arrangements with Tat next to Pepper then Aggie, then Salt.  Poor little Clover got relegated to the second perch.
14 Clover & Tat seem to be competing for egg honours this month.  Two weeks in and Clover has laid 10 to Tat's 11.  In fact at the moment Clover is in her longest laying spell ever.
15 We are still giving Lacey the odd leg treatment but she looks fine now, so hopefully we'll be able to integrate her soon - if she ever stops being broody, that is.
16 Sometimes I look out into the garden and think I've lost a hen because Salt & Pepper can be so synchronised that they look like one single chick.  That brings back memories of Titfer & Tat when they used to be like this.
17 Pepper is so very tame.  As long as there's food around, she'll let you stroke her while she's consuming.
18 I'm confused.  Lacey just won't come out of the toblerone unless she is forced too, but then she makes no attempt to get onto the main nest.  So is she broody or not?  She's not laying and she's losing one or two feathers, but I wouldn't say she's moulting, so what's up???
19 Aggie in the sunClover in the sunAaah - it's so nice in the sun......
20 We've put Lacey back in the run with the other chicks tonight, so the young ones have been chased around a bit more than usual.  And the struggle for perch overnight position is quite prolonged.  Young Salt seems to be bottom of the pecking order.
21 Tat gave both Lacey & Pepper a good pecking tonight but they both stuck it out on the top perch.  Only Salt had to stay down on perch three.
22 The chicks obviously think that flower border 2 was strimmed just for them as they've spent most of the day scratching around in it.
23 Salt & Pepper have certainly taken no time to settle into life here.  Pepper is first to the back door for treats.  I swear she listens out, then when she hears the door she comes running, usually with all the others in tow.  
24 Pepper also jumps on the table, alongside Tat, for treats and in her haste to get Clover's raisins she came right into my lap today.
25 18 all to Tat & Clover in the laying stakes so far.  Isn't Clover doing well?
This will make you laugh, although you should already know my now that we are stupid where our chickens are concerned.  We've heard more than once that hens love music (classical in particular, apparently), so I've been on eBay and found a waterproof radio for £1.90 and bought it for them!
26 More worry as Salt has got a big lump on one of the toes of her left foot.  We've treated it with vaseline but I'm not really sure what the problem is.
27 At one point today I could hardly see Crow as he was swamped by chickens trying to steal his chocolate cup cake.  So funny!
28 I really don't like to look of Salt's poorly toe but she doesn't seem bothered by it and she's perky, foraging and preening - all good signs of health. 
29 I've been upsetting myself by researching chicken toe/lump problems in the internet and am wondering whether Salt's got bumblefoot, except the pad of the foot is supposed to be hot and hers is not!  Anyway, we've decided to do the sensible thing and she's off to the vet tomorrow.
Meanwhile..... the radio arrived and is now hanging in the coop but I can't say that the chicks seem very interested.  Perhaps they won't squabble so much at perch time?
30 I was right, the vet has confirmed bumblefoot.  This is caused by the chicken cutting her foot, then infection setting in and a lump grows.  So Salt in on antibiotics which we feed to her on a piece of bread.  Fortunately she loves it!  That and twice daily salt foot baths (or is that Salt salt foot baths?) hopefully will sort her out, although we have been warned that the antibiotics may not be effective in reducing the swelling.
31 All six chicks squashed on the top perch tonight, so closely together there was room for a seventh (DON'T put ideas in my head).  That was until Aggie pecked at Lacey, then at Tat and little Clover got pushed down to perch 3 in the fight.
Egg honours are shared this month:  Tat 23, Clover 23.  So who should be chick of the month?  Clover because it's her best ever month or Tat because she's been top layer every month since March?  You decide......
eggs this month
eggs this year