Winter Hens

My hens experienced snow for the first time just after Christmas, for the new exbats its must have been such a shock. They had only recently got used to what grass, rain and nighttime are. Luckily their feathers are growing well and the chill didn't effect them to much. Nevertheless I gave them a warm treat of spagetti! I am sure they think they are worms!  

  

New Arrivals, Three Ex Battery Hens

Last weekend we collected three new hens for are now growing flock. I think I can call it a flock, I have seven in all! We got them from our local Animal rescue in Brinsley which had the week before rescued several hundred birds in an effort to give them new loving homes.

My four original birds came to me as pullets and were in fantastic condition and have blossomed into plump, fluffy, egg laying masters, so to see my new arrivals in the miserable condition brought upon them from being battery farmed hens was a real eye opener. Of course like many of us we know what happens to these hens but  to see the difference in reality real rocks your world. Half bold, rather small and skinny, combs pale and floppy all signs that they were in a rotten condition.

It has I have to say been an experience introducing new birds to an existing group. Especially when the group is bigger, fatter and fitter than the new birds.

First steps in the garden

At the first day I ran both groups together either side of a fence, in the hope that would lessen then stress when I finally introduced them properly. The Ex bats where at a loss as what to do, Grass? What is that? They seem to be thinking, wandering around looking rather confused. They neither pecked or scratched at it, which is the first thing my old hens would do. Infact give them half an hour and the grass would be in a terrible state. We kept them separate for a couple of days then brought them together.

Nothing really prepares you for the viciousness of the pecking order!! The old girls took it upon themselves in military fashion to impose their rule immediately. It is nasty but one which needs to happen, all you can do it try to lessen the ordeal. One tip I used was to Vaseline the combs of the new girls, which is supposed to help protect from injury when being attacked. So far no injuries has happened. I have also fed them separate from the others making sure they get as much food as possible. As one of the major areas of conflict when introducing hens is the established group is food, they do not want to share!  

She was rather scared of me, as her face suggests!

Its been a week now and it has calmed down no end in the run. It took about 4/5nights for the new girls to understand that they needed to go to bed in the coop. So i had to but them in bed each night in the dark until they got used to this. They are also laying and I am getting still, 5/6 eggs a day. Which I take as a compliment that they are happy!!!

Finally built the needed garden gate!

I finally got round to building a gate and thus stop my girls escaping into my flower garden and into next doors garden. I have had no end of escapes and running around after excitable hens. But no more!

Instead of the above ramshackle, temporary thing I had made a gate out of an old pallet as well as two planters to sit on the wall either side of it. In the planters I have put in some rosemary and the Idea is to have a little hedge further fortifying the Chicken area!

My Eggs are Free

So I have had my Hens for about 6 months now and after a slow start egg wise they all began laying an egg a day. This as it turns out is more eggs than I and the Mrs are willing to eat. Four eggs a day, 7 days a week is a lot of eggs to eat, but we do try. Amanda has had to do much more baking this year. Yum!

Beaky, Duchess, Matron and Speckle enjoying their warm treat on a frosty morning

No matter how much baking and eating of eggs we do there is to much for us, so we have been selling the eggs to friends and colleagues for a very cheap £1 a half dozen. That £1 then gets put in to the chicken tin which is used to buy their feed. Yesterday I looked in the tin and found I had about £10 and decided to stock up on some feed. I bought some pellets, corn and some rice and spaghetti which are treats. They absolutely go crazy for some warm boiled rice or spaghetti, I'm sure they think they are maggots or worms, but what ever they think I feel happy that they have had a warm meal to keep them going as the weather gets colder. So it turns out I am getting my eggs for free, by selling them cheap to friends who appreciate a bargain, from looked after hens, that will not end up as cat food when they stop laying.

I Built a Fence and a Gate.

I built a fence, all by myself. Granted it was not a big one but it looks good I think. Plus it does the job of keeping the Hens of my veggies and confusing the cats.I am pretty chuffed with it  and even better my partner is too (which is always the most important thing). The Garden in now divided into four small sections starting with the paved patio type area next to the house and then the flower garden in between the shed and what is now the chicken zone! And beyond the allotment and green house.

The garden however looks a mess, I have several major projects on the go, including the greenhouse glazing (almost done) and some raised beds just infront of it (also almost done) So everything else looks rather shabby. The hens are not helping either and have escaped several times in to every part of the garden. Hence the fence and soon a new gate to the flower garden.

The Stress of Keeping Animals

So the last couple of days has been ever so stressful as one of my chickens became ill. I have only had them for a few weeks and they have settled in very well and become very used to me already. They come running when I appear, I must spoil them with bread scraps to much! The Chicken that became ill was Speckle, when I let them out of the coop she was very lethargic, and was dribbling profusely. 

At first I thought it was from the heat, its been very very hot here. So I let her be for a while. In the time I left her alone she had become worse, sitting in the couple not moving and doing that eye thing chickens do when there not well. I picked her up and on her chest was lots of mucus that was extremely smelly. Its was a sour  smell and well I knew something was up then. Luckily my neighbour is a veterinary nurse who also volunteers for a rescue centre and so Speckle was whisked next door. 

So it turns out Speckle has Sour Crop which is an infection of the crop. The crop was empty and she was not eating and drinking so we have had to force feed her a wet mash for the last few days to build up her energy levels as well as some probiotics too. We have also given her some medication which seems to have ridden her of the infection for now. That first evening she looked terrible and I was thinking that we might lose her through the night, but by morning she had perked up alot but was not feeding still. As the days have gone by she has improved greatly and today she has been running around and eating for herself. Happy Days.

What got me was the lack of good information online about Sour Crop. I read various forums and pages all with differing accounts on how to treat it etc.  I expected to have to deal with illness with my flock but i was not expecting to have to deal with it so soon

Enjoying the Weather and New Additions

Another short holiday and a break from writing on here, just not found the time or anything interesting to post about. For the most part I have been enjoying the garden, taking it easy really not trying to do too much all the time which I had been doing. But at this time of year you can take it a bit easier just abit of watering here some weeding there and just watch things grow.

Since I last posted we have some new additions to the family, Chickens. Beaky, Matron, Duchess and Speckle.

I have had therm about a week now and they are settling well, already getting some eggs! They are very much enjoying the sunny weather we are having and escaping on to the onion pact and digging up my onions!

Chickens

For sometime now I have wanted chickens, about a year ago I mentioned this to my partner and well she seemed rather unimpressed by the idea. However I was persistent and made a few big sells to her over the next few months and finally ground her down. Now she is very excited by it all. One of her initial worries was the the set up cost of a coop and run, which after looking around at some on the internet I had to agree with. We are both working people with no massive outlays but forking out on a coop just seemed to much of an expense but on the other hand I have not inherited my fathers joinery skills. So what to do? I was still intent on having some so decided to sell all my under the bed junk that I had accumulated over the years, so on to Ebay it went and I quickly raised the dosh. And this is what I bought.

  

It is supposed to be a 6-10 bird coop, but initially I will have but 4 rescued battery hens and then sometime later maybe some other kind of breed. I am looking forward to the eggs of course but also the manure! The free manure will need to be well rotted down in the compost heap before I can make use of it on the veg and flower beds. At the moment I have an unlimited supply from the local animal rescue centre but its an absolute killer to cart home.