Kuikentje's little chickens

[Linda S]

Well done to those clever little girls
Jill do your girls eggs lay different colours or all the same
When we went to Aces house to pick our banty chicks up i saw her gorgeous little banty eggs they were so tiny and cute, and there wasa greeny/blue one.

Ace offered me some and i didnt bring any as i had loads of our girls so didnt but wish i had just brough a couple now.
Im looking forward to our banty eggs and I know my Dad will he always enjoyed his little banty girls jewels

[Kuikentje]

Linda, I think there are very subtle differences but I wonder if it's just my imagination. When all five are laying I might be able to tell.

[Kuikentje]

Another shock today. I was on the laptop in the sitting room, which is at the back of the house, with the door open so I could hear the chickens, when the doorbell rang followed by frantic knocking.
Next door's little boy was there, and said "Are the chickens supposed to be there?" pointing down the side of the house.
For the first time since I've had them, they have ventured out of the back garden - we don't have a front one, but a shared driveway - and had popped through the wrought iron gate that opens onto the garden. I had no idea and had little R not spotted them I might have been doing a very different post in an hour or two's time.

They are now incarcerated in their run, protesting, and I have fixed a piece of mesh to the bottom of the gate. I know that's where they got out because of the casual way they hopped back through when I rattled the mealworms.

[KarenE]

They are escape artists extraordinaire! What a shock, the naughty things. I bet they gave you a right ear bashing for fencing off their escape route too.

[sandy]

Goodness what luck they were spotted, a mummy's worse nightmare I sometimes have nightmares when I dream my girls have runaway.

[Kuikentje]

Didn't have time to let them out today, they were stuck in their fixed run, let them out into the moveable run for half an hour before bed, as I didn't have time to stay with them while they free ranged.

It got dark and they all tried to get into the cardboard box I put in for them to lay eggs in, it's only about a foot square which is a bit of a squash for five of them even if they are all bantams. They were for once only too glad to get back into their run so they could hop into the coop for the night.

[sandy]

Its funny isn't it how fascinating animals/birds are with cardboard boxes, alway want to get in them how ever big or small they are. My cat used to go nuts over boxes bless her. It is going to get a bit depressing again as the nights draw in and the girls are already tucked up, no after work play

[Kuikentje]

The second day they've had to stay in the run (I was cleaning the avalanche of soot last night, remember); I did put a trap over half of it so they didn't have to sit in the coop as it rained so much today. Home at seven so not much time for play.

Three eggs today. We had two yesterday, you can tell which ones they are because they have sooty fingerprints all over them; so there are definitely three laying now, only Alice Thickchick and Ivy The Brunette left to start. Ivy jumped straight onto the tarpaulin tonight, you can see her calculating the distance from there to the roof of the shed, or to the fence. She protests so much when I lift her down, you'd think I was murdering her. But I can't just push her or try to get her to jump down because she'd be onto and over the fence like a shot. She's not running away quite so fast, though, so maybe she'll be the next one to lay.

[Linda S]

Ivy is keeping you on your toes hey Jill, i hope Lottie hasnt encouraged her after her galivanting into next doors the other week Lindaxx

[Kuikentje]

Frankly, the last thing Ivy needs is encouragement. She is such a little madam. Lottie has settled down a bit now she's laying.
My husband and I used some spare mesh fencing stuff to raise the height of the fence at the bottom of the garden, this has gone on our side of the barbed wire so I don't feel as vulnerable if I happen to be by the fence. Why on earth would anybody want barbed wire in a garden anyway?

[Kuikentje]

I wonder if Ivy laid her first egg yesterday? There was a pointy one - but it was much bigger than the first eggs of the other three. She has been getting marginally tamer recently.
Not seeing much of them now the evenings are darker. If I'm home late they've gone to bed. Last night I had to bang the pophole into place as it has swollen with all the rain, so I probably won't be able to get it open this morning and they'll have to come out of the side door. That's no big deal in itself, but it does mean there is a big hole in the side of the coop when they go to roost. And they will make a terrible mess with the wood shavings, which they will throw out of the door.

[ChickenCarol]

Mine are still roosting on the high perches and I lift them down each night and put them in the coop. Last year they put themselves in part way through September but as it's been warmer they are delayed this year. I find lifting the big girls down, there is no protest at all but lifting the bantys down still causes squawks. Even though they are completely not bothered by me during the day they still don't like being handled at night. It's only a protest squawk until they are in or if I put them in front of the coop they will go in on their own.

The bantys do seem more skittish than the big girls though and I wonder if this is the nature of bantys. I did have my big girls from between one and two months old and my bantys from six months old so am never sure if it's banty behaviour or if it's to do with having them young enough to attach themselves to you.

The bantys are nervous when my husband goes in the run because he doesn't go in nearly as often as I do but the big girls don't bother. Again I wonder if this is because of the age we had them or if it's because bantys are more skittish. I know you had yours while still very young so would be interested in your thoughts on this.

Sorry to go on a bit but would welcome any insight to the differences between bantys and big girls as I have only had my bantys for six months but love them to bits. I have had my big girls for eighteen months and of course love them to bits too.

[Kuikentje]

Well, I have no experience of bigger hens, apart from the ones up at the yard where I keep my horse, and they have a Mr Hen who keeps them all in order. However my bantys seem to see no difference between my husband and me, they will follow anybody up and down the garden in the hope of getting food. They also seem quite placid when I go to tuck them in at night - and this does involve moving them around a bit if I can't see them all at once, as I'm a bit obsessive about actually having sight of all five of them simultaneously to make sure they're there before I close the pophole.

[ChickenCarol]

I suppose all chooks are different. My bantys come running when they see me at twice the speed of the big girls but they are wary of my husband and will often move away. It's simply because he doesn't spend nearly as much time in the run as I do. My big girls are not bothered by my husband but don't run to him like they do me. I am the one that does all the caring for them and of course giving of treats. My husband has often said they don't run to greet him like they do me when we go up the garden. They know if there are any treats to be offered they are going to come from me. The big girls also jump on my back when I go into the run but never jump on my husband. Because I spend so much more time with them they are much attached to me which I must admit I love. They have always been my project but with my husbands support.

[sandy]

Oh bless, yes I have to tuck my girls in whatever time I get in at night