karen's chicken diary

[aishakali]

Lovely pics and they all look so happy and content Love the puss in the bucket

[sandy]

Oh my goodness they are so beautiful, they look so contented too Poor old Jasper he seems to be living a 'dogs life' bless him

[Kuikentje]

Lovely pictures

[KarenE]

Not much to report in chicken land. Nugget's been off colour again, wanting to sit on my knee for hours on end looking thoroughly miserable. Most worrying, off food, even treats, wouldn't even eat scrambled egg or fishy cat food and preferred to snuggle down on my or hubby's lap. At least her comb's stayed a good colour and her tail's up, so it looks like she's moving into the next phase of her moult - every time she sits on me, she has a little preen and I have to shake myself down when she gets off, I'm covered in chicken dandruff! And she's stopped laying again. She's so tame though she let me ruffle her feathers and preen her (I think maybe it felt nice if she was itchy and sore with moulting, helped cool her down a bit) and she loves being stroked.

Anyway, she came charging out of the run yesterday, starving, and scoffed down a load of mealworms, corn and mash and did the same again today so she's fine. Hardly wants to sit on our laps at all today, except to scatter bits of feather casing all over us.

Gabby's really settling in now, that chicken can't half shift when there's food on the go! She's expert at nicking it out from under the other girls. She seems to be accepted by the others more too - Cass has even been cleaning her beak, and she had a sit down with Cass and Nugget and me yesterday and let me stroke her chest.

Has anyone else noticed how much chickens ADORE having the underneath of their beaks stroked?

Cleaning out my shed today, with 4 interested chickens observing closely, when I dropped the mixed corn tub on the floor - which contained 5kgs of corn cos I'd just filled it up. Spilled everywhere, and I was nearly run over by 4 ecstatic chickens who thought Christmas had come early. So much for carefully rationed treats!

What will they expect tomorrow, now they've had 5kgs of corn today?

[Linda S]

Smashing diary Karen and its lovely to read of how you got into keeping these endearing and often comical but always amusing little girls
I must admit im a bit soft and was in tears a couple of times with laughter at your girls antics and also when you lost your lovlies Lindaxx

[sandy]

I was getting worried reading about Nugget, thank goodness she is fine now I have not stroked underneath any of the girls beaks, I will attempt it but maybe not on psycho Olive I have been told they like having their wattles stroked but I think that is a myth as my girls are totally non plussed when I do it

[KarenE]

Nugget is perfectly fine, she's dropped a load more feathers and is happily tearing round the garden with the others. She looks lovely with her smart new coat, and is just starting to get feathers on her head too. She has a lovely fluffy backside!

Today I discovered the girls like raw courgette, which is just as well cos I bought 3 and hubby says he won't eat them. They've had a corn-tastic weekend so far (corn on the cobs, which they have stripped bare) although there is still far too much mixed corn in their systems from the bucket spill, judging by the amount in their poops. And there's only Toffee laying too.

Poor gabby looks a little under the weather so I am keeping a close eye on her. She might need reworming or maybe the corn has knocked her system. She seems such a fragile little thing, but she stormed across the garden when she saw Nugget had caught a butterfly (the disgusting things they eat!)


Sandy, try tickling the bit just underneath the start of their beaks, just in front of their wattles. They love it, more than having their wattles tickled (which they also seem to like)

[aishakali]

I tried tickling mine under their beaks All I got was strange looks and them bending their heads over trying to see what the heck I thought I was trying to do to them

[KarenE]

Lyn

Nugget and Cassie absolutely love it, they close their eyes and drop their beaks on my finger. Even Gabby seemed to like it (can't get close enough to Toffee to try, she's always off digging and exploring)

I thought I'd stumbled onto a chicken whisperer secret, but apparently not!

[sandy]

I tried tickling mine under their beaks All I got was strange looks and them bending their heads over trying to see what the heck I thought I was trying to do to them

Same response from mine Lyn

[KarenE]

The girls are leading very sedate lives at the moment, which means that there's very little mischief to report. They've got in to the rhubarb again which was only just struggling back to life after its last chicken encounter, and stripped all the leaves off it again. Poor thing - and most worryingly, it's supposed to be poisonous! I've had to fence it off for its own good (not theirs, they don't seem to have suffered any ill effects)

The hundreds of tomatoes I have growing in the garden and greenhouse are just starting to ripen, so no doubt they'll go the way of my blueberries ie - not there one day! They've already enjoyed the ones that the slugs had got to.

We had a flash downpour this morning just as the girls were charging down the steps to come visit us. They all perched on the old sink we have under the kitchen window so they could eyeball us with their bedraggled pitifulness. So we did take pity on them, put newspaper in the utility room and let them in. Were they grateful? Were they heck! The wailing and shouting when we shut the kitchen door on them was disgraceful! I'm sure the air must've been blue.

They're all fine. Nugget is looking super in her lovely new outfit, she's sprouted new feathers on her head and is no longer the little bald girl we first got although she does have a bald spot (she looks like Cadfael!) Cass is still a scruffbag and shows no sign of moulting, but she could really do with a change of clothes. She's probably going to do the daft thing and moult in the dead of winter.

Toffee is definitely an explorer, and nips around the garden getting into everything, making happy clucky noises to herself all the time. Gabby is definitely having problems with her legs, the poor little mite. They are bandy, and she seems to tire after a while (although can zip around if she thinks there are treats on the go) and has to have lots of sit downs (and she lies slightly to the side). Can chickens get arthritis? She's taken to following me around because she knows she'll get a sneaky handful of corn or a grape when the others aren't looking (they still pick on her occasionally, although she's much better accepted) and she and Cass had a lovely snuggle with me yesterday on the grass.

We had another barbie last week, and this time had the camera with us so there are a couple of short videos of the girls chasing each other round. I've lost them on my computer, so once I've found them I'll put them onto photobucket and hope that works!

[sandy]

So good to hear they are all well, what lucky ladies being allowed in the 'big house'I dont know if hens can get artritus? Bet Manda will know

[Kuikentje]

I was going to say that anything that has joints can get arthritis but that made it sound as if they were all on cannab1s . Which some people (those with MS) use to treat pain anyway.

[Chookaholic]

Fabulous diary!

Made me smile about the corn as I have done the exact same thing but because they were under my feet ..sure I was set up

My cats sleep in the old coop all the time but everytime I try to take a picture they scoot like theyre embarrassed and their street cred will be in tatters!

great pics hun ...cant wait for the next installment

Lisa

[sandy]

I was going to say that anything that has joints can get arthritis but that made it sound as if they were all on cannab1s . Which some people (those with MS) use to treat pain anyway.

If the girls do have it send them down here, 2 doors down they smoke it in the garden and it wafts over to my girls house