LL's chicken keeping adventures

[lancashire lass]

I'm not sure what has happened in the past fortnight, but the egg tally is once again well down (25 eggs the week before, 23 last week) Maybe I've been spoilt with the 27-28 a week from mid November and throughout December but the drop does seem more like their pre-worming laying days. I can't believe it is due to the hemp seed I've been adding to the feed as it is only put in small doses, and I have started giving them a bit of cod liver oil in their mash. Even with the added calcium and cod liver oil, one egg was shell-less (but whole) and I found a bit of yolk in the bedding next to it so wonder if one of the girls is having a bit of problems. They all look fine and feeding well, doing the usual chicken behaviour so a bit of a mystery. There were 4 eggs on Saturday and 4 today, so I'm not worried. If numbers continue to go down (I'll hold off the hemp seed), then I might try worming them again as I still have half a sack from their first treatment.

Rat update - well the coop run so far is hole free so I'm sure we've sorted that one out. In the main run, I found bits of chewed expanding foam in one corner by the wall so there is still at least one rodent. However, this morning the run looked much like how I left it last night ... either it has given up or it has made a new entrance behind the fence panelling that I can't see. Unfortunately I had to visit the allotment so couldn't do anything about it today.

Meanwhile, the chimney stack laid down on the floor by the cherry tree has been used by all the girls, jumping up on it like they are "king of the castle" so I might leave it there and bring another stack in to put under the hole in the roof. So far the bricks and mesh I put round the cherry tree is working and the girls now just scratch the areas around it.

One project though will have to be brought forward sooner rather than later - the extended run. I just need to make a couple of doors (one to the patio, the other to the garden) and then the girls could wander about a bit when I'm around (it wouldn't be secure enough for all day) It's only the area immediately outside the run and boxed in with the shed and greenhouse with 2 walls erected with green debris netting stapled to it. Every time I open the run gate, Scary rushes out and is getting bolder each time. At first I could easily entice her back into the run with the treats but the little madam is going further and further with each escape. She managed to hop up the steps onto the patio and with a wide open space, was a devil to get her back. I'm sure the others calling at the gate were egging her on LOL. In time the patio will be made available but I still have to ensure they can't fly over the fencing or go through the gap under the gate and secondly, I still have a number of potted plants including daffodil, foxglove and rhubarb on the patio which would be bad if they started to eat them.

[sandy]

You know I am sure the eggs are sparse because it its like living in the Scandinavian or is it somewhere near Canada where they get no light all day at a certain time! They aren't getting their sunrays to egg. your girls can go to your patio, its all very well me having a big run but I can only see them from the bedroom window and then I am not sure who I am looking at! I do hope the ratties have gone, still having a spar with mine

[lancashire lass]

You know I am sure the eggs are sparse because it its like living in the Scandinavian or is it somewhere near Canada where they get no light all day at a certain time!

Fingers crossed, we seem to be getting back to "normal" - so maybe it was just a glitch. Having saying that, I opened a big can of sardines in tomato sauce so they've had a bit of it 3 days on the trot (normally just a once a week treat), plus cod liver oil and an extra dash of calcium. Tonight I had fresh eggs (today's) for supper and I was really pleased with good shell strength and the yolks were huge (like 50p compared to the early days of 20p size), plus tasty and golden colour. They have been getting a little extra greens recently too.

your girls can go to your patio

It needs a lot of work to make it secure though - if they get over the fence or under the gate, then they could easily find themselves out on the street! Plus, my neighbours cats like to walk along the top of the fence so will need something that discourages them from jumping up.

I do hope the ratties have gone

I think I've blocked all the exits so is now a resident rat - but is confined to the main run and the coop run seems to be rat free at the moment.

Not much else to report other than today was the first time in ages I got home from work before the girls went to bed For some reason traffic is horrendous on Wednesdays so I had gone in early, so felt entitled to finish a little earlier than usual .... the girls obviously wasn't expecting me home and I gave in to their estatic wiggy dance at the gate and let them have a bit of corn. Their crops were already pretty full but they still managed to make room for more LOL before hopping into the coop.

I think I've figured out why Ginger isn't using the perch in the coop - last night when I went to lock them up, I opened up the nest box to collect the eggs and I could see Ginger trying desperately to squeeze past the others to come and see me (she always does ) but Scary was occupying more than her fair share of the perch and not for budging. There's plenty of room if they just hutched up a bit but I think I'll just have to accept the coop isn't big enough for 4 chickens. Making a coop over the run with a ramp from the existing one seems like the only other real option.

Today is payday so I went online and ordered a can of that Scarper anti peck spray off e-bay - fingers crossed this really will put a stop to Scary's feather pecking! If Posh loses any more bum feathers, I'll have an oven ready bird before long

[Chicken drumstick]

Love reading your diary

It always seems like there is some thing to do or learn , for me that is the best bit about any hobby / animal keeping always wanting to improve things to make there lives better , hens have such short lives compared to us so we all want to make it the best we can give them

[sandy]

LL I got a bit excited re the rat situation,another tunnel out but found droppings at last and they were def mouse droppings, of course they may be old caught behind a bucket

[lancashire lass]

LL I got a bit excited re the rat situation,another tunnel out but found droppings at last and they were def mouse droppings, of course they may be old caught behind a bucket

let's hope they are old. My rat on the other hand has made another hole through the fence - it's right in the corner which is very awkward to get to (the existing fence and posts are in the way) and it doesn't help that my girls enjoy scratching the dirt to make it easier for him to get in and out. I've only just seen the hole so with poor weather forecast tomorrow, I'll be foregoing my allotment visit for some chicken time because also:

Today is payday so I went online and ordered a can of that Scarper anti peck spray off e-bay - fingers crossed this really will put a stop to Scary's feather pecking!

it arrived on Friday. Really not looking forward to the trauma I'll be causing with catching, holding down, spraying and avoiding any of the spray getting on me (seriously considering wearing a black bin liner LOL)

Love reading your diary

It always seems like there is some thing to do or learn , for me that is the best bit about any hobby / animal keeping always wanting to improve things to make there lives better , hens have such short lives compared to us so we all want to make it the best we can give them

thank you I absolutely agree about the enjoyment of any hobby being the learning bit. I really was only getting the chickens for egg sales and my own use but they have certainly been entertaining and difficult to see them just as egg laying machines now.

Talking of egg laying, the tally has gone back up to 27 this week - on Wednesday there were only 3 eggs, and again on Friday just 3, but this morning when I came to clean the coop there were 4 eggs already in the nest box (normally only 1 if that) I wasn't that late letting them out. Later in the morning when I went to check on them, I thought I'd check the nest box even though I wasn't expecting any more eggs, and blow me, another egg! So that's a 5 egger today from just 4 hens This week I had been giving them a bit more protein than usual (the can of pilchards lasted 4 days), and I eased up on the hemp seed. It could just be sheer coincidence so I'll leave it another week before re-introducing the hemp (even if it was only a small amount) and seeing if the egg numbers drop again.

This afternoon we had quite a spectacular thunderstorm and a heavy downpour with hail. I peeked out of the back door during the thick of it - it must have been really noisy hammering on the chicken run roof - and the girls were very quiet. When I went down later, the open side (with the mesh) had allowed the rain to get into the run and there was a massive puddle right outside the gate but generally it was still fairly dry inside. I'm so glad I opted for a roof over the run when I was building it. I gave the girls a little handful of dried mealworms and some mixed corn. At 4.45pm when I went down to shut the coop, it was still daylight and the girls with their rather full crops swinging were at the gate clambering for more LOL. When they finally went to bed and I took the feeder and drinker out, the feeder was very lightweight so despite an earlier feed of veggies and seeds in a mash (of pellets with porridge oats, cod liver oil & calcium) after breakfast, they had eaten a lot more pellets than expected.

[sandy]

You know if you got an old table can you pop them on , one at a time of course , with some mealworms on top and spray them while they are occupied? I have got rats and not mice found the neat pile of jelly beans poo! No matter we will overcome, EVENTUALLY!

[lancashire lass]

I have got rats and not mice found the neat pile of jelly beans poo! No matter we will overcome, EVENTUALLY!

one day

You know if you got an old table can you pop them on , one at a time of course , with some mealworms on top and spray them while they are occupied?

The last time I tried putting the girls on the high rise run one at a time, but they never saw the treats that went scattering in all directions while in their desperate bid to escape

I just have to mention about yesterday when Ginger did the most peculiar thing - I have an old dog's bowl that I use to put a mix of stuff in (bright red - the girls know it has lovely goodies to eat when they see me carrying it) Ginger had been on the high rise run and had come galloping along the pallet shelf to the gate like she usually does just as I entered with the bowl in my left hand and was closing the door with my right. She hopped off the shelf and landed on the rim of the bowl in my hand and gave me such a cheeky look before pecking at the contents LOL. It was like having an oversized attentive pigeon on my hand - I let her get away with a couple of juicy morsels before encouraging her to jump off while I distributed the feed around for everyone. She is such a charmer that one

[Chookaholic]

they weigh a bit more than a pigeon too!

I have found a mouse hole which i plonked a brick on and the little terror has dug round it.. concreting again tomorrow it seems . Have none of your chooks ever caught one? they are ruthless.... And I will NEVER eat Jelly Beans again !

[Chicken drumstick]

I,m not getting 5 eggs from 8 hens ..lol..

Got 4 yesterday which was a record and only 2 today .

I dont think the 3 ex bats have laid since i got the september ish last year , not a problem .

[lancashire lass]

I have found a mouse hole which i plonked a brick on and the little terror has dug round it..

that happened to me too - I put umpteen bricks on the holes and they simply dug round them and made a fresh hole. Some of the soil was originally compact and difficult to dig with the spade or fork so gives a good idea of just how determined rodents can get

I,m not getting 5 eggs from 8 hens ..lol..

Got 4 yesterday which was a record and only 2 today .

I dont think the 3 ex bats have laid since i got the september ish last year , not a problem .

LOL - come spring, you'll have more eggs than you'll know what to do with

I sold a dozen today eggs today, and have an order for another dozen this week. When I got home from work, the girls were still in the run so I gave them a bit of mixed corn which they turned their beaks up so I came back with a few dried mealworms which they just had time to eat before it got too dark. While they were occupied, I opened the nest box to collect the day's eggs and ... there was only ONE egg We've not had a one-egger day since Posh started to lay so I shone the torch round the rest of the coop and the other 3 had made a little nest near the side door and laid a clutch there LOL. I'm not sure why they've decided to abandon the nest boxes but perhaps I had been a bit heavy handed with the bedding during the Sunday clean out - part reason for extra insulation, but also laziness on my part where I could poo pick all week and there would still be plenty of bedding without having to top up. Maybe they decided the luxurious depth was perfect for making a nest, or I've been elevated to one of the flock sisters as that is the door I use to gain access to the coop

[sandy]

I reckon they know we have orders the little madams, I am actually getting complaints from customers, they say my eggs are far superior to supermarket free range eggs but what do they expect us to do squeeze the eggs out of the girls!

[KarenE]

You could do what i did with gabby - take em to the vets. After a quick lube and scoop, we came home with an egg!

[lancashire lass]

I reckon they know we have orders the little madams, I am actually getting complaints from customers, they say my eggs are far superior to supermarket free range eggs but what do they expect us to do squeeze the eggs out of the girls!

LOL - I can't complain as this week the egg tally is once again back up to 27, but yes my regular customers all say the eggs are better than supermarket ones.

You could do what i did with gabby - take em to the vets. After a quick lube and scoop, we came home with an egg!

now that could make for expensive eggs

Well, week 2 without the hemp seed and egg numbers are back up to December levels. It could be sheer coincidence - after all it was just after winter solstice so daylight hours well down, as well as a lot more cloud cover - but I think I'll give the hemp seed another try and see if egg numbers drop again. The only reason why I've been trying hemp is because I'd read that:

With hens fed on 0 to 20% of cold-pressed hemp seed meal, no significant differences were found between feed treatments for egg production, feed consumption, feed efficiency, body weight change or egg quality. Increasing dietary inclusion of hemp seed meal produced eggs with lower concentrations of palmitic acid and higher concentrations of linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids

From wikipedia:

According to the World Health Organization, evidence is "convincing" that consumption of palmitic acid increases risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, placing it in the same evidence category as trans fatty acids

Preliminary research has found evidence that α-linolenic acid is related to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease

so I'm keen to "improve" on the eggs even if it's for my own consumption, and has no adverse effect on the girls health. Apart from the drop in egg numbers (which may not be the reason) the only other determining factors of how often or how much I feed them hemp seed will be cost - as it is illegal to grow hemp without a license, it's not as though I could grow my own. Chia on the other hand is another exciting seed

One pilot study found that 10 weeks ingestion of 25 grams per day of milled chia seeds, compared to intact seeds, produced higher blood levels of alpha-linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega-3 long-chain fatty acid considered good for the heart, while having no effect on inflammation or disease risk factors

However, the chia seed is tiny (and expensive from H&B) so is something that would need to be added to mash. And from what I've read up on it, is "easy" to grow .... so I'm going to try growing some this year. Flaxseed/linseed is the other seed highly recommended for increasing omega-3 in eggs but the downside is that the eggs can start to get a fishy flavour. Currently the girls get a small mix of seeds including sunflower hearts and a few pumpkin seeds along with their fresh veggies, so is not a large part of their diet and layers pellets are their main food.

Other than the nutritional matters, the girls themselves have been fine. They do like their new props in the run as I sneaked up to the run to have a peek from the patio side (as soon as they see me they usually crowd up to the door begging for treats) and saw them using the extra perch. The second chimney stack under the hole in the roof has worked very well this week with all the rain and hail, so I'm very pleased with that although it does get in the way of the drinker so I might relocate that when I make further modifications to the run.

As for the new nesting spot, all of the girls now have totally abandoned the nest boxes, even when the bedding in the main coop gradually went down with the daily poop picking. Today the eggs were sitting on the bare sheet where they had moved the bedding around. I'm not really happy about this change of nesting so I'm going to put something in the new place and maybe pop a couple of eggs in the nest box to encourage them back there again. Knowing my luck they'll probably make a nest at the other end of the coop where they come in from the ramp and risk damaging the eggs, sigh.

Talking of bedding - I do like the Bliss bedding that I got after the Flaxcore was finished. It feels warmer and is nice and loose, and the eucalyptus smells gorgeous when fresh bedding is put into the coop. The downside is when poop picking - I seem to remove a lot more than with the other so the usage is higher, but it is a lot cheaper than other bedding so probably costs no more.

Mornings still seem dark late on, but this week I've been getting home just before they are ready to go to roost (apart from Thursday night due to heavy traffic problems on the journey home) so it is nice to be able to spend a bit of time with them. And of course they've been enjoying a little treat just before bedtime. It won't be long before the mornings will start getting lighter too

[sandy]

I like bless but still cant smell any of the eucalyptus in mine