Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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Today was a good day in chicken keeping world - mainly because they were all ignored for the majority of the day!

My Grandma came over to see the chickens and to see how we were getting on with the house and she was very impressed with them. In her youth see lived in rural Somerset with a flock of backyard hens so I'm pleased she liked them.

In the afternoon I let them all free range in the garden whilst I scrubbed down the outside of the run and laid around on a sun lounger soaking up some rays preparing for my night shift and they were very well behaved. They had a peck around and a sunbathe, ate some corn and generally were all quite relaxed. The young girls can be quite skittish, they are funny with it though. One second they’ll be standing still and the next one they'' be dashing round the garden at 100 mph!

I even managed to give Molly and Dolly a little stroke and managed to feel their crops at the end of the day - happy to report that they were both full :)

Only downer of the day was that Molly still hasn’t laid an egg since day one. I told her today that I'd put her in the pot today if she didn’t get laying. Her response was to poo on the newly washed paving slabs. Helen 0 - Molly 1 }hairout{
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)

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KarenE
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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Helen 0 - Molly 1 }hairout{


Glad to see you're getting the hang of how things are going to be from now on {rofwl}

Don't ever let anyone tell you chickens are dumb creatures... they are not, and they are very stubborn! If you lie on the sunlounger a lot, you may find a chicken or two get up there with you - my lot perch on me at the drop of a hat, including on my arms legs, head or in the small of my back. It's great fun! )t'
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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WE HAVE AN EGG!!!

It might have been covered in copious amounts of poo but Molly has laid an egg! Woop!!

Again I think things are improving. I was a naughty chicken mummy today, they didn't get up until gone 9 until I got home from my night shift. On a plus it was so hot that I couldn't really sleep so ended up on my sun lounger (no perching yet though) with them free ranging around the garden. Midday I felt peckish tried to eat some garlic bread in the garden... bad mistake... I was forced into the conservatory !!

The newbies are getting lots more confident too and I don't think it'll be too long before they are all over me and the sun lounger.... I also think we might be gearing up for an egg from Betty... shes doing a lot of squatting now and her comb is getting much bigger and darker. >fi<
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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Today I really feel like I've bonded with the new girls.

They are so inquisitive and funny. They still get a bit hen pecked from bossy Molly but skitter about the garden like crazy!

They had to spend most of the day in the run today but they came out to play this evening. After having some corn scattered around Molly and Dolly stArted getting a bit mean so back in the run they went whist the other three had some corn of there own.

They keep getting braver and will now follow me around the garden. They even started eating the corn from out of my hand. It was really sweet but a bit of a strange sensation to have your hand pecked for food!!!

Hetty jumped up on the sun lounger too until she got a bit nervous deciding the grass was really the place where the cool chicks hang!!

:-D
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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KarenE
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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Oooh sounds like you might have the makings of a lap sitter! Give them a few more weeks and they'll be on that lounger with you before you know it. Me and hubby sat on the grass today, Tigger on his knee, Rembrandt on my arm and Casper snuggled up between us. Very affectionate are chickens, and sometimes you don't even have to bribe them with food )t'
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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We'll this weekend has been stressful, complicated, frustrating and in the end so worthwhile!

The girls moved into their new house last night. They are now living in a home made, custom adapted walk in run which links onto their cube. It took the whole weekend to put up (mainly because we bought a house on about a 1/3 hill) but hopefully now it's all up and done they will be happier with some more space. It also should be a bit less back breaking work clearing it up. I must say a massive thank you to Simon though - he worked so so hard getting it all sorted after the busiest work week ever.

The girls were so funny last night. It got to about 8.30, everything was still in bits all over the garden and they decide that they want to go to bed. The dramas when they weren't allowed to. They were like stroppy teenagers, they were climbing all over the coop, flying up at the run, clucking and moaning away!

This is them determined to go to bed even if the coop is still all in little bits!

Image

We were also quite worried about Molly this weekend too. As you all know she's not been fantastic about laying eggs for us. Maybe one every 2-3 days but Saturday she was in and out of the nest box, sitting in there for ages at a time and each time she came out, no egg. We though she might have been egg bound >dum< but the though of trying to bath the crazy chicken without top-to-toe protective gear was a bit daunting. She was quite happy, eating, drinking and picking on the others so we agreed to leave her until Sunday to lay before getting her sorted. Thankfully she laid (again after a bit of fuss) so we'll just keep an eye on her. Not sure what the problem is really - the eggs she lays are about 60g so not huge and we've had no softies or nothing else strange?

Something else that happened was that my new girls started eating out of my hand... They are so cute... Is it bad to admit that you have a favourite??

I'll post some pics of the new run soon :)
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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We are now 10 days into our chicken adventures and so far have got 14 eggs from our two girls that are laying. I'm pretty sure Betty will start laying soon - her comb is really big and red now. It will be really lovely when all five of them are happily popping out eggs. Today I had some of their scrambled eggs - they are such a deep yellow and taste AMAZING!! )eat( yum!

Monday saw us down the vets with Dolly and Molly with ?gapeworm. The vet was quite happy with them though and after a good look over and a weight they were given a provisional clear bill of health although we left with a bag of marriages flubenvet pellets... worming has commenced!

I'm really glad we managed to get the big run constructed over the weekend as this week I've been under the weather with a rotten cold which has meant the girls haven't had too much time mooching round the garden. I did manage to drag myself out there today and laid in a garden chair while they had some free range time - they were really sweet and just pecked around my feet for ages - it really cheered me up!

As promised here are some pictures of their new house. We're going to give it a lick of paint soon which should make it look a bit happier.

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Any ideas for keeping them from getting bored though? The run is covered in about a foot of Auboise to give them lots of digging room. They have a large sandpit for dust bathing and a stack of logs and branches in the corner (plus whatever we prune off the trees) and I usually hang a cabbage in there too. They just seem so desperate to get out into the garden all the time.
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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Mo
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

Post by Mo »

juilly wrote:.....They just seem so desperate to get out into the garden all the time.

This is the usual tactic of making you feel guilty. As soon as they hear the back door, rush to the run door and pace. But if you can see them when they don't know you are watching you might see them contentedly scratching around doing chickeny things.

I wouldn't worry about the irregular laying. If she looks well.
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Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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I think I'll put up a secret camera to catch them out in their antics!! :) :)
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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Big news!! On Friday Betty laid her first ever egg! It was a bit long and thin and weighed a diddy 42g but she did it and it was so exciting finding it in the nest box. We ended up with a mega three eggs on Friday. Very happy!

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Her little body must still be getting used to all this egg laying bussiness thought as today we found 2 little softies on the bottom of the poo tray where they roost. One was a proper egg but just with a soft shell but the other was just the yolk with a soft shell. I hope it's a normal, fingers crossed she'll get the hang of it soon.

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We are half way through worming at the moment and none of the girls have gone off their feeds - the man said it was a 7 day course but I don't think the bag will last much longer!

We did the weekly coop clean today as well and I am so thankful that I did so much research before hand. I am so thankful for plastic coops and walk in runs and that's at the height of summer. I can't imaging how much better it will be in the middle of winter!
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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KarenE
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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You will be so thankful come winter, it really is no fun sloshing through all that chicken poo mud. You might want to invest in some stalosfan f for winter, it is so useful to dry up and sanitise the ground )t'

Replied to your other post but don't worry about the softies, perfectly natural when they are just getting going, or starting to slow down.
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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At the moment we are being overwhelmed with softies from our new girls... 4 softies from three girls in 14 hours! We are getting the old good one now though and so I think they have all started to lay. The eggs we are getting are really diddy!

They haven't been too happy the last few days as both me and Simon have been working really long days. they were getting too spoiled being able to free range around the garden all day but at least they have a good size run, I spent some time draping lots of sheeting around the other day to make it really shady for the heatwave so I think they managed quite well.

This chicken keeping is rather addictive though - I'm already thinking of expanding the flock!
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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KarenE
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

Post by KarenE »

The heat might not be helping either.

Just a thought - what time are you letting them out to free range? Just wondering whether they're eating enough pellets rather than treats and whatever they find whilst free ranging? That may also affect the quality of their egg production. Mine free range but I try not to let them out until midday or so to make sure they get enough pellets - when they've stuffed themselves with treats (I am a bad chicken mum!) I can really tell with the eggs, both quantity (lack of) and shell quality. If you're keeping them in their run now you may find that egg quality improves.

Be careful though - it sounds like you have picked up the incurable disease of chickenitis >ch< >ch< >ch< )t'
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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It's a five egg day!!

All our lovely girls laid us an egg today - I'm so surprised and so so happy. The babies have such tiny eggs - they are so small they don't fit into our egg box, I hope the trend for lots of eggs continues, I want to be able to know I always have our own eggs at home to use.

One happy chicken keeper today - Karen I'm scared I'm going to turn into one of those animal hoarders!!
proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)
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juilly
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Re: Helen's Hentastic Adventure!

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IT WAS A TINY DOUBLE YOKER!!

This was out egg box yesterday - nearly full up…

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And this was our lovely little double!

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proud new mummy to Dolly, Molly, Hetty, Betty and Holly (who accidentally jumped into the box!) :)

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