Luna's Ladies

[Luna]

Home late today, so the girls had all put themselves to bed. I went in to see Flo and was pleased to see her in her normal position on the perch next to the window. Best spot in the shed, so she's still in charge! Her crop looked full so that's good. Hope I'll see her hopping out the pop hole first in the morning like usual....

[sandy]

Great news on Flo, its funny by head girl has been spending a lot of time 'resting' I expect it is all the fuss with new charges. to Flo, you go girlie

[Luna]

I'm happy to say that everything is going well .... They are becoming a more integrated flock and within the Walk-in-Run mix happily. Interestingly, when they're let out to free range, they still break into 2 groups of 3, but I think that's because the originals are naughty and get into all sorts - vegetable patch, compost area, etc, whereas the newbies hold back and behave more ladylike settling into a bit of pecking on the grass and into the shrubs on one side where they are all welcome to go....

Had to laugh at oldies yesterday when they descended with glee onto a huge pile of small stones and mud we have on a tarpaulin ready to sift as we moved a path in the garden. They were flicking stones and mud everywhere delighting in the grubs and worms they found.... Not so funny an hour later when I had to comb the grass picking up all the debris!

Had a breakthrough last night.... I went to lock the pop hole and refill food containers for the morning and noticed that Treacle had settled herself between Flo and Matilda on the perch - this is the first time she's been allowed to do this.... normally she sits on their perch but a little way away on her own as they haven't let her get any closer. Funny how that kind of thing can give me so much pleasure The other two newbies sit together on the perch above.

Another thing I've noticed is that the day after Treacle has been allowed to free range, the size of her egg doubles - has anyone else noticed this with their chickens? It does make a good case to OH to allow them at least an hour of free ranging a day as we can see the benefit!

Finally, Flo is still doing okay. She has definitely slowed right down and is taking more naps during the day but is eating and drinking well and still managing to maintain order. She has loved the recent sunshine we had and completely zonked out on the decking a few days ago.... I'm sure I could hear her snoring.... I hope she stays with us for as long as possible as she's a great character......

[Luna]

Good news and not so good news today....

I'll start with the not so good.... Poor old Flo was in the nest box when I got home from work. I encouraged her to come out and free range but she just sat with me and drank a lot of water, then after an hour took herself back into the next box, not even coming out for the mealworms and corn that I threw in the Walk-in-Run to entice the others back inside, I know she's had a wonderful life with us since coming out of the cages, but it's so sad to watch her slowing down.....

The good news I have is that there were 4 eggs today That means either Honey the white star or Syrup the skyline has laid her first egg... It was a very pale colour, so I suspect the Skyline - sadly that means not the blue or green eggs I was hoping for, but never mind.... I assume the white star lays white eggs that are obviously white? Her comb has really developed in the last week, so I don't think she's far off...... Be a major celebration the day we get 5 eggs from our 6 girls

I'll let you know how Flo is in the morning for my little top hen.

[Luna]

I took the afternoon off work today and spent a very pleasant few hours scrubbing out the chicken house and run. Such a satisfying job to have done when you can look on it completed! Girls took themselves off round the garden and made the most of the sun.

Poor Flo is not right. I managed to persuade her off the nest box this morning with mealworms but she was just standing with her eyes closed when I got back from work. She had a very mucky bum, so I got a bowl of warm water as I'd read described on here and cleaned her up. She had her eyes closed whilst in the water, so I hope she was enjoying it. I dried her with a hair dryer as best I could and then she stood with her tail feathers splayed to the sun to finish the job. I got a lovely photo of her which I'll put on tomorrow.

Not much more to report except its afternoons like today which make me realise how lucky I am. The simple things in life can definitely give the most pleasure. Thanks girls

[Luna]

Twice I've tried to post in my diary with photos and twice I've lost it! So here's a photoless version...

It's been a week of change. As some of you may know, Flo, my head hen, died on Monday. She stopped eating about 48 hours earlier, spent most of the time sleeping and passed away in a nest box surrounded by her flock. She had 22 months freedom with us.

The flock were subdued on Tuesday, a bit unsettled yesterday but today the dynamics really changed. It seems Matilda has taken over as head hen and as she's always been fond of the newbies, she has managed to get them more integrated than I've seen them before. In fact, tonight when I locked them away, I was surprised to find all 5 snuggled together on the same perch. Normally Honey & Syrup, the youngest two, sleep together at the top, but they were tucked in the middle. I hope this continues...

Another major event today was that Honey who is about 21 weeks, laid her first egg. It was a perfect, small, pure white egg. I now have 5 hens who are laying

I'll try to post some photos tomorrow as I have a few shots for those bloomer fans out there.....

[Luna]

The girls continue to be happy and healthy, although I have noticed that Matilda has a slight blister between her left toes.... She has always had a damaged left toe on the far left and it twists inwards - I'm wondering if it is rubbing which has caused the blister? I'm bathing it each night with an antibacterial solution and smothering it in vaseline, so I'll see if that helps..... It doesn't seem to bother her at all as she scratches, jumps and preens quite happily, but it's something to keep an eye on.

And as they're all being so lovely, we've decided to introduce a couple more sisters to the happy flock! We're off on Saturday to our local breeder who supplied our black rock and white star who are both lovely hens.... He has a full selection this weekend, so not sure what I'll come back with..... Just must try to resist getting one of each breed! I will repeat to myslef "must only come back with two" .....

[Luna]

Well, I was very good on Saturday and did only get 2 new hens - a white Sussex and a daisy belle. They've not got names at the moment as we're waiting to see what will suit them.... So far, everything is going well. The rest of the flock free ranged all day and didn't show any interest in the new arrivals who were exploring the run. In the evening, I put them together and there were only a few minor squabbles. I had to put newbies to bed that night.
It was very heart warming to watch the new girls dust bathing in the sun together after a couple of hours with us - I like to think they feel lucky to be where they are now

Today, they've been together more. The new girls aren't too flighty and are about the same size as the other 3 I got in April, so I think they'll settle together quickly. Only a little bit of handbags when they get too close, but mostly the new girls go to other parts of the run and keep out of the way. And tonight they put themselves to bed

I'll post some photos tomorrow if photo bucket behaves!

[Luna]

I'm having a terrible time with photo bucket! If I try to edit the photo to resize, then it closes all applications down

So here's just one large photo of the new girls who are probably going to be named after disney princesses....

Meet Belle and Snow

[Linda S]

Hi Luna hope your gorgeous new girls have settled in well and how is Matildas foot now is it still not causing any bother to her Lindaxx

[Luna]

Hi Linda

Matilda's foot improved with the daily bathing, so I decided to stop about 5 days ago. However, today it looked a bit pink again, so I'll restart her spa treatments on the feet.

The new girls are settling in ok, although Belle does shake her head a lot. I did post in bird health, so won't repeat myself here except to say we're treating them with flubenvet in the hope that that might sort her out if its something like gape worm..... I watched her closely tonight and although it may be wishful thinking, I did think she was shaking it less....

Tomorrow I plan to do a thorough clean of Walk-in-Run and shed. That will take about 3 hours but its so worth it at the end.... It's meant to be nice here tomorrow, so the scrubbed and treated wood should dry quickly.

Had to laugh at girls tonight - 6 of them had squashed together on one perch. How they can be comfortable I don't know! It normally only fits 3 or at a push 4 of them. There are 3 other perches in there, but they all like the one near the window.... Isn't that just like chickens?!