New toys

Egg update:

26 eggs over the last 13 days.  £18.70 per egg.

Enriching the environment

The girls are having a good time exploring the garden and the small creatures they find there.  They're starting to get a little braver with leaving the ground, occasionally flapping their way up to the arm of a chair, so I thought I'd make them a couple more things to explore.

I had some small logs around from pruning the tree, so I knocked up a little perch.  They've given it a go, but you can't reach the food from there, so not that interested.

Chickens are supposed to dust bathe.  Ours haven't so far.  I suspect they don't really know how as they may not have had the space on the farm.  I thought I'd give them a helping hand, so I cleared out an old stone plant pot, filled it with earth and DE (stuff to keep the parasites away.  I dropped Big Boo in the middle of it to see what she thinks, but after a couple of circuits around the edge, she just decided to jump off.

Home invasion

Egg update

We're up to 20 eggs.  Averaging 2 per day.  Cost per egg: £24.31

Exploring strange new worlds

I managed to get the girls out free ranging all day long over the weekend, so they had time to explore a little more.

All week I've had the kitchen door open while they've been out, but they've shown no interest in going inside.  Then this happened.  All four at once, having a good look around.  Piper and Taystee decided they liked it and settled down on the floor for a nap.

We've decided that they are allowed in the kitchen (although not on the worktops), as the floor there is washable.  They're not allowed in the rest of the house.

Now that it's clear that birds are allowed in the house, one of the collared doves from the tree in the garden decided to explore too.  Then she couldn't get out, so I had to catch her, which she wasn't very happy about.

Collared doves are very cute up close, but their eggs are tiny, so I decided not to keep her.

When Doves Cry

Egg update

2 more eggs, bringing us to 12.  £43.44 per egg.

This is our garden now!

We have a couple of collared doves living in the tree in our garden.  Apparently that is acceptable.  They're also allowed to perch on the fence.  They are no longer permitted to land anywhere in the garden.

They tried a couple of times last night and that made Big Boo very angry and she chased them off.

They seem a little more tolerant of the neighbour's cat walking through the garden now, probably because she doesn't eat any corn.

Food fight!

A couple of days ago, I tried them on half a galia melon.  They didn't seem keen.  I took it away and put it in the freezer.  When I brought it back out yesterday (still frozen as it was a hot day), they loved it.  All they left was an empty rind.  All the seeds and flesh are gone.

I tried throwing them a couple of chips.  They loved those.  Norma, despite being the little scraggly one immediately grabbed them and run off, chased by the other three.  Round and round in circles.  So much fun to watch.

Chicken cuddles

Egg update:

Two eggs yesterday, bringing the total to ten. Down to £52.13 per egg.

Getting more comfortable with the humans

Norma and Taystee now have absolutely no objections to being picked up.  Taystee even had a good stretch and a look around before jumping down.

I managed to grab hold of Big Boo for a quick cuddle and check-up too.  She didn't like it at first, but soon settled when she realised it wasn't dangerous.  She's so soft and fluffy.

Piper's still having none of it.

New foods

We tried a couple of new treats for the girls today.  First we put out half a galia melon.  Very little interest in that.  Then I started on the kitchen scraps.  A couple of slices of cucumber caused initial excitement.  They grabbed it and ran off down the garden... then dropped it and walked away.

The radish trimmings wend down very well, as did the lettuce.

The clear favourite though was the potato peelings (boiled up to remove toxins).  As soon as they hit the ground, all four came running.  Crazy little cluckers.

Eating out of my hands

Egg update: 

3 more yesterday.  Price per egg down to £65.16.

The eggs are amazing.  We were expecting the bright yellow, very rich yolks but the whites came as a surprise.  So much flavour.  Egg white is usually bland, but this is delicious.  Might have to make some meringues.

Two of them are producing very thin shelled eggs that crack a little too easy, but hopefully that'll change with their improved diet.  The third egg was very solid.

Gradually getting tamer

Well, at least two of them are.

We've been giving them corn as a treat when we let them out in the evening.  We put it in a Tupperware box and rattle it as we walk out of the house so that they can start to associate the sound with freedom and nice food.

Norma

Mostly we just scatter some on the ground, but we're trying to use it to tame them too.  Monday night we tried holding the box out to see who would take it.  Only Norma was brave enough, or maybe greedy enough, to take some while we were holding the box.  She even put up with us stroking her as she ate.

Last night, I picked Norma up, put her on my lap and offered her the box of corn.  She was happy to eat and kept going when I let go of her.  When I took the corn away, she stayed around for a few more seconds before hopping down to find more food.  It was nice being able to give her a little cuddle and it gave me a good chance to check her over.  Her wing feathers are just as thin as the ones on her tail and she's got a bald patch on her chest to go with the head and baldy bum.  Other than that and being a bit skinny, she seems in good health.  Nice bright eyes and very alert.

Taystee

I also got Norma to eat some corn directly from my hand, which was nice.


I started the same process with Taystee.  She was OK taking corn from the box while standing on the ground.  She was a bit more uncertain when I picked her up, but went for the corn eventually.

Taystee didn't stick around long when I let go of her, but it was a good start and again a good chance to check her over.  She's looking good.  Could do with being a bit fatter and fluffier, but we'll get there.

Big Boo and Piper didn't go for the corn when we offered it and seemed reluctant to be picked up, so I decided not to force the issue for now.

All four went to bed nicely at dusk and snuggled up for the night.

Emma decided to start a Twitter account for the girls.  You can follow them at @litchfieldhens

Freedom is overrated

Egg update:

We had two eggs on our first full day, followed by three yesterday.  We suspect Norma's not laying yet as she's still pretty ragged, but the way she's eating, she'll soon catch up with the rest.

Our first two eggs.  Thank you Piper and Taystee.

So with five eggs in, we're down to a cost of only £104.25 per egg.  Bargain.

First taste of freedom

This is as far as we're going...

Having given the girls a couple of days locked in the run to get settled in to their new home, we decided to let them out to explore the rest of the garden (and hope they don't try to escape.

I opened the door to the run, scattered some corn outside...  Big Boo stepped out to peck at the corn, the other three looked over at the open door, looked back at the feeder and made their decision.  We're fine in here, thanks.  After all the fuss Taystee made on the first day trying to get out, now she ignores an open door.

Big Boo explores

About twenty minutes later, the others ventured out.  They mostly stayed fairly close to the coop, but they had a good scratch around and a peck at the grass.  Big Boo came as far as the house, but didn't try to come in.

I managed to pick up Norma and have a good look over her.  She's very bony.  She's got a bald patch on the top of her head, her tail feathers are very thin and she's got a big bald bum.  We'll be monitoring all that closely, so expect a lot of pics of Norma's backside over the coming months.

Norma's baldy bum

As the sun went down, the girls decided it was bed time and all found their way back to the coop on their own.  Big Boo and Piper went in first and then seemed to call to the other two, who promptly trotted over and jumped up the ramp before snuggling up with the others to sleep.

It was really nice to see them going to bed by themselves.  On the first night I had to help Taystee and Norma into the coop, on the second night only Norma needed help.  Hopefully this is the way they'll do it going forwards.

New inmates at the Henitentiary

The girls have finally arrived.  Introducing: Piper, Big Boo, Norma and Taystee.

Piper

Piper is a bit of a handful.  When I tried to pick her up out of the travelling box she pecked at me, so I had to get a tea towel to pick her up.

She's a very confident and slightly arrogant bird (just like her namesake).  She was the first to figure out how to use the perch inside the coop and I think the first to lay us an egg.

We put a white leg ring on her.

Big Boo

Big Boo is the biggest of our hens and by far in the best condition.  She's plump and fluffy, bright eyes, nice comb, a really nice looking hen.

She's very calm and friendly.  No problem being picked up and seems to like being stroked.

She's been spending most of her time scratching at the floor of the run and eating whatever she unearths.

Big Boo was the first one off to bed on the first night.  As soon as it started getting dark, she was up the ramp into the coop and standing guard at the door.

Norma

I had to take the picture through the window of the coop because Norma is shy.  She's in the worst condition of the four girls.  She has a few bald patches and very thin tail feathers.  When you pick her up, you can tell she's underweight.  She's very bony and much lighter than the others.

Norma has been very timid from the beginning but is starting to gain some confidence now.

At first she was reluctant to leave the coop and very unsure of the ramp, but once she was down, she was fine.

As soon as Norma located the feed bowl, she just parked herself next to it for the day and ate constantly.  If she keeps going like this she'll be as fat and fluffy as Big Boo in no time.

Taystee

Taystee is a very confident bird.  She jumped out of the transport box as soon as I lifted the lid and darts for the door as soon as you open it.

She was the first to emerge from the coop and was happy exploring the run and running up and down the ramp all day.

She's made a full check of the perimeter to see if there's any way out (there isn't).  She's going to have great fun when we let her free range later in the week.  I just hope she doesn't try to escape the garden.

Bring on the girls!

The coop is all assembled painted and in position.  We're picking up our hens tomorrow afternoon.  This is very exciting.

We decided that the run built in to the coop was a little too small for four chickens, so we splashed out an extra £70 on the extended run.

I've painted it all up with Cuprinol Garden Shades paints, Forget-Me-Not Blue and Country Cream.

People were suggesting putting paving slabs around the coop to prevent foxes digging underneath.  We've got an old patio at the bottom of the garden that we were planning to dig up anyway, so I thought it would be easier to lift up a couple of slabs in the middle and place the run over the hole.

I felt a little bit bad doing it without the chickens there, they would have had a great time with all the woodlice, worms, centipedes and various other bugs I uncovered.  Still, they've got a nice little patch of gravelly, sandy soil to scratch around in and I'm sure they'll find a few little creatures to munch on too.

Attempted coop

Our coop arrived yesterday!

Delivery was supposed to be before 6pm.  At 7pm with no joy I was on the phone to the depot, explaining that the lives of these poor chickens depend on it being delivered that night.  A little melodramatic, but it arrived just before 8pm.  Now all I had to do was assemble it.

We got the Sussex Coop from the nice people at Chicken Coops Direct.


I was really impressed with the quality of the build and how easy it was to put together.  The instructions were very clear and the parts well labelled.  There was one plus point that's so minor, but makes so much difference.  There was one extra of every type of screw.  If it said use 8 of screw C, there were 9 in the pack.  It can't cost much to add a couple of extra screws, but it's so reassuring to know that if you drop one, there's another available.

It took me just over an hour to put together, with the aid of an electric screwdriver and an adjustable spanner. Unfortunately, this meant I was finishing it in the dark due to the time it arrived, but at least it's done now. Pictures have been sent to Fresh Start For Hens and now we can have our chickens!

Now that we've seen it in situ, we've decided we want a slightly bigger run, so we're going to order an extension. Hopefully I can get that added on by the end of the week.

Here's some pics of the new home awaiting our lovely ladies.

Expensive way to get eggs

We're getting our chickens on the 13th, so we've spent a very busy weekend shopping for all the bits we're going to need.

When you add it all up, it's not chicken feed.  Except for the chicken feed, obviously.  Here's what we've bought:

Chicken coop: £200
Chickens: £10

Chicken feeder and water tray: £8.25

2 x metal dustbins: £35.00

Grit with Oyster shell: £4.00

Small shovel: £2.00

Bucket: £2.00

Stiff brush: £2.00

Scraper: £2.00

Vaseline: £1.00

Purple spray: £6.00

Poultry shield: £16.00

Apple Cider Vinegar: £15.00

Chicken tonic: £5.00

Chicken gym: £16.00

Diatom: £20.00

Mixed corn: £7.00

Chicken pellet layer feed: £8.00

Easibed bedding: £8.00

Stanoslan: £22.00

Netting: £10.00

Wormer feed: £15.00

Paint: £30.00

Rubber gloves: £2.00

Total: £446.25

£309.25 is on equipment, which should last long term.  We spent a lot of money on the coop because we wanted a nice one, this would be possible to do much cheaper if we wanted.

£127 is for consumables.  Some of this is in large quantities and should last quite a while, other bits will be a regular spend.

The coop arrives today, so hopefully I'll have some pics to share tomorrow.

Big Decision

When our local egg lady said she was moving away, we panicked a little bit.  Fresh eggs are so much nicer than supermarket ones and we really don't want to go backwards.

So what do we do?  Where can we find a new supplier?  After much research and no luck finding anyone local, we came to the obvious conclusion.  We'll get our own chickens.

We've never done anything like this before, so we have no idea what we're doing.  We did a lot of research and decided to take the plunge.

We decided that the best thing to do would be to adopt some rescue hens.

There's an organisation called Fresh Start For Hens (www.fsfh.org) who specialise in re-homing farm hens who have outlived their commercial value.

Now here's a shocking thing I didn't know.  Chickens in commercial egg farms - including the good free-range ones - are sent to slaughter at the age of 72 weeks because the laying rate drops off slightly and they're not as profitable.  Chickens usually live 8 - 10 years and can keep going even longer.  Sure, egg production will decrease, but these hens could have a long life ahead of them.

So FSFH take these hens on and find loving new homes for them.  The charge £2.50 per bird to cover their costs.  We've asked for four of them in the upcoming re-homing.

We should be picking up our hens on 13 August.

The coop has been ordered and will be arriving on Monday.  I'll assemble it Monday evening and post more details and some pics after that.

Then we've got a week of intensive Amazon browsing to get the rest of the stuff we need.  Feed, bedding, feeder, water, grit, anti-mite stuff...  It's a long list.

So excited right now and a little bit scared too.