26th February

The girls are all in good health at the moment.  I decided to worm them properly, Ive usually used Verm-x, but I decided to use Flubenvet which is a more thorough wormer.  Sorting out the dose, and making sure they all had a fair share was interesting, but we got there.  Someone had a few worms, but otherwise they were pretty clean.
One thing that did happen was a huge lump of bloody something that was in one of the soft eggs I found in the poo tray.  I felt quite sick for the morning, it was disgusting.  I posted on the Lane forum and they said it was a meat spot, I hope there arent too many of those!
I put in some perches for them.  The first one they loved, and there would be three or four chickens on it, then I put the second one in, and made it a bit higher.  They werent too keen on this one, I think because the peice of wood was a bit on the thin side, but Bramble likes it, and Ive seen Clara on there too, so there's hope.

Bramble on the higher perch, Alice, Clarice and Henrietta on the lower perch.

11th February 2011

Its mild and damp at the moment.  I had white plastic over two sides of the run to stop snow and rain getting in, but it was almost spring like this week, so I rolled the plastic up and its really nice being able to see to the bottom right and corner of the garden.  The girls seem to enjoy their extended horizon too.
John announced the other evening that there was a rat living under one of the compost bins. So I got the almost empty galvanised dustbin out of the chicken shed and put their food in it at night, and hung the water from a rafter in the run.  He emptied the compost bins today, he was very brave because he hates rats and mice, and found a nest of babies in the bottom.  Poor little things.  They are in rat heaven now, the parents are hopefully long gone, and I have left the food out, though I think I should really go and get it put in the bin.
Ive been getting a lot of soft eggs lately, so now Ive put limestone flour on the food, and the shells have firmed up nicely. Its amazing how quickly it happens. 
I put two perches in for them to use, they like the lower one, but the taller one is a bit wobbly to stand on and they dont use it, so we are going to lower it and find a better log to go on the top.

8th January 2011

Well here we are in a new year.  The girls survived the extremely cold weather of last year, and are enjoying the relative warmth of 8 - 10 degrees.  Sadly while clearing the run roof my OH made holes in it with the rake, so that will have to be mended when the weather picks up. Ive patched it with water proof tape for the moment.
Clara was a bit egg bound on Thursday.  She kept going into the nest box for ages, but not laying anything.
Anyway the next day she was back to normal, and today, so hopefully it was just an off day.  Everyone else is perky and enjoying the wet side of the run.  They have muddy feet and muddy beaks! 
Spice and Clarice have been dropping feathers, Henrietta and Clara have shed a few, but they all look fairly normal.  The egg production goes from 4 - 7 eggs a day, I have 2 doz to sell at church each week which goes towards their food. Roll on spring.

22nd December

We have had the most horrendous weather.  Tempretures of  -19 and lots of snow.  Its gone on for a few weeks now, and everyone is fed up with it.  At least we'll get a white Christmas.
The girls are coping well with the cold and snow.  The omlet cube is warm when I check for eggs first thing, and they all tumble out for their breakfast of porrige in warm water, layers pellets mixed in with a few mealworms on top - yum!
They did sit on top of the dust bath keeping their feet warm a few times.
The tempretures are improving a bit, its just 0 degrees at the moment.  The girls water has frozen a few times, and when that happens they eat the snow! 

11th December.

The girls are all well at the moment.  Clara was a bit down last week, but she's moulting, and has picked up,though I dont thinks shes laying any eggs.
I put up the netting today and let them out on the grass.  They had a lovely time.  I forgot to open the coop door when I'd finished cleaning, and had to help them into bed!  Good night Girls.

Clara enjoying the grass.

Bramble.

Clarice and the girls.

30th November 2010

It snowed this morning, and to my horror when I looked out there was a big fox in the garden!  It ran off when it saw me, but I was quite shaken, because we havent knowingly had a fox for a year.  Poor thing is probably hungry but it can leave my fish and chickens alone. I let my friend up the road know because she has chickens and ducks, and the ducks free range all day.
Clara was a bit down at the weekend, and I was going to the vet with her yesterday,but she had picked up a lot and rather than stress her out taking her the the vet I cancelled.  She came bouncing out this morning so hopefully she's ok, but I'll keep my eye on her.
The girls havent been too fazed by the cold, Ive been giving them extra corn to keep them warm and despite loosing the odd feather they are still laying well.  I get 6 eggs every day.
I think Clara's off lay at the moment but hopefully she'll start again soon.  Having said that she's a pet and I wont worry if she never gives me another egg. They are just an extra.

4th November

I was washing up, and realised the girls were standing stock still, looking at the sky, I thought perhaps there was a bird of prey over head, so I went out to see what was wrong, and realised there was  a squirrel in their run!
It must have got in there through the gap above the gate, and it couldn't remember how it got there.
So I went to get meal worms to get the girls in one area of the run so I could give the squirrel a chance to escape through the gate, but it had found a gap at the back, and was gone.  They had the meal worms, and I filled in the gaps so that wont happen again.