Starting a new Run

I tried putting Dopey back in with the other hens earlier in the week, once her foot had healed. Unfortunately, Ginger REALLY didn't want her back in there, so I let them all into the garden. Ginger kept pecking Dopey and pulling at her feathers. Interestingly, Honey stuck up for Dopey, which I thought was nice. But it was obvious that Dopey, as bottom chicken, wasn't going to slot back in nicely. And in fact she is thriving in the rabbit hutch - her comb has reddened up, and grown, and she is much happier not being bullied! And the other 3 chickens do seem to like having a bit more space in their run - amazing how much space a little chicken can take up!

So, the new plan is to make a new run! I have bought a house from West Country Poultry (it is one of the bargain ones at the bottom of the 'arks' page), and Graham is going to make a new run for it. Then, Dopey plus a couple of new chickens can go in there, and hopefully Dopey can be Queen Chicken! I would like to get a White Star, which lays white eggs, and a Bluebelle, because I have always liked them. But first we have to build the run! We're going to try to put right some of the design errors from Chicken Run Mark 1 - for example, we're going to put some clear roofing on, and make the top open up to help with cleaning.

Dopey in isolation

Dopey (just for a change) is having another health problem - she cut her foot yesterday. I noticed some blood on her foot, but it didn't seem to be bothering her too much. This morning was a different story - hanging her foot, blood dripping - lovely. The other hens, being attracted to the red as hens are, were pecking her foot and making it worse, and poor Dopey was trying to hop around on one leg using her wing to balance her. She looked very pale as well. So I shut her in the henhouse for the rest of the day, with food and water.

She is now in the rabbit hutch! I had to let the other hens back into the henhouse to sleep, and I didn't want them to start attacking Dopey, so I have put her in isolation to recover. I've also ordered some wound powder and Gentian Violet Spray which should help healing, and also discourage pecking. Poor old Dopey - she is a bit crammed in there, but it's better than being pecked!

Easter Eggs

We have just been away on holiday to Scotland, leaving the chickens in the trusty care of our neighbour. They seemed happy enough when I poked my head in this evening, so I hope they have had a good week. Before we went away we had a huge number of eggs in the fridge, so having given 6 away to a friend, I put the remainder in a basket and sent the two eldest children off round the street to see if any neighbours wanted any. They seemed well received - everyone who was in took at least some eggs, so I hope they were all enjoyed. The children really enjoyed taking them round and it was lovely to see how confident they were knocking on the doors and handing out eggs.

All quiet

I haven't updated this blog for a few weeks - only one entry in February - because the hens are very settled and happy and no dramas to report. We are getting 3-4 eggs a day, all different. I will try and photograph some to show the differences, but Speckeldy Selina lays smallish brown speckled eggs, Honey and Dopey lay light brown eggs, usually weighing about 60g, and Ginger the Black Rock lays beautiful large cream eggs which seem to have a touch of pink in them. She lays the biggest eggs - sometimes up to 80/85g.

I have grown fonder of Ginger - she is the least friendly of the hens but she is also very characterful. When we try to put the hens away after some time in the garden she is always the hardest to catch, and she is the only one who really resists being picked up. But she is friendly enough with the other hens. She is also very beautiful, with a real 'petrol green' sheen to her black feathers, and a rich ginger breast. The published literature about Black Rocks (which come from Muirfield Hatchery in Scotland) describes them as being very hardy, and weather resistent - this is certainly the case, as she is the only one of the four not to look terribly bedraggled in the rain. The Black Rock is a cross between a Rhode Island Red cockerel and a Barred Plymouth Rock hen, and it is definitely a cross that works well. It is described as a 'dual purpose' bird, but I don't think we will be eating Ginger anytime soon! Her eggs are delicious enough.

26th January pictures

I tried taking some more pictures of the chickens - they are getting easier to photograph, but their heads usually come out blurred, as they move their heads so fast. Here are some of the better pictures.
Honey and Dopey are very similar, but these two photos of Honey really show her white 'collar', and her comb which is much bigger than Dopey's. They are both extremely greedy chickens and often have very full and wobbly crops!


Ginger is a beautiful chicken, very hardy in the wet weather - her feathers seem very resilient to the water, whereas the other three can get a bit bedraggled. She is the most vicious of the chickens, although will limit herself to pecking your foot if she thinks you have something tasty!
As you can see, Dopey is much recovered, and is back to her old self. Her comb is nowhere near as developed as Honey's, but she doesn't seem to mind. I haven't worked out the pecking order of our flock, but I wonder if Dopey is low down on it, as she is the quietest of the hens. But very loveable - when we went to get Honey and Dopey, she came right up to say hello, whereas Honey had to be caught with a net!

Some pictures of Dopey

I have written lots about Dopey this last week. She seems to be completely over her little episode last week. But I realised there aren't any good photos of her on this blog, so I have found a couple from August.

She has always been a very friendly hen - even when I went to choose the Bovan Goldlines at Cotswold Chickens, she came straight up to say hello, and wasn't at all bothered about being caught. I'm glad she seems better.

Giant eggs

When I let the chickens out this morning, I checked the nestbox as usual, and found 2 very big eggs. Not quite ostrich size, but certainly bigger than usual. Judging from the colour, they were from Honey and Dopey (although Dopey did randomly lay a white egg earlier in the week, so who knows?). Their eggs are normally bang on 60g, occasionally 65. These were 75g, which is a quarter bigger again. It must be all the extra protein I've been giving them as part of Dopey's recuperation.

This afternoon I have made ice cream using their eggs, and it is delicious. Bearing in mind the 'Chicken Out' campaign by Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall (I'm sure that isn't right, but you know who I mean), I feel very smug about using our own happy eggs! I hope his campaign will improve conditions for both battery and broiler hens.