New setup and Noodle II

As we wanted to integrate all the girls gradually we purchased chicken netting from Omlet to allow them to free range together safely. This however is not what happened!

Noodle II decided that she wanted to take on the big girls so she ran at Sage who is a lot bigger and grabbed her by the neck but she was soon put in her place! Next Nugget was jumped on and then it was Sparta's turn. She decided that the only way away was up so she jumped on top of her coop and swiftly over the netting!

What ensued was about 15 mins of herding where we thought we'd lost her more than once. We knew that if she went over the garden fence that we would never get her back and she was fast! Finally we managed to pin her down and get her back inside the coop.

So it was back to the drawing board, clearly they were still not ready to be together and were too flighty to free range. We decided to put Nugget and Sparta in the dog crate with the walk in run so they could get used to each other for a few more weeks.

Noodle II however decided that she wanted to stay with the bigger girls and only recieves the odd peck to keep her in check. 

Noodle

The girls were fine for a few weeks but one evening we noticed the other two newbies really attacking Noodle. They had already started plucking out her tail feathers so we had used violet spray on her tail area. I also sent hubby out to get some anti peck spray but it made no difference. We decided that it was best to separate her and we planned to feed her up, allow her to get bigger before reintroducing her back.

After having her in the house we noticed something wasn't quite right with her. Her eyes were glazed over and she couldn't seem to pin point food on her own. To me she was blind.

The next few days were a struggle to get her to eat and drink but she would with lots of encouragement, scrambled egg and honey water. But on Friday she gave up, she wouldn't even try to eat or drink and just sat huddled in the corner of the cage. We called the supplier and he asked us to bring her back so he could take a look at her so hubby took the long drive back on Saturday.

The supplier said that it could have been stress and they decided to replace her but no longer had any Chalk Hill Blues. We were given one of their point of lay breading birds that they use to make the blues. She also lays blue eggs. She is called Noodle II!

Home with the ladies!

After a long road trip we put the new girls in their coop for the night. Our 16 month old was very interested in them and sat by their carrier when we got home saying "hello chickens".

Over the evening and next day we watched as pecking order was being established. I was a little worried about our Blue as she was clearly bottom of the pecking order. She didn't leave the top of the coop and when the other two came near she would cower in the corner with her head down. As we were worried that she wasn't eating or drinking we put an additional food and water supply up the top with her. She's already stolen my heart! 

We watched closely over the next few days and were happy that she was now leaving the nesting box for food and water so removed the additional supply. 

We also decided on names:

Chalkhill Chestnut Brown - Nugget

Chalkhill Blue - Noodle

Chalkhill Pearl - Sparta (fans of the film 300 and we can introduce her "THIS IS SPARTA!")

Expanding the flock

We've always wanted four chickens and waited for the weather to improve a little. Hoping to have a more friendly flock we thought we would go for some growers so we can get them used to us. 

I've had my eye on a Chalkhill Blue and Chestnut Brown since deciding to keep hens and as the Browns are larger ladies that why we opted for the larger Eglu cube. I spoke to my normal supplier and he was expecting some Blues but sold out of Browns. So I looked into getting them direct from his supplier as these were our last additions for a while but it was a four hour drive!

I read about a trio on the suppliers website. It had both of my wish list girls along with a Chalkhill Pearl. All of these girls would lay different color eggs and as hybrids would lay nearly daily. This appealed as Sage our Bluebell was the only one laying. I called to find out more and when hubby got home from a night out with the boys he said "let's go for it".

So I confirmed his agreement next morning when he was sober with "so we"ll go collect them next weekend". We (he) got the old coop ready for our new girls and we set off on a family road trip! 

Onions crop

In September 2014 we noticed that Onions crop was swinging (like a fat persons belly). We left her for a bit as it didn't seem to bother her. Plus Buffy was our main concern at that point. After a few more months it was still pretty large and wasn't emptying at night. She had also stopped laying. Reading online posts I read about impacted and sour crop.

Our girls aren't the friendlist and run when you go near. I think it's because we got them at point of lay and haven't spent as much time with them as we would like due to having a new addition to the family. So the next task was to investigate further but first we had to catch her and that was a task in itself.

To me it didn't feel hard, more gritty so not impacted. Her breath didn't smell bad so not sour. We had no idea so off to the vets we went.

On inspection the vet agreed it wasn't impacted or sour. He said he was happy to give her minor surgery by going down her throat to investigate but she could die. As she was happy and it wasn't bothering her we agreed to just leave her and keep an eye. We now only feed her on layers pellets and the odd vegetation treat rather than daily as before. 

Suddenly in March we had 3 spontaneous eggs but that was it, none since.

Sage and Onion

We went to collect our new girls in August 2014. Sage a Bluebell (left) and Onion a Rayleigh Rock (right) and Buffy showed them who was boss!

After a few weeks we heard Buffy's breathing sounded rattly so it was back to the vets for some antibiotics.

 She was fine for a few more weeks but then stopped eating and drinking. Over four months she had been to the vet three times and was just about to go again. This time we decided that it was best to put her to sleep as she wasn't herself and just kept going downhill. Sadly she didn't make it to the next day :(

Building a new home

On the cards before Peri died was a new and bigger run to replace the wooden home they had for two years. 

 This was to be the new location, on the other side of the garden. As we wanted more hens and Buffy was lonely we went ahead.

Buffy helped to dig and dust bathed in the trench for the anti-dig skirt.

She even helped debug more of the garden.

She enjoyed her new coop but was still alone and depressed. She stopped eating and drinking on two occasions and went to the vets both times. He couldn't find anything wrong so just gave her steroids and vitamins for a pick me up. It was time to get her some friends!

Buffy & Peri

Our first two girls Buffy (left) & Peri (right) brought in August 2012 just after our wedding.
Buffy named because she was a Buff Sussex and Peri (Cream Crested Legbar) named after peri peri at Nandos. They loved sunbathing and free ranging in the garden.

Sadly after surviving being caught by a fox it was chocking on a slug that killed Peri in 2014. So Buffy was all alone. She was heart broken!

How it all began!

I fell in love with 2012's school hatch and when school was finished for the year we brought them to their new home. They grew so quickly

and were VERY friendly

BUT
someone started to crow. We took them to someone with more chicken experience and it was confirmed that at least two out of the three where cockerels so they had to go as we live in a built up areas. Luckily a local farm agreed to take them as they were so friendly (for their education department) so we said our sad goodbyes and left them there.