Dust Bath

Chickens love a dustbath as not only does it rid them of parasites, it's also a communal activity and they often enter a trance-like state, making purring and cooing noises as they invade the next one's personal space. Hens seem particularly keen although the cockerels do join in, just with less aplomb. If possible, there should be an area for year round use - needless to say the hens will choose any area but once they've found a spot they tend to return.

I've inherited two rather troublesome Pekin bantam cockerels and I have put them in with the Rhode Island Red x Light Sussex hybrids as they won't be bothered by the pint size boys. They've settled in together well and I can let them out with other cockerels as they're small enough to know their place!

Now that the days are lengthening, I'm getting eggs from all the girls so the selection on this morning's stall looked quite impressive:

So, left to right, we have duck eggs from the Call and Miniature Silver Appleyard; quail eggs from my two remaining birds; tiny bantam eggs from the Buff Sussex pullets and a quartet of large hen's eggs - including one monster one from Maud, the regular double-yolker. In the last post I didn't think she was going to make it but thankfully a couple of days on a high protein, carb-free diet sorted out the sour crop and she's now back laying and looking good after her moult. Sadly the Buff Orp with the pendulous crop had to be put down but her sisters Bessie and Bertha are in good shape. I'm hoping to use them as broodies this year but so far no signs from any of the hens in that regard!

Poultry!

Well, having sold, rehomed or culled (RIP Geoffrey with the dodgy leg) 4 of my cockerels, I've been able to condense the pens of chickens down to a more manageable number for the winter. Or so I thought.....

I now have Maud the aging Goldline hybrid in one spare pen who appears to have sour crop, so she's on water and being fed a disgusting looking mix of hard-boiled quails eggs, yogurt, and fermented corn. I think she's improving but she's also moulting so looks absolutely terrible. Then I noticed one of my new Buff Orps has a very swingy crop - I've only seen now that she's moulting too and has lost all her feathers on her, well, pretty much everywhere apart from her wings. I've had to put Stockholm tar on her back as she was heavily mated in the summer before I bought her so her new pins are temptingly displayed on her bare back and I noticed a couple were bleeding. That was a sticky procedure but she's now tarred-and-feathered and in the broody coop with just water. Sigh. I don't think the prognosis is good for either of them so if there is no improvement on Monday I'll take them both to the vet for a bulk euthanasia appointment :-(

Apart from that, the ton (literally) of woodchip I put down has made a huge improvement to the chickens' welfare and should one of them deem to lay an egg then at least it is clean and I don't have the usual put down the wate, they tread in it, change the water, put it down, they tread in it, you get the idea. I think I'm getting about one egg a day at the moment which is extremely poor but next year I'll have the RI x LS hybrids coming up through the ranks and they should lay really well. They trot round the garden like a pack of velociraptors and are thoroughly teenager-ish about going back in their pen when I need them to but they're great. I haven't named them as I can't tell the difference; they do have differences but not enough to be distinguishable.

My little Buff Sussex bantam chicks are growing well and still with their Pekin broody and running round with their Pekin mates. I think I have two hens!