New Chickens

Collected the new girls on Saturday. When I got them out of their box, they were a bit hot and bothered. Particularly the buff silkie seemed very upset and just sat down and didn't walk around. The other two appeared fine.

The girls upon arrival

Easter Sunday morning was a bit of a crisis. The buff silkie (Buffy) was fine, as was the pencilled Wyandotte (Willow) but the Cuckoo silkie (Cordelia) was just sitting in the nest box and wouldn't move. I picked her up and placed her in the run and set the trails camera going to record what they were doing. Willow was pecking her quite a bit and she looked very sad so I took her out and put her on her own in in the outside open run with the green eglu, next to the WIR.

She mostly sat hunched unless I went in and scattered seeds, then she'd scratch about in a desultory way. I sat watching her for some time as the weather was fairly good. I gave her water periodically using a syringe. 

I got my Nettex Nutri-drops only to discover that their best-before date was July 2018! I started a thread on the Omlet forums for advice. One said probably OK, just maybe not as effective. Another said she had found that after first dose of Nutri-drops her hens went downhill and died. I decided to go out first thing Monday to try to buy some new drops from the farm shop. Another chicken keeper suggested I contact the breeder. I ordered some Poultry Power (used to be Nutri-drops) from Amazon - delivery between 8th and 12th April!!!! 

Cordelia in the outside run

I contacted Meadowview chickens using their online chat, and Charlotte replied very fast and was very helpful. Apparently they are on crumb, and I'd given them pellets. I decided to get some crumb from the farm shop on Monday to encourage them to eat as I'd not actually seen any of them eating from the Omlet Grub feeder. Charlotte said she'd happily take her back, but by now I just wanted the little hen to recover!

Sunday night, Cordelia spent the night alone in her eglu. 

Spent most of the time sitting, tail-down

Monday morning she was still lethargic. I was very worried and posted an update on the Omlet forums. Advice was she was probably stressed as Silkies are prone to stress (and apparently sensitive to cold which I didn't know). I was advised to keep her warm so I brought her into the house in a cardboard box. Bought some layers mash from the farm shop, but they didn't stock Poultry Power (replacement for Nutri-drops). I put mash, corn, porridge and water in with her, none of which she seemed interested in. 

I continued giving her water with a syringe. 

By Monday evening (Bank holiday Monday) I was really worried. I cracked and gave her the past best-before date Nettex Nutri-drops. She immediately seemed to perk up and showed some interest in the corn in her box. I could see a difference in minutes. After an hour or so, I put her in the eglu with the other two to sleep. 

On Tuesday morning(6th April) - Buffy and Willow emerged from the eglu but Cordelia stayed in roosting. I took her out and gave her water and Nutri-drops. I put her back in the coop and she emerged of her own accord and scratched around with the others. Those Nutri-drops are amazing, even when out-of-date.

Throughout Tuesday I checked her periodically during the day. I gave her water. If I put her out in the run she would scratch for a bit. All three chickens tended to go back in the eglu as it was bitterly cold, windy and, at points, snowing!

All three hens pottering about

On Tuesday evening I gave her more water and another dose of Nutri-drops and bed for the night in the eglu with the others. 

Wednesday morning I gave her more water and Nutri-drops with a syringe and popped her at the end of the run. She and the other two scratched around. I gave them corn and sweet corn. They seemed happy.

Wednesday afternoon - checked them again. They all seem very happy. Enjoying treats and drinking from the old fashioned drinker. I'm sure I saw Cordelia eating some layers mash I'd put on the ground to encourage her. 3 days is the minimum Nutri-drop dosage, so as this is day 3, I plan to stop. Fingers crossed that disaster has been averted! All three new chickens are behaving like normal hens.

Having spent time sat watching them in the eglu, I realised how bitterly cold the wind is as it whistles up the slope. I've wrapped three layers of protection around the run to keep the wind out, and I plan to move the run up to a higher level, though when I stood there it felt just as windy. However it would be easier to erect a fence panel or two to give some protection from the wind. Maybe it won't be necessary. Once they've settled in, I plan to move them in with the other girls and only use the spare eglu when I want to move them out for a couple of days to give the WIR a thorough clean and disinfect.

Readying the eglu for the new girls

Good Friday - the Easter bank holiday weekend. After deciding which chickens I wanted to buy, I sat down to order them from  Meadowview Chickens to find, to my horror, that two of the breeds I fancied were already out of stock. Clearly everyone had the same idea and wanted to buy hens to collect over the Easter weekend.  I quickly made new choices. The buff bantam silkie was still available, I added a cuckoo silkie with black/grey banding which should be lovely. Then I went for a black/gold pencilled wyandotte. I've missed not having wyandottes since Agatha and Buffy passed away. This will be different as the wings are pencilled rather than laced. 

The Walk-in Run

I've arranged to collect them at 3pm tomorrow. This was the only collection slot available - fortunately it was the time I suggested. The roads are going to be full of people collecting chickens.

Today I spent the day in the garden getting one of my spare eglus ready for my new arrivals.  My current girls reside in a nice walk-in run with perches, treat footballs and even an unused chicken swing. I plan to have the new girls (it will be fun choosing names for them) in the green eglu and tunnel run for about 2 weeks as they acclimatise and develop their own group pecking order. Then I shall introduce them to the existing flock. Usually I do this when they are all in bed asleep. I collect the new girls one by one and pop them in with the established flock. They will get bullied, but it should be fine. They will end up getting along well together. The current flock aren't huge bullies, though a fair amount of pecking goes on at treat time.  

The green eglu ready for the new bantams

Three new chickens later….

My good friend "the Muminator" had asked me, on behalf of a friend, how to source chickens. Having described the various ways you can get hens, I found myself returning to the idea of getting some more myself. I've become really fond of my three beautiful Wyandotte bantams - they get every more beautiful the older the get. I have always fancied some more pure breeds…..and  my eglu total soon to be 4, it seems a shame to have too many eglus lying empty!

I started simply browsing my favourite breeds on the internet I was beginning to think about some Frizzles, then I ran across the PreLoved website. In it there was an ad from a lady who had hatched some eggs from a breeder and who had a range of lovely looking breeds (no Frizzles) and who wanted to sell them to start getting her garden in order with a view to moving house. She said that she was selling them for a low price because she wanted to ask questions to ensure they went to a good home since they were, after all, her pets. This sounded like just my sort of chickens. She was based in Basingstoke, which is quite a way from where I live, but guess what, I was visiting my friend "the Muminator" who lived closer than I do, so I could swing past Basingstoke on my way home.

After a lovely long chat and a coo over some gorgeous chickens, I settled upon a couple of bantam silkies. As I was leaving I said that I would stick with two as this would give me room to get another two bantams should I find some Frizzles which I had originally been looking for.

It must have been fate, because we were walking past a shed full of Frizzle's as I spoke. All bar one were already spoken for, and this poor little baby Frizzle was stood alone. When I picked her up, she was so cute and showed a bit of feather damage where she had been bullied. I figured that as all the rest were going elsewhere, wherever she was homed she would be on her own, so on a whim I took her as well.

Apparently, when introducing a new chicken to a group, if you do it at bedtime and wipe all the chickens over with a damp cloth soaked in a vinegar solution (I used apple vinegar which I have to hand as a drink supplement) then when they all wake up, they won't detect that one of them doesn't belong because they will all smell of vinegar. I tried this last night when I introduced them to their new eglu. Fortunately it was dark, so nobody was able to see the odd sight of me crouched down with a chicken on my knees, carefully wiping a damp, apple vinegar scented cloth in her armpits and all over.

This morning they all got up. I've named the white one Lulu - she is apparently the top chicken. The little Frizzle spend much of the day running around hiding - she is smaller than the others. The black one seemed to peck at her more than the white Silkie. I've found that it is often the 2nd in command who will do all the pecking. Nevertheless, very minor stuff. I feel fairly sure that within a couple of days they will be fine together.

Here are some photos of my current flock arrangement. I've moved Nutmeg, Maud and Amber back into the big walk-in-run with the red eglu and just a 1m attachment. It works better I think than the 2m tunnel attached to the WIR and I've used cable ties to ensure a good fit.

Here's a little gallery of my new run layout and hens :)

Below is Lulu at the front, a white bantam silkie, black silkie at the back and my little grey Frizzle bantam in the middle.

Below: Agatha, Vera and Buffy, the beautiful Wyandotte bantams

Maud, Nutmeg and Amber, my medium hybrids. Nutmeg still seems to have puffy cheeks, and I've added citricidal to her drinking water. She seems none the worse for it though, no sniffles or behaviour change so I'll just leave well alone.

Here is the red eglu, converted into a chicken eglu and attached to the WIR with a 1m tunnel. I needed several cable ties and a brick to raise the back up off the ground to ensure a good connection. But it works well.

Sharing the WIR

I really want to be sure that the newbies had enough room during the day. Dave is worried about bullying, but they're my hens and having spent alot of time with them, watching them from the window as I work, I think it should be OK so I've moved them in together. This gives me time to check that no bullying is going on and that all hens have equal access to food before I go to Nepal. I think this should be OK because I have 3 eglu glug containers of water, 3 grub containers of food and an extra water dispenser in the traditional style.

Snow again

Blizzard conditions outside. The two little flocks are still separate. However upon being let out, the newbies have all trotted over to the WIR and are wandering in and around that. I think that because of the nice new roof, the floor is all clear of snow and they like the organic pellets. Dave is a bit worried about moving the green eglu into the WIR this week, but I'm sitting at my desk looking out at them from the upstairs window, and I see very little bullying. They seem to be wandering around together fairly happily so I think that when it stops snowing, I'll shift the eglu into the WIR and watch what happens. I'm off to Nepal for 3 weeks on Saturday, and Dave doesn't usually work from home so I want them all to have a reasonable area to move around in during the week.