Oooh I AM having fun!!

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Margaid

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For those who don't know I have a Welsummer cockerel and two hens in one house, and two Exchequer Leghorns in another. Having been introduced they are now mixing quite happily and Cocky thinks all his birthdays have come at once. The different behaviour of the two breeds is fascinating - the Welsummers "chuck" and cackle; the Leghorns chirp and trill. The Ws will leg it out of the house and rush around the enclosure (or out of it if I'm letting them out) and insist on drinking from puddles; the Leghorns seem to have read the books on chicken behaviour and go straight for breakfast, followed by a visit to the drinker. The Ws put themselves to bed at least half an hour earlier than the Legs. Even daft things like the amount of poo - the same amount or possibly more from the two little Leghorns as from the three bigger birds

The Leghorns house has a small run attached and the Welsummers have been exploring the run. One Welsummer is laying in her own nest box (every other day), the other may or not be and one of the Leghorns is laying in her own house. I was latish home last night and they were all in bed. As I shut the popholes I checked the nest boxes; nothing in the W's box but the bedding had been scratched around - Henny should have laid yesterday. Then I checked the Leg's box and there were TWO small white eggs and a large dark brown egg.

Is this just the desire for companionship or is it really saying something about the W's house which is an early Solway recycled plastic house to which I've fitted an external Chick box - the Leg's little wooden house also has an external Chick Box.

I now need to rearrange the electric netting to include the new bigger wooden house, then I'll move them all in there and bring my two other Welsummer's home. One of them is also in lay so Cocky will have 6 girls to look after. At the moment the ground is frozen solid, as is the water supply to the caravan - the joys of self build/barn conversions!
 
We have all this to come with a renovation, and they are in such a state!!!

Was over last week and turned the heating off -mistake?

Leghorns poo a lot as they lay a lot. 150g of feed gets a 70g egg -80g missing. Bantams 80g of feed gets a 50g egg -30g missing. We exported bantams Margaid for just that reason.
 
Hope your UK house is OK Chris. I remarked to OH on Friday that we shouldn't need the lamps under the caravan that stop the water freezing! One of the fuses blew when I switched them on last night at 11.30pm and I only managed to replace 2 bulbs. it took until 2.30 pm today to thaw after I sorted the third first thing in the morning. At 9 pm this evening there were signs it was freezing again. I think I'll have to switch the pump off but leave a tap trickling overnight. At least we have water in the building across the yard. The forecast says -11 tonight with the wind chill.
 
I'll phone over and get a neighbour to switch it back on if necessary. Not a simple job though as the pilot light is difficult. The house is protected on the two north sides by other heated properties so all the windows face South -any sun and the place is fine.
 
It gets better and better!

Thursday evening my friend brought my other two Welsummers here and we put all the birds in the big house - one Welsummer cockerel, four Welsummer hens and two Exchequer Leghorns. They seemed to settle without too much cackling. Let them out into the electric netted enclosure in the morning and there was a bit of hassling and half hearted pecking but nothing serious. The house was strange to all of them and still smells a bit of creosote although the pine smell of the bedding improves that quite a bit. The move has put the Welsummer(s) off lay but Henny is still laying. One of the Leghorns also stopped but I've had two Leghorn eggs today. Somehow, at some point in the near future I need to work out whether all the Welsummers are laying, or whether the fox hound attack has had a permanent effect.

We had three inches of snow last night which went a bit slushy and then froze - the hens were not amused. Neither was I, as I was due to visit "Darkbrowneggs" to collect two Cream Legbar hens. I had to wait until the ice on our concrete drive melted as I didn't want to risk sliding off as OH is away and wouldn't be able to help. Arrived back just before 2 pm so took the Legbars and put them in the little house with the attached run. They seemed seriously dis-chuffed, being shut in the house as they had been in a box in the boot of the car for about an hour and a quarter - and before you contact the RSPCA there is a thing called a "ski hatch" which we have never used for skis, but it opens into the car so there is a good airflow.

I decided to risk letting them into the small run and they were scratching about quite happily. About 6.30 all the other birds had gone to bed, even the Leghorns who are usually up late. I wasn't sure whether the Legbars were even later to bed, or if they hadn't worked out how to get back in the house. It was getting cold and the light was failing so by dint of using the ladder as a guiding board, I was able to catch both of them and put them in the house. Having shut up the run I went round to the access door and put them on the perch - they were huddled in the corner by the pophole. They seemed quite happy to be stroked - lovely silky feel to their feathers.

They are both in lay but they will almost certainly stop, so it will be interesting to see who starts laying again first - the Welsummers or the Legbars. The little house is about 6 feet from the separating netting and Cocky was very interested in what was going on. I'll keep them in the small attached run for a day or two, then let them out into their part of the electric enclosure so they can all get used to each other

Darbrowneggs was very welcoming and has a wonderful situation - lovely views and a super brick fronted barn with amazing Gothic style doors, plus a number of loose boxes housing her birds. Maybe we should have kept the rebuilt barn for my hens!
 
Lots of fun to chicken keeping Margaid. Offsets the hassle by a long way, but sometimes I have to remind us of that. Have started picking all up for an inspection every week. They quickly become 'tame' -some more than others.
 
The Legbars definitely like to stay up late. It's 6.45 pm and all the others have gone to bed but they are still out. it's 4 degrees outsied but the Met Office website says with the windchill it's minus 2. I've just noticed one of the Leghorns is out again. I was going to keep the CL's separate from the other hens for another day or two but the bigger CL had other ideas! I took their treats out only to find her the other hens side of the electric netting. Darkbrowneggs had warned me they could clear the netting so I may have to consider clipping their wings. I couldn't get her to go back because the only way in was the opposite end from her friend and she kept doubling back. In the end I folded the netting back on itself so I could maintain the circuit and she walked round the end of it. She seemed quite happy with the other birds so I'll leave it like that tomorrow and see what happens - although we have 4 inches of snow forecast overnight and more snow forecast during the day so anything could happen. I've had another Legbar egg, weighing 30 grams so I don't know whether that is the little one or the bigger one starting to lay again. Both Leghorns laid yesterday and today - 50 gram eggs. Henny Penny is the only Welsummer laying as the move has stopped whichever of the others was laying. They'd better start soon or I shall be having words with the hunt as they haven't laid since the foxhound attack.
 
We went out yesterday evening with a bottle of wine and sat inside the enclosure in the sun surrounded by fluffy Orpingtons. Lucy Legbar has recovered from her attack and was sunbathing with us -just some nasty scars around her eyes. Buff Orpington cock Basil (Bottom's son) has been stung by something and the swelling has closed one of his eyes. He doesn't seen at all bothered but can't see to eat -not a bad thing as he is too fat!

It usually takes at least a couple of weeks after a major disturbance for hens to lay again Margaid. But we took 4 hens in that had survived a fox attack that killed the other 12. It was three months before they started laying again. Someone ran a very noisy generator overnight on a canal boat (illegal after 8.00pm) and refused to turn it off. That upset the hens for a week so no eggs. Got rid of the problem quickly though by letting the cockerels out at 4.00am -he moved next day.
 
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