Exciting News

Having started 2013 on a bit of a downer, I am pleased to say we are now ‘back on it like a car bonnet!’ In the past 24 hours alone, so many exciting things have happened or are developing, that I just have to tell you all!

New Hybrids Arriving

Our first batch of hybrid hens for 2013 are arriving on Monday. They will include; Warwickshire Bluebelle, Light Sussex, Speckeldy, Gold Ranger, Rhode Rock and Warwickshire White Star. Getting new hens in is always exciting and it will be nice to have a good range of breeds available again. On the downside, the two weeks we had allocated to cleaning out and replacing all the old woodchip and disinfecting the coops now has to be done in three days! Thank goodness for boyfriends and friends! Even though I am going to have to do so much baking and buy so much beer in thanks!

Beautiful Warwickshire Bluebelle

Trade Shows

We have decided this year to allocate a good proportion of our marketing budget to attending trade shows. So, we will be at the Edible Garden Show in March, the Pet Show in July and the Moreton in Marsh Show in September. We are also doubly excited that we have been chosen to sponsor the Poultry tent at the Moreton in Marsh show, which is a real honour.

The Pet Show is a new one for us; in fact it is new for everyone as it is a new show this year! They are promoting welfare and education in keeping pets and the Battery Hen Welfare Trust are sponsoring their avian section. We hope that we can really educate people about the right way and the wrong way to keep hens. (As believe me, there is a wrong way and many people do it unfortunately.) We also want to show people that chickens really can be the perfect pet and are especially good for young children.

Baby Chicks!

This year we are working with a local chap (he’s a lovely hound!) to breed our own pure breeds and are pleased to say we have just ‘given birth to’ 3 Vorwerks, 5 Copper Black Marans and 8 Legbars! A new 80 egg incubator has also landed in the hound’s lap, so in this weeks batch, we have; Vorwerks, Orpingtons, Sablepoots, Pekins and Araucanas going in. Fingers crossed for hens! We may have some more news about pure breeds in the next week or so, but will keep you in suspenders for a little while on this one until everything is confirmed! Unlike many pure breed breeders, we are vaccinating our chicks for Mareks, Gumboro, Mycoplasma and Coccidiosis to minimise disease risk and bio security threats. Just call me Dr Doolittle!

Four little Vorwerks just hatched!

Boarding Expansions

Due to the popularity of our 2012 hen boarding, we are expanding and moving our boarding area to make room for 5 new houses. This means that the boarders will now be housed a good distance away from our hybrid hens and will all be housed in Omlet accommodation. (Which makes my life easier, as it’s sooo easy to clean!) And even better (and a little too girly for me really) we can have; the green house, the red house, the yellow house, the pink house and the purple house! Simple pleasures.

The ‘Yellow’ Omlet Go, which will house up to 3 hens

Expansion Plans FULL STOP

Our first year, (yes it’s our 1st birthday on 3rd March) was so much more successful than we’d hoped, that in 2013 we will be expanding! I will update the blog further in March & Feb about how this is progressing, but the expansion will make room for three new hybrid pens, two new pure breed pens and five breeding pens. We are hoping the expansion will be complete by April. Did someone mention ducks?!!

See, I told you I was excited! Next time in the blogs, look out for our new housing range, details on our two new hybrid hens and an invite to our first birthday party!

New Year New Beginnings

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone. Firstly (and I think I said this last time…) my apologies for not blogging in such a long time. I think to write a good blog, you have to be ‘in the mood’ and unforunately I just haven’t been in a writing mood for a few months! But this morning I’ve had the urge to blog, so  here we go…

The title of the blog isn’t very original and I have no doubt there are lots of similar themed pieces out there at the moment. 2013 was always going to be a funny year, as so many people are suspicious about the 13. Friends are refusing to get married this year (good excuse!!), people are not selling houses; the list goes on… Personally, I am not suspicious and nor are my family. My grandparents lived at house number 13 happily for many years and my mum got married on Friday 13th, so it holds no trepidation for me. For a couple of my friends, the year has started well. One has secured a new job, another is expecting a baby and a couple are planning to buy a house. However for me, despite a fantastic new years eve and next few days, the year hasn’t actually started that well.  I am positive is a blip however, my bad run of luck is over and things will turn better.

We had a robbery on Wednesday, where although not much was taken, it makes me a little nervous that people are snooping about and there is a fear more could get stolen. But, I have learnt a valuable lesson from this and will be stepping up my security measures in future. To add insult to injury, six of my own chickens got taken by the fox whilst we were on holiday for new year. The chap looking after them didn’t secure them properly and the fox took his opportunity. Foxes really are opportunists, so please make sure your hens are in a fox proof pen, especially at this time of the year which is mating season and when grown cubs leave home.

On a more positive note, I have lots of plans for 2013 including; offering more choice on breeds to customers, we will be stocking two new hybrids; the Partridge and the Warwickshire Honeysuckle as well as seven pure breeds in season. These include; Orpington, Orpington bantam, Pekin, Vorwerk, Legbar, Rhode Island Red and Copper Black Marans.

We are also developing our boarding area so we can accommodate more holiday hens and our online shop is finally live, although it is still being populated. I am toying with the idea of getting some ducks to breed from and sell, but I am still in two minds about this; any feedback would be welcome?

On the subject of feedback, I have been doing some research into why people choose who they choose to buy chickens from. Most people have said the choice of breeds, health and welfare of the hens and a recommendation from a friend. Again, I would value anyone’s thoughts on this. Specifically, why you go to a certain business in the first place. Is it the website, a recommendation, locality etc?

Finally, if anyone is looking for a Legbar cockerel, I have one for sale. He is about nine months old now and has a good fertility rate. He needs to be kept in free range conditions as he gets aggressive when he isn’t given enough space. He’s got lots of character and keeps his ladies in order nicely though, so would make a good companion or breeding bird.

A happy new year to everyone and remember to wrap up warm and keep your hens warm in the cold weather that’s coming!

Corn – the MacDonalds Equivalent!!

Well as August’s go, this has been a pretty miserable one! We have missed our ‘summer’ and everyone seems to have bypassed their gardens for the year, thanks to the Tsunami of rain we had earlier on. The lovely weather girls (are we allowed to call them that nowadays?) keep on threatening us with good weather, but it comes in fits and starts. Only the other day I was trapped in the chicken pen for 20 mins as it absolutely bucketed it down, having been sitting in the deckchair in the bright sun only an hour before.

Many customers ring me worried that their hens have stopped laying or are losing feathers. With the weather being so changeable, it has upset many hen’s laying patterns, so don’t be alarmed if they stop laying or become a little irregular. Similarly the feather loss is the beginning of an early moult. Usually hens moult in September, but the mixed temperatures and humidity has brought on may hens moult very early. Remember, they will not lay eggs during their moult, as they are preserving their energies to grow new feathers.

I had a customer at Warwickshire Chicken Coop this morning, telling me he had bought 3 hens from me in April and one has never laid an egg. This is quite unusual to say the least, especially as she is a ‘Gold Star’ one of the best layers going. I asked him all the obvious questions, such as did she have worms, lice, mites etc. All negative. Was she laying the eggs somewhere else in the garden perhaps? Apparently not. Could she have assumed the ‘rooster role’ in the flock. Seems unlikely in a small flock…. A bit of a mystery, until I asked the customer what he was feeding them (silly me,  this should have been my first question!) Response: Corn. Ah ha. Problem solved.

To lay eggs, your hens need LAYER PELLETS or MASH. Corn and fresh greens alone isn’t sufficient. Corn should be given as an occasional treat (a bit like chocolate or MacDonalds!) not as a constant food source, and greenstuff should only make up 20% of their overall diet. Your hens will become fat and lazy and they will stop laying if they are fed just corn. His other two hens were clearly more active and not as lazy as his Gold star, which is why they were still in lay, but he did admit the eggs were sometimes ‘a bit small.’ I sent him off with a bag of layers pellets (and a ticking off!) and I will be interested to hear if a ‘miracle’ has happened and there are three eggs in his nest box in a couple of weeks.

I do get cross when I hear people give their hens just corn. I know it’s what they used to do ‘back in the day’ and the hens were fine, but nowadays, things have moved on and hens are not just required for fattening up and eating and they have a life expectancy of 5-7 years. We have them as healthy, happy pets, for eggs and amusement! Pellets or mash have been specially developed to contain everything a hen needs to have a balanced diet and produce tasty regular eggs, so I don’t know why people insist on giving them something else that doesn’t have the same end results.

I read an article in the (say it quickly and quietly) Daily Mail yesterday about some people with unusual eating habits- (once I’d waded through 5 pages – FIVE PAGES no less, on Prince Harry’s latest escapades). One had eaten nothing but Monster Munch crisps for the past 8 years (beef flavour only), whilst another only ate cheese and tomato pizza, the third cheese and chips; getting through three blocks of cheese and three family sized bags of chips a week. There is now a diagnosis for this (surprise, surprise, isn’t there a diagnosis for everything now?!) called Selective Eating Disorder. The point of the article was; how had they survived and were fit and healthy on such an unbalanced diet? Very good question. Especially since the McDonalds experiment ‘Super Size’ in 2004 had such horrific consequences.

My point to all this is, your hens do not have ‘Selective Eating Disorder’ they would like a balanced diet, consisting of layers pellets or mash as a staple, plus a HANDFUL of corn every few days, supplemented with fresh greens (cabbage, broccoli, lettuce) and some occasional tasty variants – sunflower seeds, mealworms, weeds from the garden, garlic powder, tomatoes and warm porridge if it’s cold.

That’s it. Lecture over! I will now get back to cursing the British weather and going to clean the hens out .

Broody Hens

I know I only blogged a couple of days ago (my mother will be proud), but over the past couple of days I’ve heard the same sad story from a couple of customers. I am sharing it with you, so you can learn from their mistakes.

A hen goes ‘broody’ when she decides to sit on eggs (fertilised or not, she doesn’t know the difference) She will sit on the eggs like it’s the only thing that matters in the world. It is her mothering instinct kicking in. Certain breeds are more prone to broodiness; silkies, dorkings, Sussex and orpingtons especially. It’s not uncommon and is a problem that is easily solved.

Usually the hens will leave the nest box very quickly a couple of times a day to eat and drink and then promptly return. In the case of the recent customers (and in extreme cases) the hens will ‘forget’ to eat and drink and regrettably starve themselves to death.

If your hen is not sitting on fertile eggs, her broodiness is a nuisance to you and the other hens. Most of the time she will ‘hiss’ at you if you get too close and she will hog the nest box and not let the other hens in. She will huddle every egg underneath her, and if she is a heavy breed like an Orpington, she is likely to stand on the eggs and break them. Many people ask me how to stop hens from being broody, when placing them out of the nest box several times a day isn’t doing the trick. The answer is really very simple and in my experience is the only thing that actually works.

Separate the broody hen completely from the rest of the flock. Place her in a wired cat or dog crate; somewhere uncomfortable where she cannot settle down, we affectionately call them ‘sin bins’, ‘slammers’, ‘jail’ or ‘the cooler’. Provide her with constant fresh water and food, and leave her there for about 3 – 4 days. Don’t take pity on her and let her roam around your garden or put her back with the others, you have to be cruel to be kind. After a few days, put her back in with the others, if she runs back into the nest box, give her a few more days in the Sin Bin. If not, she is cured and problem solved.

I promise this works, so anyone with a broody hen, please take this advice, and in this extreme hot weather, avoid untimely and unnecessary hen deaths.

Cock-a-doodle-do

Firstly, my apologies for not blogging in a long time. Every time I see my mother, she helpfully comments; “You haven’t blogged recently…” Which I haven’t, so regrettably, she is correct. To keep her quiet and to get me back into the blogging mentality, here it is.

This time of year is always a bit of a funny time. Some people are really, really busy and some people are dead as door nails. I guess that could be said of any time of year, but it seems more obvious to me as I have experienced both ends of the spectrum. In my previous employment, I worked for a college and this time of year was the time for us to ‘reflect and plan.’ In reality that meant we all dropped down a gear, wore jeans in the office, took longer lunches, went out for drinks at 5pm on the dot and jollied off on our holidays. On the other hand, my partner who is a farmer, is all pedal to the metal at this time of year, which is harvest time. Farmers are hugely dependant on good weather to get the harvest done, so since the sun is shining, they are all outdoors working every hour of daylight to get the hay mown and baled before rain arrives and ruins everything.

In chicken world it is busy too. Eggs are hatching, chicks are growing and everyone is on red mite patrol. The hotter weather also means we are trying desperately to keep the hens cool. They must have access to shady spots and fresh, cold drinking water all the time. The set up here at Warwickshire Chicken Coop means, regrettably there is no natural shade, so we have made shade by attaching ground cover to the pen roofs and put oscillating fans in the pens to keep the air moving. I have also taken large carpet off cuts into the pens and soaked them with water. The hens will stand on them to keep cool. This is also a useful tip when transporting hens; place a wet tea-towel in the bottom and over the top of the box or crate to keep them cool on the journey. I also encourage people who are coming to buy hens, to avoid doing so in the strong lunchtime/afternoon heat. (and that’s not so I can have a long, lazy lunch!!)

As well as keeping the hens cool, I have been kept entertained by our new arrival of cockerels. As a rule, we do not take or sell cockerels, however we currently have three living with us; Terry, Brian and Derek.

Terry cock-a-doodle-do-ing

‘The boys’ were hatched by a good friend who has no more space herself for cockerels. I could see they were in excellent health and otherwise doomed for the pot, so I agreed to take them. WOW – what a difference they have made to the hens. I have put one cockerel in a pen of 20-30 hens each and the hens adore having them around. They all cosy up to them when they are resting, and they follow them round the pen like little puppies. It is also notable the calming effect the cockerels have had on the hens. My pen of white stars are especially flighty (see previous blog entry on the escapee white star…), but since Brian has been with them, they have settled down completely. They even come up to the pen door and squat down for me to stroke. Once upon a time they would have done several laps of the pen, squawking and flapping at the fact a human was in their pen at all.

For a cockerel and hens to thrive as a group, there needs to be, in my opinion and recommendation, at least eight hens per cockerel. The boys should also be kept separate as they would fight (ie one cock per pen). You will find any less than eight hens, and the cock won’t have enough ladies to keep him busy. Clearly hens and cockerels kept together for breeding purposes is another matter, but if you want a cockerel to calm and protect your hens, try working on the 1:8 ratio.

As well as boys, we have been kept busy with a full cohort of boarding hens, treating a couple of cases of sour crop (more about sour crop next time), taking the hens to agricultural shows and delivering hens to eager families around the Midlands.  We have also had a couple of videos produced – let me know what you think?

During the next couple of weeks we will be taking delivery of our next batch of 200 hens, embarking on our first ‘chickens in the community’ project at a nursing home in Bromsgrove, and waiting excitedly to read our write up in the National Birmingham Post newspaper about two journalists experiences about keeping hens from Warwickshire Chicken Coop. I promise I won’t leave it so long next time!

Nice Weather for Ducks… Not for Chickens!

Well, this weather is fowl (tee hee). It has to be the wettest drought Britain has ever seen. There are reports on the news today of ‘monsoon’ conditions on the M1 and M6 and severe weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office. My friend is trying to film some scenes for a new movie he is directing and has commented that whenever he schedules in an outdoor scene, the heavens open. If he’d started filming months ago perhaps we wouldn’t be in a ‘drought’ at the moment?! Next door’s duck seems to be enjoying herself, but everyone else’s chickens are not impressed.

My chickens at home are looking very sorry for themselves as they huddle under their shelter until the rain eases for a few moments, before trudging back under their shelter when the downpour starts again. It really is important in this weather to keep your chickens as dry as possible and provide sheltered spots for them if you are not able to provide a complete covering . I would also recommended you up their nutrient levels with additional vitamins as they will use up lots of energy keeping warm in wet conditions. If you have birds with dense feathering such as Orpingtons or Cochins, play special attention to them as they will take longer to dry off. Make sure your hen house is waterproof or else damp conditions will occur which will encourage respiratory disease.

I am pleased to say the chickens at Warwickshire Chicken Coop have remained dry in this weather, thanks to the completion of the pen roofs (just in time!) We also have solid fencing along one pen wall which protects them from the wind and any driving rain.

Other than the weather, what else had been happening at Warwickshire Chicken Coop this week? One of the Orpingtons had a gunky eye at the beginning of the week, which I treated by bathing with luke warm water twice a day and administering some herbal eye drops. I am pleased to say her eyes have cleared up now and they are bright as buttons and she is back to her usual self, pecking at my boot laces and jewellery.

I am in talks with the local college about a breeding programme of Orpingtons they are looking to set up with the animal welfare students. It is still early days, but the programme sounds interesting and something to look forward to. The manager of the department came to see our set up to get some ideas for the chicken pens for the college and I was pleased that she seemed so inspired by them. It really makes a difference to invest in pens and housing and get something bespoke that suits your requirements exactly.

I have a delivery of 200 chickens arriving next week, which is our largest delivery yet and includes a couple of new varieties – rhode rocks and gold rangers. We actually sold out of hybrids last week and I know a lot of chicken retailers who were in a similar position. The demand for chickens has increased hugely over the past few months (800% over the past year) and Practical Poultry comments that there are 3 million households with back-garden chickens. (Talking of PP – we are on page 4 this month promoting our business and new projects we’re working on! )

Chicken keeping is a delightful hobby, but owners should not become lazy or complacent that it is ‘easy’ all the time. Occasionally there can be challenges (such as declining health and adverse weather conditions!) where owners need to be vigilant and push themselves a little bit more to make sure their hens are happy and healthy at all times.

The rain is still pouring as I write this, but the dog needs his walk so I will adhere to his demands (as usual) although my new library books and the kettle look much more appealing.

The Pecking Order

Now Easter is over, I have time to re-order some more stock for the shop and give the chicken’s pens a good clean out. Their litter has been changed with fresh woodchip and they seem to be enjoying scratching around in it. Over the Easter holiday we had our first set of ‘guests’ stay with us; 2 pekins and 2 australorp bantams. All four of them very were cute and very chatty, they even managed to lay an egg for me between them everyday. They have now returned to their owners and instead ‘Neville’ the Legbar cokerel joined us for a couple of days.

Neville was actually using Warwickshire Chicken Coop as a ‘stop gap’ before going onto a new home on a big farm, with lots of lovely hens to play with. Neville was bred from a friend of mine who had got some fertile eggs from the excellent breeder and bloodlines of Cotswold Legbars. He really was a lovely little character and despite only staying with me for a short time, he was very friendly and I had become quite attached to him. I gave his new owner strict instructions that he was to be called Neville and his favourite food is broccolli. (As I was told on strict instructions from his former owner!) I am now considering getting some ‘male stock’ for my own flock. It is remarkable how many calls I get every week from people searching for cockerels. It seems nowadays people aren’t as put off by their ‘doodle-do-ing’ and in fact find it a ‘lovely noise’

I have had a number of customers ask me about introducing new birds into an existing flock, so I thought instead of giving my chicken first aids tips I promised in the last blog, this may be a more useful subject to many.

Introducing new hens is never easy, which is why I would recommend buying in maximum capacity quantities to start with. If you do need to introduce new hens, you should do it in groups. For example four new hens into an existing flock of five or six. I would never recommend introducing just one bird in to an existing flock. It is also a good idea to stick to either hybrids or pure breeds due to their different personalities. Also, try and mix birds of a similar size and nature, for example keep bantams with bantams. Having said this, my own personal flock is complete mixture and they get on without any problems, but they do have plenty of space and things to keep them entertained, to avoid them getting bored and picking on one another.

TOP TIPS FOR INTEGRATING

1. If you have the space, let the old flock and the new flock see (but not be able to touch) one another for at least 2 weeks. Some people put dividing chicken wire into their runs to make two separate pens. If you have two coops this is ideal, but if not a dog crate or cat crate for roosting and sleeping will be sufficient for the new flock in the short term
2. When you do integrate the new flock – do it as they are going to bed. They will be sleepy and hopefully not have the energy to squabble too much.
3. Keep a close eye on the mixed flock for a few days. Squabbling will inevitably occur, this is normal and you should only worry if one bird in particular is being bullied en mass for a prolonged period, or if blood is drawn.
4. If blood is drawn remove the injured bird immediately and treat her accordingly.
5. One bird may appear overly dominant and bully the others, if this is the case, isolate the bully for a short while and let the rest of the flock develop a bond. Then try reintroducing the bully bird, by being absent her position in the pecking order should reduce and the bullying cease.

Introducing hens is fairly straightforward if you do things right from the offset, but it can be distressing for the birds and owners if the process doesn’t work initially. As a tip, you can usually tell who the dominant birds are in the flock as they will roost at night on the highest perches, with the others underneath.  These may be the ones to keep any eye on most when introducing newcomers.

Finally, a question to you all… Do you name your chickens and if so, is there a theme? Some names/themes my customers have told me about are: goddesses (Aphrodite, Venus etc), colours (blackie, brownie etc – not the most original…) celebrities (Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears), TV Characters (Dorien, Sharon, Tracey – Birds of a Feather), Pre 1940′s names (Pearl, Edna) and in poor taste; curries…(Bhuna, Tikka, Korma etc)

 

 

Egg-citing Times at Warwickshire Chicken Coop

Well, Easter is nearly upon us and we’ve had quite an exciting week at Warwickshire Chicken Coop, in preparation for the holiday. I thought it would be nice to decorate the shop, so there is a large branch tied to one of the ornings with Easter eggs dangling from it. I have two planters outside the shop which I have popped some more branches in and hung eggs from the branches. Dave down the road commented they looked like aliens had landed and left little presents on the branches, but Dave lives on a bus and his outlook on life is a little different to most, so for the most part, I ignored the alien comment.

Also to celebrate Easter we are giving away Easter eggs to anyone who spends over £100 with us during Easter Weekend. I have also replaced the basket of mints on the shop counter with a basket of mini eggs. I have helped myself to about 30 so far today!

I have also been very excited to pick up lots of gorgeous Orpington bantams from a lovely breeder in Northampton. I have had so many customers asking me for these gorgeous garden birds that I thought I had better find some! Usually pure breeds aren’t hatched until April, so they won’t be at point of lay (and ready to be sold) until July, so I was very lucky to find such an excellent breeder who hatches throughout the year. The birds are simply gorgeous. I have colours of buff, blue, splash, mottled and gold laced. One customer has already bought a gold laced bird and I told her I was very jealous she was taking such a beautiful bird home to live with her permanently.

Gold laced and buff Orpington bantam

The breeder in Northampton shows some of his birds and has had recent success at the National Poultry show. Some of his flock have come from the excellent Rob Boyd bloodline up in Yorkshire, so I am assured of the quality of these birds. Unfortunately some do not meet the grade to be champion show birds, but to the untrained eye, they look GORGEOUS and will make great additions to your garden.

Other exciting news is I am expecting my delivery of Legbar chickens tomorrow. These are the blue egg laying birds and people queue round the block for them. As blue egg layers, the birds seem to know of their ‘superiority’ compared to cream and brown egg laying birds and act like footballers wives just to prove a point. I am also ‘tup north today to meet another breeder of silkie and pekin hens who I am hoping will hatch regular orders for me.

Finally our boarding accommodation for hens staying with us whilst their people go on holiday is now built. We have Omlet housing, or two traditional wooden houses to choose from depending on the size of the group. Our first guests are arriving tomorrow; two pekins and two bantam australorps. I can’t wait to meet them. It almost makes the fact we are not going away for Easter this year bearable.

Look out for our next blog to see how the visitors got on and my top ten things to include in a chicken first aid kit. Happy Easter everyone!

Chicken Run…

Who won the race; the hare or the tortoise? The tortoise – why? because he was slow and steady and didn’t show off. Who won the race today, Jenna or the chicken? The chicken; because she’s a hell of a lot quicker, I am too slow and steady and the chicken likes to show off by demonstrating how nippy and agile she is!! There’s something definitely wrong there?!

I’ll be honest, chicken catching has never been my forte, it’s one of those things that I’ll allow men to say ‘We’re better than women at that’ because they are. (Unlike driving…) In my line of work, I really should be better at it. I’m definitely improving and probably better than the majority of back garden chicken keepers, but I’m still not quick enough to avoid being given the run around by my particularly flighty Coral chickens, and my Columbian Blacktails (who have been learning the ‘bob and weave’ ploy from the corals next door)

I thought I’d invest in a prop to assist me – a net! Perfect I thought. Nope; I’m useless with the net too. I’ll stick to the traditional chase then round the pen and grab ‘em method. (Although the ‘creep up on them when they’re having a dustbath and not paying any attention method’ works REALLY well too) An elderly customer asked me if he could try catching one the other day. ‘Sure’ I replied… (sadist) I was pleased to say he didn’t manage it and made me look like a real pro, by being able to catch said chicken easily. A fluke I am sure, since today I provided great entertainment to a couple and their young children; trying to catch one of my coral chickens. During this adventure, two corals escaped out ‘into the wild’ (eg out of their pen) and flew onto the top of the run just to show off (see photo below; the white blob is the chicken!) and make me feel even more useless at catching them than normal.

Escapee chicken

Children do indeed seem to find me trying to catch chickens a GREAT source of entertainment. They shriek in delight from the sidelines as I try and corner a chicken only for it to escape between my legs. The parents look on in amusement, too polite to LOL, although I am sure they will be LOL-ing in their car on the way home!

My copper black and my speckeldy chickens are easy to catch (they live 100 yards away from the Coral gang leaders, so haven’t gleened any tricks from them) but the others still give me the run around, which after an hour of zumba on a Sunday morning, on the day the clocks go forward is enough to tire any 27 year old out. So, my top tip for catching chickens; get my boyfriend to do it.

A Perfect Balancing Act

Today I took delivery of my next ‘batch’ of hybrids. 50 birds in total, including Sussex, Pied Ranger, Bluebelles and Speckeldys. The girls were in great condition and seemed quite tame and friendly, which is unusual for young birds, as many take a few months to get used to human company.

I noticed with the Speckeldy’s though, that they were little ‘wannabe’ acrobats! At least five of them decided to stand on one leg at one point; all in a row as well. I presumed they were having a ‘chicken stand off’ and left them to it! In  reality birds stand on one leg to preserve heat and energy. My newbies had endured quite a stressful day in the grand scheme of their chicken lives (moving to a new home and being looked after by a new person!) so this energy saving technique was clearly being employed to help them reduce their stress levels.

This technique evidently worked, as by 7pm bedtime, all the ‘oldies’ were in bed, but the newbies were stil enjoying themselves in their new pen. As such, it took me and Jonathan (my partner in crime) a good hour rounding them all up, catching them, and putting them to bed. (For them to get out of bed again with cries of ‘I want a drink of water’ ‘Can you read me a story’ ‘I want the light on’ etc etc) Seriously, for them to shoot out of the pop hole before we had the chance to close it and hare round the pen like they were posessed!  Thankfully, it only takes new girls a couple of days to work out where their bedroom is, so we can all get an early night (good job with the clocks going forward this weekend!)

So all in all, fun times were being had by all at Warwickshire Chicken Coop today! The girls are lovely, the sun was shining and we all enjoyed listening to the baywatch theme tune (the chicken’s guilty pleasure) on repeat until a bemused looking customer arrived!!