The Spice Rack

What to choose? White Stars, Amber Stars, Sussex, Blue, Speckledy - or Black?

From front to back - here are Pepper, Nutmeg and Ginger.

We decided to take another trip into North Lincolnshire to visit Shaun King at http://www.outgatepoultry.com/ who provided us with our lovely Rangers. We were spoilt for choice but fell for the Outgate Blacks and brought 3 of them back home today. They are standing in the run looking stunned, without a gorm between them! The Rock Chicks are on Chicken Field at the moment but when they are ready to go back, we have thick netting in place to divide the run for the first several days.

This is the pen of Blacks that decided us. We chose suitable 'black' names on the way home, Jet, Ebony etc, but when we took them from their travelling boxes and they stood blinking in the weak East Yorkshire sun, they looked very varied and not entirely black so that the names didn't really suit. The one with the palest breast feathers begged to be called Ginger, the darkest became (Black) Pepper and the in betweeny became Nutmeg - so we ended up with Spice Girls rather than mysteriously Shakespearean Dark Ladies.

I think we have an interesting few days ahead (as in 'May you live in interesting times'!)

Here comes the sun!

Sunshine today so the ladies decided to dig holes and make 'nests'. They dust bath in these, so in this weather there's a fair amount of mucky, damp soil hurled around the place.

The aim seems to be to get as much in between the feathers as possible so they do look fairly dirty when they've done. It all seems to shake off though and is evidently a very pleasurable experience. Eyes closed and all!

More 'nest' making. This heap of stuff was pulled out of a nest box that has been used by coal tits for several years. It's being moved because it's on a pole supporting next door's power line, which is being led underground now. There's blue baler twine in here along with all the dried grass.

In the next few weeks we are hoping to add to our little flock. Don't know what, we'll see what's available.

Ruby

Poor Ruby, after being obviously off colour for a while, went downhill on Wednesday and went to see the vet. Sadly, he found a lump on her liver - either a tumour or an abcess, he thought - which was probably causing internal bleeding. Poor girl. Sad to take a chicken with you and not bring her home.

Chilly chickens

Why, when I've just given them a lovely bowl of fresh water, another of hot mash and filled up their feeding pot, do they eat snow?

Because their brains don't take up much room maybe?

You know the way things shrink in the cold? (Yes you do!) This was the offering of our Garnet who usually lays a huge long torpedo shaped dark egg. This minute offering had nothing in but a membrane with a tiny smear of yolk.

They are still laying sporadically. It's their second winter as layers and we usually get 2 a day, sometimes 3 though we have one day without an egg at all. Maybe we should think of adding a couple of PoLs to the flock next spring?

Winter digging

Who kicked the soil off the vegetable bed and onto the path?

'Ahem. A naughty rooster did it and ran away!'

Ohh, Topaz loves gravel! It must be full of little crawly things to eat because she can't see a gravel path without wanting to scratch it all up. I thought my greenhouse windows had had it - the greenhouse is surrounded on 2 sides by gravel which flew in the air and cracked ominously as the chickens hurled it against the glass.

After the chickens and I had dug over the empty bed (and they had stuffed their crops with wiggly things) I dug out one of my compost bins and this lovely crumbly stuff is the result of a mixture of hemp bedding, chicken poo and vegetable peelings. Wonderful stuff! Thank you, ladies!

Ranging on the meadow

Ruby and Amber take a walk around the wildflower meadow which has been shorn a couple of times. They have a tendency to follow trousers around because you can often cadge something to eat!

Himself was relaxing with the remains of a cuppa when Ruby decided to investigate.

Chickens apparently like tea!

Their 'job' for the day was to scratch up the thatch of moss that has formed in amongst the grasses and wild flowers. Amber (paler in colour) and Topaz however, thought there were better pickings in the borders. They might be right. Amber came up with a huge slug and was duly chased around the grass with it till she managed to get it down her neck. It took her longer to wipe her beak clean from the slug 'glue' than it did to demolish the morsel. You can just see her little bald bum - she's moulting at the moment.

Digging!

This morning I decided to clear the rather weedy area where the pea wigwams had been. The chickens love garden clearance!

Amber wandered onto the border by the veg plot where there's a fair bit of couch grass to be removed.

A few minutes later, Ruby (with the curly tail) and Topaz helped to finish the job!) Himself would like to make a raised bed here and try growing a melon next year. It's a sheltered spot by the fence and as long as the chickens don't get in there while it's growing, it just might work.

Topaz had a good system. As I was digging she 'followed the plough' and got rather more worms than the others. Champion worm-bane is Ruby though, who manages, by tossing them till they are right way round, to swallow huge ones that the others won't tackle.

Amber seems to be coming out of her longest broody period to date - nearly a fortnight. Unfortunately we went away in the middle of this time so my regime of shutting the house up in the day had to be foregone - we only had one visit a day to feed, clean out and change the water. Since our return on Thursday she's gradually begun to take more interest in food and become less aggressive to the sisterhood. The appearance of the fourth egg will announce that she's totally back to normal.