Peach Blossoms

Peach Blossoms

The girls all had their feathers re-trimmed on one wing as some of their adult flight feathers were coming back in quickly and Elsie could get herself quite airborne again! It was much easier this time around now that most of the girls have been squatting. They are all getting used to being picked up.

You don’t have to look far to see the signs that Spring is almost here. The new peach tree we planted recently is shooting and flowering.

A Magpie walked into the chicken pen today after we let them out for a run. They are a lot smarter than pigeons! I gently chased it out and it headed straight out the door instead of trying to fly up and getting stuck in the wire of their fully enclosed pen. I don’t want the Magpies to discover that eggs are laid in the chicken coop, even though there were none there when it was in there today.

We have had 3 eggs so far today... I wonder when we’ll start getting a fourth now that we are more consistently getting two or three per day.

No Rooster Necessary

Egg Selection

Today we have celebrated our 20th egg. Most of them are brown, however we have also received three very, very speckled eggs. Their rate of lay is increasing with us receiving three eggs today. Soon I shall have to start baking with egg-heavy recipes or find some people who would like fresh eggs for a small cost which can help pay for the hen food.

Interestingly over the past couple of months I have been asked on three seperate occassions how it is possible to get eggs without a rooster. Much like with human and other animal biology, hens will still produce an egg even if there is no means to fertilise it. They taste exactly the same, the only difference is that they are not viable to be incubated for baby chicks.

And so for anyone who is interested in chickens for the production of eggs rather than breeding, consider leaving a rooster off your shopping list. If you're in an urban jungle like us, your neighbours will thank you for it!

Teaching Hens to Come

Free range hens

One thing that can be scary is allowing your chickens out into the big wide world while you wonder if they’ll ever go back to their secure pen ever again. I spent six weeks in preparation for their first big outing.

After bringing my girls home the first thing I did was start training them to come when called. There are no real shortcuts around the fact that you need to put in substantial time to achieve this. I work 9-5 Monday to Friday, and as it is currently Winter this means that for 5 days out of 7 I would have only 10-15 minutes to spare in the mornings as they would be asleep by the time I would get home. Even so, I would spent that time hand feeding them and seeing who would let me touch tails before spreading their days food out and heading off to work.

On weekends I had more time to spare and could spend an hour with them hanging out in the pen. The way to a hen’s heart really is through her stomach. I would try to always remember to take some food with me and allow them to get used to me being around. One exercise we would do is for me to wait for them to ignore me, and then with a handful of food, call them over. "Chook, chook, chook!" Some repetition will teach them that your voice means "come quick! I have food!"

On days that you plan to let them free range don’t feed them their normal meal so they are nice and hungry. Then when you are ready to put them away, get their attention and call them as you have been training. Mine followed me straight back into the pen!

Also remember that chickens can get quite airborne. Mine could fly as high as our fences as evidenced by them getting onto the roof of their coop, so we decided to clip their wings a week before we allowed them to free range just in case anyone got any escape ideas.

Nesting Instincts

Hazel in a nest box

Quite often when a hen lays an egg she sings an egg song, which declares her achievement to the world, or perhaps warns everyone to stay away from it!

As I watched Hazel lay her egg (and caught it on camera) I thought I would be able to share her egg song with everyone, however she was a very quiet hen. Perhaps she knew she had broken it on the bare boards after pushing aside all the straw. She stood over it for a little while, then sat back down and started straightening her nest. That was adorable as well, so I took a video of it.

Hazel Lays an Egg

Hazel explores the Laundry

Chickens are surely one of the most amusing creatures. This afternoon I had a visit at the back door from Hazel (with the red tag). She was clucking and standing on the back step and when I opened the door to say hello she came straight inside! After surveying the kitchen and the laundry she got a fixation with the shoe rack. Her behaviour made me think she wanted to lay an egg, but then she decided to head back outside with the other girls.

Not long after I walked outside, I had 6 hens following me around the garden, so I got them some grain and took them back to their pen. Clucky Hazel didn't want to come inside, and then spent some time walking up and down the fence wanting to come back out. Her behaviour made me think she may have laid an egg somewhere in the yard and wanted to go back to that "nest", but we haven't been able to find one.

Soon she started heading in and out of the coop and I peeked inside to see her hopping in and out of each nest box. She was scraping the straw aside down to the bare wood, so I got her some more and straightened out the boxes thinking she didn't have enough to make a nice nest. That got kicked out and pushed aside as well!

Hazel chooses a nesting box

I watched as she finally settled into a nest box and the other girls filed in to offer support. Harriet actually took a snooze next to her on the floor during her egg laying ordeal. I had been taking a couple of photos and videos and I noticed her stand up, so I pressed record and was surprised when I heard an audible *clunk* and realised I'd captured her egg laying. Listen out for the clunk at about the 6 second mark. She pushed aside too much straw and broke her beautiful egg when she laid it.

Hear the Egg Break

So now we know that Hazel is definitely laying eggs. I don't think she is the only one. We had one egg this morning as well, so that makes two for today!

Readiness to Lay

Hazel does the Chicken Squat

How do you know when you're due for your first egg? Watch for a chicken squat!

We first noticed this behaviour in one of our girls about 2 or 3 weeks before we received our first egg, however it is very hard to photograph!

The hen will lift both wings slightly, squat down to the ground and may also lift her tail.

Squatting seems to be an indication of readiness to lay (that is that they are ready for a rooster's attention), as well as a sign of submission. This behaviour is less common if there is a rooster present or if it is a dominant hen.

You can see the photo larger on flickr, or have a look at this video.

Three out of our six hens are now squatting and we have had 4 eggs in 5 days. Usually the squat will happen when I bend down to pat them, however on some occassions just walking up to the coop has initiated a squat from one of them. They quite like a pat on the back and will shake themselved happily afterwards.

Another sign that your hen is nearing laying age is to keep an eye on their wattles and combs. Young chickens have quite small, pale combs which get larger and redder over time.

Installing a Wider Perch

New Perch

A few days ago I discussed how Elsie was shunning the perch in favour of the nesting box and it was suggested that my perch may be too narrow for them to comfortably sleep. Everyone seems to agree that while a chicken will perch in some peculiar places as high as possible, they prefer a wider perch to a small one as while they will grip, they relax during sleep and sometimes even fall off thin perches!

Yesterday I installed their new perch. It was recommended that I put in something around 4 inches wide, however the widest length I had in the shed was about 4.5cm so in that went. I installed it approximately 10cm higher and a few cm closer to the back wall so they have more room behind the nesting boxes.

To install it I drilled 4 holes, two in either side of the walls, and then I lined up the beam and secured it with wood screws. My beam was about 1mm too short after I cut it to size so I had to wedge it into place with a little scrap piece of wood as I didn’t have anyone to help me hold it. A cordless drill with a screw driver attachment made this job super easy. I also had chicken helpers to inspect that the job was carried out properly.

Last night they got to test it, and while Elsie went straight for the nesting boxes she didn’t make as much of a fuss when I kicked her out and once she jumped onto the perch she stayed there. I think there was less wobbling while they settled themselves for the night.

This morning we received another egg! It was sitting right in the middle of a nest and is about the same size as yesterdays.