Verity
This is the account of our adventure keeping hens in our urban back garden.
We currently have seven hens – one ex-batt (the last of four who came to us Sept 09); two Light Sussex (Dec 09 POL); one Rhode Rock (Jan 10 POL); and three Welsummer (May 10 @ 9 weeks old) …
(updated 17.8.11)
Posted by LB on January 24, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/welcome-to-the-hen-house/
I really must get out in the garden with my camera …
Last week, the tree surgeon came. We were out for the day, so we can’t be sure, but it must have been a traumatic day for my girls. There were two chainsaws going at times, I don’t suppose the neighbours enjoyed it much, either. We’ve had the Yucca removed altogether (although we have stumps in the ground that may regrow), the cherry has been topped almost to the trunk, and the apple tree pruned, but left generally untidy, so you won’t notice unless you see the stubs of the removed branches. All in all, it’s made a considerable difference to the light levels in our north facing garden.
We thought that perhaps the disruption would mean the girls may not lay for a day or two … instead, for the next few days we had three eggs a day! Hurrah! I assume the extra light made them think it was spring and time to start laying again?
So I had a baking day, just in time for the church coffee morning. We barely survive on one egg a day. On two eggs a day, I don’t have to think about whether I have enough. But on three eggs a day, I have to find ways to use them up!
After baking, my egg rack was empty.
And it still is … yesterday we didn’t have a single egg 
Posted by LB on January 19, 2012
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/light/
I am mindful that I’ve not posted for some time, but truly, there is nothing to report!
We are still getting just 1 or 2 eggs a day, from three hens. The Welsummers and Verity show no obvious signs of coming into lay again – it is rather early in the year. Everyone has a full complement of feathers.
I have made one change … we were unconvinced that the rather more expensive feed we were using was making any difference, so we’ve reverted to Farmgate Layers, with which we were happy before switching.
Apart from that …
I’ll keep in touch!
Posted by LB on January 11, 2012
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/nothing-to-report/
The girls gather to greet the new arrival!
Oscar is now using the cat flap …
Posted by LB on December 20, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/the-new-arrival/
Moulting season seems to be going on for ever. Three hens have lovely red combs, and we’re getting two or three eggs a day – so I suppose a paler comb means a hen isn’t currently laying. Nice of them to let us know which is which!
Verity is still moulting – but now looks a snowy white. Charity is a muddy yellow colour by comparison, and shows no sign of losing any more feathers. She’s a layer.
Delia is our faithful, one egg a day, girl. As a hybrid, she will lay throughout the winter, but her laying life will be much shorter than the others. For the sake of the eggs, I’m glad we have her! Her bright red comb looks good against her glossy black feathers, even if she is a bit of a skinny thing.
Bridget’s comb is like a beacon – she doesn’t lay every day, and her shells are paper thin (so I wish she’d stop), but she’s still with us, and at 3 1/2 years old, doing well for an ex-batt.
The Welsummers are uniformly pale of comb … they may not lay until Spring.
By then, our new addition will be out and about … Oscar the kitten is currently confined to the house. He’s still only 9 weeks old, so we won’t risk him getting out and getting lost, even if a break from all his kitten energies would be a relief! It will be nothing less than entertaining to watch his first encounter with my girls …
Posted by LB on November 21, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/eternally-moulting/
Well, we had three eggs today – one of which is certainly Delia’s, another probably Charity’s, and the third is pale, wrinkled and speckled – perhaps someone coming back into lay after a moulting break? It’s not the right colouration for Bridget.
Realising that DH would never get round to the woodchip clearance, I made a start one day last week. I raked off the surface of the run down to a rather more compact layer, then broke up a bit more of that layer until I was through the older layers of decayed woodchip. That was the easy bit. I’d fenced the girls into a section of the Hen Garden, so I had easy access to the main garden, but where to put it all? Eventually, I rebuilt a compost bin we’d dismantled earlier in the year, which involved clearing any number of windfall apples of which we have such an abundance this year, in order to put it in place. It all took rather a long time and it was a ridiculously warm day for November. I found it all rather hard going.
Fortunately, at that point, DH’s caring instinct overcame his work drive and he came out to help. Once we were both at it, me raking and loading the trugs, him carrying and dumping the manure rich mulch it has become (when it isn’t mud, that is) we got along fairly quickly, and although we had to complete it next day, we had a system in place which made it still faster to finish the job.
But the compost bin is full – and the back bank piled high in places. Nevertheless, that was only half the job. The woodchip in the Hen Garden is much drier, being under the trees, so has made a fine, friable, manure rich compost. So today’s job has been to rake up and clear as much of the loose compost/woodchip as possible. I suppose it could have stayed in place, simply adding a new layer on top, but the level of the ground on that side of the garden is already considerably higher than it once was! And it seemed a shame to waste it …
It was a much easier job raking up the dry compost, and I’ve used it to mulch round the shady border, the winter garden (rather a grand name for a patch of ground that doesn’t get any sun at any time of year and is rather boggy, but grows wonderful cranesbill and foxgloves!) and finally, just a moment ago, the lilac border which will be full of daffodils in a few months time.
We’ll still have to give it all another going over before laying the new woodchip – the hens have dug a little further down, and I put some of the dry woodchip in the run so they weren’t on bare soil – the eggs are muddy enough as it is at this time of year. But I won’t be here when it arrives on Wednesday … I do hope DH has made some space in his diary to get started before I get home on Thursday – we’ve been so fortunate that until now it’s been dry …
Posted by LB on November 7, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/the-beginning-and-the-end/
… is still with us, and appears to be laying again … Verity is scruffy and, finally, Charity has no tail … so all’s well. I’m being very careful about how many eggs I use, we’re still getting only 1-2 a day, but with Bridget back ‘on line’ that may increase slightly. I made ‘eggy bready apple pudding‘ today but used three whole eggs rather than two and two yolks to husband my supplies – but I must do something to use up the abundance of apples we’ve had this year!
Posted by LB on November 6, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/bridget/
We came home Saturday in the dark, so we didn’t see the girls until Sunday, and it’s taken a while to work out who’s done what …
Verity is looking very scruffy, but her quills are showing white in patches. Her comb is a little pale – more pink than red just now. I take it that’s just because she’s not laying. Sugar is almost fully feathered now. Delia has lost her bald patch … so I suppose she must have been moulting quietly to herself, because there’s been no sign of black feathers around. Bridget is also moulting – but seems very well. I haven’t yet been able to observe the pecking order, but I’ll keep an eye out to see where she stands. Honey – also with a paler comb – seems unaffected, while Treacle simply has no tail! Charity shows no sign at all of moulting, and is certainly still laying … and let’s us know exactly what she’s done with her raucous and repetitive, ‘I’ve laid an egg’ bok at the top of her voice. We’ve had only one or two eggs a day, so someone else must also be laying, but I can’t say who at this stage.
While we had lovely weather in Shropshire, here there has been almost endless rain it seems, and the run is sodden. So I’ve ordered woodchip, and DH’s task (for which he has no option) is to clear the existing rotting woodchip/sodden mulch from the run and Hen garden before next Wednesday (today is Monday, so he has nine days to fit it in somewhere). In the meanwhile, we’ll spend as little time out there as possible – it’s too sticky to stay long. So further observations must wait for the brave new world of replaced woodchip …
Posted by LB on October 31, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/moulting-update/
Bridget is still with us and seemingly rather better. But she’s not laying, and maybe more importantly, she’s no longer top hen. No-one is pushing her around, but she’s content to let others fight for the treats (she’s wise enough to know that she will eventually pick up a titbit or two as they scatter them around in their haste), and she’s no longer under my feet when I go into the run from time to time. She’s eating and drinking like a non-laying hen (ie she’s not starving all the time!) but it’s still a case of wait and see. The two Lovely Ladies have the care of the girls next week, and I’ve reassured them that whatever happens we’ll be fine about it, as long as they are happy to keep a close eye for any sign of ill-health or other difficulty.
Sugar is thin … well, featherless, really. Her quills are visible but she has not yet refeathered. She’s still clearly bottom hen, and I’ve no illusions that will change when her feathers come through – and I suspect, nor has she! Between the seven of them, we’re getting only 1 or 2 eggs a day now, and none at all from time to time. So apart from the moult, I suspect the Welsummers have stopped laying for the winter – and after a warm, sunny autumn, it is now very cold, though thankfully mostly dry.
I’m fairly sure I’ve not seen an egg from Delia in a while, either – only Light Sussex eggs for some weeks now. But Delia is well and happy and spends time with Bridget whenever she can. Bridget has always made her feel welcome, even though their relative positions in the pecking order have been clear for all to see.
There’s been no real sign of the Light Sussex moulting – until yesterday. Verity was on the ladder, waiting for some attention from the kitchen, when she developed an itch and shook herself … and ever since, she’s been surrounded by a cloud of white feathers whenever she moves! Hopefully, she’ll not take long to get her quills – it’s another fine, clear, cold day today.
We’re not yet in a position to change their woodchip, but it needs doing soon. I’ll order a load after half term … and make sure DH sets aside the time to help me move it, come rain or shine. Frustratingly, in Jan/Feb we’ll have some from our own trees, as the apple tree is in desperate need of desperate measures, and may actually be felled rather than pruned. Still, that will create space for some new, smaller fruit trees – and a large pile of woodchip for future use. Shame the timing isn’t better.
But I suppose, by the time we’re ready to rake out the old woodchip, we’ll be able to clear up the feathers at the same time for one last time this year. And in the meanwhile, I’ll stuff as much apple in the freezer as I can – this may be our last fruit crop for some time …
Posted by LB on October 20, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/sudden-moult/
I cut back the lavender today, and as last year, have given the straw to the hens. It’s not that they like it particularly, but when they scratch around, it does raise a lovely scent! We desperately need to replace the woodchip, but I need to know that DH will have the time to help me, so I suspect it will have to be after half term now. If we’d known the weather would last this long (it’s hot working out there today!) we might have done it sooner, as a priority. But he who hesitates is lost, so when it does finally come, we’ll just have to get on with it, rain or shine.
We put Bridget in isolation this morning, while we were out. She didn’t seem to want to be with the others in the run. Once home, we let them out together, and she’s happy dustbathing and walking very slowly around the place. Eating a little and drinking too. So although we discussed the alternative, we’re happy at the moment to let nature go at her own pace.
Posted by LB on October 14, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/lavender-straw-2/
Bridget is now the only ex-batt hen of the four that came to us on 31st August 2009. So in ex-batt terms, she is quite an elderly lady. Her only problem until now has been that of laying soft shelled eggs. It doesn’t matter what we give her to strengthen them, they remain paper-thin and their whites are thin and stringy. But it’s been some days now since Bridget has laid at all … and I’m rather worried about her.
I am constantly alert for the possibility that she may break a thinned shelled egg internally. A few days ago I noticed she had a mucky rear end – poo, not egg, however. I gave her a quick wash and left well alone to observe. Underneath, she feels rather full of fluid rather than egg to me, but not hot, so no infection. She’s still eating some, but is slower to move around. I’m reluctant to interfere, but I suspect we may be entering her last days with us. If I can, I will leave her to her natural end, and only if I think she is in any pain will we hasten it along.
She’s been such a faithful hen 
Posted by LB on October 11, 2011
http://henkeeper.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/keeping-an-eye-on-bridget/
