Chickens

This evening there was a mink on the lawn in broad daylight. The initial excitement of this sighting was soon overtaken by concern for the chickens who were only a few feet away.

I followed it in to the bushes where it sat quite boldly apparently not too bothered by my presence - at one point it even lay down and was cleaning itself! Unfortunately my camera was low on battery and I didn't manage to get a decent shot of it even though I had a clear view. After a while I chased it along the bottom of the wall and back again before it disappeared I think through a hole. It is probably an American Mink (Mustela vison) rather than the European Mink (Mustela lutreola). The latter has a white spot on the upper lip/nose but I don't know of any other differentiating features. This one had a white patch over the throat but was otherwise a wonderfully soft chocolate brown fur with a hint of reddish / chestnut. Not difficult to see why they have been farmed for their fur...

We came back today from a weekend away to find an egg in the nest box. I'd spotted Millie sitting in the box for a while before we left but wasn't expecting anything for several weeks as it's early for the local Barbu d'Uccles to lay, especially with all this cold weather. It's incredible she should instinctively know where to lay her very first egg!

I popped in to the Reading & District Bantam show this weekend which was held in the Northcroft Leisure Centre in Newbury. This was my first chicken show and I wasn't sure what to expect. The birds were in what I presume is normally the badminton / indoor football hall. On opening the door in to the hall I was met with an overwhelming and deafening array of chicken noises. There were so many different shapes and sizes of bantam it was hard to believe. I only had my phone on me so snapped some slightly blurred images on it.

A little while after we got the chickens, the evenings were starting to draw in and we realised we'd soon be back from work in the dark. We were keen to allow the chickens a free range in the garden as they don't like being 'in the cage' all day. A technological solution was required...

Surely there would be plans for a project like this on make? Unfortunately not. If time had allowed it would have been great to build a system from scratch but the evenings were drawing in too fast. We therefore opted for a commerical model from the rather limited range available. Phase I of the ultimate chicken house is a simple description of the installation of the light sensitive automatic door and a review of its operation.

One thing I have noticed since moving out of London is how little the weather previously affected us in the inner city. November seems early to have such a harsh frost and the ground has been frozen for the best part of a week. I haven't really seen a frost like this for many years. I went out early one morning to take photos of all the ice cystals covering the plants. The chickens weren't as taken by the beauty of everything - one foot on the frozen ground and they hopped up on my back for warmth. The other thing you really notice is the stars. In London a clear night meant you could see the stars. Out in the country a clear night means you see thousands of stars of different size, colour and intensity and some of them really do twinkle!

It's an often repeated piece of trivia that the longest ever recorded chicken flight is thirteen seconds - apparently the furthest flight was 301.5 feet. I can't find what type of chickens these were but I think Millie & Katie are warming up to take the record. They love to fly up on to me especially if I have some grain. I have also found them up trees, on the roof of the cottage and on the back wall. On one occaision Millie took off from the back wall at a steep angle until she was way above my head - I would guess between twenty and thirty feet. She then splayed out her wings and not entirely gracefully dropped down by my feet. We have decided not to clip their wings as they seem to like flying and have so far stayed within the back garden. I guess they have a better chance of escaping predators with intact flight feathers.

We decided to get an automatic door opener for the chicken house as we realised it won't be long before we get back from work in the dark. It installed quite well and is so far functioning without a hitch. I shall write up the details on my projects page and I can see this developing in to an "ultimate chicken house" project!

Further evidence of Katie's adventurous (show off) tendancies. Whilst lining up for a shot of Millie foraging in the back border who should appear in the viewfinder but Katie wanting to show off her growing beard and muff feathers!!!

What has amazed me is how very different the characters of our chickens are. Katie has always been the baby and will at any opportunity bury her head under Millie's wing or undercarriage. Before they started to roost they slept on the floor and she would sometimes push Millie right up in the air in her attempts to bury herself under Millie. The same occured to a certain extent on the roosting bar but would normally result in one of them falling off. Despite this, Katie is far more adventurous - always first out in the morning, always first in at night, always first to do anything new. Millie often seems to watch on perhaps with a protective eye. You can see in these pictures how Katie discovers the plum tomatoes and jumps up to help herself whilst Millie is thinking "I'm not sure we're allowed to do that!"

The chickens' new home has arrived. It took a while to put together but they seem pleased with it. They slept on the floor for the first few days but are now roosting on the perch.