All posts tagged moulting

Exploding hens and wobbly eggs

OK, before you start to worry, let me assure you that no hens were harmed in the production of this post.

One of the joys of being a gardener is watching the seasons change and savouring the different produce. However, keeping animals adds an extra dimension to this connection with nature. I know, for example, that there will be fewer eggs from the hens in the winter, which makes them all the more precious in the summer. But hens do other stuff than lay eggs and perhaps the most spectacular is the autumn moult. Now, not all hens moult and not all moult completely, and those that do moult don’t always do it in the autumn. However, every so often one of the hens embarks on a complete change of feathers…

and so, Tiffany has gone from being fully-feathered last week to well on her way to oven-ready today. There are feathers all over the garden and in the hen house… to look at it, you really would think one of them had exploded (or been got by a fox).

Anna had a much more gentle moult over the summer and you can see her beautiful blue-grey plumage in one of the pictures above. Anna has always been rather rubbish at laying eggs, but having got over her moult, she is doing her best now. The other day she produced the egg on the right in the picture below (the middle one is ‘normal’ sized and the one on the left is from Aliss our smallest hen):

3 eggs

well, that’s not very impressive, Anna

Yesterday, however, she did manage to lay a normal sized egg:

IMGP4153

well, that’s a better size

However, all that effort that went into making a white and a yolk left no energy for a shell:

We’re hoping that the next one is full-size and fully formed!

23 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on September 22, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on September 22, 2017

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2017/09/22/exploding-hens-and-wobbly-eggs/

Three Things Thursday: 1 September 2016

As usual I’m joining with Emily of Nerd in the Brain (and others) for Three Things Thursday’. As she says…

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

First, chickens – happy and behaving naturally. Specifically the fact that this:

IMGP0398

Feathers!

is because of this:

Moulty Bluebell

Moulty Bluebell

not because of a fox or other predator. This is quite an early moult, but it’s good because the weather is still pleasant, so she’s not shivering or drenched (yet). As you can see the two new girls are also doing well; they are both laying almost every day… so I’m grateful for their eggs too.

Second, crafty activities. I spent the whole of Sunday sewing, crocheting, paper-crafting and generally being creative. I’ll write a whole post dedicated to some of the sewing sometime in the future, so here is an example of some paper-craft:

birthday spiral

Mr Snail’s birthday card

Third, tomatoes. For many years I have found it impossible to grow tomatoes. Every year in our old greenhouse I got only a tiny crop before the plants succumbed to Botrytis mould. This year is the first full growing season for the limery, and I’m delighted to report it’s turned the tide and I can now produce my own tomatoes – hurrah!

So that’s it for this week. What are you feeling grateful for?

 

21 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on September 1, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on September 1, 2016

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2016/09/01/three-things-thursday-1-september-2016/

A feathered nest (box)

It’s that time of year when hens are transformed from from feathery egg-producing bundles to walking oven-ready chickens… or at least it is for Tiffany. Lorna, Anna and Esme moulted last month, but this month it is the turn of our best egg-layer… which means that cakes are currently off the menu.

It's hard to believe there are any left on the hen!

It’s hard to believe there are any feathers left on the hen!

Moults can vary in their extent, with some hens losing a few feathers and some going all-out to replace the lot. The latter is what Tiffany is doing at the moment – the garden looks like it has been the site of an almighty pillow-fight and the hen house looks like a fox has been in there. In fact it’s all because of a single moulting hen. The feathers fall out because new ones are growing underneath – a bit like when baby teeth are replaced by adult ones. But all this new feather growth requires lots of energy and protein. So resources are diverted from egg-production to feather-production… leaving hungry humans!

Bare-back chicken

Bare-back chicken

Hens can get quite under the weather during a moult, so it’s important that they get plenty of good food. Ours are currently enjoying rummaging about in the fruit cage (from which they are banned during the summer), eating any leftover berries and scrumming slugs and the like. In addition, they get the usual layers’ mash, organic corn and a generous serving of apple cores on a regular basis (yes, I’m still processing apples). I always worry that they will get cold during a moult, but they snuggle together at night and their house is dry, and they seem to cope ok,

Although we miss the eggs during a moult, we do benefit from all those feathers, which go into the compost and break down over a long time, thus acting as a slow-release fertilizer. I like this sort of connection to the seasons and natural cycles… something we miss out on if we don’t produce any of our own food.

Spreading feathers all around the garden

Spreading feathers all around the garden

26 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on November 1, 2015  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on November 1, 2015

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2015/11/01/a-feathered-nest-box/

Rays of sunshine

This week has been very grey. Despite temperatures around 17ºC, we’ve hardly seen the sun. That combined with the hour changing and thus it being dark so early in the evenings has made me rather gloomy. It’s great, therefore, that I have such lovely friends to bring some metaphorical sunshine into my life.

Beauty from New Zealand

Beauty from New Zealand

First, I received the first contribution to the ‘lap blanket of late-comers‘. All the way from New Zealand (my most distant square ever) from Mrs P, the Contented Crafter, came this lovely square. And not just a square, but some of her beautiful cards… which I think I’m going to put in a frame… possibly with a crochet border. If you like her cards (and really my photo does not do them justice), do check out her etsy shop.

An abundance of friendship!

An abundance of friendship!

Now that was something to make me smile straight away, but on the same morning I also received a parcel of knitted squares from a dear friend in Yorkshire. These are squares that she had intended to make into a blanket for herself, but she’s got distracted by quilting and decided to contribute them to the friendship blankets that we are making to support Denmark Farm, the conservation charity I am a trustee for. I may be naughty and divert one of these squares (and perhaps one of the ones below) to my lap blanket, even though this will mean that Nia has contributed to both that and the Masterpiece.

And another lot

And another lot

But that was not the end. Yesterday I went to my regular learning guild meeting and was presented with yet more squares for the Denmark Farm friendship blankets. Again, another friend who was planning to make use of these squares for herself, but decided that she had enough projects and that we could give them a better home. In fact Ann has made the most wonderful bedspread out of squares in some of those rich colours that you can see… I must get a photograph of it sometime, I’m sure you’d be impressed. The squares were not her only gift, though. She also presented me with something for the chickens. Originally grown for popping, this colourful corn just didn’t want to cooperate, so it has been consigned to being chicken feed. I tried it out on the girls this morning and they weren’t sure whilst it was in the tin, but soon tucked in once I’d scattered some on the ground:

Interesting colours
Chickens
Only Lorna testing it out
Everybody tucks in once it’s on the ground

So, even though the sun hardly showed its face this week, there were many bright moments. Many thanks to everyone who acted as a sunbeam!

PS You may notice that Esme is looking rather the worse for wear… on Monday about half her feathers fell out, but the reason is now clear… she had a whole batch of new ones just ready to burst forth! I have never understood why chickens moult in the autumn, but this year she’s certainly not getting chilled!

18 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on October 31, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on October 31, 2014

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2014/10/31/rays-of-sunshine/

Prickly Chickly

I posted last week about Esme’s sudden loss of feathers and over the week the reason it happened so quickly has become clear – the new ones were just below the surface ready to burst forth! She has been reluctant to be handled during her moult, but I managed to catch her yesterday afternoon and hold her whilst Mr Snail of happiness took a few photographs.

New neck feathers

New neck feathers

The new feathers are very prickly at the moment, resembling porcupine quills, but are coming through in great abundance. It’s interesting to see the colour contrast too – her old feathers are quite brown and faded, but the new ones are beautiful black and white. She is still losing some of her old ones, though not at the same rate as last week. It is possible that she will have a complete new set within the next few weeks.

Back and tail area

Back and tail area

One she’s finished growing her new feathers it will be interesting to see how long it takes for her to start laying again. In the past she has always laid over the winter, but as she ages (she’s nearly four years old now) we expect her laying to decline. The two youngsters, Aliss and Perdy*, are less than two years old and are still laying every day or two. Lorna, the same age as Esme, as only ever laid intermittently, but we keep her because she does other jobs in the garden and is our top slug-hunter!

New wings

New wings

One of the joys of keeping backyard hens is to see these natural cycles taking place. We do not provide our girls with extra light or heat during the winter, so their bodies follow the seasons. This means that we are bound to get fewer eggs in the winter, but we don’t mind that, as eating seasonally is an important aspect of understanding the food on our plates.

-oOo-

* In case you’re wondering, Esme, Perdy and Aliss are named after some of Terry Pratchett’s witches – we used to have a Gytha too.

15 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on November 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on November 10, 2013

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2013/11/10/prickly-chickly/

Oven-ready Esme?

A very fluffy nest!

A very fluffy nest!

I opened the laying box the other morning to be greeted by a veritable feather bed. I was hoping for an egg or two, but I found what appeared to be half a chicken… and the sight of a slightly balding bottom disappearing out of the pop hole. The colour was a give-away… these feathers clearly belong to a speckledy hen, of which we have two. A quick check revealed one very smart Perdy and one very tatty Esme… ruffling her feathers, apart from dislodging a few more, revealed quite an expanse of completely bald skin. In addition, her tail now consists of a random assemblage of feathers pointing in odd directions. She’s also much more anti-social than usual and quite reluctant to be photographed in her disheveled state. This is the best I could manage:

Oh dear, what a mess!

Oh dear, what a mess!

And since then, she’s only got worse. What a silly time to be losing all your feathers – over the past week we have had storms, gale force winds and lashing rain. It seems like the ideal time to have already grown a brand new coat of feathers, just like Lorna the Calder Ranger (yes, she’s the Lorna Ranger), who moulted some weeks ago in September and is now looking very dapper:

Lorna showing off her shiny new feathers

Lorna showing off her shiny new feathers and black-tipped tail

7 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on November 5, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on November 5, 2013

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2013/11/05/oven-ready-esme/

Hens: broody and balding

Left: small white caterpillar. Right: large white caterpillar

Left and centre: small white caterpillars. Right: large white caterpillar

I don’t seem to write about the chickens much these days, even though they are still an important part of our garden and supply us with valuable home-produced food. Over the summer  I have discovered that although they won’t eat caterpillars of the large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae), they are rather partial to those of the small white (Pieris rapae). Since the adults of these two butterfly species look so similar, you would expect the same from the caterpillars, but as larvae they are totally different. Small whites lay individual eggs that hatch into juicy green caterpillars, whilst large whites lay clusters of eggs that hatch into black and yellow hairy caterpillars that are gregarious. The chickens have the right idea – the hairy large white caterpillars accumulate poisonous oils in their bodies whilst the small whites do  not.

Lorna looking a bit the worse for wear

Lorna looking a bit the worse for wear

Anyway, at the moment two of our ladies are doing what chickens typically do:

First, Lorna is moulting – there are feathers strewn around the garden, and she is looking rather scruffy. I’m always surprised that chickens tend to moult in the autumn – you would think they would do it in the summer, when the bald patches don’t matter. But, no, they wait until the temperature drops and then lose their feathers. Usually chickens only do a partial moult, but Lorna seems to be going the whole hog, meaning that she will grow new wing feathers and we will have to keep an eye on her ability to fly once more.

Aliss: she always gets very red when she is broody

Aliss: she always gets very flushed when she’s broody

And then there is Aliss, who is broody for the fourth time this year. She is our best layer when she’s laying, but the broodiness tends to disrupt laying for a couple of weeks. Currently I am being kind to her and simply putting her in the fruit cage every day so she doesn’t upset the others and she can’t sneak into the laying boxes, but if she doesn’t improve tomorrow, she will be in the dog crate so that she can’t make a nest and get overheated. I don’t resort to plunging them in cool water as some people do to bring their temperature down, but I’m beginning to be tempted! Actually, I really like the fact that they are able exhibit this sort of natural behaviour, it makes me feel that they are real animals rather than just egg-laying machines. I just wish they would remember to eat when they are broody!

5 Comments
by The Snail of Happiness on September 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Snail of Happiness on September 10, 2013

https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2013/09/10/hens-broody-and-balding/

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