Fowl Not Foul - August 2000

By 1st August, Professor Darwin, Roadkill and Ashley had been confined to the Poultry Ark for three days. Roadkill and Darwin's broody behaviour gradually decreased, until on 1st and 2nd August they were no longer broody. I let them out of the Ark on the following day, to see how they would re-integrate with the rest of the flock.. I left the destructive Ashley in the Ark, so that she could not escape and destroy next-door's garden again!

Darwin scampered out into the open, and wandered around looking for interesting bugs to eat, minding her own business and ignoring thre other birds. Roadkill strutted around confidently, head held high, making agressive noises. Before long, 9-Volt noticed her. The two hens stared at each other with hackles raised and heads held high, strutting around each other and staring so much that their beaks and chests almost touched. Suddenly Roadkill made the first attack, and 9-Volt retaliated with feet and pecking beak.

The fight was serious, both birds seeming to be equally matched, frequently bringing the fight almost to a standstill by interlocking their beaks in a hold or sometimers even a neck-wrestle. Alkacell noticed the fight, and I was extremely surprised to see her eagerly join in to help 9-Volt out. Alkacell was hardly hindered at all by her healed broken leg, and fought valiantly. Roadkill continued to fight back against both her challengers, even though she knew that she was outnumbered - at one point 9-Volt managed to knock her over and stamp on her body. She simply wouldn't admit defeat, so I grabbed 9-Volt and Alkacell and took them away from Roadkill, to opposite ends of the garden.

Suddenly, 9-Volt began attempting to crow. I had only ever observed her do this before when the flock returned from a few days' vacation last spring, 9-Volt seeming to crow to assert her authority once again in her old garden. Today I saw her stretch her neck upward and forward, using proud body language of raised tail and sprightly carriage, extend her body so that she was standing almost on tiptoe, flap her wings and crow ! She didn't manage to get the full rendition of sounds that a proper rooster or adult male chicken can make, but she was almost there ! She did this 'crowing' repeatedly, maybe to reassure the rest of the flock of her current position as top hen in the pecking order, and to discourage Roadkill from challenging her again.

Within 2 minutes, Roadkill and 9-Volt had found each other and resumed their fight again, just as viciously as before.

Obviously no calm flock integration was going to happen today, so I caught Roadkill and put her back into the Ark, confining her for her own safety.

Above: Flathead. On 10th August Flathead was found in next door's garden. I brought her indoors and took a quick picture of her before putting her back with the rest of the flock.

On Friday 11th August I let the birds out of the confines of the Ark again. Almost immediately, Roadkill and 9-Volt resumed their fight. This time Nicad joined in, and again the birds had to be separated. Again, 9-Volt and Roadkill fought and again they had to be separated to avoid any serious injuries. Roadkill decided to mind her own business for a moment, and didn't start any fights for a while. So it came as a great shock to her when Little Wing the black Jersey Giant ambushed her with a surprise attack ! Little Wing, a bird I'd never seen act agressively before, just raised her hackles and launched a peck at Roadkill as she was investigating a patch of grass. Roadkill fought back, and looked to have the upper hand as she used her lightness and agility to fight back at her heavy, solid challenger. But Little Wing used her weight to her advantage, repeatedly knocking Roadkill backwards with her large chest. The fight didn't last long, Roadkill quickly realised that the Jersey Giant was just too big for her, and gave in, indicating her submissiveness by running away. She also ran away from 9-Volt - obviously Roadkill knew that she would not become top hen in this flock!

On the following day, naughty Professor Darwin escaped, and had a whale of a time digging up almost all of the freshly planted flowers in next door's garden. I rectified her vandalism and fixed the hole I thought she'd escaped through.

Above: The hens feasting on a couple of mollusc and catterpillar damaged cabbages I hung up for them.

Below:- Recognisable hens in shot, from left to right; Ashley, Nicad, Duacell and Attilla in the background.

Sunday 13th August was the day of Painswick Show. Everything had been prepared during the previous day - Show hens had been washed, Show eggs chosen. Once the rest of the flock had been fed, Ernie, Little Wing, Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma, Flathead and Attilla the Hen were all put into paper-lined boxes, and everything was loaded into the car. On arrival at the Show, the hens were installed into their cages, eggs onto their plates, and we vacated the poultry tent ready for the judging to commence. When we returned after judging had finished, we found that:-

In the Rare Breed Female class, we had the following results- Little Wing the Jersey Giant - 2nd

In the Light Breed Female class - Flathead the Ancona - 2nd ; and Attilla the Hen the Welsummer - 3rd

In the Heavy Breed Female class - Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma - 3rd

And in the egg classes: - 3 Brown Eggs class - Eggs from Little Wing - 3rd ; and Eggs from Attilla the Hen - 2nd; 3 White Eggs class - no prizes; 1 Egg class - no prizes;

We returned from the Show very pleased with our results. The Show hens were delighted to be let out of their boxes, and strutted sedately around the garden for a while, before eagerly finding dustbaths to wallow in so that they could make their clean-washed feathers dirty again. Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma had laid an egg in her cage at the Show - so obviously being there hadn't upset her (she would have held the egg in otherwise).

Above: Professor Darwin, 1st August 2000 (picture by Ali Wells)

Profesor Darwin repeated her gardening crime on the evening of the Show. That was the last straw, and the hen had to be confined in the Ark again. On the morning of 14th August I was devastated to discover that the badger, who was still coming though the garden at night, had found his way into the Ark and had taken Darwin. The garden was littered with her feathers, and the other birds didn't want to walk past them when I let them out.

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Professor Darwin was always a very friendly hen.

She would follow me about in the garden, almost getting under my feet and tripping me over sometimes.

She would always come and investigate what I was doing, and would always crouch to be picked up whenever I walked past her.

She seemed to like being picked up, and would let me carry her about completely relaxed without struggling.

She was a lovely little bird.

Poor little Professor Darwin will not be forgotten.

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During the next week I removed the fruit netting protection from my crops, as they had now finished producing. The chickens and geese enjoyed searching for tasty morsels amongst the greenery they had been prevented from accessing for so long.

On Thursday 18th August I went to view some land, which hopefully we would be able to rent. It had not been used for a while, and was overgrown with self-seeded woodland. Just a quarter of a mile down the road, the one and a half acres would be perfect for keeping chickens on.

I decided to treat the flock with a large marrow which I had been given at the local Farmers' Market on Saturday 19th August. The fowl loved it - at first the geese were a little wary of the bizarre long pale object which they had been presented with, until Sian was brave enough to tuck into it first. Seeing what his mate was doing, Pseudo-Swan became curious and attacked the marrow at first, thinking it a threat to Sian, but he soon changed his mind as soon as he realised that it was food, and tucked into it with relish.

Below: Pseudo-Swan the Embden gander (left) and Sian the Brecon Buff goose enjoying the marrow.

Below: Little Wing the black Jersey Giant, and Ever-Ready the ex-battery hen eating the marrow, as Sian honks at them because she doesn't want to share.

Below, clockwise from foreground: Nicad the ex-battery hen, Ernie the Cream Legbar, Flathead the Ancona, Ashley the Exchequer Leghorn, Professor Mendel, Duracell, Ever-Ready, 9-Vol , and Professor Hawking the ex-battery hens all gathered 'round a marrow.

In the afternoon of Sunday 20th I found Alkacell hiding under the old chipmunk cage in the shed. Thinking that she may have been atttacked by the other hens, I brought her out and sat her on my lap. She didn't look as though she had been attacked, so I made a fuss of her and checked to see if she was moulting. Quite a few members of the flock had started to moult - White Tara was already in full moult by 23rd July, and Nicad and Duracell had just started. I checked Alkacell to see if she had started, and sure enough, I found new feathers growing on the back of her neck. Suddenly I noticed a strange green tint to the skin on her right shoulder. I genlty examined the area and found that the humerus bone (between shoulder and elbow) in her right wing was broken. Alkacell seemed quite happy to stand on my lap, preening while I examined her. Oddly enough, she was holding her wing up quite well - the primaries only hung down about an inch below the other wing. I brought her indoors and immobilised her wing by taping the primaries together, then taping the wing to the body in the natural position. Again, Alkacell seemed unperturbed by all this, and was happy to stand and preen. We gave her a whole head of broccolli because we felt sorry for her, and she tucked into it with relish.

On Monday morning I took Alkacell to the Vet. He was pleased with the strapping I had put on Alkacell to immobilise her wing, calling it a 'professional job'. He then examined Alkacell's wing, and confirmed my diagnosis. I explained that Alkacell had broken her leg only recently and had continued laying during the majority of her recovery, and that I was concerned that she might be lacking in skeletal calcium. All this compounded by the fact that Alkacell would have had osteoporosis when she was first rescued from the battery farm. Her humerus would have been 40-50% weaker, and the tibia 25% weaker than in hens kept in free range systems. Though her bones would have regained some of their strength since she was first rescued two years ago, Alkacell will never have bones as strong as a free range hen. The Vet agreed that Alkacell neeeded a calcium and vitamin D3 supplement. He explained to me that to synthesise the calcium, hens need vitamin D3, but to synthesise the D3 properly, they need access to ultraviolet light on the skin, ie: direct sunlight. The Vet was happy with my treatment of Alkacell, and told me that after 3 weeks, Alkacell's bandage could be removed. If she managed to remove her bandage or if it slipped, he was perfectly happy for me to replace it.

On Saturday 26th August we signed the contract to rent the piece of land which I had viewed last Thursday. We would be permitted to move chickens onto the land on 24th September, and we would be able to get a cockeral. Excited about the prospect of being able to expand the chicken empire, I scoured the newspapers looking for broody hens for sale. We found one, and went to collect her on that evening. She was a lovely broody Speckled Sussex, with beautiful mahogany, white and green-black plumage. We named her Dookie, and left her in her cardboard box overnight, so that she would hopefully not be disturbed out of her trance-like broody state. Still broody in the morning, I installed her onto a large nest in the Poultry Ark. I wired up the door of the nestbox, so that the Badger would not be able to open it and gain access to Dookie.

Dookie remained broody for the next two days, so on Tuesday 29th August I ordered a dozen fertile eggs for Dookie to incubate. The eggs (4 Silver Campines, 4 Gold Campines, 2 Lavender Araucanas, and 2 Gold Legbars) would be delivered on the following morning.

Unfortunately, today I noticed that Ernie was looking fluffed and lethargic. I picked her up and examined her. She felt very light, and had a pasted vent and a nearly empty crop. She was also very smelly. She clucked at me weakly, and made eye contact with me. I brought her into the house, and encouraged her to eat and drink. But Ernie wasn't interested. I was worried about her, and took a faecal sample to the Vet for examination. I gave Ernie some Reiki (Reiki is universal life energy, and is a form of healing). She sat on my lap, closed her eyes and completely relaxed while I Reiki'd her. When I placed my hand just above her head she raised her head so that it touched my hand, so she was obviously enjoying it.

On th following morning, the fertile eggs arrived. They came in egg boxes packed out with wood shavings, and the egg boxes were in a very large cardboard box which was also filled with wood shavings. Each egg had the breed of chicken it had come from written on it in black glass crayon. I placed the egg boxes in the cuboard, and went to check Dookie. To my extreme annoyance, she was sitting on a perch, not broody at all. I left her shut in the Ark all day, with just a little food and water and a huge comfortable nest with twelve tempting eggs in it.

Alkacell continued to cope well with her bandage, and I allowed her some time outside in a run by herself each day.

At chicken's bedtime I discoverd that Dookie was still not sitting. I left her in the ark, and hoped that she would change her mind. But on the next morning she hadn't. I started to make enquiries on the internet about home-made incubators.

Later in the day Ernie's feacal test revealed nothing unusual. I made Ernie an appointment, but the earliest one available was not until the following day. Unfortunately, Ernie died during the evening. She started having convulsions, so I gently took her out of her box and started to Reiki her while she rested in my arms. The Reiki stopped the convulsions, and a minute later Ernie died in my arms. It was very upsetting - but I'm glad that I was able to give Ernie Reiki during her last moments, and I'm sure that the Reiki helped her to pass more peacefully. Ernie was one of our first chickens, so it was extremely sad to see her go.

What happens to the fertile eggs? A look at the new area of land as it is prepared for the chickens......the Flock Diary continues....