State of the flock, January 2018

Tip toe to the chicken yard, Jan 2018

We're down to 12 chickens altogether now, having lost another two this month. 

For the past month or so we've been getting around 10 eggs a week, with only one chicken, our white Leghorn Florry, laying with any sort of regularity (still not every day though).  However, things have started to pick up a little in that department, with the light levels finally starting to increase after a very dark winter.

Handsome lad, Jan 2018

Our rooster Toasty (the seven year old named him) is starting to finally act his age/sex;  we've seen a little bit of expected behavior from him now that he's coming up to about 9 months old.  He crows once in a while--he's got a no-crow collar on to muffle it a bit--and we've seen him attempting to mate with a few of the chickens.  But no one's witnessed actual, successful mating yet.  The only chicken who is willing to mate is our little broody bantam Cookie;  she's begun laying a few eggs and will no doubt be ready to hatch a nest soon (even though it's still so early!  first egg from her on 19 January).  Except she is waaaaaay too small for successful mating with Toasty.  She's tiny and he's massive!  That doesn't stop them trying, though...

Toasty's an Orpington, and is bigger than every single hen out there, and it's possible he'll only be able to mate with the two biggest hens:  the Australorps raised in the same batch as him;  only problem is, they still haven't begun laying--we'll have no fertile eggs for Cookie to sit on if she wants to start up already. 

I'm glad we haven't had a bird flu exclusion order (yet) this winter;  there's been a warning and we've been advised to maintain strict biosecurity.  Last year they had to stay under cover for a couple months to keep them from mixing with wild birds and were miserable.  This year it's a bit better;  although I've decided they still have to stay in their regular yard for most of the day, they get rotated through the two adjacent beds each week.  I'm afraid there's not much of interest in either of these beds this time of year!  However, I've been letting them out an hour before sunset to free range over the whole of the garden, excluding the vegetable patch.  They get the lawn, the perennial beds and the pond area, and there are still some bits of greenery to peck at.  They know when it's time too:  they all wait at the gate, calling to me.  I can't let them free range all day, or they'd destroy what's left of the garden--at least this way they get a little each day.