Archive for category Linden Girls

It’s been a while since I blogged. This is largely due to the distracting forces known as Morley (left)  and Satriani (right) and two family holidays in the same month.

But the girls are fine. A neighbour has had a red-mite infestation but so far we seem to have avoided that scourge. When we had a bout of bad weather they were out and about as happy as ever, although they looked a bit sad (that’s me anthropomorphising) all wet!

A somewhat soggy Lily!

One reason to give ex-batt’s crumbs at first is that may may nor immediately recognise pellets as food. No such concerns with The Linden Girls, as soon as they had freedom they were eating everything that moved!

As for corn (affectionately referred to in our house as “Chicken crack”) well they flew at us like junkies desperate for a fix! So eager are they that a few days in and we’ve had to change how we feed them. They get picked up in turn to be fed one at a time from our hands as if the three of you launch at once you risk being knocked over and losing a finger. When I head out and they think there may be corn they jump up at my knees like begging dogs.

I was all set up for fragile ladies needing nursing to full health but less than a month in as I’m carrying a chair I kick one as she decides to jump onto my foot (they like to attack the beads on my flip flops).

“If I can’t see you I will stand on you!” I say as I head down the garden. Where, after fluffing herself in a rather disgruntled manner, Lily decides to chase me in her slightly lopsided way, flapping madly as she goes.

I’ve now been pecked. Lily wasn’t impressed when I put my hand inside the coop to coax Lola up to their bedroom and went for me. It didn’t hurt of course and I’m now much happier getting close to them.

I’m also happy that they take themselves to bed every night and lay all their eggs in the nesting boxes.

I’m one of the many that will take a song, make it their own and then call upon it as a convenient shorthand for experiencing their mood. In this instance, Bad Day by Daniel Powter. It’s been tough, in fact it’s been a tough week (I say week as I’m off tomorrow and Friday!) and I was drained.

It had been a bad day for The Linden Girls too. My fiancé let them out into the garden when he got in from work and headed inside not noticing their food and water were empty. I’d given them a cursory glance before leaving for work (obviously) but evidently today had been a hungry and thirsty day. I went to see them upon getting in, noticed their containers were empty but within minutes Lily was getting up close and a touch aggressive, pecking at my shoes before really going at a shoelace!

I grabbed a scoop of food and exchanged my shoes for flip-flops and fought her off to get at her feed container. Once filled they flew at it like vultures. I washed out and refilled their water and they promptly flew at that. I sat on the grass and watched them.

It not only put my bad day in context but they really cheered me up. Lola was being a bit stroppy and pecking at Lily when she came near her but when she tried it with Lara, Lara was largely oblivious. I stroked Lara while she ate and she was completely blasé. In fact if I want to nudge Lara out of my way I need to make contact and push! I was able to stroke Lily for a while and she fluffed out her feathers as I did so until she suddenly realised she was being stroked and jumped away. Lola freaks out if my hand goes near her. I’m trying to familiarise myself to them so I can examine them and give them medical treatment as necessary and I’m pretty pleased with how we are a week in.

My next step is going to be giving them corn as a treat and that will be a from the hand treat.  I expect Lara will be happy first, Lily will join her out of greed and after a lot of fretting on my behalf, Lola will reluctantly join them.

I sat with them until it started to rain, laughing at their interactions. When I came inside and turned on my laptop I saw my sneaky fiancé had taken a picture and put it on Facebook. Here I am with the girls.

So much has happened over the last few days and I’ve lost track somewhat but I’ll start with the girls’ names. Closing on a high note on the first 24 hours was partly due to my stepsons. I wanted their meeting to be controlled. When they arrived home with their father we explained they needed to use soft voices and not move too quickly. They were very good and promptly started asking their names.

I had named Adventurous chicken ‘Lara’ during the afternoon but said the boys could help me name the others. The eldest struck on the idea of calling them 10 and 11 which he thought were lovely names and which my fiancé and I thought were horribly institutionalised and akin to what they might have been called in their previous life (Row 7A birds 1-20 sounds feasible). I explained that they were girls and perhaps should have girls names. I thought we’d have a tougher time of it but he then suggested ‘Lily.’ A lovely name we exclaimed. Two down, one to go.

We headed out to where the youngest was studiously watching them as he drank his bedtime milk. We gently prodded for a name. ‘Lara 2′ was a popular choice until he gurgled a word and my fiancé asked ‘Lola?’ This was very much liked and so quite my accident the Linden Girls all have names beginning with the leter ‘L.’

On the left, Lola (formerly nicknamed Freckly chicken), in the background, Lily and at the front Lola (formerly nicknamed Adventurous chicken).

What can I tell you about them? Well Lara was soon joined by Lily in the adventurous stakes. Lily was the first to appreciate the joy of following me round the garden as I pulled up weeds and revealed woodlice and other creepy crawlies that are oh so tasty. She’s so obsessed with live food that she plucked a bee from the air as it left a shrub. Being a foodie myself, it was quite the bonding experience! Lily has emerged as the trio’s leader. She’s keen to be first out each morning and when Lara got in her way decided to jump from the top of the ramp instead of wait to walk down. She ended up with her head in the water dispenser but you have to appreciate the attitude.

Lily also seems to be the brightest. While Lola takes herself to bed each night, Lily seems to have quickly learned what I’m after when I start interfering with the coop as dusk falls and so she takes herself up the ramp. Lara just blinks at me as if to say “I could’ve sworn there used to be more of us.” Fortunately Lara is happy to be picked up each night and physically put in the bedroom with the others. Lara is probably the prettiest as she has the most feathers and is a uniform creamy white compared to freckly Lola  and Lily who is the most bald, most battered looking and has a grubby off-yellow neck. I must admit, I quite like picking up Lara as she’s so docile and sweet.

Lola sleeps in the nesting box where they’re meant to lay their eggs. She’s clearly at the bottom of the hierarchy. It took her two days to leave the coop and she used to watch the other two warily from behind the bars. She’s relaxed enough to follow the others out but is still the most cautious around us. As I’ve found eggs dotted around (although most recently always in the bedroom) I bought a couple of rubber eggs to put in the nesting boxes to hopefully encourage them to lay there. Lola sleeps on top of them which is quite sweet and I suppose if the sleeping arrangement is working for them then I’ll let them be.

Tonight as I headed out to put them to bed Lara was on the back of one of the patio chairs. She was making her nervous cluck so I approached her gently and picked her up. I lowered her to the ground and she seemed delighted, running round in small circles. Lola was already in bed so I shooed Lily into the coop and she promptly headed up the ramp. I turned to shoo in Lara but she was on the patio table jumping about. I shut the other two in, picked up Lara and once again physically put her into bed. I stroked her neck as I carried her and I think she’s quite happy with her bedtime routine. I can’t say I dislike it as my funny, adventurous but cuddly chicken does make me smile with her antics.

I certainly never thought keeping chickens would involve me saying “stop jumping on the table!”

I got a call back from the British Hen Welfare Trust and was able to secure three birds for 8th June. Continued (non-chicken related) work to the garden, my mother coming to stay and battling a terrible cold on top of my job meant that until the morning of the 8th, I didn’t really think about the girls and certainly had no thoughts for blogging. Yesterday therefore began with a bit of a panic, had I thought of everything? Everything important had been taken care of so I called the BHWT to confirm the birds were ready, printed off a gift aid form and headed out via a cash machine for my donation and Pets at Home for some bedding (the only thing I hadn’t ordered online).

I was pretty nervous as I arrived at the farm. Would my borrowed cat box and cardboard box with air holes be adequate? Did I look right (heaven knows what I thought the BHWT were likely to judge me on!). I gave over my donation and form, they ticked my name and took my boxes. I noticed another adopter had straw in his and nervously said I had bedding in the boot but my boxes had none! Everyone smiled at me. One woman asked whether I’d had chickens before and I basically gave her my CV as relating to poultry. She laughed kindly. I felt like an idiot but I think she liked how eager I was to get things right as it meant I obviously cared!

The girls loaded into my sports car; the cardboard box on the floor and the cat box on the passenger seat and we were off. They hated the twisty turns of Somerset and squawked and flapped rather a lot. Two were sharing the cat box and one seemed to think a reassuring solution was to climb on top of the other and jump up and down. Once on the M5 however, they calmed right down and we were soon home.

I opened the cardboard box and lifted out that chicken. Despite having helped with chickens it was the first time I’d ever picked one up. She seemed completely nonplussed. I opened the cat box door and put it against the opening to the coop but the birds inside stayed where they were so I opened the top and had to lift them out. Those two seemed struck dumb with terror but I found something interesting once they were out.

I’d had them less than an hour and already I had my first egg!

Once safely in their new coop they seemed a bit confused. The two that had shared the cat box had a brief fight but despite one having her comb pecked so hard it bled, they quickly calmed down. The one that had been by herself took to banging her head on the bars which was a little alarming but within an hour they had calmed down. One laid an egg and seemed to be perplexed by it. I suppose in the battery farm their eggs roll away so they don’t see them.

By the time my fiancé got home they were different birds. Happily picking at things and scratching about.

One of the girls had wandered up to their bedroom* earlier but when it came to the evening and time for them to go to bed I wondered how to coax them up. The chicken I’ve nicknamed Adventurous chicken seemed to understand immediately but struggled with the physicality of it. My fiancé and I sat quietly cheering her on as her weak legs wobbled beneath her. The one I’ve nicknamed Freckly chicken would not go and when I tried to coax her dived between the ramp and the edge of the coop, trapped herself and panicked madly. She flapped so hard I feared she’d hurt herself but eventually she got free and seemed completely unphased. Clearly I was going to have to lift them out and put them to bed myself.

I was rubbish. I was so nervous about doing it wrong. When I picked up Freckly hen she was completely calm but as I lifted her towards the external bedroom door she flapped her wings and I dropped her. It was hardly any distance but I felt like an evil abusive cow. These poor birds had had such awful lives until now and these unlucky ones were stuck with me!

“I’ll leave her to you” said the fiancé stepping back.

She was to the right of the coop and was happy enough to be picked up again. This time she didn’t flap until she was inside the bedroom. That left the other one who I’m ashamed to admit doesn’t have a nickname. She was a bit afraid after the commotion and kept sticking her neck out and jabbing her head near me. She’s almost bald on her chest and well… she looks pretty ugly when she does that and I got scared she was going to attack me.

At this point I want to point out that once when I was about 14 my parents went away and left my grandparents to look after us. We lived on a stud farm and while my grandparents were happy to do most things, it was down to my brother and I to care for the few horses we had stabled. One colt was very unimpressed at being locked up and used to rear up when you went into his stable. I think because I knew if I showed fear I could get hurt, when he reared up at me and brought his front hooves near my face I simply tapped them with the feed bucket (as I’d seen my dad do) with saw him return to all fours. I sternly told him to behave, put the bucket in its holder and made my exit.

I’d dealt with the pure thoroughbred muscle of a grumpy horse and was nervous about a chicken? That’s really quite pathetic!

Eventually I grabbed her and she barely flapped and certainly didn’t attack me. I put her in the bedroom and we shut them in for the night. I apologised to my fiancé for being such a wuss and he sweetly said it was mostly about me being scared of hurting them.

This morning I opened the internal bedroom door and left them to it. When I headed out an hour later they had all found their way downstairs and were tucking into their crumbs. I opened the door and started doing some gardening.

Adventurous chicken came right out.

She made a lot of noise initially and pecked at pretty much everything she saw (I assume this is how chickens find out about the world, rather like babies putting things in their mouths). She stood and watched as I used the jet attachment to clean the borrowed cat box and was completely unbothered by the noise and movement.

It was two hours before another bird left the coop. Unnicknamed chicken circled the coop a few times then headed under the pyracantha. She never strayed more than a foot from the coop but seemed really happy once she was under the bush. She explored and pecked at her tiny area much like Adventurous chicken did the entire garden.

Freckly chicken never left the coop. I really hope I haven’t traumatised her by dropping her.

After a while I noticed that Adventurous chicken was making a bit of noise. I went to see her in the border where she looked to be making a nest of sorts.

Sure enough when I went back a little later I saw she’d laid an egg. Wonderfully free range but I am going to have to get a couple of rubber eggs and be prompt with guiding them towards laying in the coop lest each day becomes an exploration through the garden!

It started to drizzle and both girls promptly headed into their coop. They clearly know where to get shelter, food and drink so hopefully they’ll soon learn where to go at bedtime and where to lay their eggs. It’s silly but I’m so proud of them. Even Freckly chicken who never left the coop made herself a dirt bath and seemed to thoroughly enjoy flapping soil all over herself. It has now been 24 hours and they seem really settled. When the two headed inside I decided to close the latch. We’d had a pretty good first day and I wanted to close on a high note.

* I could and should anthropomorphise less but it’ll make my life easier if I just describe things the way I want. It’d still be their bedroom to me if I called it something different here

So I had my coop built but it was standing on patio which was far from ideal. When I next had a day free I booked myself a disc cutter and yesterday set to cutting out a portion of paving in order to create a nice soft surface for my girls to scratch about on.

Three hours of hard work and my coop was standing on a soft surface. I’m concerned that it’s a bit too soft and not a proper dirt floor but I’ll see how we go with that. Given that the girls will often have the run of the garden, there’ll be plenty of hard places for them to scratch about.

My youngest stepson has got rather excited and keeps asking when the chickens are coming to see us. I explained that chickens were coming to live with us not just visiting and he was quite beside himself. We had family over for dinner last night and he was proudly demonstrating the chicken house to everyone.

I now feel ready to start making plans for acquiring the birds so have registered my details with The British Hen Welfare Trust. I then got a bit overexcited and placed an order for feed and various other necessities. The only things still to get are bedding and a storage unit for everything. The next date for hens from my local BHWT coordinator is 8th June so if I’m lucky I could have my birds soon!

My original plan had been to put a coop at the end of the garden but our long slim plot is North facing and the part furthest from the house is a wonderful sun trap. It seemed madness to put my birds where they’d get hottest and sit in the shade on sunny afternoons. So I decided to put them next to the house.

My mum seemed faintly horrified at the idea of them being so close but to me it seemed the logical place. Anyway, my intention is to let the girls out regularly to have the run of the garden and the kitchen door generally stays open so there’s every chance of them actually wandering into the kitchen!

I chose a coop based on where it was going and once I had a few days off work booked. I placed my order. I was determined to build it myself but was a little daunted by the boxes.

But I got everything out, checked the list and got stuck in.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and the whole thing was up in under an hour!

Currently the coop is on a patio base. What I’ll be doing next is cutting and removing a section of the paving in order to have the birds on dirt. The whole thing will be located closer to the lawn so the front right corner is hidden by the conifer and I plan to train the pyracantha over the roof. I’ll be planting something else on the left hand side to train across the back as well. We need to top up the cobbles anyway and these will fill the gap between the patio and the edge of the run.

I’ve cut concrete before and am relatively confident about cutting the patio. What I want to achieve is the coop sitting snugly and attractively within the garden. Rather than have the Linden girls tucked away, setting up a place for my birds is the first stage in our development of the garden.

But still quite a way to go before I can even speculate a date for when I’ll be getting my chickens!

On my first day in my current job, my boss (who was a brand new member of staff herself) broached certain aspects of the job that hadn’t been mentioned at interview. One was that on days where I was the duty manager I would be required to put the chickens to bed, how was I with chickens?

Perhaps the interview panel had struggled to identify where care of poultry fit in with an office job but at any rate I was pleased. My mother had kept chickens when I was growing up and I’d always had vague plans of keeping my own one day. The reality ignited that enthusiasm and when my fiancé and I were house hunting I was only interested in those with sufficiently large gardens for a coop (in addition to somewhere to entertain and for the kids to play).

A couple of weeks ago we finally took possession of our house and I’m now cruising the net looking at housing for my birds. I plan to adopt three ex battery hens and this blog will chart that journey. My fiancé isn’t a fan of chickens but I’ve coaxed a grudging acknowledgement that the idea is growing on him. My stepsons are very enthusiastic. We live in Linden, a moderately leafy suburb of Gloucester and our girls are the next step in the family we’re building. My name is Kathryn and my story starts now.

Some of the girls I work with