And then there were six

We went down early today as we had an important visitor coming to pick up three chicks. Between us, we filled up their food bowl and water bowls and let them into their outdoor run. I then dashed off to clean out the pet carrier ready for transport the chicks to their new home.

Whilst we were waiting for Abi to appear, my husband got busy digging the next section of the plot and I fed the rest of the girls. None of them seemed to show any interest in laying eggs. I left in disgust after making my disappointment known. I doubted it would make any difference.

Abi arrived and I took her for a quick tour of the site. She is a fellow chicken lover who last had birds when she loved in Nigeria. We walked into the main coop before introducing her to Leia and Rey. Next we walked up to the greenhouse to collect the chicks. Abi chose two and I persuaded her to take the shrug we call Napoleon. Hopefully they will settle into their new home well. Before Abi left, she managed to arrange to have someone else take a few more tomorrow. So it looks like we will be down to three tomorrow!

My husband went home after Abi left to order and collect some more chicken food and supplies. My main job today was to bring out the nest box from the greenhouse and set it up with the run to get the chicks out of the greenhouse. I first cleared some pots and tubs from the patio so there was room to move things about. I leant the run up on its end against the back of the shed. The main problem was how to get the nest box out without letting any of the chicks escape. It all went well until the floor of the nest box fell out. The nest box isn’t far off the width of the greenhouse door so it was quite difficult to get it out without squashing curious chicks who wanted to know what was going on. Eventually, I got it out and slammed the door of the greenhouse across before any chicks got out. Pausing to breathe a sigh of relief I then realised I had boxed myself into the patio. It took several minutes of shuffling the nest box and run around before I had enough room to get the brush. I swept the patio slabs and wrestled the run into place in front of the nest box. Using two old bricks, I kept the run pushed up against the nest box.

Now the hardest part. To get back into the greenhouse. The front entrance is covered in wire and the back door is now blocked by the run. Desperately hoping no one was looking, I contorted myself, reaching over the run into the greenhouse then twisting backwards to get my other leg in. It wasn’t graceful. But I didn’t fall over. It was a quick job to grab the chicks and transfer them. They seem happy with their new home. It’s not as big a run as I would prefer but it’s much cooler than the greenhouse.

My husband reappeared shortly after I finished sorting the chicks armed with massive bags of chicken food. We put them away before going to get Dolly. She seemed similar to yesterday. She chilled in the shed with my husband as I went down to the coop to try and find some eggs. Leia and Rey were still on strike and I found a strange egg in the main coop. As there was only one, we used it to feed Dolly. There was something odd about the egg as I looked at it closer. The shell was quite thin but the strange thing was there was an extra bit of shell. It was separate from the main egg but I wondered whether it might have been stuck as one of the girls had made a bit of a mess in the nest box yesterday which looked like it might have had se egg in it.

We fed Dolly with yolk and lots of water before putting her back into her coop. I didn’t scrape her beak today as I have done it for several days. Her feet are very clean as she likes to stand in her water at the moment. Odd bird! We decided not to bathe Georgie as we had to get back home, but it’s a job we will make sure we do tomorrow. Georgie’s vent is clear which is good and her feathers have fluffed up nicely after yesterday. She definitely needs another bath to get rid of the remaining muck stuck to the base of her feathers around her belly and above her vent.

Tomorrow we will finish digging over the plot and finally stick in some of the seeds and plants we have ready to go in. We will also bathe Georgie although I imagine she won’t be too impressed with it!