Autumn is here!

Aaah, autumn, that's when the leaves start turning, the air is clear and crisp right? Well, all I'm thinking about now is that it's friggin freezing. Seriously, it's only the end of April and we're get sub 10 degree temps already? And what is with this freezing arctic wind?

This morning in the coop, 6.2 degrees and the inside of the coop was dripping with condensation, despite the ventilation. Mind you, the bedroom in the house wasn't much better, 8 degrees and the windows were dripping with condensation. Makes me wonder what winter will have in store for us.

Penguin and I have a morning ritual. I give them their treats/breakfast for the day, (today was raisin toast) and he gets a cuddle and preen. He falls asleep during his cuddle and gets nice and warm while my toes in the wellies loose all sensation and freeze.

I still feel rather amazed that Penguin trusts me so much that he'll fall fast asleep in my arms. None of the other hens tolerate being held for long and even Buffy will rarely close his eyes during a cuddle session. With Penguin, if he feels comfortable in my arms, his eyes will close, his head will droop and sometimes he'll start snoring.

Due to work and daylight savings, when I get back, it is usually dark, which means that they get cooped up in their run all day. I've talked about environment enrichment before and I've added a new one to Penguin's coop. A compost heap.

Just a small one, made up of an old plastic fence with an opening for the chickens to go in and out of. We'll be throwing kitchen scraps in there for the chickens to turn over for us. I'll be making a similar one in Buffy's run this weekend.

 Since Penguin's coop is bigger and has fewer occupants, I've been trying to improve the insulation in the coop. So I've previously placed plastic wrap over the wire mesh in an attempt to keep some heat in. Today, I placed another load of bedding straw on the floor of his coop. It also adds as a form of entertainment for them. They spend more time in here keeping warm, and digging through the straw adds interest. Here is Flopsy already digging through it, not 2 minutes after I placed the straw down.

During the weekend, when we're at home, we'll let the chickens free range. To stop Penguin and Buffy fighting, we let Penguin's "group" up around the house. That way they are separated from Buffy's group by a wire fence. Dee Dee and Dum Dum have also taken it upon themselves to try and dominate over Buffy's hens.

Up near the house, our Japanese maple has started shedding it's leaves. In fact many of the other trees have started dropping leaves, which is a real pain in the bum as it means we have leaves everywhere. On the paths, on the car (so I can't see through the windscreen), clogging up our gutters and being blown into the house with the autumn winds. The only good thing about it is that our chickens LOVE digging through the fallen leaves. Something else to add to their compost heap!

Here they are trying to spread all our mulch onto the paths *roll eyes*

Speaking of Buffy, this little firecracker has really settled into his role as guardian rooster. He's with his flock of hens day and night, watching over them. His favourite hens are undoubtedly the Leghorns, even though they have now surpassed him in size. Buffy will makes nests for them, give them food (unless he really, really, likes the food himself, which is quite often actually...) and he's supposed to lead them around the garden, but these Leghorns go absolutely everywhere! And you'll see Buffy tailing them trying to keep up! Here he is resting after following his hens around the garden all day.

Unfortunately, the Leghorns like eating up the seeds you have just plated in the veggie patch :(
Or if they didn't eat it, they dug it all up. Check out Houdini's crop! It's massive, these Leghorns are eating machines. Fair enough, they are currently our only laying hens, but really, do they need to stuff their faces that much?

Typical of all weekends, rain is usually on the cards and our chickens are not big fans of the wet stuff either. I found it interesting that during their free range time and it starts to rain, Buffy leads them into Penguin's coop!

Here they are chillaxing in the coop.

Penguin usually takes shelter under our verandah, unless he gets grabbed by me for a cuddle. He has no complaints about a warm cuddle with the rain falling!

With autumn here, the chickens are starting to grow new feathers, or in the case of the Araucana's staring their moult. Dee Dee escaped the coop one morning and in my attempts to catch her, I just grabbed at whatever I could get. Unfortunately it was her tail, which er....came off rather easily. I'll just say that I helped in her *ahem* moulting process.  Err...yeah, so Dee Dee doesn't have a tail at the moment!

Flopsy our cuckoo Leghorn as lost her characteristic floppy comb. They have shrivelled up and gone all pale and dry. I think this is part of their winter strategy.

On the other hand, our egg laying, face stuffing white Leghorn powerhouses are starting to get a comb"over". Their combs are getting bigger and starting to flop to one side.

Pippy the bantam Araucana (and Penguin's mum) seems to be much happier in this coop that with Penguin. She's starting to grow some pin feathers and interacting with the hens here. I saw her telling off Spot for eating her raisins! Doesn't seem to faze her that Spot is about a third bigger than her! Maybe she'll start laying eggs again at some point. She hasn't laid an egg in over a year!

That's the update for now. I'll be looking at how to further insulate the coop without reducing ventilation. Maybe I'll use corflute board on the ceiling. It will last longer than cardboard and I can just glue it on to the underside of the ceiling. So many ideas, not enough time, the bane in this modern society of ours!

I'll leave you with a fluffed up Penguin, trying desperately to catch a few rays of sun.

Keep warm!!