Keep on Running

 The 13th of January 2011 and for the 13th day in a row I went for a run. I have to say I am not finding it a mentally difficult challenge at the moment. I did more so during the first week when it felt really daunting but now everyday I am breaking new ground as I have never run 13 days in a row before. There is still a long way to go and I realise I have to avoid injury and sickness to succeed. After yesterdays long run I had a slightly tight left hamstring and anyone who saw me take my first steps this morning might have thought I was Jake the Peg but this soon improved.


My plan today was to do a short 3 miler as a recovery run taking it very easy. The weather was good and mild and there was no need for gloves and hat today. There was a strong breeze but it was blowing warmish winds so it was a very comfortable run to complete.

Last night I had pasta with a chick pea and lentil sauce for plenty of energy and porridge this morning. As Highwaykind mentioned in response to my post on energy foods on Tuesday I am drinking lots more tea than usual. Throughout the day I am knocking back far more water as well.

The left over pasta went to our grateful chickens. In fact the chickens started the morning with a breakfast of pasta, porridge and some lemon cake. This is the great thing about having chickens nothing goes to waste and any left over foods head their way. In return throughout the year we are provided with a great supply of eggs.



Day 1 - 5 miles
Day 2 - 5 miles
Day 3 - 4 miles
Day 4 - 4 miles
Day 5 - 3 miles
Day 6 - 2.52 miles
Day 7 - 7 miles
Day 8 - 3.5 miles
Day 9 - 2 miles
Day 10 - 4 miles
Day 11 - 4 miles
Day 12 - 8 miles
Day 13 - 3 miles

Total 55 miles

Snow comes to Suffolk - December 2009

No run today. I took this decision after I went down the garden to let the chickens out of their house. Flimsy excuse really but my hands were bitterly cold and I put doubts into my mind as to whether I would slip in the snow.

With the overnight snow our chickens said no thanks to coming out for a run around. To be honest with 5 inches of snow there was nothing for them to forage on if they had of come out. Instead they chose to stay put in their run. I poured hot water into the lock on the shed so the key would turn and then feed the chickens some corn. Their water was frozen in their feeder so I broke this as well so they could get a drink.

Looking back to some photos I took in February our chickens did venture out then but admittedly this was a much warmer brighter day.

Our Chickens

We have had our current layer chickens since about May last year. So these girls are roughly 17 months old. Up until two months ago we have had no health problems with the birds but as you will see from these photos they now look a little tatty as they have lost patches of feathers around the neck and also on there backsides.




In themselves the birds are very alert eating very well and laying eggs everyday. We have the 6 birds and generally get 4-5 eggs a day and some days 6. Diet wise they have the basics layer pellets and corn but this is supplemented with all many of food that is left over in the house - rice,pasta,chips, vegetables,fruit - just about anything really. I also provide lots of grass cuttings.

From what I can tell chickens naturally lose feathers when they are moulting. However these lasts about 6 weeks and is usally accompanied by the birds ceasing to lay as they put there energy into development of new feathers. So we have ruled this out.

Secondly we thought there might be some parasite lice or mite. We have given the chicken house a total clean from top to bottom and can see no evidence of any bug in the house.


Chicken lice would seem to be most likely cause of the problem. However we have treated all the birds with a powder but the problem persists and again I can't see anything in the house.

I was also told this problem could arise from lack of green vegetation or from the social pecking order. We do supplement them with green vegetation as they have eaten everting green in their enclosure.

Anyone keep chickens have any advice for a novice chicken keeper!

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Chicken News

We are now up to 3 eggs a day since Antony Worrall Thompson started to lay and we have had some 60 odd eggs. Some of these have been double yokes. Also the size of the eggs seems to have have improved and we are now getting large eggs.

Antony lays the lovely brown eggs in this photo. The other nameless birds which are Speckled Hen and Blue Girl (for want of any names at the moment) lay light brown and white eggs respectively.

With 60 eggs the cost per egg for our initial outlay buying the chicken house and run , food and of course chickens now works out at about £9 each.

Chickens in our Garden

Our chickens have now been with us about 3 weeks and have settled in well. We took what felt like a bold decision a week ago to allow them out of the confines of their house and run to roam the garden during the day time.

This has gone well we had initial fears as to whether they would try to fly over the fence but at 5 feet this has been sufficient and to be honest they haven't tried to make an escape.

Our next fear was how they would get on with our 3 cats. We kind of watched to see what would happen and who would claim mastery of the garden. At first there was a period of watching by our cats Brian, Bernard and Willow and somewhat indifference from the chickens ( the only name that has stuck so far is for our brown hen - Antony Worrall Thompson ) who were too busy eating grass like a hover mower. Suddenly the Speckled hen decided to make a decidedly chicken run straight at our oldest cat Brian who shame faced ran for it . So the pecking order of the garden has been defined in favour of the girls . To be honest they seem to get on very well together.

We have yet to get any eggs and this is something which should be do any day and every morning there is an expectation of finding one but so far nothing. We are feeding them well on layer pellets and afternoon corn feed along with odds and ends such as rice which they like a lot.

Point of Lay Chickens

It is like bringing a new born baby home from the hospital! The amount of attention and visits to the bottom of the garden to check on how our 4 point of lay chickens are doing. Unfortunately it has rained ever since we brought them home on Saturday. Our run being wire netting didn't keep the rain off so we bought some plastic corrugated sheeting to put over the top. This might be totally unnecessary but they didn't seem to like getting wet.

On the first night we were unsure if the chickens would be able to find their way up a ramp and into the the house to sleep. So when it was nearly dark I climbed into the chicken run and helped each bird into the house! The birds had been looking tired and about to sleep where they stood.

We hadn't noticed the chickens actually going into the house all day and we are told to keep them enclosed in the run for at least 2 weeks. However we had set their layer pellets up in a suspended feeder inside the house so we gave them a good handful of corn out in the run.

We have yet to name the birds. Any suggestions are welcomed. We have 4 birds a silver/white bird that is clearly in charge, 2nd in charge is the speckled hen and bottom of the pecking order is the blue/grey bird. The brown bird is docile and seems to be very friendly and doesn't seem to get any pecks from the othersAt the moment we have some ideas around characters in the Lord of the Rings. My son wants to call our brown chicken Anthony Worrall Thompson however they are all girls but thinking about it that is still ok.

Chickens !

We have added to our family today when we acquired some point of lay chickens. A drive out to Stebbing in Essex to visit Hens for Homes and to speak with Kirsty helped us to decide on what chickens to buy. Here you can see a big range of point of lay chickens before buying. They can also be delivered. The chickens cost us £12.50 each.

The choice in Chickens is vast but rather than venture into pure breeds we decided to go for some hybrid hens. We decided we wanted both friendly chickens and good egg layers. We have 4 hens 2 of which are around 15 weeks and another 2 who are about 20 weeks old.

We have 4 different birds a Bovans Goldline which is a brown coloured chicken which lays brown eggs, a Bluebelle which is a grey/lavender coloured bird, a Bovans Silver which is said to be a very friendly bird and a Maran Cou Cou a speckled coloured bird.

Kirsty provided us with a starter pack of various items including all of the necessary food which was a supply of corn and a big bag of layer pellet, some grit to aid the birds digestion, and a drinker and feeder for the water and pellets.

We transported them back from Essex in a cat box and a crisp sized cardboard box. Apparently this is the standard way of doing this. Before bringing them home all of the birds had one of their wings clipped. This is an entirely painless process which will hopefully stop the chickens flying into trees to roost. It should apparently mean they will only be able to leap about 3 foot which is important to us as some of our fencing is only 5 feet high to our neighbors.

The previous week we had bought and erected a very well made chicken house and a 6 foot run from Tillett Pet and Poultry. The houses are well made and you can fit a chicken house and a run into a standard mondeo car. The house was well made and was easily fitted together in about 20 minutes. Although we gave it a coat of Somerset Green Cuprinol paint first.

The birds traveled well in the car and were very quiet. Getting them out of their boxes and into their new house meant picking and holding a chicken which Kirsty made look simple but takes a bit of practice and confidence to get right. however mission accomplished and the birds are in their new home. We are told to expect a 2 week period period while the birds become used to their new home and during this time they have a bit of a sneeze or two.

we have yet to name the four chickens. So far the silver bovan bird seems to be the leader pecking out sometimes at the others when she is wanting first peck at any food. However the grey/lavender bird seems the most flighty and adventurous and once or twice has tried to make her escape back to Essex launching herself at the top of the run.

We are complete novices at chicken keeping and no absolutely nothing really. However it will be exciting to see when we start hopefully getting some eggs. My pictures were take in the evening fading light and I hope to get some better shots soon.