So, I wasn’t feeling great this morning, kept awake by a storm overnight I knew that there would be nowhere dry to sit with the chickens.

I dragged myself out of bed, downstairs, out and across to the chickens. As expected everything was drenched.

The girls however, were screeching to be freed from their (frankly quite lovely) run and into the woods.

The excitement was infectious – overnight rain means we’re going on a worm hunt!!!

They race up the woodlands into an open area, where they all start to dig for plump juicy worms, and slowly the exciting screeches turn to contented purrs (honestly, if you haven’t heard a chicken purr, it’s such a lovely sound).

Life lesson, there is something good to find in every situation if you look for it.

And just maybe, the early bird really does catch the worm (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

We’re well into September now, Autumn is just round the corner and a chill is most definitely in the air. I was fully prepped for this morning, extra jumper, down-filled jacket and fleece lined boots.

The chickens have their own version of preparing for the colder weather, and it’s very simple. They change the orientation of their feathers to trap more air close to their bodies which keeps them toasty warm. It makes them look supersized!

Some morning’s, regardless of what life brings, you just have to fluff up your feathers and get on with it!

The days are drawing in now, the chicken coop door is set to open at 6.30am, and I like to be there fairly soon after to let the girls out of their run.

But it was actually still fairly dark at 6.35 when I came out this morning (full cloud cover over Yorkshire isn’t helping matter).

I opened the door to the run and the usual charge occurred. But there was one missing! And it was little Sweetpea, the noisiest, giddiest of the girls.

Now I don’t want you to think I’m a paranoid chicken owner, but immediately all kinds of catastrophes crossed my mind, a predator, a sudden onset illness, an overnight escapee?

I opened the hen coop and there she was, not quite ready to get up yet. Just relaxing in her nest box, perhaps planning out her day (perhaps not).

10 minutes later she came out, squawking and shouting for her breakfast as usual, absolutely right as rain.

Take life at your own pace, rest when you need to rest, don’t feel the need to “keep up” with others.

Anyone who has animals will know that it’s rarely all plain sailing.

This morning it was little Gloria who was down in the dumps. Unlike the hounds (who are, quite frankly, little drama queens), chickens will go out of their way to mask illness to avoid being rejected by the flock. So once an illness is bad enough to be obvious it’s important to move quickly.

After the initial scramble out of the run Gloria took herself off under the fir tree, standing still, tail down and feathers puffed out. Very typical “sick chick” behaviour.

I encouraged her back out and checked her over, her crop was firm and she had dirty knickers, which didn’t really narrow it down for me significantly, it could indicate anything from impacted crop to egg issues, (so both ends).

I sringed a little olive oil into her mouth and separated her into the mobile hen hospital (dog cage) with the isolation nesting box (cat carrier) for some quiet time.

Then a very odd thing happened, as I said earlier hens mask to avoid being seen as a weak member of the team. Descended from dinosaurs, hens sometimes attack a weak bird to maintain the strength of the flock. But little Queenie, the smallest of the birds, and definitely lowest in the pecking order went and sat next to Gloria’s cage and cooed at her.

Gloria is regularly vile to little Queenie, chasing and pecking her on an almost daily basis, so this behaviour really surprised me. But it honestly seemed to settle Gloria who laid down herself and had a rest.

After a few minutes she started laying a soft shell egg, thank goodness, problem uncovered! A quick spa treatment in the hen bath (bucket), quick blow dry (yes with a hairdryer – cool setting) and she was right as rain.

Support, empathy and understanding can come from the most unexpected sources. Remember who was there for you through challenging times, those friends are pure gold.

When we first got the girls and a pretty little wooden coop I’d never heard of red mite. After joining some online forums they became my biggest fear.

Nasty little vampiric mites that live in the crevasses of wooden coops and hop on the chickens whilst they are roosting at night, slowly draining their life blood.

We had a full year mite free, then the dreaded day arrived. Whilst cleaning the coop out one morning I removed a perch and there they were, tiny little red dots, full to bursting from feeding off my poor girls. We researched online, read books, spoke to more experienced chicken owners for advice. Once heavily armed with information we started the war.

We dismantled the coop and sprayed it thoroughly with heavy duty insecticide, (and had to leave it 12 hours to dry out)…….they came back.

We covered the coop and girls with DE powder, (which many chicken keepers swear by)……..they came back.

We put garlic and apple cider vinegar in their water and sprayed the coop with a mix of oil, water and washing up liquid. We tried everything suggested, (however ridiculous it sounded to us), because I wasn’t letting anything hurt the girls.

It was (is) a war of attrition, and slowly but surely it’s started to work. The numbers of mites are slowly dwindling, and we’ve had nothing obvious for over a week, but I won’t let my guard down, (little blighters can stay dormant for up to 8 months).

The way to tackle problems is head on. Research, ask advice, then act, and keep going until it’s resolved to your satisfaction. Don’t hope the problem will go away on its own or that someone else will deal with it.

This morning little Sweetpea was loudly announcing her imminent laying with an egg song.

Saturday is our full housekeeping day, and due to a little human lay-in I was still cleaning out the coop, so she couldn’t get to her usual nest box, which was clearly somewhat of a frustration from the squawking being produced.

She leapt up (flying would be a massive exaggeration) onto the roof of the chicken coop to have a good look around the immediate area, checking for other equally suitable nesting spaces. She happily spied the interim deluxe spacious nesting box, (otherwise known as a quickly assembled cat carrier with bedding) and happily settled in there for a lay.

(Edit to say the “deluxe secluded” nesting box is such a hit with all the girls it’s now been moved permanently into the run).

Sometimes it’s good to take a step back from your immediate situation and look at it from a different perspective, an alternative, equally viable, solution could be right under your nose.

This morning was a bit traumatic in our little corner of the world.

Princess Layer, who is usually fairly chilled, attacked both Sweetpea and Queenie within minutes of them all being let out of the run. Chasing them around to peck at them quite viciously.

This is very unusual behaviour for Princess Layer, she’s usually very relaxed with the smaller girls, so I separated them and kept my eyes peeled.

Sure enough Princess retreated under a shrub, puffed up her feathers and stood still with her tail down. Typical “unwell hen” posture. I scooped her out and checked her over, I knew that she hadn’t laid yesterday, so was concerned that she might be struggling to pass an egg.

A warm Epsom salt bath and a blow dry later (yes occasionally the girls are in need of a mini spa day) and out popped the offending egg. Within 30 minutes Princess was back to her usual greedy but relaxed self.

When someone treats you badly or unfairly it is rarely to do with you or your behaviour and more likely to be something they are going through themselves.

Don’t ever let someone elses opinion of you harm your own self worth.

This morning is a beautiful day in our corner of Yorkshire, the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful rich blue. It’s the end of summer, but today it’s hanging on in there.

The girls were out early as usual, scratching around looking for worms whilst I drank my tea and read a few more pages of my book.

After 20 minutes or so I glanced around and counted up, Gloria was happily laying in the nesting box, (I could hear her egg song). Sweetpea and Queenie were together (as always). But Henrietta and Princess Layer – nowhere to be seen.

These ladies have form for taking themselves off, over the wall, into the big wide world for adventures and shenanigans. We have a public footpath regularly used by dog walkers, so it’s not the safest of environments for little hens.

Cue me running round calling for them, I should have known better. I paused, and listened and sure enough there was a telling rustle from the big fir tree next to the run.

Henrietta and Princess Layer were indeed on an adventure, they were half way up the tree delightedly hunting for bugs.

If you set out on a new adventure it’s always good to have a companion with you to share the journey. Good friends bring added joy to every experience.

This morning was beautiful here in Yorkshire, the sun rose into a clear blue sky. The girls (as usual) couldn’t wait to get out of their run.

Henrietta led the charge, and very quickly they were all happily either digging for worms or demanding layer pellets.

Then the world went quiet, all the wild birds stopped singing and the hens froze as one, all with an eye cocked up towards the sky.

Henrietta and Princess Layer both sounded an alarm call and the girls raced as one to huddle together under the trees.

I looked up to see a buzzard circling, silhouetted black against a pale blue sky.

As far as I am aware none of the chickens have encountered a bird of prey, they were all barn reared commercial hens before they came to us, and I sit with them whenever they are out of their run.

It was entirely instinctual, an inbred sense of danger (which interesting they don’t have with dogs or cats).

If something feels wrong or makes you uncomfortable, walk away from it, don’t worry about looking foolish or unreasonable. We all have an inbuilt self preservation, we just need to listen to it when it sounds the alarm call.

“Pecking order” is a term derived from chicken behaviour, it’s how they sort out their relative positions in the flock. The subtleties are fascinating.

Henrietta, with her wonky beak and pronounced limp, is top hen. She is completely secure in her ranking, leads the flock out in a morning and back at bedtime, and keeps an eye on all of them.

Princess Layer, the largest (and greediest) hen, is definitely Henriettas deputy and protector of the flock (chasing off next doors chickens when they come calling). She will half-heartedly peck at another bird, but only if they get too close to her current food source.

Gloria is the smallest and weakest of the older birds, she is outwardly feisty and regularly launches an unprovoked attack on the newest two. She was bottom hen in the original flock and is very aware of the fragility of her position.

True self confidence is not being the loudest or the most aggressive, it’s being secure in yourself.

The authentically self-assured never have to shout over people or put others down to demonstrate their own value.