A Possible Murder Mystery

After two and a half years of chicken keeping, you tend to think you've probably seen it all. Just as you start to feel smug, your birds are certain to throw you a curve ball. And this one is a doozy.

In between rain showers, I headed out to clean out the coop. The hens were all happily forgaing in the border. I opened up the Palace and removed the perch. And then I paused. Because the perch was dotted with blood. In fact, a good half of the perch had splashes and dots of blood on it. Setting it aside, I studied the floor and walls of the coop. More blood dotted the newspaper under the perches, and large splatters of blood sprayed up the walls. Dear God it was even on the roof. Taking a deep breath, I did a rapid head count of the girls. All, thankfully, present and correct. And watching me now with interest.

Verifying that the nest box was blood free (Purdy had produced one of her perfect eggs), I began my investigations. Maude was injury and blood stain free. As were Doris, Gladys, Hilda, Purdy, and Celia. Mabel glared at me from the back step, apparently injury free. Which left Maeve.

Maeve had one tiny dot of blood on her comb. I inspected it carefully, and realised that there was no injury. She looked at me impassively. The evidence seemed to suggest that ASBO Chicken knew something about the blood in the coop. But she wasn't talking. Maeve is jet black, so frankly she could have been covered in dried blood and it would be hard to spot. Still, I looked. I found nothing else.

So now I'm left with a mystery. Eight hens, all injury free. No one is gasping or bubbling blood out of their nostrils. Yet the coop looks like something met a very sticky end in there. It's made me a little nervous of turning my back on them all, tbh. Especially Maeve.

I'm fairly sure I know whodunnit, I'm just not yet sure who the victim was.

(In other news, the inspection highlighted a few mud balls beginning to form on feathered feet, so tomorrow they'll all be having a foot bath. It also brought Celia's freaky feet to my full attention. Celia has twisted and fused toes, so her nails grow sideways and twisty. They are now beginning to get a bit long (not helped by her long broody spell) so she requires a pedicure. That should be fun.)

Purdy, The Web Footed Chicken

While checking over the new girls, I came across a curious thing. Quite how I missed it, I don't know. Purdy has fused toes. On both feet, her second and third toes are joined quite closely together by a thin web of skin. Also, her second toe on one foot is slightly twisted, so that her nail is vertical rather than horizontal. None of my other girls have ever had this odd deformity, but by a weird coincidence 'Practical Poultry' magazine features an article this month on pekins. Apparently, this is a major fault for show birds, and should be avoided if showing is your intention. Luckily for Purdy, the closest she will get to a show will be parading around the garden and being judged by her flock mates.

Purdy and Celia continue to eat their way through their growers pellets, and produce their own weight in poo. They are getting used to my comings and goings, and try to escape whenever they have an audience. I have taken to leaving the garage door propped open while I attend to all my girls, and Purdy likes to sit on the edge of the brooder looking out. The inevitable happened just a few days ago. As Purdy enjoyed staring out in to the garden, Doris wandered in to view. Both birds saw each other at the same time. Purdy offered a tentative 'meep' at the older hen. Doris took this in, then turned tail and waddled up the garden, squawking loudly to the others.

I think it's safe to say that my girls now know about the new arrivals.