Caramel keeps me on my toes

This little girl has given me several scares since I have been caring for her, but goodness me, she has wrapped herself around my heart.

The first heart stopping moments were going out into the run first thing in the morning and seeing all the girls except Caramel. I have now got used to her not coming out of the chicken shed in the morning and have stopped panicking when I don’t see her.

In fact I think she knows the routine and actually waits in the shed in the morning for me to come and get her.

The second scare came a few days into her treatment. I had her in the cat box after her meds to have a feed without competition. I looked at her and saw what I thought was the same problem she has in her right eye, also in her left eye. It was cloudy and I panicked. If the problem was in both eyes then it could mean it wasn’t a peck or injury but something viral which would be much more serious plus her chance of survival with a problem in both eyes would be vastly reduced.

I called my husband and we looked at her together and her left eye was normal and looking at me as if wondering what was going on. It was just her third eyelid closed for a few seconds. Chickens have a third eyelid that helps moisten, clean and protect from dust especially when dust bathing. Many a photograph of a chicken can be spoiled by this spooky looking third eye lid being closed. Whew! what a relief! Her left eye is fine.

The third scare came today. From past experience with chickens I know a lot about telling their condition from their poop. Both Treacle and Sparkle had bright green poops just before I had to have them put to sleep. This means their internal organs are not working properly and usually occurs, as in both my girls, when they have given up and stopped eating. Caramel’s poop has been a good, normal, colour which indicates the eye problem is external not internal.

This afternoon I checked on the two little girls sitting on top of the nest box together and got a fright when I saw a few little blobs of green poop. My heart sank and at that moment, right on cue, Caramel did a normal looking poop. I then remembered that a bit earlier on I had seen Pebbles tucking into the spinach. What they eat also colours their poop. Whew! another scare and relief again. Caramel is really keeping me on my toes!

When I bought Caramel in at half past three for her second meds and a feed I was able to monitor her poops in the cat box and, thank goodness, they were normal.

Bedtime is causing a bit of confusion. Because I put the little girls in the little coop/nest box for the last few nights for safety, until the other girls had settled, Pebbles now thinks that’s where she should go and settled in there at dusk. I know it’s me that has made her confused but I did it to protect Caramel at bedtime.

Tonight I waited until dusk and then put both little girls on the bedtime perch. Tomorrow I will close the nest boxes at bedtime. I am sure that they will soon get the hang of it.

The two little girls on the bedtime perch

As long as Caramel is getting better, albeit very very slowly, the bedtime routine is the least of my worries. It will sort itself out eventually.