Carol's Chickens

Our flock is a very united flock but just occasionally they separate into two groups.

All the little girls together

Four little girls in a line

Two bigger girls together

Speckles and Emerald

These two know that this is where the sun always is in winter. The little girls soon joined them here. I love having such a united flock.

The moult seems to be going on forever this year but I think we are getting towards the end of it.

Speckles is looking good

Emerald still has very little tail

Freckles new tail feathers are looking amazing

Dandelion is looking good

Cinnamon has dropped her ragged tail feathers

Apricot is a fluff ball

Emerald just needs her tail feathers to grow in and Cinnamon needs a few more tail feathers and still has pins on her head yet to open but they are looking pretty good.

The girl’s bedtime routine is the same every day just like clockwork. They wait at the end of the run for me to go up and give them the bedtime corn. They then have a quick scratch by the patio area to make sure no corn has been missed.

Emerald always goes in first and always sits in this corner and always faces front

Followed by Speckles

The little girls always congregate in this corner before bedtime

At this point Speckles will often run out again and go up to the little girls and cluck at them. It is so obvious that she wants them to make their way in but they take little notice of her. She then returns to her spot next to Emerald.

Cinnamon is always the first little girl to go in to get her spot next to Speckles

Cinnamon always snuggles up to Speckles. She flutters her way under Speckles wing like a chick to her mum. She has a snug warm spot as close to Speckles as she can get.

Apricot is next in

Followed by Freckles and Dandelion is always last and always on the end

The only slight variation is that Freckles likes to be around the middle and sometimes her and Apricot may be the other way around. Cinnamon is always next to Speckles though and Dandelion is always on the end.

Emerald always faces the front but all the other girls will randomly face either way. It is quite sweet to this little routine play out each day.

Yesterday we were forecast snow in the morning and then rain in the afternoon giving us a whole wet day.

The snow turned out to be more than we expected. It snowed from eight in the morning until one in the afternoon when it did indeed turn to rain.

It’s snowing

The garden in the snow

Luckily it was too wet to settle. The forecast is much milder for the next week which will be welcome.

Apricot has a habit of, quite often, having a dust bath just before bedtime. She waits until I have given the girls the bedtime corn then digs herself a dust hole. I always think the dust she is flicking over herself must be rather cold at this time of day.

Apricot has a dust bath before bedtime

End of day dust bath

When she has finished she shakes herself off and joins the rest of the girls at the patio ready to make their way into the chicken shed for the night.

Yesterday was the first day back on tylan and by the afternoon Dandelion had managed to clear the crust from her eye. I wanted to see if she could clear it herself, without my help, and despite being there all morning it was gone by the afternoon. I assume that, like last time, she scratched it off.

Dandelion’s right eye is now clear

I hope that with the milder weather that is forecast this may be the end of this for now.

Yesterday we had a frosty day and therefore I inspected Dandelion’s eyes again.  Once again she had a crusty right eye. She also seems to be sneezing a little more and I can hear a bit of a whisper in her breathing. It seems that the respiratory disease is always lurking under the surface and as soon as we have frosty weather it resurfaces in Dandelion.

I am aware that I can’t treat forever but I have also read that it doesn’t go away untreated and that tylan can be used at intervals as a preventative so I have decided that to be on the safe side I will treat again for five days.

So for the next five days I will be putting tylan in the water again and making dishes of mash with tylan water to get as much into the girls as possible. I will also add the ground up poultry zest to help with the moult. Whenever I make mash at the moment I add the zest to try to give the girls a boost.

Dandelion has a crusty right eye again

Freckles seems to have come through this but Dandelion is the weakest of the girls and seems the most susceptible to this reoccurring. It always seems to be her right eye. I just hope that I can keep treating whenever this arises and get her safely through to spring. I feel sure that once we get into better weather the girls will come through this.

I am keeping everything crossed and hoping that we won’t have too many more frosts.

This photo is very similar to the photo in my last post but this time it is a layer of frost sparkling in the sun rather than a sprinkling of snow.

Sparkling frost this morning

The good news is that it is only forecast for today and then it is getting milder again. I know we are lucky in the south that we haven’t had the awful weather that the rest of the country has been having.

My blogging has been a bit erratic at the moment because I have the lergy. I mustn’t grumble as everyone around us seemed to have had this at Christmas and we felt really lucky to get away with it. I have had it for just over a week now and am hoping that it’s almost over.

It started with a really sore throat which was so sensitive that eating certain foods would have me coughing and choking. It went on to a hacking cough and sneezing fits, sleepless nights, aching all over and yesterday afternoon sitting reading a book with a box of tissues on my lap as I was dripping like a tap and I have a very sore nose despite using vaseline. This is the worst cold I have had in a very long time and even my lovely husband said that I looked really rough!

I have taken photos of the girls but just didn’t have the will to sort them out and write a post so have made do with short posts and will put photos out later. I think this peaked yesterday and I am hopeful that I am now on the mend.

I know that there are plenty worse off than me but just thought it would explain my lack of blogging at the moment. Normal services will soon be resumed.

Scotland have just had a heap of snow. They had two inches or more and the northern part of England had quite a bit too. It seems to have fizzled out as it came southwards which was lucky for us. This was what we woke up to this morning.

Sparkling snow on the cabin roof

Only the roofs had a smattering of snow around us and the early morning sunshine made it sparkle. It didn’t last for long. The wind chill factor has made it feel colder today but we are so lucky to escape the snow. It caused chaos in the north of the country.

The girls know the drill in this weather. They all congregate on the perch above the ladder to catch the morning sun. As soon as the sun is gone from there they alternate between the two shelters. The shelters have proved invaluable this winter. I am really pleased at how much the girls take advantage of them.

The girls are looking good and the sneezing is gradually getting less and less. Cinnamon is dropping her tail feathers but she continues to roost under Speckles wing at night so I feel she is able to keep herself warm. It is heartwarming to see them snuggled up together.

I feel that the flock is in a better place than it has been for a while and I am looking forward to getting the girls into spring and warmer weather.

It feels as if the girls have been moulting forever this year. Seramas are supposed to moult a few feathers at a time all year round rather than have a big annual moult. Well Emerald is doing a good impression of a serama moult as she has been moulting a bit at the time since June.

And the seramas are doing a good impression of a big annual moult or at least Freckles and Cinnamon are. Emerald has been dropping tail feathers over the last few weeks and has no tail at the moment. Freckles is almost feathered up back to normal and Cinnamon is tatty and two tone in feather colour.

Freckles is looking good

She looks almost back to normal with just some little feathers sticking up around her head.

Emerald has no tail

She also has some pins on her head.

Dandelion is looking good

There are just a few pins remaining on her head.

Speckles

She doesn’t seem to change much but even she is still dropping the odd feather.

Apricot is looking good

She turned her head away just as I took this but it shows her feathers so I kept it. She also just has a few pins on her head.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon has the most pins on her head and still has a way to go yet as she has lots of ragged tail feathers. Her breast has filled in though and her feathers seem to be two toned at the moment with darker feathers on her wings.

I wonder if it’s Emerald’s age that has caused such a long moult this year. I don’t remember her ever taking this long over it before. It seems with seramas that the straight feathered girls have a proper moult whereas the other feather types do seem to be more gradual.

It will be interesting to see how it goes next year. I am looking forward to having all the girls fully feathered again and won’t miss picking up the feathers every day. I am sure they will soon be pristine once more.

I am going to stop the tylan once more, after seven days, this time round. Dandelion has had no more eye bubbles and all the girls seem to be absolutely normal apart from occasional, quiet sneezes. I sometimes wonder if the sneezing will ever disappear but I am sure in time it will. I hope that in spring it will fade out completely.

I had agreed before Christmas that I would talk to my vet again in the new year and we would review the situation. I left a message for her with the veterinary receptionist and she called me back for an update.

We discussed how things have been going. I told her I had stopped treating with tylan after a month and that a week later when it was frosty again Dandelion had bubbles in her eyes once more. I then treated again for seven days and after a few days there were no more bubbles.

I mentioned the recent essay on mycoplasma that I had found and the new snippets of information I have gleaned from it. I did a post on it here.

We agreed that I should carry on as I am, using tylan at any time that I see symptoms and keeping a stock of tylan at all times. My vet is happy for me to call any time I run low and get some more so that I always have stock.

We discussed that going forward I would perhaps add older girls to the flock as they would be less likely to be susceptible to mycoplasma and that I would treat with tylan at the very first sign of any symptoms. We agreed that we had both learned a lot about mycoplasma during this past year and she said that she would add the details of our discussion to my notes at the veterinary practice.

We are both happy that we are managing the situation in the best way that we can and that I will keep a stock of tylan at all times and remain vigilant for symptoms at all times.

The girls this morning