Carol's Chickens

When I let the girls out this morning Dandelion had more of a crust on her right eye than yesterday. We assume she must have had eye bubbles during the night and like conjunctivitis they form a crust by morning.

Dandelion has a crusty right eye

At this moment she scratched at it with her claws and managed to dislodge it.

Dandelion managed to scratch the crust away

Dandelion had a good drink of the tylan water and some of the mash also made with the tylan water. I didn’t see any more eye bubbles during the day.

I am hoping that putting the girls back on the tylan may have nipped this in the bud quickly. I will continue with the tylan for at least seven days and reassess then.

I have been keeping a very close eye on the girls in case there is any sign of a relapse with the respiratory disease. The sneezing has become less frequent and quieter but not gone completely.

However there had been no dosing in the afternoons, no wheezing and no eye bubbles. The girls have been active and eating well.

Then yesterday I noticed that Dandelion had a tiny white speck on the top of her right eyelid. I picked her up for a close inspection and while I held her as still as possible my husband touched it with a cotton bud to see if he could remove it. He said that it felt crusty and it didn’t move. We decided to leave it alone as we don’t want to risk harming her.

I tried to photograph it but it is difficult to see as it is tiny.

Dandelion’s eye lid

It is the tiniest white speck on her eye lid in the top corner nearest her beak. I wonder if she has had an eye bubble that has formed into a crust. I decided to keep a very close eye on her.

Dandelion a bit later in the big shelter

A bit later I checked her again and she had bubbles in her right eye.

Later in the small shelter her eye had cleared

I went back a little later and she had moved to the other shelter and her eyes were clear. I wondered if my husband had loosened the crusty bit and with blinking away the bubbles she had removed it as it was gone completely.

Later back in the big shelter

She now had bubbles in both her eyes

When I next checked on her she now had bubbles in both eyes. This is not good. It looks as if the problem has come back again. Both Freckles and Dandelion were dosing and not looking so good. They have had one week off the tylan and have remained well for one week.

I feel heart sick about this. I had really begun to think that we had beaten this. I plan to put them back on the tylan. I am aware that I can’t keep medicating them forever.

I will see how another course goes and make a decision later about what to do long term. I don’t see what else I can do at the moment but return to the regime and keep hoping for the best.

Recently the bedtime line up has been exactly the same every night. Cinnamon is always tucked very closely under Speckles wing. She always looks completely squashed in. As she is the smallest girl and moulting at the moment as well it is a good way for her to keep warm at night.

The current bedtime line up

Cinnamon is tucked under Speckles wing

I think Cinnamon must push her way under Speckles wing and Speckles being the good surrogate mum that she is, allows her to. This picture is the exact picture I see every night. I am pleased that the girls are staying cosy together.

Today the girls lined up together on the big, branch perch, above the ladder in a spot of sun. If there is any sun to be had at this time of the year it is in this spot and the girls will always find it.

In fact sometimes Emerald will wait in this spot for the sun to come round. The little girls join Emerald and Speckles once the sun is on the branch.

All the girls together in the sun

It’s difficult to get all the girls in shot because of the dividing wire and Freckles gets bleached out with the sun behind her but it shows their togetherness.

Perching in the sun

I don’t like taking photos from behind the weld mesh but I thought I would make an exception to show all the girls together. I love seeing them perching together like this.

Today I have only heard a few, very quiet, sneezes. The sneezes are becoming less each day which I am really pleased about.

Freckles looks a bit scrawny with her lack of feathers and Cinnamon looks a bit tattered. All four little girls have pins on their heads. I look forward to seeing them fully feathered again soon and I am pleased with their progress of getting back to normal.

In the summer we realised that our twisted willow tree had got huge. It was only about four or five feet high when we planted it eleven years ago. We wanted to add some height to the borders and at about twenty pounds it seemed a bargain. It fitted easily in the car that we had at that time.

This summer it was shading my sunny spot on the patio and as much of it was hanging in our neighbours garden as in ours. We had always told them to feel free to prune it but they said that they liked it. It was now over fifteen feet high.

We decided to wait until the end of the year and then give it a hard chop back. The end of the year came and went and yesterday my husband decided it was time to tackle it.

Our twisted willow tree in August

Our twisted willow tree after we have lopped it

Twisted willow tree from the same angle as the summer photo

I should have taken a winter photo of it before we lopped it but realised too late. I will take another comparison photo in the summer when it is green again. I am really pleased with it as I think it will be a much better shape and more manageable.

It is a good job done that we have been meaning to do for ages.

I am a bit late this year with my end of year egg count. It has thrown up some interesting figures.

Firstly I will start with the three girls who are no longer with me as they didn’t complete the full year.

Peaches and Barley were re homed with my friend Moira in May. Barley laid for longer as she started a month earlier than Peaches but Peaches laid more eggs.

Peaches laid 28 eggs in 3 months and Barley laid 25 eggs in 4 months. This gave Peaches an average of 9 eggs a month and Barley an average of 6 eggs a month.

Sadly we lost Rusty in September. Rusty laid 39 eggs in 6 months so she averaged 6 eggs a month.

Now for the current flock.

One thing that really surprised me was how poor a layer Speckles is. Speckles laid 27 eggs in 5 months giving her an average of 5 eggs a month. Emerald on the other hand, with her short season, laid 49 eggs in 4 months giving her an average of 12 eggs a month.

Now for the little girls. Freckles is by far the best layer and Apricot is right at the bottom.

Freckles laid 111 eggs in 10 months giving her an average of 11 eggs a month.

Dandelion laid 59 eggs in 9 months giving her an average of 6 eggs a month.

Cinnamon laid 71 eggs in 8 months giving her an average of 8 eggs a month.

Apricot laid 30 eggs in 7 months giving her an average of 4 eggs a month.

It’s difficult to get a true picture of the little girl’s egg laying ability because of the microplasma which caused them to stop laying when they may have otherwise continued to lay for longer. Also Freckles is six months older than the three amigos and so was laying sooner than they were. Next year will give them a full year of egg laying providing there are no problems.

Freckles started laying in March, Dandelion in April, Cinnamon in May and Apricot in June.  This is because Freckles was more mature than the other girls and silky feathered girls mature the slowest meaning Apricot was the last to start laying.

Freckles was also the most broody so she could have laid even more eggs without time off to be broody. Cinnamon was the only girl that laid right through to December with just 4 eggs in December before she started moulting.

I conclude that whilst my research showed that seramas lay in winter it is influenced slightly by moulting as well as this winter by being unwell. On the other hand even though they laid less in winter they still laid some eggs whilst the bigger two girls lay only for a short summer season.

Speckles laid for 5 months and Emerald for 4 months but the seramas have the potential to lay all year round depending on how early in the year they start laying. Freckles didn’t mature and start egg laying until March and Rusty matured and started egg laying in April.

This means that I won’t know until later this year when they will start laying. As they are still moulting and occasionally sneezing that could be a factor in them starting later.

It is quite clear though that Freckles is way out in front as the best layer and Apricot is by far the layer of least eggs.

We had a total of 439 eggs this year. 92 eggs were from flock members no longer with us and 347 eggs from the current six girls.

It will be interesting to see what this year brings.

I gave the girls some more yogurt as their New Year treat.

New year yogurt treat

Yogurt beaks

The girls love yogurt. They splash it around and then scrape their beaks clean on the patio. By the end of the day the yogurt dishes are empty.

This is the second day of no tylan and the girls seem to be staying well. The only thing that stops them appearing completely over this is the occasional sneeze. It is only occasional now though and only fairly quiet sneezes. I am feeling quite positive that we are through this but will be really glad when there are no sneezes at all.

Even the moulting seems to be slowing. The weather has remained milder which is good for the girls but I am so fed up with it being so wet. I look forward to brighter days soon. Roll on spring.

My lovely husband shopped for and prepared our New Year’s Eve meal. He arranged the food on my Christmas chicken plate.

Remember my Christmas chicken plate

It’s now a New year’s Eve platter

My chicken plate is loaded with goodies

We had a bottle of champagne gifted to us by one of my husband’s companies and a D.V.D to watch. We were all set for a lovely evening.

And a lovely evening it was. We watched the fire works at midnight and I sang auld lang syne at full volume as always and then we realised it was half past two. How did that happen!

Time for bed and a very Happy New Year to everybody.

We have twigs on our veg plot over the winter to stop the local cats using it as their toilet. I gathered them from the woodland behind our garden.

Recently we have noticed this bright yellow fungi has appeared on one of the thicker twigs. I have never seen this before and had no idea what it was. I googled it and it’s yellow brain fungus (tremella mesenterica), common in late autumn and early winter.

Weird yellow fungi

Close up of the fungi

It is such a bright colour and rather pretty.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with health and happiness.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The girls like the big shelter because they can all hang out together in there. Sometimes all the girls are inside and some times the two bigger girls appear to be standing guard on top of the shelter.

All the girls are in the big shelter

Dandelion is behind a blurred Speckles

Cinnamon is looking quite tatty

The quills are exposed on her wings

I wondered if the seramas moult so late in the year because they originate from Malaysia so I decided to look up the temperature there. It is really temperate with summer temperatures of 82 degrees F (28 degrees C) and winter temperatures of 81 degrees F (27 degrees C). I guess this means it doesn’t matter when they moult in Malaysia.

A little later Emerald and Speckles are standing guard on top of the shelter

While the little girls are below inside the shelter

It has now been one and a half weeks with no eye bubbles and no wheezing. The sneezing has almost gone with just an occasional small sneeze now.

Tomorrow will be day twenty eight of the tylan and will be the last day that I will give it unless there is a relapse. It seems appropriate to start the new year with a new regime. I will continue to give the girls the poultry zest to help them through the moult.

I am a little nervous of stopping the tylan but I have to stop sometime.

I am really hoping that we are through this now and that the new year will be a better year in the chicken run.