Carol's Chickens

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.

I am afraid to say too much in case I jinx it but I think the little girls are finally getting back to normal.

There has been no more wheezing and eye bubbles and the sneezing is fading now to less often and quieter sneezes. I think it’s finally going. I am going to keep up the current regime until New Years Eve. That will be day twenty eight of the tylan.

I am afraid to stop but I must stop sometime so that seems a good time to stop treating and see what happens. I could always treat them again if there is a relapse.

Yesterday was frosty again and the girls hang out around the two shelters on frosty days. The shelters have proved really worthwhile this winter. They have had loads of use on cold days and Speckles likes to hang out on top of both shelters.

The little girls hang out by the big shelter

While Speckles hangs out on top of the big shelter

Emerald is on the perch at the end of the run

Speckles is never far from the little girls but Emerald likes to wait on the perches at the end of the run for the sun to come round.

I am hopeful that the new year will see the girls back to full health. They are such a lovely, close, flock and I want to see them going into the new year together.

Boxing day I gave the girls fish for their treat. One by one they all got their share.

Speckles has some

Emerald has some

Apricot has some

Freckles has some

Dandelion has some

Cinnamon has some

By the end of the day all the fish had gone. I think they enjoyed that.

The girls are looking so much better. There has been no wheezing and no eye bubbles since the weather turned milder and the sneezing is much quieter. If it wasn’t for the sneezing I would think they were completely well.

I am going to stick to the current regime until the sneezing stops completely as I am afraid of them having a set back once more. Cinnamon is now moulting quite heavily and I continue to pick up loads of feathers each day. It seems that the two straight feathered girls moult the most heavily.

The girls are bright and active and eating well and even Freckles comb is looking more red than recently. I am hopeful that we are finally through the worst of this. As long as the next cold spell doesn’t set them back I think we may be on the road to full recovery.

It wouldn’t be Christmas in our house without some form of chicken gift. This year I received this gorgeous plate.

Chicken plate

Close up of chicken plate

It’s large and heavy and I can just see it loaded with the cold meat left overs to be served over the next few days. I love it.

The girls are having some yogurt as their Christmas day treat.

Yogurt for the girls

Yogurt treat

They are enjoying the yogurt

The girls seem so much better. I didn’t hear any snuffling yesterday or today and the sneezing is much more subtle. They are still sneezing but much quieter, smaller, sneezes and not so frequent. I hardly dare say too much but I really think they are on the mend.

The moult is picking up though with Cinnamon now dropping loads of feathers and looking a little tatty. I just hope this milder weather lasts for a while.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas.

The milder weather seems to be helping the girls. Since the weather has turned milder there have been no eye bubbles. The sneezing has been a lot less but I can still hear the snuffly sound to Dandelion’s breathing. I think Dandelion is the weakest of the little girls.

This morning I hand fed them some spinach so that I could get some photos.

Freckles has some spinach

Speckles and Emerald

Apricot has spinach and Emerald photo bombs

Dandelion and Apricot have spinach

Emerald finishes the spinach leaf

Dandelion

Cinnamon

Apart from Dandelion being a bit snuffly I think they are looking a lot better. I just hope the next cold spell doesn’t set them back again.

Today we have our first full turkey Christmas celebration with my side of the family and little six month old grandson’s first Christmas. Christmas day will be just the two of us and then two days later a roast lamb celebration with my husband’s side of the family and two older grandchildren so it’s full on from today.

I would like to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year and I will pop in with updates when ever I have time.

Over the last few days I have tried asking at local pet stores if any of them could get hold of denagard in a manageable amount. Nobody was able to help me. There seems nothing for it but to carry on with the current routine.

Throughout all of my research I haven’t found anyone who has used tylan for this long. I am having to trust my instincts here. I think if I stopped using it the girls may relapse. The daily tylan seems to be keeping them stable and doesn’t seem to be having any ill effects so I think I should just keep up with this regime even if I have to continue until spring.

I had expected to have had to make a horrible decision by now but the girls have remained stable so I think I must carry on as I am and keep hoping that they will eventually come through this.

Freckles and Dandelion remain the worse with occasional slight wheezing, occasional bubbles in their eyes and sneezing. Apricot and Cinnamon have occasional sneezing but other than that look okay. Emerald and Speckles seem to remain unaffected although they too sneeze occasionally. They are all eating well.

I am picking up loads of feathers from Freckles in the chicken shed in the mornings and she is looking quite tatty. Seramas are supposed to moult lightly all year round but Freckles is having the same sort of complete moult that the bigger girls have. I just hope the milder weather will help them.

I have had discussions with my vet today and we have run through all the options. Getting the denagard is proving to be very difficult and would be very costly. My vet has had talks with people who have farms as this was one of the leads I had been advised to follow up. The opinion was that the denagard may not make a difference and that when this situation has gone on so long the outcome may not be positive.

We decided that I would collect more tylan so that I have enough to last into the new year and that I would continue the current regime and we would assess the situation again in the new year. We talked about the difficult decision that may occur at a later date if it becomes obvious that there is no improvement. Our joint worry is that there may come a point where this has gone on so long that it is only being managed by the treatment and not being cured. There is also the possibility that the girls will become imune to the tylan if it is given long term.

My vet has spent time researching on my behalf and talking it through with me (twice today, morning and late afternoon) and I feel she is doing her absolute best for me but I know we are both agreed that we can only do so much and there will be a decision to be made in the new year, but we both agree that we don’t want to give up too soon.

It is so difficult to make a decision when there are moments when the girls seem really well in other ways. They were all dust bathing this morning. The next time I checked on them Freckles had lost her last remaining tail feather.

Oddly enough she was taking a real interest in the second grit box that is out in the run. With egg laying firmly a thing of the past at the moment, why the interest in the grit!

Freckles has lost her tail feathers today

The little girls gather together around Freckles

The little girls with Freckles firmly ensconced in the grit

Freckles at the grit

A tail less Freckles in the grit

What is this all about! Who knows what goes through their little chicken brains. They clearly haven’t given up yet and therefore neither can I.

I know that ultimately I have to make the decisions here but at the moment it is still too soon. Chickens usually very quickly get better or reach the point of no return but these girls seem to be defying that at the moment and while they are not giving in I can’t give in either. So for the moment it is a case of carry on with the routine, try to stay positive and hope for the best with everything crossed.