Carol's Chickens

This is a very sad post that I have been putting off writing for quite some time. I have gone through the emotions of feeling that we are really unlucky to feeling upset to ultimately feeling sad.

On the day that we got Diamond I noticed that she had a slightly mucky bottom. Within the first few days we noticed she was very inactive but as she isn’t a breed we have had before I wondered if it was because she was what the breeder described as a heavy bodied bird.

Her bottom became more mucky and she spent a lot of time sitting. Within her first few days with us we noticed that when sitting her breathing was laboured. Her tail would bob up and down and she would have her beak open while breathing.

At this point my thoughts were that it could be the dreaded mico (respiratory problem). It has never flared up when bringing in new girls before but I wondered if this was the exception. Despite thinking I didn’t have enough tylan for another treatment I measured a teaspoon into my little dishes and found there was more than I had thought and there was enough for six days of treatment.

I felt I had nothing to lose in treating the flock with tylan to be on the safe side so I started putting it in the drinking water on Diamond’s fifth day with us. I knew if it was a respiratory problem she should start to improve by the third day.

Instead of starting to improve Diamond appeared to be slightly worse and was now making a sound like a hiccup. At first I thought she had something stuck but she continued to make this sound regularly.

I then remembered that I had heard this sound before. I took Sienna, one of our seramas, to the vet because she was making this same sound and the stress of putting her in the cat box and taking her to the vet sent her in to heart failure.

The vet said that Sienna had a heart problem and the hiccuping sound was a symptom. It turned out that Jasmine, her sibling, had a heart problem too and we lost her six months later.

I have since researched the internet for symptoms of a heart problem in chickens and it says – difficulty breathing, coughing or hiccuping sound and reduced exercise tolerance. I am now convinced that Diamond does have a heart problem.

Diamond looks okay when she is standing up but it’s when she is sitting that her breathing becomes laboured. She also looked worse when we had a hot day. She is eating, drinking and enjoying the treats of greens or apple.

I know that if I called the breeder he would probably offer me another bird but he doesn’t have any other breeds that I want and anyway I don’t have the heart to bring in any more girls.

I know that if this had been mico the tylan would have made her better and the fact that it hasn’t and the sound that she is making is the same as Sienna was making makes me absolutely certain that it’s a heart problem. I also know that the breeder would not have known this and it is just really bad luck.

The positive thing is that it isn’t something than can effect the other girls and at the moment Diamond seems to have a good quality of life. As soon as she looks like she is struggling I will take her to the vet to firstly check my diagnosis is correct and to have her put to sleep.

There is nothing that can be done for a heart problem so I am not going to stress her with a vet visit until I have to. The advise on line is to feed layers pellets, not growers pellets, and fruit and veg which I am already doing.

It is so sad as Diamond is such a lovely girl. She has very quickly become used to me and will take spinach from my fingers and is very calm when I pick her up to perch her each evening. She waddles towards me when I go in the run.

I don’t think there is anything else I can do but keep an eye on her and try to give her the best life possible for however long she is with us.

On Sunday Dot laid an egg for the first time in three months. When she came to us in May she laid three eggs each six days apart and then stopped and started moulting. Now she has stopped moulting and I noticed her comb was redder. She also became vocal again after being completely quiet while moulting.

On the same day that Dot laid Sugar, Gold and Snowflake also laid giving us our first, four egg day, for two months. It almost seems that having new girls in the flock has kick started laying.

On the other hand Diamond who was supposed to be already laying immediately started a partial moult. Her every move sees white feathers drifting from her and she hasn’t yet laid an egg since she has been with us.

Snowflake has laid fourteen eggs since taking a week’s break after a mini moult and has now gone broody. Several times I have thought she was broody in the past but it only lasted a few days. This time she has been in the nest box for two days and she pecks me when I lift her out.

Today both Sugar and Gold have laid. Gold insisted on laying her egg in the nest box with Snowflake and Snowflake ignored her presence next to her possibly so that she could sit on her egg once it was laid.

Diamond likes to perch on the log. She goes from the patio to the wooden block to the small log and then to the big log like stepping stones. today was also the first day that we have seen Diamond have a dust bath whereas Saffron has had a dust bath every day since her arrival with us.

Both Diamond and Saffron go in the chicken shed at the end of the day but they sit together on the floor and I have to lift them to the perch. I am not sure that Diamond is able to jump up to the perch herself so I have ordered a perch on line for her.

It is a low free standing perch that is heavy so it won’t tip. She should be able to just step on and off of it. I am hoping that both Diamond and Saffron will use the new perch as they seem to like to be together.

Recently we have had just one girl, that being Snowflake, laying out of eight girls and I have had to buy eggs. Eggs aren’t the most important thing to me but even so it would be good to have some eggs. Also three girls are getting elderly and so I decided it would be good to add a few more girls.

For the past week I have been researching bantam breeders either nearby or who deliver. I like my girls what I call “clean chickens”. That means no crests, no beards and no feathered feet.

Two breeders had sold everything before they were even sexed and would have nothing more this year. Then third time lucky I found a breeder half an hour away who had two of the breeds I liked. He had just moved and preferred to deliver for a charge of fifteen pounds which I thought was very reasonable.

He said that he could deliver on Thursday. As luck would have it on the same day I called him both Sugar and Gold laid an egg. Even so I was super excited at the thought of new girls.

I had chosen a bantam buff plymouth rock and a bantam light sussex. Both beautiful birds and good layers and hardy.

Thursday the breeder arrived with the new girls at lunch time. He had bought four girls for me to make my choice from. One light sussex, two buff plymouth rock and one silver spangled wyndotte just to give me an extra choice.

The light sussex is seven months old and already laying. She is bigger than I was expecting. There was a seven month old buff rock also laying and a five month old buff rock just about to start laying. I chose the slightly younger buff rock. She is a beautiful colour. I have called the buff rock Saffron and the light sussex Diamond.

I have been successful with adding one older girl straight into the flock and I asked the breeder if he thought it would be okay to do the same thing with these two older girls. He suggested I try it and then separate them if it all kicked off but was fairly confident it would be fine. He had a quick look at our flock and set up.

I decided to give it a try and sit with a book to keep an eye on them with a water spray to hand just in case it was needed. I am so glad that I did it this way as it was absolutely fine. Diamond soon took her place as new head girl. She chased each girl in turn to establish her place at the top but there was nothing nasty. Saffron seems to be at the bottom. Dot and Gold chased Saffron. The seramas gave her a gentle peck when she got too close and the other girls took no notice of her.

Saffron very quickly found the food, water and the afternoon treat of apple. Despite some chasing away she just bounced back and soon seemed really settled. Diamond seemed much slower to find everything. I steered her towards the patio and she did peck the apple but didn’t go to the food or water despite Saffron being there. I am sure she will soon find it when she is ready.

The breeder took them from his box and put them in my cat box which I had ready. I set the cat box down on the chicken’s patio and they made no attempt to come out. I decided to remove the top of the cat box and it took a few moments for them to venture out.

I wondered how well they would manage at bedtime and was very pleased with how it went for a first night. Diamond found her way in to the chicken shed but was sitting under the perch. I lifted her to the perch.

Saffron settled in the small shelter so I picked her up and perched her next to Diamond. I am sure she will soon get the hang of it. I thought that was a good result for a first night.

This morning they are all together and all is quiet and calm so I am very pleased with how it is going. It will be interesting to see if Diamond lays an egg today. I am so happy with the flock and am certain that I won’t be needing to buy eggs again for a while.

We are once again experiencing unusually high temperatures for us. It has been 33/34 degrees c which is low 90’s degrees f. This time we have had a week of these temperatures and they are forecast to continue to the end of the weekend.

Yesterday Flame was beak panting and holding out her wings. I gave the girls frozen peas in dishes of water and damped down parts of the run. This morning I was shopping and so I bought the girls a melon. I cut a couple of slices and halved them then froze them.

This morning I had given the girls frozen peas but this afternoon I gave them the frozen melon. While taking the slices out of the freezer I replaced them with fresh slices for tomorrow and will keep doing this until the weather cools.

The melon doesn’t stay frozen for long but it must be cooling and refreshing when I first put it on the girl’s patio and they all rush to it. Flame looked more comfortable today so I think it really does help.

I think I can safely say that the girls enjoyed their melon.

The five days of tylan in the water are now finished and Flame is looking back to normal. I really hope that this time she will stay well. There is still a lot of moulting going on. There was a lull in the amount of feathers I was picking up but now there seems to be a second wave with lots of feathers in the run again.

Flame’s feathers have mostly grown in and her tail is almost back to it’s normal length. I am now finding her long wing feathers in the run and she has some loose wing feathers.

Flame likes to stick to the shade unlike the rest of the flock who like to sit in the sun. Flame’s favourite spots to sit when it’s sunny are both the shelters and under the metal table.

Snowflake is now moulting too and sometimes when she moves feathers waft from her but despite this she is now laying again. She has now laid three eggs in four days since she started laying again. Gold is also losing a few feathers and hasn’t started laying again so far.

Dot is also having a second wave and leaving small feathers behind in her dust bathing spots. Despite this she is looking good.

I am breaking Sugar from her broody spell once more and she spent last night in the broody crate. At the moment with only Snowflake laying I am closing the nest boxes and the pop hole once Snowflake has laid her egg and returning Sugar to the run for the day. Snowflake laid first thing this morning so Sugar was soon back in the run.

It usually only takes a couple of nights to break Sugar out of her broody spell and it will be good to do this before the higher temperatures that are forecast from the middle of next week.

It will also be good in a couple of weeks time to have Sugar laying again. I am hoping the eggs we have will just about last until we have two girls laying again.

I am hoping that all will stay well with the flock with no more dramas for a while.

A few days ago we noticed that Flame was sitting with her head under her wing. A little later I noticed that she had her right eye closed again.

I was gutted as I thought that we had got her through this. I wonder if her age and a really heavy moult and the heat is enough stress for the mico to return.

I am aware that I can’t keep on treating her, given her age, if this keeps returning and I have to think of the health of the rest of the flock. I may have to make a decision at some stage that it may be kinder to have her put to sleep. But I have enough tylan for one more treatment and I feel that I can’t give up without once last try.

So the flock are back on tylan in the water for five days.

By the second day of the tylan Flame was looking better. Yesterday we gave the girls a lettuce from the allotment that had gone to seed and Flame was the first to it. By the end of the day it had completely disappeared.

In other news we now have no girls laying. Sugar is broody again after laying nine eggs. Gold and Snowflake haven’t laid for a week so they appear to being taking a break. Storm stopped laying half way through July after laying fifty five eggs in three months.

I don’t think we have ever had no girls laying at this time of year before. I am hoping that Gold and Snowflake will start up again. I will put Sugar in the broody crate once they have completed the five days on tylan.

I am really not sure how this will go with flame but will have to wait and see how she is at the end of the treatment. I will come back with her progress and will keeping my fingers crossed.

Edit

Snowflake laid late this afternoon so we now have one girl laying again, hurrah!

I realised recently that if we hadn’t added the three newer girls in February we would have had hardly any eggs this year.

Salmon hasn’t laid at all this year which was actually a relief as it has meant that she has remained in good health. She hasn’t moulted and has kept a red comb.

Spangle laid five eggs and then stopped laying in early May and has moulted. While moulting she has a pale comb.

Sugar lays eight eggs and then goes broody. She hasn’t moulted at all and looks pristine and has a red comb.

Dot laid four eggs, each one six days apart, then stopped laying and hasn’t laid for two months. She has been moulting slowly during this time and has gone from very tattered to looking good but with a slightly pale comb.

Flame hasn’t laid since mid June when she first went broody and then moulted quite heavily. She is looking tatty and has a pale comb.

Gold lays for two days then misses a day. She has moulted a little behind her tail where she now has fluffy feathers and has some ragged tail feathers. She has a red comb.

Snowflake lays for two or three days running and then misses a day and she has a very ragged tail and wing feathers and a red comb.

Storm looks pristine and hasn’t lost any feathers and has a red comb. Storm was our best layer and would lay four days in a row then miss one day. However Storm hasn’t laid for five days now so I think that she may have come to the end of her laying season for this year. She has laid for three months.

Game birds usually have a short laying season but lay well during the time that they are laying. Toffee and Emerald also laid well but only for two or three months.

Ebony and Flame both laid for longer but they have more of the wyandotte in their mix. As Storm is a pure breed I had expected her to have a short season. Everything I read about her said that her breed doesn’t lay well and I have been surprised at how well she has laid until now so I am assuming that she is finished for this year.

By the way that is apple in front of Salmon that the girls have made dirty.

I included this extra photo of Storm because it is only when she stands upright that she shows her true height. The other day she was standing like this alongside Flame and it was funny to see that they were the same height despite being such different sizes.

So the flock are all at different stages of feathering at the moment. I have been picking up loads of feathers from the run each day but today it has slowed down a bit. There will be more to come later in the year as the rest of the girls moult.

Today is even hotter than yesterday. London has reached a temperature of just over 40 degrees c/ 105 degrees f which has broken all previous records.

All the girls have been beak panting today. As well as doing all the same things as yesterday I also gave the girls frozen slices of melon. This went down very well.

I am glad that this is the last day of the very high temperatures as I don’t like to see the girls struggling with the heat. I am sure the girls will be glad to get back to normal.

Today we have had a temperature of 37 degrees c/ 100 degrees f. This is exceptionally hot for us. It is forecast the same tomorrow and then it will return to more normal temperatures for us.

The girls were really feeling it today. By the afternoon most of the girls had their wings held out and were beak panting. I dampened down the shaded areas of the run. I changed the water frequently for colder water.

In the afternoon I gave them frozen peas in water to bob for. When they were still panting a bit later I gave them chopped tomatoes straight from the fridge.

Tonight’s temperature is forecast to remain high for one night only so tonight I will prop the chicken shed door open. The run is secure and the chicken shed can’t be seen from outside.

In other news we now have four girls laying. Gold and Sugar both laid three days ago after one week broody and another week’s break. Snowflake also laid that day. Yesterday Gold and Storm laid and today Snowflake, Gold and Storm laid.

I am pleased to say that despite moulting like crazy Flame doesn’t seem as effected by the heat as the rest of the girls. Flame just finds the shadiest spots to sit in with her favourite spot being under the metal table. It is good to see her taking the heat in her stride.

Flame always moults in the same way. She always loses her tail at about half way through her moult. It completely changes her shape. I always think she looks like a giant quail.

I was trying to capture her current shape and caught her mid scratch. I thought it was such a funny shot of her that I decided to keep it in.

Flame will soon grow her new tail and look pristine again.

In other news a few nights in the broody crate broke Sugar of her broody spell and Gold has been checking out the nest boxes so may start laying again soon.

We have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday forecast to be really hot so I will be giving the girls frozen peas on those days and damping down some of the shady parts of the run.