Carol's Chickens

Sugar has stopped laying after laying only five eggs in nine days. She hasn’t followed her normal broody pattern. She usually lays six eggs then is broody, staying in the nest box after laying and puffing herself up and when I lift her out of the nest box she is full of angry broody hormones.

This time Sugar laid five eggs then missed a day without going to the nest box. She lays every other day. The following day she went in the nest box for what I thought would be her sixth egg. Sugar didn’t lay egg number six but has been going in the nest box ever since.

Sugar doesn’t look broody though and there is none of her usual behavior. It is as if she is still waiting to lay her sixth egg. We have never seen her looking so not broody and yet she is spending most of her time in the nest box. When I lift her out she preens, eats, drinks and sometimes has a dust bath. It is without the usual frenzied speed. She then returns to the nest box.

Snow has come back into lay today after a two week break. It’s funny how the pattern continues with one girl stopping and one girl starting.

Snow’s torpedo shaped egg on the left, Sugar’s last egg in the middle and a medium shop bought egg on the right for size comparison.

I wonder if having a day of not laying after Sugar’s last egg has changed her behaviour so that she isn’t looking broody even though she is spending her time in the nest box. It is most odd.

I will continue lifting Sugar out for breaks before deciding if she needs to go in the broody crate to break her out of it. I am perching Sugar at bedtime.

Well done snow! It’s good to continue with some eggs even if they are rather tiny.

Snow, who was recently our only egg layer, went broody two days ago. She had laid thirteen eggs in three weeks. Today Sugar has come back in to lay after a three week break. Sugar will only lay six or seven eggs before going broody again but it may just take us up to Snow coming back into lay.

We seem to be following a pattern of one girl stops and one girl starts.

At this end of the year we are just happy to have any eggs at all. Well done Sugar!

Since I started spraying Autumn’s legs and feet every night with the “healthy legs and feet” spray she has healed nicely. She pecked two more small spots after that but now hasn’t pecked her legs for a week.

I suddenly realised how many sprays I now have in my chicken store cabinet.

This seems ridiculous but I actually feel that they are all invaluable.

Storm is now moulting and I am finding lots of little black feathers in the chicken shed and the run. I think this means she is finished laying for this year. Both Storm and Gold stopped laying at the end of August last year so I think they are finished for now.

I think only Sugar will come back into lay as she finished laying at the end of October last year and she isn’t moulting yet but she only lays six to seven eggs before going broody so it won’t be many.

That leaves just Snow laying and possibly Red if she ever gets started.

I gave the girls a fish treat today as the extra protein is good for them while moulting.

Red has been dropping feathers ever she since she came to us. I can’t remember having a first year girl drop so many feathers before although she never looks any different. She is taking her time maturing.

Snow is giving us enough eggs for one breakfast a week but as long as the girls are happy and healthy I don’t mind.

I think at last Autumn is on the mend. I have been using another spray on her each evening. Once she is perched at bedtime it’s easy to lift her and spray her legs and feet. I have been using “healthy legs and feet”. It says it cleanses bacteria, fungi and all irritants. I have a huge amount of sprays in my store cabinet at the moment!

Autumn hasn’t pecked any new spots over the last few days and is healing. She is back to eating normally and dust bathing and walking better. It’s really difficult to get a photo of her feet because she is now so wary of me picking her up. This was the best I could get, while she was distracted by the spinach.

In other news Storm went broody three days ago. She had laid eight eggs in thirteen days. Luckily she gives up being broody after one day of being kept out of the nest box. Sugar is also through with being broody.

We are now back to just one egg layer, that being Snow, layer of the tiny torpedo shaped eggs. Snow is a month older than Red and has been laying for three months.

Red is now seven months old and still doesn’t look ready to start laying. I did a bit of research and it says that wyndottes are slow to mature and often late to start laying but are good layers when they start and sometimes lay through winter. Time will tell.

A few days ago I saw a frog in the garden.

I haven’t been able to identify it despite googling it. It was quite big, about three to four inches long. I only managed this one photo before it jumped away.

I was walking up to the chickens when it jumped in front of me and to my amazement it squeezed through the weld mesh into the chicken run. It looked too big to fit through the weld mesh.

It was trapped in a corner and soon had a semi circle of girls surrounding it. It made no attempt to go back through the weld mesh. I knew that I had to get it out as it might be toxic if the girls pecked it plus it would be harmed if they pecked it.

I put on a disposable glove and picked it up round it’s middle and made my way to the chicken gate as quickly as possible. It cried all the way. I hadn’t ever heard a frog cry before and didn’t even know they could cry. By the time I reached the chickens’ patio it was peeing a torrent of liquid. I felt so sorry for it as it was obviously terrified. I made it out and it jumped into the garden.

It stayed under the leaves so I went back with my husband and my camera. He managed to see it too and I got just this one photo before it jumped away.

It then disappeared so hopefully it was okay. If anyone knows what sort of frog it is I would love to know.

Edit

I have now found that it is a common frog. I think it was a young one by the way it was crying so I didn’t recognise it at first. It is brighter and doesn’t have the vertical stripes running down both sides of it’s back like the ones I found photos of. I didn’t realise common frogs were so big. It was very pretty.

Sugar went broody two days ago after laying seven eggs in eleven days. That’s one more than last time. She is back in the broody crate over night for two or three nights. Storm is still laying.

Snow came back into lay today after a break of just over two weeks. Once again one starts as one stops.

Snow’s egg is on the left, Storm’s egg is in the middle and a medium shop bought egg on the right for size comparison. Snow lays small, torpedo shaped, eggs. At least she shouldn’t have problems laying her eggs.

Autumn is back to eating normally and had a dust bath today. Her wounds are healing well but unfortunately she is still pecking new ones. I am worried that this has become a habit for her and she may never stop.

Both last year and this year two out of eight girls had scaly leg mite. Last year it was Dot and Sugar and this year it was Sugar and Autumn. Because Sugar has had it two years running her feet are really gnarled. But neither Dot or Sugar pecked at their feet whereas Autumn’s legs and feet didn’t look so bad and yet once she started pecking them she just seemed unable to stop.

I couldn’t get a close up because Autumn is now wary that I am going to pick her up and spray her. The dark patch on her left leg is healing but the two small red spots on her right leg are the ones she has pecked today.

I really don’t know where this is going to end with Autumn because she is pecking new spots nearly every day now.

I keep researching and every thing I read says that I am doing all the right things. There isn’t anything more that I can do and it’s a case of waiting to see how this goes.

I have been spraying the whole flock with another spray that I bought that is a preventative for scaly mite. I have been doing this every now and again. I don’t know how well it works but anything is worth a try. I am also putting vaseline on Sugar’s legs and feet from time to time to help the scales soften. I can’t do anything with Autumn’s legs except spray with the antimicrobal spray because she needs to be healed first.

We have also changed the perches recently. We have put in slightly wider ones because we have gone from seramas to bigger bantams. I researched that too and it says a one inch perch for seramas, a two inch perch for bantams and a four inch perch for standard chickens. We now have two inch perches. I also spray the brackets and perches with both red mite and scaly mite spray and spray the chicken shed for red mite regularly too.

For all of us chicken keepers these are things we have to do all the time along with twice a year worming too. I have felt that I had kept on top of these problems but Autumn’s pecking is a horrible new one to deal with. Once again I have to end with only time will tell.

I am telling Autumn’s story in hind sight because there was a point we were sure we were going to lose her and I just couldn’t write this at that point. I am afraid this is a rather long post because in hind sight means there is a lot of background to tell.

Last year Dot had scaly mite which was the first time we had experienced this. I treated all the girls with scaly mite spray every three days for three weeks. I deep cleaned the chicken shed. Shortly after I realised Dot had them I realised Sugar did too but I had treated the whole flock. I vowed to keep a regular check on their feet from then on.

I used vaseline on both Dot’s and Sugar’s feet to help soften the scales while healing. It takes a year for the scales to completely heal and the sad thing was that Dot’s had completely healed when we lost her.

This spring when checking their feet I realised Sugar had them again and Autumn had a mild case of them. I had caught it much earlier this time. I again sprayed the whole flock every three days for three weeks and cleaned the chicken shed and sprayed the shed.

I didn’t bother blogging about this because with red mite and scaly mite once you have them you have to be vigilant for ever and treat at the first sign. I had caught it early so there wasn’t really anything much to say or so I thought at the time.

Sugar’s feet are really gnarled as she has had it twice but again I used vaseline and she coped fine. I also used vaseline on Autumn and she healed well.

Quite a while after this I saw one morning that Autumn had pecked a scale off her leg and made it bleed. I googled what was the best thing to do and it says to spray three or four times a day with antimicrobal spray. I ordered vetericyn spray. It’s antimicrobal poultry care for healing aid and skin repair and doesn’t sting.

Within a week Autumn was healed so I didn’t bother blogging about it. Soon after Autumn was healed she pecked another scale off. This pattern continued with Autumn pecking another part of her leg every time one bit had healed. It was frustrating but it didn’t seem to hamper her and every time I sprayed the wound three times a day until it healed.

Autumn continued to do this probably about a dozen times and I kept spraying each wound until it healed. I had hoped that she would eventually stop doing this. It was really frustrating but manageable and it didn’t seem to be effecting her too much.

Then one morning Autumn pecked a bigger than usual wound on one leg. I felt really frustrated that she had done this when she was so nicely healed and used the spray again. Later that day she pecked another bigger than usual wound on the other leg. The next morning Autumn hadn’t come out of the chicken shed. When I went to get her I saw that she had pecked several wounds on both feet and more on her legs. I was horrified. She looked a mess and it was obviously painful. She also had a feather stuck to one of the wounds on her foot.

I bought Autumn indoors and stood her in a bowl of warm water. I soaked the wounds and managed to remove the feather. I dried her feet and put savlon on her wounds. I then put her in the dog crate with water, mash, sunflower hearts and chopped tomato.

While handling Autumn I could tell she was lighter and realised that she may have stopped eating. She refused to eat anything while in the crate.

By now I was worried about her not eating. I sprayed her wounds again and returned her to the run and she sat on top of the nest box as in the photo above. I put food in front of her but she didn’t eat. She continued to peck more wounds. At this point I felt sure we were going to lose her. There were two things that could be her downfall. She wouldn’t heal if she kept pecking more wounds and she wouldn’t gain strength if she didn’t eat.

I dreaded what I would find next morning but the next morning she was out in the run. I put dishes of mash on the patio area. I have put vitamins in the water and will continue to do that until this is over. I found that Autumn wouldn’t eat if I separated her but as long as she was in the run she would eat if I dropped bits in front of her.

I dropped corn, sunflower hearts, bits of spinach and chopped tomato in front of her through out the day. At one point when she was on the patio I put a dish of mash and chopped tomato in front of her and she ate some of that.

I have done loads of research about this. I had wondered about somehow covering her feet to stop her pecking them. The information says you can use vet wrap if a chicken has bumble foot which is a sore on the base of the foot which must be kept clean. It would be very difficult to wrap both feet. If it’s too tight the foot can die. If it’s too loose they will peck it off or it may catch on something or dirt may get in.

The advice is not to wrap unless it’s a wound on the base of the foot. It says even deep wounds will heal as long as they are kept clean with the spray several times a day.

I feel that all I can do is to keep doing what I am doing. I am feeling more positive now that she can get better. The odd thing is that her legs and feet were nothing like as bad as Dot’s and Sugar’s. But it seemed as if it had become a habit to keep on pecking them. Then she just went into a frenzy of two days of pecking them in many places.

I have seen photos of rescue chickens with very much worse feet and legs from scaly mite and they have got better. Autumn’s legs and feet looked barely effected and yet she just kept pecking away at them. This is a horrible experience.

I had just sprayed her again at this point. And again this is a new problem that we have never encountered before. I have just bought another spray as I can’t risk running out of it.

Over the last few days we were certain we going to lose Autumn. We have a long way to go yet but she is eating and gaining strength. She is limping though as it obviously hurts but we just really need her to stop pecking at it and that’s down to her because we can’t do any more than we are.

I am just keeping everything crossed and will continue to spray her and drop food in front of her and do all I can to keep her going.

Most of the girls haven’t looked much different while moulting. Gold however looks the most shabby while moulting that she has ever looked.

Gold has one tail feather remaining. She had lost all the tiny feathers around her face and comb which gave her really odd look. She now has pins through around her face and comb.

It won’t be long before Gold looks back to normal. At least some of the girls are getting through the moult before winter. It does seem to have come early this year though.

Before Autumn and then Red I have only previously had two bantam wyandottes. Many years ago I had Sparkle who was silver laced and Topaz who was gold laced. Sparkle was a good layer but didn’t live to much of an age. Topaz laid very few eggs, in fact only thirteen in total. She only laid now and again and then stopped completely.

Autumn started laying last October and laid her last egg on the first of February. Looking back at my egg records I see that there was a slowing down. She started laying every other day but in January she had slowed to laying every fifth day. Autumn laid a total of forty five eggs.

But the thing that is different about Autumn is that she sits in the nest box every day for between fifteen minutes to half an hour. She has a very red comb, face and wattles and she squats if I hold my hand behind her, all things that normally point to a laying girl. She has her daily sit in the nest box and sometimes even gives the shout when she comes out and yet there are no eggs. It’s as if Autumn thinks that she is laying.

Autumn is happy to allow another girl to join her. Storm once again has her beak open as she constantly chats.

I have never come across this before. Usually the girls either lay or they don’t but only occasionally have a false alarm and sit in a nest box without laying. This is usually a day or so before starting to lay or occasionally a day or so after stopping laying. I have never had a girl sit in the nest box every day like clockwork without laying. Autumn has done this since she laid her last egg on the first of February.

Then we have Red who has yet to start laying but I am sure that she will start some time over the next month and it remains to be seen what sort of layer she will turn out to be. I hope she turns out to be a normal layer.

I am assuming that Autumn will resume laying next spring but of course that remains to be seen. I am also assuming that Red will lay through her first winter but after Autumn that also remains to be seen. Only time will tell. We do seem to get the odd anomaly.

We had three days without eggs then Sugar came back into lay. The following day Storm came back into lay. So we now have eggs again.

Red is six months old. Autumn started laying at six and a half months old so Red may start laying in a few weeks time. Her comb is finally growing and is very red.

I think Snow will soon start laying again because she is the least committed broody we have ever had. I only knew she was going broody because like Gold she spent longer in the nest box when laying her last two eggs and would growl at me when I lifted the lid. She also did the bok bok chant when in the run. Once I had closed the nest boxes she completely lost interest.

With a bit of luck by the time Sugar has laid her regulation six eggs another girl may have started laying. It is good to have eggs again and at least the break was only a short one.