Carol's Chickens

We have felt today that Marmite is getting ready to lay. She has been very vocal all day and has been checking out the nest boxes.

I gave the girls some yogurt as a treat and Marmite was quick to the yogurt in between standing on the nest boxes and looking in them.

Marmite with a yogurt beak

Look at her red, comb, face and wattles

Marmite and Smoke together at the yogurt, bottom and top of the amigos

Look at the state of poor Flame in the background.

Little and large, black feathered, girls together

It’s interesting seeing the same coloured, different sized, girls together for comparison.

Marmite investigating the nest boxes

It was quite funny seeing Marmite checking out the nest boxes with her yogurt beak. I think she might lay tomorrow.

I had a bit of a light bulb moment. Instead of getting a bigger plant pot tray I decided to try a smaller dish for the pellets. I have plenty of assorted dishes. A smaller dish would make it difficult for Smoke to stand in.

Smoke takes a look at the smaller dish

Smoke took one look and then turned around and marched off. I could almost read her thoughts saying “Really! what’s the fun in that!”.

Dandelion shows how it is done

I may experiment and try it with and without the tray. It would be easier for the little girls without the tray but they may just flick the pellets out. It’s a work in progress. The bigger girls are able to easily reach over the tray.

Flame looks a sorry sight

Flame continues to look very shabby and is still lacking in confidence. I am still putting her on the perch at bedtime. I have never had a girl moult to the extent that they couldn’t get to the perch before. I will be so pleased when she has wing feathers again. I think with no wing or tail feathers she hasn’t the confidence to jump to the perch.

We will all be glad when moulting is over.

Since having seramas I had been pleased how little mess there was around the pellet dish. As long as I only filled it half way the pellets stayed in the dish and there were very few  flicked out on to the patio area.

Somehow Smoke starting to lay seemed to trigger a different behaviour in her. From the moment she started laying she has taken to standing in the pellet dish and scratching furiously until she empties the contents of the dish on to the patio.

On the patio the pellets get dirt mixed with them and I end up sweeping them up and throwing them away.

I decided to try standing the dish in a plant pot tray. Some pellets are still scratched out but much less as a lot get caught in the tray. A larger size of tray may be a possibility.

Smoke in the pellet dish

She likes to scratch with her feet

And flick pellets everywhere

Smoke is a really good layer. She has now laid seven eggs in nine days. That is really good compared to my previous seramas. I am wondering if she is a fluke or if the other girls will be such good layers.

Ebony is also still laying so I have come to the conclusion that she is a first year girl. I am going to guess that she is one year old and Flame is two years old.

I really wasn’t expecting to get eggs this winter so it is a lovely bonus.

At last the pins on Dandelion’s head are starting to open. Some are just uncurling and giving her some fluff on her head.

Dandelion’s head pins are starting to open

She is getting some fluff on her head

I am glad that Dandelion has the good sense to use the shelters. She comes out for food, water and treats and to perch in the sun if there is any, but spends the rest of her time sheltering here.

I think the shelters were a really good idea and I am so glad that Dandelion makes use of them. I am really hoping that her feathers will be fully through before the next frosty spell.

Meanwhile Flame looks very sorry for herself.

Flame’s pins look blue

The good news is that I am not picking up many feathers now so the dropping has slowed down.

Since I have been leaving the shed door wedged open the girls have all been getting in before the pop hole closes. However Flame has been sitting in the corner of the shed. I lift her to the perch each evening. I think it’s because with so few wing feathers she hasn’t the confidence to get up to the perch.

I don’t want Flame to sit in poop overnight so I put her on the perch. I lift her as gently as I can because she is as prickly as a hedgehog. I will be so glad when the moulting is over as will the girls I am sure.

We have had to cater for a function each weekend over the last few weeks so there had been no time to decorate the house for Christmas. I spent any spare moments writing and posting cards as getting them posted in time was my priority.

However we had a free weekend this week so it was time to swing into action. Yesterday morning we went out and bought a tree and in the afternoon we put the decorations up and I decorated the tree.

I am really pleased with it as it was reasonably priced and is a traditional (drop the needles) tree which we prefer because of the narrower shape.

Our Christmas tree

Close up

And again

At last I feel we are almost ready for Christmas. I just have a little more present buying to do and then wrapping and then lastly it will be the food shopping.

On different days we will be having both sides of the family over with assorted grandchildren, for the full Christmas dinner, so it will be a busy time but it will be fun.

Dandelion and Flame are both moulting and looking really shabby.

Poor shabby Dandelion

Dandelion has pins on her wings

I feel so bad for Dandelion losing feathers when it is now so cold. Flame also has pins on her wings and very few wing feathers left. When she raises her wings she has just one outside feather on each wing with a bare framework of pins over the rest of her wings.

Flame has pins on her wings

Flame’s front is just a mass of loose feathers. I tried to get a photograph but she was reluctant to show me her front. I held up a spinach leaf to get her to stretch up.

Flame looks hilarious

This wasn’t the shot I was aiming for but it’s so funny that I decided to keep it in.

This is the shot that I was trying to get

In other news Smoke has laid an egg three days running, missed a day, then laid her fourth egg. Each egg has been very slightly bigger than the one before. Ebony is also still laying although less frequently.

Smoke in the nest box laying her fourth egg

I had finished five days of tylan and yesterday stopped putting it in the water. Dandelion has been spending time in the shelters and Cinnamon often keeps her company and sometimes Speckles joins them too. These original three girls still tend to stick together.

The original three girls in the small shelter

Late afternoon when Dandelion was in the shelter I noticed that she was dozing and her tail was bobbing up and down. This is not a good sign and I recognise it as a symptom of the mycoplasma.

When I checked them at bedtime I stuck my head into the chicken shed and listened to Dandelion’s breathing. She was wheezing. I decided to start back on the tylan in the morning.

I mix one teaspoon of tylan powder to one litre of water and put it in the two water dishes. To give the girls an extra boost I mixed another half teaspoon with half a litre of water and added it to four dishes of pellets to make tylan mash.

Dandelion and Cinnamon having tylan mash

Dandelion has an almost bare head

As the girls drink less water in the winter I felt that taking it in the mash as well would give them a bit extra.

I am really frustrated that we just can’t seem to shake this. All of the girls are sneezing but they are all looking okay and the fact that Smoke and Ebony are laying is a good sign. Up until yesterday Dandelion was looking okay especially as she is moulting. But the weather turned much colder yesterday and we had a heavy frost last night with the chickens’ water dishes frozen this morning.

Today the temperature didn’t get much above freezing and I think that is really not helping Dandelion. It is forecast to be slightly milder for the rest of the week so I am hoping that with less cold temperatures and the tylan plus the boost of tylan mash today Dandelion will improve again.

I just want her feathers to come in and I wish I could put a little chicken jumper on her but that is not possible. I just have to hope we can get through this once more.

Since I have been leaving the shed door wedged open all the girls have been getting in in time and perched up.

Dandelion, Cinnamon and the silky girls have perched on their old perch since then, the bigger girls on the back as usual and the amigos on their usual perch.

I have been staying away until the pop hole had closed and the girls were perched because I know I can be a distraction for them. If I go up when some girls are in they come back out again. If I go up when they have only just gone in I can hear bumping and squawking and it is tempting to help them settle but if I leave it until a bit later they settle themselves.  I think this is better for them and more natural.

However I have been wondering if the amigos are getting in now because they are using the opening in the door instead of the pop hole. I decided to go up last night and take some photos. It turns out the amigos are all using the opening in the door so without this I am sure they would be shut out every night.

The silky girls peck at shavings while blocking the pop hole. If one of the amigos tries to go through the pop hole they get a peck on the head and are forced back. One by one the amigos go through the gap in the door.

It starts with Sienna in the pop hole

Sienna and Jasmine are  both in the pop hole and Smoke and Vanilla have entered through the door

Through the gap in the door you can see the bigger girls perched at the back. Dandelion and Cinnamon are already on their perch to the left of the door. The amigos’ perch is to the right of the door.

Spangle wants to go in but can’t get past the silky girls

Salmon also wants to go in but is intimidated by the silky girls

Spangle goes through the door

The silky girls continue to block the pop hole

Salmon goes through the door

I have to thank David for giving me this idea. It is working really well and once I have checked that all the girls are settled I simply close the door.

Two days ago Ebony had been in and out of the chicken shed getting ready to lay her egg when suddenly she started shouting really loudly which she hasn’t been doing lately. I checked and she was stood at the pop hole shouting her head off.

I wafted Ebony into the shed not being sure why she wasn’t going in and was surprised to then see Smoke come running out. Ebony obviously didn’t appreciate having Smoke in there for company when she wanted to lay her egg.

A little later Ebony had laid her egg in her favourite corner of the chicken shed and I didn’t think any more of it.

The next day, which was yesterday, I checked the nest boxes as I do every day and was surprised to find a tiny egg in the nest box next to the store cabinet. My initial thought was that it must be Dandelion’s egg as it was the size and shape of her eggs but it had tiny white speckles on it.

Dandelion had stopped laying at the end of October the same as the year before and last year didn’t start again until April. Coupled with the fact that she is moulting it seemed a bit unlikely that she would start laying again. I wasn’t expecting the amigos and the silky girls to lay until spring though and hadn’t seen any of them go to the nest box.

The mystery egg on the left and Ebony’s eggs on the right

Today I went up and again checked the nest boxes and was surprised to find Smoke in the nest box next to the cabinet. I went to get my camera.

As  soon as I lifted the nest box lid Smoke ran out and over the top of the nest boxes.

Smoke running from the nest box

Smoke

I returned a bit later and this time she was in the middle nest box but again she ran as I tried to get a photograph of her.

Smoke leaving the nest box at speed

Leaving her warm egg behind

Smoke’s second egg on the far left followed by her first egg and then Ebony’s eggs on the right

So I now have proof that it is Smoke laying and her second egg is bigger than her first which is often the case. The second egg also had little white speckles on it. What a clever girl and she laid in the right place too! This was really unexpected as there has been no squatting from the girls but Smoke did go to the grit and oyster shell a little later.

I hadn’t expected them to start laying at this time of year as last year the little girls had all stopped laying by December. I wonder if any of the other girls will start laying. It will be interesting to see.

Flame is still dropping loads of feathers. She has lost even more tail feathers and her remaining feathers look loose.

Flame has even less tail feathers

She has lots of loose feathers

Poor Flame

She is heading back to the shelter

Flame has lost her confidence since she lost her tail feathers and she spends a lot of her time in the shelter which is something she has never done before. I guess she feels safe and protected in the shelter.

In other news, since I have been wedging the shed door open in the afternoons, the girls have all managed to get perched every evening so I am going to continue doing this because I think it’s better that they go in themselves rather than have me help them in.

I am treating with five days of tylan once more. I heard Ebony wheezing in the shed  a couple of evenings ago and I heard a couple of the amigos wheezing the next morning.

The girls have continued to sneeze although I thought it was diminishing. The amigos wheeze was very slight but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Since starting the tylan I haven’t heard any more wheezing. I am frustrated that we can’t seem to kick this completely but all the girls look fine so I am just going to keep treating whenever I hear any sign of this.

Oddly enough Dandelion, who is still looking shabby, isn’t showing any signs. She isn’t sneezing which I am really pleased about. I think I just have to be really watchful and keep treating from time to time and hopefully once we get through winter this will disappear once more.

After a few nights of finding heaps of feathers in the chicken shed Flame didn’t look much different. She had a shorter tail which I thought was due to the long tail feathers falling out leaving shorter tail feathers growing underneath. This is her first moult with us so I didn’t know what to expect.

I was wrong! It must have been long tail feathers falling out first to be followed by shorter tail feathers falling out next. Flame’s tail feathers had dropped in the chicken shed last night.

Flame’s tail feathers dropped in the shed over night

Flame looked very different this morning. She had lost her tail and had also lost her confidence as often happens during a heavy moult.

I returned to the run with my camera but couldn’t see Flame. It always causes me a moment of alarm when I can’t see a girl even though I know that they can’t get out. Eventually I found her hiding in the wooden shelter and looking very sorry for herself.

A very sorry looking Flame taking refuge in the shelter

There goes another loose feather

She does look very odd

Tailless Flame

I can’t believe that I have been saying for days that she hardly looked any different. Flame certainly looks very different now. At least she has no bare patches at the moment and hopefully she will soon be feathered up again.