Carol's Chickens

Every now and then we get witchetty grubs in a plant pot and they eat through the roots of the plant causing the plant to die. They are white, maggot like, grubs that turn into moths and they will eat through wood or plant roots.

The plant in my chicken bucket was looking a bit sick. It looked as though a frost had got to it although it was supposed to be hardy. I decided to cut it back and when I touched it, it came away in my hand. It was just sat on the surface of the compost with no root at all. I delved into the compost with the trowel and sure enough there were the witchetty grubs.

We have lost a few pot plants this way. Usually I bin the compost because of the grubs but my husband suggested that I put it in the chicken run and let the girls have the grubs. He said it would serve the grubs right for eating our plant!

I put the compost in the run and the bigger girls soon ate all the grubs. The little girls had no chance.

The girls investigate the new compost

They soon pick off the grubs

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of doing this in the the past. In future I will just give them to the girls. In Australia some people eat them, yuk! (I think they have much larger types). This means they are good enough for the girls.

Peaches was the last girl to moult and the last one to get her feathers back to normal. Her new breast feathers are almost fully grown but she has one patch of grey downy under feathers still peeping through.

She reminds me of a toy teddy bear with it’s stuffing trying to spill out of a hole in it’s tummy. Her tail is also almost back to it’s full length but she is sporting a three quarter length tail at the moment.

Peaches reminds me of a teddy bear spilling out it’s stuffing

She has a three quarter length tail at the moment

She is nearly back to perfect once more, it won’t be long now.

At the moment we are really busy and it was just gone half past four when I found an appropriate moment in our work to slip up and check on the girls.

To my amazement the automatic door had already closed but the girls were all in. We are still trying to tweak the timing on the door since it has started working again and it closed earlier than I would like because it doesn’t allow much time for all of the girls to get in. Despite this Pebbles made it in, in time, and was on the perch next to Rusty and Freckles. I felt so proud of them.

The three little girls went in on their own

The five bigger girls were all on the back perch

I can’t believe we have cracked it at last. I think perhaps a few nights of me staying away at bedtime has helped them to go in on their own rather than rely on me to help them. I am so pleased with them tonight.

I didn’t get to call the vet today but I sucked the baytril into the syringe to see how much was left in the bottle and there is easily enough to give Pebbles a dose each day for a week so I won’t be needing any more for the moment. Pebbles seems to be completely back to normal which is good news. Let’s just hope it stays that way, I can do without any more drama.

After arriving home last night to find two out of three of the little girls had made it to their bedtime perch I felt that I should hold back from checking on the little girls and wait to see what they would do without my help tonight. They have been going in at about quarter to six but with the clock change this would now be about quarter to five.

I went out at quarter to five and was surprised to find that the automatic door had closed already. It hasn’t been working for the last few days. Like last night Rusty and Freckles were on their perch but Pebbles was on top of the little coop in the same position as the night before. I listened to her breathing and all was normal, thank goodness.

Pebbles is settled on top of the little coop

Rusty and Freckles have gone in on their own again

I think with the recent problems with the automatic door closer, it may have closed sooner than usual today and caught Pebbles out. Having said that she was on top of the little coop last night when I had propped the door open but it could have been down to her not being well.

I will watch over the girls tomorrow and see if I can persuade Pebbles to go in. She used to go in without a problem but this seems to have changed since we have had the two newer girls.

I opened the main door and settled Pebbles on the perch with Rusty and Freckles.

I put Pebbles on the perch

I waited a few moments then checked on them.

A few moments later they are snuggled up together

My husband had come up to see what was happening and suggested I shone a light on the door and it opened. It then closed again. I shone a light on it again and it opened again and then closed again. Earlier on today the light had caused no response from it.  Could it be that is working again? We won’t know for sure until the morning when we will see if opens.

My husband thinks that it may have got some moisture in it (with the battery leak) and may have now dried out. We are hopeful that it may now be working again. This would be great news but we will have a better idea when I see if it opens at first light in the morning. We are feeling hopeful.

I am also feeling much more positive about Pebbles. With a bit of luck she is back to normal and all is well again.

Last night I was bit panicked about Pebbles. She was whistling as she was breathing. I put my post about her out this morning. You can see it here.

This morning when I checked on her she was no longer whistling as she was breathing. I put some food and water in the cat box and she tucked in. She was alert, had pooped and had some food and water. She seemed back to normal. If she hadn’t been wheezing yesterday I wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with her. Her face is a good red colour, not pale, which can be a sign of something wrong.

It would seem cruel to keep her in the cat box. I felt that I should follow my instincts and return her to the chicken run.

Pebbles back in the run this morning

I gave Pebbles the antibiotic at lunch time today. I intend to do this every lunchtime for a week. I will ring the vet tomorrow and ask their advice. I will also ask if I can buy some more baytril as I don’t think there is enough to last the week.

I wonder if her improvement is due to me giving her some antibiotic straight away, although the improvement seems very quick. It is weird because the wheezing while she was breathing yesterday, and even more so last night, was very loud and noticeable. She was also bobbing her head while dozing which indicated a problem with breathing.

Yet today she seems back to normal. I hope that catching it early has nipped it in the bud. I will be keeping a very close eye on her.

I am sad to say that I have good news and some very bad news. I thought I was pretty clued up about chicken health but one of the observations from Terry from her former blog “Hencam” was that you need to really know your girls to know, very quickly, when there is a problem.

With Caramel, we had only just got her and didn’t know her. We noticed that she wobbled her head occasionally and that her head bobbed up and down when she dozed (we now know that was because she was having trouble breathing). When she had a swollen eye we thought perhaps she had taken a peck to it. I rang the breeder and she said that she had been fine with her and we thought as she had had her for a year maybe this was just how she was, apart from the swollen eye that is.

After losing Caramel I thought that I would never make that mistake again. I would know these were signs that there was something wrong. Pebbles had had hiccups, after feeding, from the moment we got her. I also thought this was odd but perhaps just something peculiar to her and something that she could live with okay. After losing Caramel I was paranoid every time Pebbles hiccuped. Was it hiccuping or sneezing, they sound similar.

As time went by I began to relax. The time that a respiratory disease is contagious is six to twelve days according to my research. I began to think we had had a lucky escape. It has been five weeks since we lost Caramel.

This afternoon I heard Pebbles sneeze. Not too alarming on it’s own but then I noticed that she was perched up and dozing and her head was bobbing gently up and down. Alarm bells started ringing. I poop picked the run and when under the ladder where she was dozing I could hear her breathing. She was wheezing as she was breathing. Now I was really alarmed.

I had kept the meds from Caramel in case any of the other girls went down with what she had and decided to take action straight away. I gave Pebbles a dose of the antibiotic, bayrtil.

I was worried about having to be out until late but the afternoon tea had been booked months ago and there was nothing we could do about that.

I worried all the way home about where the girls would be. We made it home by half past six but it was dark.

The good news is that Rusty and Freckles were on their perch. The bad news is that Pebbles was on top of one of the little coop nest boxes and I could hear her whistling as she was breathing.

Clever girls, I am so proud of them

Poorly Pebbles

I am really worried about Pebbles. I put some pine shavings in the cat box, put Pebbles in it and bought her indoors. I gave her another dose of baytril and also the pain killer that I had for Caramel and then gave her some water to her beak. I settled her in the bathroom in the cat box.

I am going to keep her in the bathroom for now. In the morning I will put in water and a selection of food stuff. I will call the vet on Monday when they open and ask their advice. They told me to call if any of the other girls developed symptoms.

I don’t want to risk putting her back in with the rest of the flock now that I know that it is a respiratory problem. I am really worried about Pebbles and about the rest of the flock. I hope that catching it straight away gives her a chance of getting better but I am concerned that this has happened five weeks later, when I thought all was safe.

It seems that every time we think things are going well there is something else to deal with. We will have to take it one day at a time but I am worried right now. I can only hope that acting quickly may give her the best possible chance of coming through this.

On a side note, in case it may help anyone else, our automatic door closer stopped working a few days ago. After nearly five years the batteries had run out, which is amazing. The problem is that as the batteries were so old they had leaked some acid. We cleaned it up and put in new batteries but it hasn’t worked since.

In hind sight we should have checked and replaced the batteries much sooner and it’s looking like we may have to buy a new one. This is a pain as they are expensive and it is another lesson learned. I thought I would mention it in case it could help someone else to be aware to check the batteries.

At least it has happened in winter when it is easy for me to go out at first light and open up. I will give a daily update on Pebbles and am keeping everything crossed.

We are still struggling with bedtime. The problem lays with the bigger girls not the little girls. The little girls know where they are supposed to go at bedtime and they want to go in the shed and get onto their little perch.

The problem is that the big girls do so much jumping up and down from the perches that they intimidate the little girls. When the bigger girls finally seem to be settled, the little girls attempt to go in, but once they are in the shed Speckles jumps down again and scares them back out.

I have watched them night after night and it’s clear that Speckles is still bottom of the bigger girls and although they all perch happily together during the day at bedtime the pecking order is firmly invoked. None of the bigger girls will tolerate Speckles next to them. Most of the time she ends up on the corner perch by herself.

During the day I have often observed what I call “paying it down”. If Toffee has a go at Emerald she will turn round and have a go at Peaches or Barley. They will then have a go at Speckles. Speckles in turn will have a go at the little girls.

This seems to be happening at bedtime with all the girls pecking Speckles away from them, it can appear quite brutal. She then, in turn, jumps back down from the perch and chases the little girls out when they try to get to their perch.

I end up watching over them until they can go in safely and sometimes I help things along by moving Speckles back to the perch or even by placing the little girls on their perch. It’s not a problem when I am around to do this but I need this to progress for the times when I am not here.

Today for example we have an afternoon tea to cater for and it’s an hours drive from us. This is outside our usual delivery area but being a Saturday we don’t have corporate lunches to deliver so we have agreed that they will contribute towards the cost of the diesel and we will deliver it and set it up for three o’clock and return to clear by six o’clock. This means that it will be about seven o’clock before we get back and the girls are in bed by between half past five and quarter to six at the moment.

This will be the night that we see what happens when I am not here. I am going to prop the pop hole door open so that the little girls can’t get shut out. I have no idea if they will be able to make it to their perch before it gets too dark, without my help. If not I hope that they will at least go in and settle on the floor of the shed.

If they are on the shed floor I will lift them to the perch when we get back and if they are outside the shed I will put them in. I really hope they don’t end up outside the shed. I don’t like not being here but it can’t be helped and maybe it will move things on. At least I will be back to put them in about an hour after their usual bedtime.

Below are some photos of last night’s bedtime line up which is typical and is the order they have ended up in for the last few nights.

The little girls on their perch, goodness knows what Pebbles is looking at!

Speckles on the corner perch on her own

Peaches and Barley together

Toffee and Emerald keeping their distance

This is really typical. Peaches and Barley, and, Rusty and Freckles, are the only girls that actively want to be together. They are the only bonded duos that really want to be together and are distressed if they can’t be together.

Pebbles tolerates Rusty and Freckles but will peck them if they get too close when they first perch up. As it gets a bit darker she accepts them.

Peaches and Barley have always wanted to perch together but the other three don’t want to be close to each other or to Peaches and Barley. I think perhaps if you have a flock all at the same time this may not happen but if you add girls as time goes on the divisions seem to be set. Having said that Emerald and Toffee joined the flock together and they don’t choose to sit close to each other either.

It may not be the same in all flocks but in our flocks this is how it is and the bigger girls go through this every night but end up all settled in plenty of time before the door closes. The question is ….. will the little girls be able to settle without my help. Tonight we will see but that will be tomorrow’s post.

My husband thought it would be fun if I took a photo of Rusty with my rusty chicken. My rusty chicken is on the banner at the top of my blog and is the same size as Rusty. In the photo on my banner it is also the same colour. It would have been amusing to see two such similar rusty chickens together.

But over the years my rusty chicken has turned green. They are not now the same colour but are the same size. My rusty chicken was my first chicken and I never thought back then that I would have real chickens of that size. Take a spin up to the banner above to compare with the photo below.

Two rusty chickens

Not as good a photo as it would have been if my rusty chicken was still it’s original colour but I thought it would still be fun to include it.

Yesterday I bought some pellets and filled up the bucket that I keep them in. One large sack of layers pellets fills three buckets but at the moment I am buying smaller bags of growers pellets which fill one bucket. This will be my last bag of these as by the time they run out Rusty and Freckles will be old enough to go onto layers pellets.

What makes me laugh is seeing Emerald come running to the bucket as if these pellets are much more special than the ones in their food dish.

Emerald in the pellet bucket

Standing on tip toes, I love how this shows off her shape

She is joined by Peaches

The pellets are better out of the bucket

When you have chickens, you just have to laugh!

Peaches has had the quickest moult ever this year due to laying eggs for a month longer than usual. She dropped her feathers really quickly and had long pins underneath which have quickly started to open. She is now at a weird in between stage where her new feathers are partially opened but not quite enough to cover her downy under feathers.

Peaches has a sort of two toned feather arrangement going on

Her new feathers don’t quite cover her underneath feathers

She does look a bit odd at the moment

I have never seen her sporting this odd look before but I am sure she will be looking beautiful again very soon.