Carol's Chickens

Yesterday I was convinced that Cinnamon had a blockage that she was trying to clear. When I got back from the vet we gave her the first dose of baytril at half past four. She had a dish of mash and water in the cat box but made no attempt to have any.

At half past seven she suddenly started eating. I added sunflower hearts and chopped grape to her mash which she ate.

I now have to conclude that it wasn’t a blockage that she was trying to clear but that she was trying to clear the foam from her throat and beak. This makes me think that it must be mycoplasma. This is a different set of symptoms to any that I have seen before and the vet had’t come across this before and I also couldn’t find it in my research on the internet.

Never the less with my past experience I know that myco can present many different symptoms and I can’t come up with any other explanation for the foam that Cinnamon had. It is really odd that this has happened in summer as it is usually cold weather that brings it on and also Cinnamon was always the least effected in the past.

There has been no stress in the chicken run apart from the heat wave but seramas are good with heat as they originate from a hot country (Malaysia).

This morning we gave Cinnamon her second dose of baytril. I topped her mash with some more sunflower seeds and chopped grape. She tucked into those and drank from her water dish.

At ten o’clock I put Cinnamon back in the run. I put in some of our lettuce (from the allotment) that had gone to seed and she was soon tucking in to that with the other girls.

I couldn’t keep Cinnamon in the cat box and the other girls have already been exposed so it was best for her to go back in the run. We will give her the baytril twice a day to her beak for seven days. The egg withdrawal period is a further twenty eight days. Cinnamon only lays once a week and her eggs are distinct plus she is the only girl that lays in the corner of the new chicken shed.

Cinnamon hadn’t laid for ten days prior to this so that may have been indication that something was adrift. I am certain that if I hadn’t taken Cinnamon to the vet when I did we would have lost her.

Unfortunately this shows that myco is still in the flock but at least the vet was happy to give me baytril. Because the baytril is administered to one girl only and followed by egg withdrawal it doesn’t pass any antibiotic into the food chain. Having said that, the vet said she would have given me tylan, if it had been in stock.

This makes me wonder if the other vet has left or if there is poor communication within the vet’s surgery. Either way if I have myco in my flock in the future I will be fighting to get medication and will treat any individual girl as soon as I see any symptoms.

I am now hopeful that Cinnamon has a good chance of complete recovery.

Cinnamon today with Speckles sticking close by

And here they are again

Yesterday when we realised that Cinnamon had a problem Speckles was stood close by her. Speckles has hardly left Cinnamon’s side today.

This afternoon when I returned from my deliveries I saw that there was something very wrong with Cinnamon. Cinnamon had looked absolutely fine that morning joining in with the mid morning spinach.

I had given the girls some apple and melon at lunch time. I always peel the apples and remove the pips and peel the melon slices. My immediate thought was that she had got something stuck in her throat.

Cinnamon was holding her wings aloft and twisting and snaking her neck around. I picked her up and gave her a drop of olive oil to her beak from a syringe as I had been told in the past that this can sometimes help a blockage slide down.

Cinnamon continued to struggle and twice we saw her shake her beak and a stream of foam came out of her beak. I have never seen anything like this before. By now I was alarmed and called the vet and got an appointment for an hour later at half past three.

Cinnamon snaking her neck

The vet had also never seen anything like this before. The vet looked into her beak and said that it was full of the bubbly saliva but she couldn’t see anything stuck in there.

The vet asked if she could film Cinnamon on her phone which of course I agreed. By now we could also hear a grumbling, growling, sound that reminded me of human indigestion. The vet wondered if it was something neurological because of the snaking of her neck. I asked if she thought it could be mycoplasma although I hadn’t seen these symptoms before. The vet said she didn’t think it was but didn’t know what it could be.

At one point because Cinnamon looked so uncomfortable I tearfully asked if I should have her put to sleep. Why is it always my favourite girls! When I first saw Cinnamon like this my first thoughts were, no, please not Cinnamon!

The vet said that she would advise trying Cinnamon on the antibiotic, baytril, first. She said there was nothing to lose as it might work and if it didn’t I could bring her in if she got worse or nature might take it’s course but the baytril might fight whatever this is.

The vet said give her a seven day course to her beak twice a day and for now keep her indoors in the cat box away from the flock in case it’s contagious. She said try to get her to eat and drink. That is proving a non starter at the moment. I put water and mash in the cat box but cinnamon made no attempt to touch it. We gave her baytril to her beak as soon as I got back home.

Cinnamon is in the sick bay

I decided to give Cinnamon some water to her beak as I was worried that she would dehydrate but it instantly started her twisting her neck again. It seems as if she is unable to swallow.

Cinnamon is lifting her wings and twisting her neck around

I have also researched on the internet and can’t find anything that matches this. The vet said that she will ask around and let me know if she finds out anything. She said to also keep her informed of any progress. The vet also suggested the exotic animal vet that we took Jasmine to but they had no appointments over the next few days.

It seems that there is nothing more we can do but give the baytril and keep everything crossed. Cinnamon is the last of the girls from my previous breeder and having had her for two and a half  years she is the oldest serama we have kept so far.

I would hate to lose her but am trying to steel myself for the worst. I am so upset to see her like this and at the moment am just keep everything crossed.

It is now half past seven and Cinnamon just started to eat some mash. Encouraged by this I dropped some some sunflower seeds on top and she ate those too. I chopped a couple of grapes and added them and she has eaten them too, Hurrah!

This seems to suggest that it isn’t a blockage and that that the antibiotic has now kicked in. I am now feeling more hopeful.

The lilies in our garden look better and better every year.

The lilies are looking amazing

I love all the different colours

This is proving a good year for the lilies.

The last time we all got together at the allotment our friends from across the road provided a barbeque and drinks. There has been loads of produce for us all recently and my husband thought another get together would be good fun.

This time we provided a picnic of sandwiches, buffet bits and drinks for Sunday lunch time. There was D and S and their two boys,  K couldn’t make it as she was away on a weekend course, but there was T and their two girls.

We had a lovely afternoon. We had our picnic and beer, wine and soft drinks for the children and then we all picked some produce and then watered the plot. We all agreed that for the first year it was amazing and there is a plentiful supply of produce for all three families. At the moment we are planning our meals around the produce.

Some produce during the week

As the lettuce are now going to seed we have been giving them to the chooks. They love it and strip it to just the centre stem.

Wild flowers around the raised beds

More wildflowers

Nasturtiums

The first sunflower head behind the broad beans

The runner beans have started producing

A Lancaster Bomber flies over

D and T’s produce to take home

Our produce at home

After complaints it has now been ruled that we must change the orange netting for black netting but we are happy to do that. We are not allowed to have it over the top it has to be low level as it is now.

For our first year it has all been a learning curve and although we are really chuffed with how our first year is progressing we intend to fine tune next year for even better results.

The great thing is that it brings us together with friends and gives us a shared interest that is healthy too. I have been just buying meat or fish for our evening meals and using all allotment produce for the rest. That gives us a great deal of satisfaction.

Head feathers always take the longest to unfurl but at last Marmite has head feathers.

This was Marmite a month ago

Marmite now has feathers on the back of her head

This is so good to see.

I usually take photos of the garden looking up towards the chicken run. Yesterday I was in the chicken run pruning their shrubs when I thought what a lovely view they have of the garden.

Today I decided to stand in front of the chicken run and take a couple of photos.

A chook’s view of the garden

Again from a bit further over

I think they have a pretty good view from their run.

My lovely husband has been doing a lot of work to our Morris Traveller. I wish now that I had taken a before and after photo but he had already got stuck in before I had thought about it.

He has sanded down all of the wood and varnished it with several coats of clear varnish. It is a great improvement because the varnish was a bit orange before and he has got rid of most of the dark patches. He has fitted mirrors to the front and has replaced all the back lights. He has taken off the hinges, stripped them and spray painted them.

This has made a huge difference. I use the hinges to judge how close behind the Morris to park my van so I am very familiar with the hinges. When I line up the bottom hinges with the bottom of my windscreen I know that I have a gap of about a foot. The hinges were splashed with the orange varnish and looked really grubby. Now they really brighten up the back of the car.

Back view of our car

Side view

The car is looking really good and we are pleased with the improvements.

Not only have the leek flowers turned out to be spectacular after all but the bees love them. When I sit in the garden I see masses of honey bees all over the leek flowers. There is a constant busyness and some flower heads have six bees on at a time.

It is difficult to catch the bees in larger numbers as they are coming and going constantly but I tried to get a photo with a few at a time.

There are four bees on this leek flower head if you look carefully

More bees

My husband suggested we should grow some leeks, in groups, in the flower beds next year as they have been amazing and so long lasting.

The garden is amazing at this time of year.

The anenomes are huge

We chopped this down last year which has improved it’s shape

We now have fuchsia flowering in the chimney

We added this this year

The lavender has also got huge

The lilies have started to flower

More lilies about to open

And again a day later

And more lilies starting to open

Lilies seem to like this garden and I love the spiky foliage even before the exotic looking flowers appear. They seem to thrive without any help from us and the clumps get bigger every year.

That’s the sort of plant I like.

Ebony had been broody for four weeks and Flame for just over a week when we finished the new chicken shed. As we were in the run most of the day working on it I closed the nest boxes and this finally triggered these two girls out of it although Marmite continued to be broody for a further week.

Ebony, Flame and Speckles all started moulting at this point. A week later they stopped moulting and ten days after starting to moult Ebony and Flame started laying again.

In ten days Ebony has laid eight eggs. The first four were in the wooden shelter but the last four have been in various nest boxes so it seems that she has now accepted the nest boxes in their new positions. Flame has laid six eggs in ten days and is happy with any nest box.

I have never seen so much white on a black feathered head as on Ebony

Ebony still looks tatty feathered

I am amazed that a girl looking like this is laying eggs. I know that chickens can’t produce enough protein for both feathers and eggs. I think what has happened is that the moult has stopped and new feathers are not being produced but the fluffy underneath feathers are now on show due to the top feathers having dropped out.

I suspect that at the end of the summer egg laying will stop and the moult will continue. I have never seen a moult of two halves before.

Flame looks pristine apart from having a short tail

At the end of last year Flame looked a real mess while she moulted. The start of this partial moult seems to have stopped with losing the odd feather and all of her tail feathers. I am guessing that when her moult continues she will keep her new tail feathers.

Speckles looks pretty much like she always does

It seems as if Speckles shed a few feathers in sympathy because she lost some feathers but not enough to make her look any different. Speckles hasn’t resumed egg laying but that doesn’t surprise me.

Smoke has now been broody for ten days and Vanilla has been broody for two days. Vanilla had only laid six eggs in seven days before going broody again. Smoke and Vanilla have a pattern of three weeks not laying as they are broody and then recovering and then one week of laying nearly every day before going broody again.

I find Smoke and Vanilla’s pattern quite frustrating. They are the best layers when laying and both lay the biggest serama eggs but this is countered by their serial broodyness. Oh well, nothing I can do about it, they will do what they will do!