Carol's Chickens

I gave the girls a course of tylan in the last week of September. I didn’t mention it here because I thought perhaps I was just being a bit paranoid.

I had noticed that when I was in with the girls I would hear each and every girl, bigger and smaller, sneeze at some point. All the girls looked absolutely fine and were showing no sign of illness.

I googled chickens sneezing once again. It says that chickens will sneeze from time to time just as we do because of dust but if all of the flock are sneezing then it needs to be treated. My tylan was near to it’s “use by” date anyway so I decided to use it up and get some more stock in for the winter.

Since then the girls have continued to sneeze although I think a bit less. They have all looked fine and I know that last winter the sneezing took a long time to go away completely so I decided to keep a close eye on them.

Yesterday before bedtime when I was cleaning up the run I was hunkered down next to the amigos. I could hear wheezing. It was quite a loud “darth vader” sound. I followed the sound to see where it was coming from and it was Marmite.

Marmite this morning

This fills me dread but I must stay calm and treat them again. This morning I added tylan to the water and had it ready for when the girls came out of the shed. I mix one teaspoon of tylan to one litre of water and put it in both drinkers.

I will keep the girls on this for five days and watch them closely. I am disappointed to need to treat this early in the year as I was expecting to have to do so once we hit the really cold conditions but at the moment we are experiencing really mild temperatures for the time of year.

Having said that I haven’t heard Marmite wheezing today so maybe she had just got a bit of corn stuck. All the girls are sneezing from time to time though. I will continue for five days to be on the safe side. Better safe than sorry.

I am frustrated at the moment with the bedtime routine. For a while it was all going smoothly with all the girls getting in before the automatic door closed.

Recently some of the girls, usually the amigos, have been getting shut out. Dandelion, Cinnamon and the silky girls always go in in plenty of time. Mostly Ebony and Flame are in in time and sometimes Speckles is too but the amigos are now getting shut out most nights.

The problem is that they are leaving it too late to go in. There is no point altering the sensor on the automatic door as it is almost dark when it closes and by then it’s already too dark for the amigos to get to their perch without the help of a torch or me lifting them to the perch.

I don’t understand why they are leaving it so late as previous girls used to be perched nearly an hour before the door shut. The amigos leave it right until the last minute and are now regularly getting caught out.

My husband had an idea to help them to the perch once they did go in. He suggested that instead of the torch I could reinstate the light that he had bought me to help with poop picking on dark mornings. I tried it this evening and it was a total failure. It’s back to the torch from now on.

The girls were all in apart from the amigos once more. I pinned open the door and switched on the light. The amigos have now learned that they can enter the shed through the main door. Vanilla was first to work out that if the bigger girls went through then she could too. Once she was confident going through the door the rest of the amigos followed. Marmite was the last to catch on but even she has now got the hang of it.

Anyway once the light was on all the other girls jumped down from the back perch and started scratching in the shavings. The amigos made no attempt to perch but also scratched in the shavings. The light was obviously giving out too much light and the entire flock decided that it was play time.

I switched off the light and replaced the torch on the floor and the girls jumped back to the back perch again. I then pointed the torch towards the amigos’ perch and they jumped up with me helping the last couple of girls up.

Ebony about to lead the perching girls down once I have switched the light on.

Cinnamon looks rather squashed in the corner.

Finally the amigos are in place

The rest of the girls perched in their new positions

Dandelion and Cinnamon have put plenty of space between them and the silky girls. They really don’t like perching with the silky girls. In the first photo they are on the opposite side to them and in this one they have just left a big gap.

A final check on the amigos

I always wait outside for a few minutes and then check again to make sure that all the girls are still perched.

It’s not a problem at the moment as I am here to check on them but it does mean that I wouldn’t be confident of being away over night. It is frustrating that they seem to have lost the ability to get themselves in in time and I don’t how to teach them to go in earlier.

I may try to shepherd them in earlier and see that if helps. I am not holding my breath though!

I have talked before of the groups within our flock. As time goes on it is still quite obvious that the flock is made up of groups of girls.

I have come to realise a few things since we have had chickens. Time in the flock is very important. The girls that have been together the longest have the strongest bonds and the other thing is that the girls that come into the flock together also usually have the strongest bonds.

In the afternoons I put some apple and melon on the patio area. The pecking order is such that it will be the three bigger girls plus Dandelion and Cinnamon that will get the first go at the treats. Speckles is happy to have Dandelion and Cinnamon pecking at some apple alongside her and she never chases them away.

They have been together the longest and she seems to consider them her girls. In the same way she is happy to have them perch next to her at bedtime. The next boldest girls are the two silky girls but Speckles will chase them from the apple. In the same way she won’t tolerate them perching next to her at bedtime.

Dandelion and Cinnamon also chase the silky girls from the apples. The five amigos don’t even venture to the apple until the first girls have moved away. They have to wait their turn and they are not tolerated perching with the rest of the girls at bedtime either. The amigos stick to their own perch.

Although this is all quite obvious there is still harmony within the flock. There is no bullying it is just the normal pecking order. The entire flock are happy to dust bath together, to scratch and peck in the run together and preen together. Sometimes during the day they will all perch together too but there are often times when you can see the flock in their separate groups too.

The five amigos perching together

These girls are never far from each other. Sometimes they will all be on top of the shelter and sometimes they will all be on top of the metal table. They move around the run together and group together to preen at the end of the day. They go into the shed together after the other girls have gone in.

Dandelion and Cinnamon

Dandelion and Cinnamon are always the first two to go into the shed at bedtime. Dandelion likes this corner by the gate. She can often be found in this corner or in the little shelter and Cinnamon will join her to keep her company. These two will also quite easily perch with Speckles and the other two bigger girls.

They have been around Speckles the longest and as Speckles accepted the other two bigger girls these two are happy to accept them too. By bringing in Ebony first and Flame five days later they haven’t become a bonded pair and are happy to be part of Speckles team.

The silky girls

Jasmine and Sienna are always together

When two girls come into together they seem to have the closest bond. These two are inseparable and wherever one goes the other follows.

Three bigger girls

These three girls have easily accepted each other. I definitely made the right decision to bring Ebony and Flame in five days apart. Had they come in together I feel sure that they would have been a bonded pair and Speckles wouldn’t be a part of this group.

When we added Ebony to the flock Speckles instantly accepted her. She had been used to having a companion of her own size. When we added Flame Speckles just as easily accepted her too. Ebony took a few days of chasing her away before she too accepted her.

They have now become a comfortable group of three and at times are joined by Dandelion and Cinnamon and are an equally comfortable group of five.

I sometimes feel sorry for the silky girls when they are not allowed to be part of this group but they have each other and I guess over a longer time they may get promoted to become part of the top group or maybe they will just stay in between the top group and the amigos. Time will tell.

We are having some very mixed weather at the moment. We have had some heavy rain and we have had some showers and sunshine and sometimes both at the same time.

At the weekend the sun sparkled on the rain droplets on our bedroom window when I took my ironing up to put away. With the autumn leaves on the tree through the window it looked beautiful.

Sun and rain

The photo doesn’t quite capture the sparkle on the rain drops but with the autumn colours outside I thought it was worth keeping anyway.

From our sitting room window there was a huge rainbow. By the time I decided to take a photo half of it had disappeared but again I thought the remaining half was worth showing.

rainbow

It is very changeable at the moment but I am pleased that after earlier frosts we are now experiencing quite warm weather for the time of year. The longer it lasts the shorter winter will be so I hope it stays for a while longer yet.

I am updating the serama portraits as the girls are all pretty much grown up now. I am going to do them in their pecking order from top to bottom.

There is a bit of blurring around the top position of the amigos. Smoke was firmly in top position when we first got them but Spangle and Vanilla have had little spats with Smoke as they have tried to move up the ranking. I think Smoke has retained top position with Spangle second and Vanilla third but they are so close that they could be joint top girls.

Salmon is next and Marmite remains firmly at the bottom. She is the most timid amongst her flock mates.

Dandelion

I always think Dandelion looks very queenly.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a tiny girl with an enormous crop/breast. She remains an avid digger of the deepest dust holes.

Sienna

Sienna grows to look more like Rusty every day but doesn’t have the aggression Rusty had to her underlings.

Jasmine

Jasmine is a sweet girl in looks and nature.

Smoke

All the seramas including Marmite have yellow legs and feet but Smoke has grey legs and feet to match her feather colour. She is a beautiful colour.

Spangle

Spangle is the most bold around me and therefore easy to get close ups. She has unusual markings.

Vanilla

I have been hand feeding spinach to Vanilla in an attempt to make her more accepting of me so that maybe she won’t peck me. She has been friendlier today and has also become easier to get close up photos of.

Salmon

Salmon is so pretty and also sweet natured. She is almost as tiny as Cinnamon, in fact, she is between Cinnamon’s size and the other girls’ size.  She once jumped on to my back but hasn’t repeated it since.

Marmite

Marmite is shy. She has had pins on her head since we first had her but I guess they show up more on her. She is a lovely colour too.

I think they are all such beautiful girls and I love the different colours and different characters.

It’s been a good year for autumn berries. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a harsh winter as, the old wives tale, goes.

Earlier in the year I photographed the three coloured berries of our climbing plant which, with a bit of research, turned out to be amur peppervine or porcelain berries. These have now all turned blue.

The pirocanthus which is growing with it has retained it’s glorious red berries.

Blue coloured berries

Amazing red berries

Blue and red berries together

These berries give us a splash of colour to look out on from our kitchen window. They are as striking as the wonderful autumn leaves that are all around at the moment. The autumn  beauty is lingering this year which is lovely.

Out of the five amigos Vanilla has changed the most. The other four have stayed the same colour but Vanilla has completely changed.

When I named her Vanilla it was because she was the colour of vanilla ice cream with a few little spots of gold which reminded me of honeycomb. Honeycomb would now be a more suitable name for her as she is now mostly gold/honeycomb colour.

Vanilla had a dark patch of feathers on her head which have disappeared. She had a white tail which gradually dropped out and grew back in a gold colour.

Vanilla when we first got the amigos in August

Vanilla has a patch of dark feathers on her head

Vanilla at bedtime in September

Vanilla is starting to lose her tail

Vanilla had no tail by the end of September

Vanilla in November

Vanilla facing forward

Vanilla now looks quite different. Marmite was the only other of the amigos to lose her tail but it came back the same colour.

Vanilla is also the only serama that pecks me. I can easily pick up all the little girls except Vanilla who pecks my hand if I get anywhere near her.

Ebony and Flame will peck me if they are in the nest box and I want to check for eggs but that is the only time which, I think, is fair enough. Cinnamon will peck me if she is broody and I try to move her but that is the only time which again is fair enough. Vanilla on the other hand won’t let me near her without pecking me which is not very endearing.

I have discovered this when trying to help them at bedtime. Sometimes amongst the squabbles to get into position one of the amigos will get pushed down and I will replace them on the perch but Vanilla goes for me.

Yesterday they got caught out as it went dark really suddenly. I always check on them at dusk so they are used to me going out to them when they are perched or getting perched. I could hear a lot of shouting, especially from the bigger girls. I went to investigate and found that the pop hole had closed with most of the girls outside.

Only Cinnamon, Dandelion and Jasmine were inside. These three girls are always the first in. I thought it was interesting that the girls outside were shouting as if they knew I would come and help them in. I hooked the main door open and put a torch on the floor. This usually works when Speckles doesn’t make it in in time and earlier in the year when the three bigger girls weren’t going in before the pop hole closed.

Sienna and the three bigger girls went through the open door and jumped up to the back perch. This is a demonstration of the little girls’ pea brains. The amigos hadn’t entered the shed through the door before, unlike all the other girls. They just didn’t understand the concept of going in through the door.

I tried to shepherd them through the open door but they flew round me and waited at the pop hole each time. In the end I had to give in and lift the pop hole and they all filed through it! While trying to direct them to the open door Vanilla was pecking my hands.

Once in I lifted some of them to the perch but again Vanilla would peck my hand every time I got near her. I ended up pointing the torch to a space on the perch and letting her jump up herself.

It shows how different their characters are but I don’t know why Vanilla is so apposed to me when I am the giver of treats and have never done anything other than be kind to them. There again Topaz was the same. It’s just more surprising because seramas in general seem such friendly little girls. I hope that in time Vanilla may mellow towards me.

Tonight all the girls made it in in time. Hopefully they have learned not to leave it too late in future.

Our weather is crazy at the moment. We had several mornings with frosts, some mornings with fog, some wind and rain, some blue skies and sunshine and today 18 degrees C/ 65 degrees F.

The last hosta bud is still hanging in there but I think it’s unlikely to open fully and we have the odd rose bud.

Rose bud in November

It is very late in the year for rose buds. I am not complaining though as it is a welcome reprieve in the weather. The longer forecast is saying we will be getting storms, later this month, bringing high winds and heavy rain. I am not looking forward to that. I will make the most of the milder weather we are enjoying at the moment.

This post was also inspired by a comment from Sophie. Sophie said that she hadn’t realised that the game girls were crossed with wyndottes. In truth I hadn’t realised until I remarked to the farmer/breeder that Ebony’s comb was much bigger than Emerald’s comb had been.

He told me that was the wyndotte in her. I then realised that she is actually the same shape as a wyndotte and the only thing that is the same as Emerald is her colour.

I have decided to do a comparison between Emerald and Toffee with Flame and Ebony and also Topaz to show the similarity.

Emerald had a tiny comb

Emerald had a long neck and bottle shaped shoulders

Toffee also had a long neck

Toffee also had a long tail but was moulting here. There is another photo further down showing her tail.

Toffee’s breast feathers and her upright, single, comb.

Emerald is looking tatty due to her moult. Emerald always had a tatty moult and always lost her tail completely. It will be interesting to see how Ebony moults.

Emerald and Topaz

Having some yogurt

I had thought of the vorweks as smaller but in fact it is more that they have short legs. Honey is in the centre of the photo. Peaches and Barley had a slimmer build but longer legs.

Toffee, Emerald and Topaz with Honey, Peaches and Barley

Toffee had a long, narrow, tail. By this photo we had sadly lost Sparkle.

Ebony

Ebony has a wyndotte shape and wyndotte comb and lobes.

Flame

Flame has more of a game shape but she has more of the gold wyndotte feathers and a smaller wyndotte comb but not the lobes like Ebony. If you compare Toffee’s comb it is thinner and taller.

It is interesting to see how much the farmer’s girls have evolved over the five years since I collected Emerald and Toffee. I don’t know how long he had been breeding silver wyndottes but he had only just started breeding gold wyndottes because he sold me Topaz with a little reluctance as it was his first year breeding them and he hadn’t built up a large stock at that stage. We collected Topaz and Sparkle two months earlier than Emerald and Toffee.

When I talked to the farmer, while collecting Ebony, I told him that we had thought of Topaz as “angry bird”, that she had attitude and would peck me if I got in her way. He said that for some reason the gold laced wnydottes tend to be like that and that he hadn’t been able to breed that out of them.

Sparkle, my silver laced wnydotte, was a gentle character and easy to handle.

There is definitely quite a difference between Emerald and Toffee compared to Ebony and Flame. I have to admit that I miss Emerald’s sleek, game girl, shape and sweet, tiny comb. She was such favourite of mine. I thought she was such a beautiful girl and she had a lovely, sweet, nature.

I love my current flock but I still miss Emerald. She had a very special place in my heart.

In the comments Sophie asked if the game girls were bigger in size than bantams usually are so I thought I would do a comparison of size between the three bigger girls. I would say that they are the usual bantam size although bantams vary a bit. My vorwerks were smaller in size than my current bigger three girls.

The Wyandottes were chunky but not as tall as the game girls. Speckles and the game girls are about the same height but Speckles is slightly slimmer. The game girls have thicker legs than Speckles.

The three bigger girls

Ebony, Speckles and Flame

There isn’t much difference in the size of these three girls but you can see that Ebony and Flame have thicker legs.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that these girls are bantams though because seramas in comparison are so small. I like to see the mix in the flock and to see the bigger and smaller girls getting along. Size doesn’t seem to effect the harmony in the flock at all.