Carol's Chickens

Our flock is small and harmonious. All five girls are quite different, very pretty and have lovely natures. They get on so well together that they will share one small dish of mash.

I love the flower formation as they all eat together. Because of the bobbing heads I only managed two photos without at least one girl being blurred. The photo above is my favourite photo.

Salmon had moved out a bit on this one but it was the only other clear photo. They are such a lovely little flock.

Yesterday morning, the day after Sugar’s tiny egg, there was an egg in the run. It was right at the bottom end of the run. It was white and bigger than Gold and Storm’s egg. It was almost the size of Dot’s egg but Dot’s eggs are a slightly beige colour.

I think that it is Sugar’s egg. I think she has had a blip in her egg production and instead of producing two normal sized eggs she has produced a tiny egg and a large egg.

I waited before writing this post because I thought that if all the laying girls laid as well that would be proof that it was Sugar’s egg. Later in the day Gold laid and then Storm laid. I was really hoping that Dot would lay too but unfortunately she didn’t which means I can’t say with complete certainty but I am still convinced and it would explain why Sugar has been struggling to lay.

Also it seems odd that it was laid out in the run which is something that Dot has never done. I think it may have caught Sugar by surprise and later she went to the nest box and sat for a short spell before leaving.

Dot always lays a slightly bigger egg (the egg on the right) after a day’s break. She then lays two or three days in a row producing a slightly smaller egg. Her eggs are always a slightly beige colour whereas all the other girls lay white eggs.

These three eggs were all laid yesterday so the mystery egg could only belong to either Sugar or Dot and looking at the first egg photo it really doesn’t look like Dot’s egg.

We lost Shadow last spring due to her getting a large egg stuck and Sugar and Shadow came in together. They were from the same batch of chicks so a larger egg from Sugar is a possibility.

Only time will tell if Sugar now goes on to lay normally which I am hoping will be the case. Whatever will be will be and there isn’t anything I can do about it so I am going to try to stop worrying and enjoy the girls.

Over eight days Sugar has sat in a nest box, every other day, four times. Each time she sat for about an hour and then she came out without laying. Today is day nine and Sugar sat in the nest box for two hours. She then came out having laid the tiniest egg that I have ever seen.

The shell was really hard to break and the yolk was tiny and red. We have had some first, serama eggs, before that were tiny but they were about twice the size of this one.

I am hoping that Sugar might get back to normal now. This has been one of the weirdest things yet. I am glad that she has laid something though as it’s more positive than having a problem getting an egg out. It’s as if she has had to start all over again. Only time will tell how Sugar progresses in the future but I am just happy that for now she has laid something.

Sugar last laid on the eighth April, five weeks ago. She laid her first seven eggs of the year and then went broody. I broke her out of her broody spell just over two weeks ago. Ever since then Sugar has spent a lot of time just sitting on the ground.

In between sitting Sugar seems normal and scratches, dust baths, preens, eats and drinks and runs to the treats. It’s just that after seeing Star spending all her time sitting this makes me worried. I put it down to Star’s bad ankle but should have known that chickens are not sensible enough to rest a bad ankle.

It is about now that Sugar usually starts laying again. Three times, every other day, Sugar has sat in a nest box for about an hour and then left without laying.

Sometimes Sugar has been sitting like this which made me think she could have an egg stuck. I have picked her up and inspected her but can’t see anything wrong. I took this photo before her first session in a nest box. She has since returned to the nest box every other day and yesterday came out shouting. I thought that may have meant she had finally got an egg laid but there was nothing there again.

Since her third time of sitting in the nest box Sugar perked up. Today I thought she seemed back to normal but have just checked on her and she is now sitting again. I really have no idea what is going on with her. If she had an egg stuck she would have deteriorated by now. I know from past experience that they go down hill very quickly when they have an egg problem.

In other news Storm came out of her broody spell and laid again on the same day that Gold went broody which was a week ago. Storm had a twelve day break and then started laying again. We seem to be doomed to only having two girls laying at any one time. Dot has been our only steadfast layer and often lays two or three days in a row.

I feel that something is not right with Sugar. She has always come back into lay easily before. It’s all very odd. I guess only time will tell.

I love seeing the girls dust bathing together. Storm often seems to be the helper. She was going between Gold and Dot and pecking around them. She had a film of dust on her back so had obviously already had her turn.

Dust bathing girls are happy girls and it always makes me smile to see them dust bathing together.

We really enjoyed the coronation weekend. We watched the whole thing on television on Saturday with wine and nibbles. We felt proud to witness such a historical event and thought the whole thing was spectacular.

On Sunday we were invited to afternoon tea and drinks with our allotment friends plus the neighbours opposite us. We had such a good get together. We watched the Windsor concert together and ended up getting back home in the early hours of the morning.

Bank holiday Monday I decided to give the girls a fish treat. I like to include them and it’s good to see them looking so good.

It’s been such a lovely weekend and it’s good to see the girls looking happy too.

I know for certain that Diamond had gape worm. Her symptoms were a mucky bottom, a coughing sound, difficulty breathing, gaping, neck stretching and head shaking. She also improved with flubenvet and coughed up gape worm on the chickens’ patio. They looked like tiny red threads. Eventually they overwhelmed her and I couldn’t get her free of them.

The rest of the flock had no symptoms but I found what I thought was gape worm in some poop. However after we found Star dead overnight I started looking up chicken poop. I am afraid that I have to admit that I research chicken stuff every day and I do on occasion research chicken poop. Star had been producing some lemon yellow poops in the days before her demise and I wondered if it could be an indication of a heart problem.

Anyway while looking at all the variations of chicken poop I came across a photo very similar to the one I took of what I thought was gape worm. The article said that the lady found it on the overnight poop board and as she was taking her dog to the vets that day she took it with her to get it tested for worms. It turned out there were no worms. Sometimes chickens shed part of the intestinal lining.

I had thought it was rather big and odd that it would be expelled while the girls were showing no symptoms but I went into panic mode. Ironically this was on the day that I had just finished worming the girls with a double dose of flubenvet.

I am now hoping that this means that the flock will be okay. They all look great. A friend who I discussed this with a few days ago pointed out that Diamond had been with us eight months and in that time the rest of the flock hadn’t shown any symptoms so it was possible that they wouldn’t pick it up or if they had and I cleared them they may not pick it up again. This was before I saw the article and photo above.

I am now feeling much happier about the flock. I am trying to build up their health so have put some vitamins in their water and given them some plain mash. I also gave them a tray of cabbage seedlings. My husband has been planting trays of seeds for the allotment and having potted on twenty cabbage seedlings the rest were surplus.

Perhaps at last we can settle back to normality for a while. At least until the next drama hits us.

Star had such a short time with us of only two months and she was only six months old. Once again caring for a problem girl had made me very fond of her. Since she tore the ligament in her ankle I had always made sure that she was eating enough. I also made sure the steps from the chickens’ patio remained shallow.

I now wish I had taken more photos of her recently but of course I thought I had plenty of time. Her comb had grown since we first we had her and her feathers looked pristine.

She was with us for such a short time but she was a lovely girl and will be missed. Goodbye Star.

This morning we went up to the chicken run and were surprised not to see Star in the run. I checked the chicken shed and Star was dead on the chicken shed floor.

We were totally shocked. Star’s limp had been improving and yesterday she looked the best she has ever looked. For the first time since we have had her she was perched on the third rung of the ladder next to Dot. How I wish I had taken a photograph. Later in the afternoon she was on top of the wooden shelter for the first time since she hurt her ankle. I lifted her down as I was worried that if she jumped down she would set her ankle back.

My husband says it must have been her last hurrah! She was eating well and pooping. My husband has pointed out that she was sitting down a lot but I had put that down to her bad ankle. When we did the scaly mite treatment at bedtime last night Star was on her usual perch and looked fine.

I have taken a photo because I am almost feeling that I won’t be believed. I am still reeling from the shock myself.

Star was only six months and should have been due to start laying soon. We have only had her for two months. I am beginning to think that the chicken gods won’t allow me to have new chickens! We have now lost all our new girls.

I am certain Star didn’t have worms because I had doubled dosed her with flubenvet when she was separated because of her ankle. There was no sign of any worms of any sort. Her poops are bigger than the other girls so fairly easy to tell and I have never found any worms in them.

I have been terrified of losing the girls one by one due to worms but not so much Star. Ironically yesterday I thought that I might end up with just Star remaining. Having chosen hardy breeds and breeds that should be good egg layers it turned out that neither Diamond or Star ever got to lay an egg. I am now feeling that I should have just stuck with having seramas after all.

I couldn’t leave this post with just that photo so I took a couple of photos of the remaining girls together.

I have now finished worming the girls. I still can’t believe that Star has gone and I will do a tribute to her short time with us tomorrow. I only hope that I can keep these five girls and have some normality in the flock.

I am trying to stay positive and deal with the problems in the flock to the best of my ability. Last night was the second time of treating for the scaly mite. I brushed the spray into the scales on the feet and legs of Dot, Salmon and Sugar while my husband held them for me. It’s a two person job.

Star seems to be improving very slowly. I am keeping the steps shallow by moving the soil back towards the steps every few days. Star spends a lot of time sitting but that’s good because she is resting her ankle. She is eating well and pooping, preening and dust bathing.

We are on day four of the double dose of flubenvet. I have managed to get all the girls to take their dose apart from Sugar. I am still breaking her from her broody spell but I think she is nearly through it now. She wouldn’t eat for the first three days of giving the flubenvet but had about half a portion (a single dose) today. Hopefully tonight will be her last night in the broody crate and she should be through it by tomorrow. I will then try to get her to have more flubenvet. She has been sitting in a nest box for the last three weeks so is unlikely to have picked up the gape worm.

Storm and Salmon are easy to dose as once separated they quickly clear their dish of chopped tomato and flubenvet powder. Dot and Gold are more difficult as they don’t like being separated and I have to try to put their dish in front of them when they are away from the other girls. Storm and Salmon would swoop in and take theirs given the chance.

I put a dish in front of Star when she was the only girl on the patio area and she soon cleared her dish. Sugar is the difficult one at the moment.

I am poop picking many times a day at the moment and have found a gape worm both yesterday and today so I hope that means the flubenvet is working and they are being expelled. I still can’t tell which girl has them.

I talked to my eldest son about the situation as he used to keep chickens and he knows how besotted I am with them. He used his favourite phrase “prepare for the worst and hope for the best”. He said that there are things that are out of my control and I can’t magic this away or turn back time so I have to be prepared to lose some or all of the girls and possibly end my chicken keeping. But at the same time he said he knows I will do my very best and that I must make the most of any time I have with the flock now and hope that I can get them through this.

I decided to start by taking a few group photos of the girls having some spinach together.

I constantly research everything I can find on the internet about gape worm. The survival rate isn’t good and I have only found one case so far of someone in America treating one girl and getting her back to normal. It was on the reddit forum and there was no follow up as to whether the flock stayed clear.

I then asked google the question “can gape worm be cured in chickens?” and it said that it could if it was caught early enough. I have to hope that I have, catching it early, on my side this time. The ongoing problem is that once the eggs are in the soil the girls could get infected again in the future.

I will have to keep a good stock of flubenvet at all times and remain forever vigilant from now on. I had no idea that gape worm was so difficult to treat until this happened to us and I started researching it.

Only time will tell how this will go but I am trying to remain positive.