Carol's Chickens

When I realised that Diamond was too big and heavy to jump up to the bedtime perches I ordered a pair of free standing perches from Amazon. They only came as a pair and were described as heavy so they wouldn’t tip and suitable for any chicken.

I have to say they were inexpensive so I probably shouldn’t have expected too much from them. They were not what I would call heavy and they were much narrower than I expected. However they were perfect for the broody crate.

At the time I was breaking Sugar from her last broody spell. She hopped on to this perch and stayed on it overnight. It stayed upright when she jumped down. For a serama I would say it was perfect but not for any girl bigger than a serama.

As usual a few nights in the broody crate did the trick and Sugar started laying again four days ago and has laid two eggs so far. This means we now have three girls laying, Snowflake, Dot and Sugar. Gold hasn’t resumed laying as she is having a partial moult and is dropping feathers everywhere.

The first night I put Diamond on the perch it had tipped over by morning when she jumped off. Luckily we had some heavy, chunky bits of wood in the shed so my husband cut a piece to size and attached the perch to this. This made the perch a bit higher and very stable.

The perch no longer tipped over but I still felt that it wasn’t wide enough for Diamonds feet. My husband then added a piece from the shed that we had left over from making perches. It was now the right size for Diamond.

The flash on my camera no longer works so this photo isn’t very good but it does give the gist of Diamond on her perch.

It was worth buying the perches as with a few adaptations we have solved the problem for Diamond and the perch in the broody crate is better than what we did before which was to jam a perch between the bars.

Diamond seemed to improve while I was worming the flock and so I thought that her problem may have been down to worms. However as soon as I had finished worming the flock she went down hill again.

Her breathing became laboured once more and the hiccuping noise much more frequent. While sitting her bottom was bobbing up and down and she was breathing through an open beak. She was also making a groaning sound from her beak. She would sometimes shake her head as she made the hiccup sound and sometimes closed her eyes in between.

We had had her for exactly three weeks at this point. She didn’t look right from the first day and has always had a mucky bottom. I treated her with tylan for five days and it had no effect. I then treated her with flubenvet for seven days and she seemed to improve but then worsened again on the eighth day.

Saffron was keeping her company.

At this point I was back to thinking that perhaps it was a heart problem after all.

Diamond then stood up and did a huge poop on the wooden block. I cleaned it up with kitchen paper and saw that it had a worm in it! I then wondered if she was so overloaded with worms that seven days of flubenvet hasn’t been enough to rid her of them.

I immediately mixed up dishes of mash with flubenvet and watched over the girls to make sure that Diamond had a good go at it. I thought that if she improved again I would know that worms were her problem. She must have come to us full of worms. I have never before found worms after seven days of treating.

I thought that I would treat for a further seven days and then again three weeks later as I had planned. I am determined to get rid of the worms.

By the following day her hiccuping sound had become more frequent and the groaning sound as well. She was also shaking her head more. We wondered if the groaning sound was fluid on her lungs and I researched if a heart problem could cause fluid on the lungs. It said that yes it can. I was back to thinking she has a heart problem and she also had worms but I wasn’t happy about the head shaking as well.

I also researched chickens being overloaded with worms and that too can cause the groaning sound and head shaking as they try to rid themselves of the worms. The more I keep researching the more I find that both heart problems and an overload of worms have very similar symptoms.

If I assume that Diamond has both a heart problem and worms then the best I can do for now is to try and get rid of the worms.

I am writing this post as I go along and I am now on the tenth day of giving flubenvet. Once again Diamond has improved a bit. She is no longer making the groaning sound and is making the hiccuping sound less often and has stopped shaking her head.

Doing further research I found that gape worm causes neck stretching, shaking the head, open beak breathing and a gurgling noise, all of which Diamond was doing. It says that gape worm needs double the dose of flubenvet. I think this means a double dose rather than a double length of time.

As a belts and braces approach I am going to continue giving for the double time of two weeks but am also giving Diamond a double dose by individually giving her extra. I am putting some powder on chopped tomatoes in one of the small round dishes and holding it in front of her beak. Being bigger and taller she can take from the dish while the rest of the girls can’t reach.

I had now been giving the flock flubenvet for eleven days when I had a bit of a light bulb moment. I realised that I don’t need to continue with the whole flock but just need to give a double dose to Diamond each day.

I had been thinking that Diamond was getting one dose along with the flock and her extra dose on chopped tomato held in front of her beak. I decided to continue from tomorrow by just giving Diamond the powder on chopped tomato twice a day to give her the double dose. I can’t do a double dose in one go as it gets too hard to keep the other girls away and then Diamond gets fed up and moves away.

Diamond is looking better in every way except the squeaking hiccuping sound. She no longer has a mucky bottom. I think this means I am getting on top of the worm problem but I still think the sound points to a heart problem. I will be more certain of this if she is still making the sound once fully wormed.

I will do five more days of the double dose for Diamond only and then as planned will do the whole flock again in three weeks time. I guess only time will tell.

We lost Flame at the very good age of almost seven. She was a beautiful girl with a lovely nature. She saw many girls arrive and leave the flock during her time with us. Since Flame joined our flock there have been fourteen more arrivals and nine have left.

It is quite a shock to realise that in Flame’s time with us we have lost Dandelion, Sienna, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Jasmine, Marmite, Speckles, Ebony and Spot. Ebony was re-homed but died suddenly in her new home three months later.

Flame had the most gentle nature. She didn’t like confrontation and as new girls came in to the flock, no matter what size they were, she just accepted them.

Flame was so accommodating that a lot of the other girls chose to share the nest box with her and she always accepted their company.

Flame when broody had a very strong instinct to be a mother and I am sure she would have been a great mum. When she went broody at the same time as the smaller girls she wanted to mother them. While this looked very sweet it was annoying because I had to break this behaviour or it may have gone on for a long time but it showed how easily she would have taken to being a mum.

Flame was friendly to us and the girls alike and was easy to handle as she had no objection to being touched or picked up. She had a totally placid nature and she was elegantly beautiful.

After losing her tail Flame grew her feathers back in and her feathers looked pristine again in this photo.

Goodbye lovely Flame, you won’t be forgotten.

I can’t believe that in the comments of my last post I had just said that Flame was brighter. I think it was her last hurrah! This often seems to happen with chickens. They seem to have a last day or so where they perk up before the final decline.

At the weekend I felt that Flame was ready to go to the vets and then on Monday she seemed much brighter. By Tuesday she was back to standing with her eyes closed or her head under her wing. By the afternoon she went and perched in the chicken shed and didn’t come out again. I knew this was a sign that she was ready to go.

We had only just been talking about when Toffee was ready to go and that she went and perched in the chicken shed. They only perch in the chicken shed during the day when they are their end. I knew it was Flame’s time.

I rang the vet and they had no appointments last night but could see her at half past eight this morning. At bedtime I rattled the sunflower hearts but Flame didn’t move. I held the container in front of Flame’s beak and she had a few sunflower hearts.

The vet said that she had never seen a chicken as old as Flame. She said that I had given her good life and this was the last kind thing I could do for her. The vet took Flame out of the room to give her some gas and then put her in my lap so that I could hold her and talk to her. She gave her the anesthetic while I held her and Flame gently went to sleep while the tears streamed down my face.

Flame was such a lovely girl and it so sad to see the run without her in it. The only consolation is that she did live to a good age.

I will do a tribute to her soon. I have many years of photo of her to look through. Goodbye Flame. You will be very much missed.

I have known for a while that Flame was coming to the end of her time. I have been putting off posting about this and putting off making a decision about Flame.

Throughout this summer Flame has spent a lot of her time sitting in the big shelter. We have had her for a further three months since she was first closing her right eye. After the eye drops stopped working and we saw bubbles in her eye I treated her with tylan.

I have now treated Flame three times with tylan and have now run out. After the first treatment her right eye was closed again after a month. After the second treatment her eye was closed again after three weeks. After the third treatment her eye was closed again after only a week.

It has been so sad to see her like this. I know that this problem isn’t going to go away. I know she feels really poorly when she has her head under her wing. Before the weekend I was certain it was her time to go.

Then Flame had a dust bath and I had a bit of hope. By now it was Saturday afternoon and I decided to give her one last weekend with us and make the decision on Monday.

By Sunday Flame wasn’t opening her right eye at all. She would walk around the run with one eye open and one eye closed. I felt that I knew then that I had to phone the vet on Monday. It’s her time to go and it’s the kindest thing to do for her now. Even so it’s so hard and it’s breaking my heart to have to let her go.

Monday

After resigning myself to taking Flame to the vets today I was surprised to find her looking brighter this morning. She had both eyes open and seemed perkier. Just when I had made the decision I was wavering once more.

I had started worming the girls on Thursday so I am now half way through the seven days. I might just wait until I have finished worming before making a decision in case that is effecting her.

Diamond

When Diamond came to us she already had a mucky bottom. This had steadily got worse over her time with us and she had been doing very sloppy poops. As she was struggling with her breathing and making the hiccuping noise I thought she had a heart problem.

Since I have started worming the flock Diamond has steadily improved. I didn’t want to say anything too soon in case it didn’t last. Her bottom is looking cleaner and she has gradually been making the hiccuping sound less and less. Her breathing has returned to normal.

I am now wondering if her problem was an overload of worms. I looked up symptoms for worms and it says – diarrhea, dirty vent feathers, lethargy and gasping which perfectly described Diamond. On the second day of worming I found one worm in a poop. I am surprised that I haven’t found more than this but I am becoming more certain that Diamond’s problem may be down to worms.

In my research it says that if you have an overload of worms it is best to worm the flock again three weeks later to be sure to be properly rid of them. I have noted this on the calendar and will be worming again three weeks after finishing this course of seven days.

In my twelve years of chicken keeping I haven’t come across these severe symptoms from worms. The good news is that it is treatable and means that Diamond should be able to have a normal life span with us.

So it is a case of mixed feelings with the flock at the moment. The situation with Flame continues to hang over us but I don’t want to give up on her too soon. The situation with Diamond may be resolved and I will report back again at the end of worming.

I thought it would be fun to give the girls a yogurt treat and try to get our first group photos of all ten girls.

Since the weather has cooled Diamond has been sitting less often. It’s only when sitting that her breathing is laboured so now that she is sitting less she is looking better and making the squeak/hiccup sound less frequently. I am now more optimistic that we may have her for some time.

The day after Snowflake went broody Sugar also went broody. I felt a bit cheated as Sugar had only laid six eggs this time instead of her usual eight eggs and once again we had two broodies together. Sugar had laid her six eggs in nine days which must be her record before going broody again. This left only Gold and Dot laying and once again I had to buy some eggs.

Dot laid every sixth day when she first came to us in May. After three eggs she moulted and stopped laying for three months. Since she has started laying again her laying has improved. She laid her second egg on the fourth day after the first. She then laid two days running and then laid her next egg on the third day after her last.

It seems that Dot is hitting her stride now. She also lays big eggs. When Snowflake and Gold first started laying Snowflake’s eggs were bigger than Gold’s eggs. Since then Snowflake’s eggs have remained the same size while Gold’s eggs have got bigger. Dot’s eggs are even bigger.

Gold’s egg is on the left with Dot’s egg in the middle and a medium shop bought egg on the right for a size comparison.

Snowflake isn’t a committed broody. Snowflake perches in the chicken shed overnight which is what I think makes her less committed. Sugar will not perch when she is broody. After five days Snowflake gave up being broody.

At this point I decided to break Sugar of her broody spell because I know that otherwise she will just stay broody indefinitely. Last night I put her in the broody crate. It only takes two or three nights to break her.

Once Sugar is through her broody spell I plan on worming the girls again. I usually do this in September and the two new girls haven’t been wormed yet so it seems a good idea to do this now. I gave the girls dishes of mash this morning to get the new girls used to it as I find that flubenvet powder in mash is the easiest way to worm the girls.

The new girls now recognise the little white dishes as treats and soon got stuck into the mash so I think this will work well. That is all the news from the chicken run for now.

This is a very sad post that I have been putting off writing for quite some time. I have gone through the emotions of feeling that we are really unlucky to feeling upset to ultimately feeling sad.

On the day that we got Diamond I noticed that she had a slightly mucky bottom. Within the first few days we noticed she was very inactive but as she isn’t a breed we have had before I wondered if it was because she was what the breeder described as a heavy bodied bird.

Her bottom became more mucky and she spent a lot of time sitting. Within her first few days with us we noticed that when sitting her breathing was laboured. Her tail would bob up and down and she would have her beak open while breathing.

At this point my thoughts were that it could be the dreaded mico (respiratory problem). It has never flared up when bringing in new girls before but I wondered if this was the exception. Despite thinking I didn’t have enough tylan for another treatment I measured a teaspoon into my little dishes and found there was more than I had thought and there was enough for six days of treatment.

I felt I had nothing to lose in treating the flock with tylan to be on the safe side so I started putting it in the drinking water on Diamond’s fifth day with us. I knew if it was a respiratory problem she should start to improve by the third day.

Instead of starting to improve Diamond appeared to be slightly worse and was now making a sound like a hiccup. At first I thought she had something stuck but she continued to make this sound regularly.

I then remembered that I had heard this sound before. I took Sienna, one of our seramas, to the vet because she was making this same sound and the stress of putting her in the cat box and taking her to the vet sent her in to heart failure.

The vet said that Sienna had a heart problem and the hiccuping sound was a symptom. It turned out that Jasmine, her sibling, had a heart problem too and we lost her six months later.

I have since researched the internet for symptoms of a heart problem in chickens and it says – difficulty breathing, coughing or hiccuping sound and reduced exercise tolerance. I am now convinced that Diamond does have a heart problem.

Diamond looks okay when she is standing up but it’s when she is sitting that her breathing becomes laboured. She also looked worse when we had a hot day. She is eating, drinking and enjoying the treats of greens or apple.

I know that if I called the breeder he would probably offer me another bird but he doesn’t have any other breeds that I want and anyway I don’t have the heart to bring in any more girls.

I know that if this had been mico the tylan would have made her better and the fact that it hasn’t and the sound that she is making is the same as Sienna was making makes me absolutely certain that it’s a heart problem. I also know that the breeder would not have known this and it is just really bad luck.

The positive thing is that it isn’t something than can effect the other girls and at the moment Diamond seems to have a good quality of life. As soon as she looks like she is struggling I will take her to the vet to firstly check my diagnosis is correct and to have her put to sleep.

There is nothing that can be done for a heart problem so I am not going to stress her with a vet visit until I have to. The advise on line is to feed layers pellets, not growers pellets, and fruit and veg which I am already doing.

It is so sad as Diamond is such a lovely girl. She has very quickly become used to me and will take spinach from my fingers and is very calm when I pick her up to perch her each evening. She waddles towards me when I go in the run.

I don’t think there is anything else I can do but keep an eye on her and try to give her the best life possible for however long she is with us.

On Sunday Dot laid an egg for the first time in three months. When she came to us in May she laid three eggs each six days apart and then stopped and started moulting. Now she has stopped moulting and I noticed her comb was redder. She also became vocal again after being completely quiet while moulting.

On the same day that Dot laid Sugar, Gold and Snowflake also laid giving us our first, four egg day, for two months. It almost seems that having new girls in the flock has kick started laying.

On the other hand Diamond who was supposed to be already laying immediately started a partial moult. Her every move sees white feathers drifting from her and she hasn’t yet laid an egg since she has been with us.

Snowflake has laid fourteen eggs since taking a week’s break after a mini moult and has now gone broody. Several times I have thought she was broody in the past but it only lasted a few days. This time she has been in the nest box for two days and she pecks me when I lift her out.

Today both Sugar and Gold have laid. Gold insisted on laying her egg in the nest box with Snowflake and Snowflake ignored her presence next to her possibly so that she could sit on her egg once it was laid.

Diamond likes to perch on the log. She goes from the patio to the wooden block to the small log and then to the big log like stepping stones. today was also the first day that we have seen Diamond have a dust bath whereas Saffron has had a dust bath every day since her arrival with us.

Both Diamond and Saffron go in the chicken shed at the end of the day but they sit together on the floor and I have to lift them to the perch. I am not sure that Diamond is able to jump up to the perch herself so I have ordered a perch on line for her.

It is a low free standing perch that is heavy so it won’t tip. She should be able to just step on and off of it. I am hoping that both Diamond and Saffron will use the new perch as they seem to like to be together.

Recently we have had just one girl, that being Snowflake, laying out of eight girls and I have had to buy eggs. Eggs aren’t the most important thing to me but even so it would be good to have some eggs. Also three girls are getting elderly and so I decided it would be good to add a few more girls.

For the past week I have been researching bantam breeders either nearby or who deliver. I like my girls what I call “clean chickens”. That means no crests, no beards and no feathered feet.

Two breeders had sold everything before they were even sexed and would have nothing more this year. Then third time lucky I found a breeder half an hour away who had two of the breeds I liked. He had just moved and preferred to deliver for a charge of fifteen pounds which I thought was very reasonable.

He said that he could deliver on Thursday. As luck would have it on the same day I called him both Sugar and Gold laid an egg. Even so I was super excited at the thought of new girls.

I had chosen a bantam buff plymouth rock and a bantam light sussex. Both beautiful birds and good layers and hardy.

Thursday the breeder arrived with the new girls at lunch time. He had bought four girls for me to make my choice from. One light sussex, two buff plymouth rock and one silver spangled wyndotte just to give me an extra choice.

The light sussex is seven months old and already laying. She is bigger than I was expecting. There was a seven month old buff rock also laying and a five month old buff rock just about to start laying. I chose the slightly younger buff rock. She is a beautiful colour. I have called the buff rock Saffron and the light sussex Diamond.

I have been successful with adding one older girl straight into the flock and I asked the breeder if he thought it would be okay to do the same thing with these two older girls. He suggested I try it and then separate them if it all kicked off but was fairly confident it would be fine. He had a quick look at our flock and set up.

I decided to give it a try and sit with a book to keep an eye on them with a water spray to hand just in case it was needed. I am so glad that I did it this way as it was absolutely fine. Diamond soon took her place as new head girl. She chased each girl in turn to establish her place at the top but there was nothing nasty. Saffron seems to be at the bottom. Dot and Gold chased Saffron. The seramas gave her a gentle peck when she got too close and the other girls took no notice of her.

Saffron very quickly found the food, water and the afternoon treat of apple. Despite some chasing away she just bounced back and soon seemed really settled. Diamond seemed much slower to find everything. I steered her towards the patio and she did peck the apple but didn’t go to the food or water despite Saffron being there. I am sure she will soon find it when she is ready.

The breeder took them from his box and put them in my cat box which I had ready. I set the cat box down on the chicken’s patio and they made no attempt to come out. I decided to remove the top of the cat box and it took a few moments for them to venture out.

I wondered how well they would manage at bedtime and was very pleased with how it went for a first night. Diamond found her way in to the chicken shed but was sitting under the perch. I lifted her to the perch.

Saffron settled in the small shelter so I picked her up and perched her next to Diamond. I am sure she will soon get the hang of it. I thought that was a good result for a first night.

This morning they are all together and all is quiet and calm so I am very pleased with how it is going. It will be interesting to see if Diamond lays an egg today. I am so happy with the flock and am certain that I won’t be needing to buy eggs again for a while.

We are once again experiencing unusually high temperatures for us. It has been 33/34 degrees c which is low 90’s degrees f. This time we have had a week of these temperatures and they are forecast to continue to the end of the weekend.

Yesterday Flame was beak panting and holding out her wings. I gave the girls frozen peas in dishes of water and damped down parts of the run. This morning I was shopping and so I bought the girls a melon. I cut a couple of slices and halved them then froze them.

This morning I had given the girls frozen peas but this afternoon I gave them the frozen melon. While taking the slices out of the freezer I replaced them with fresh slices for tomorrow and will keep doing this until the weather cools.

The melon doesn’t stay frozen for long but it must be cooling and refreshing when I first put it on the girl’s patio and they all rush to it. Flame looked more comfortable today so I think it really does help.

I think I can safely say that the girls enjoyed their melon.