Carol's Chickens

Yesterday we took our three chickens back to Dorset. It was not an easy job to catch them. I have picked them up before, when they are going in or coming out of the coop but loose in the pen was a different matter as they run under the big shrub out of reach.

We thought as they love raisins we could tempt them into the coop or dog crate with raisins, this worked on Poppy, but once the other two realised what was happening they were having none of it. We had to chase and corner them and it took nearly an hour.

After a cool summer it has just turned really hot and it’s two hours each way to Dorset, so I put some ice packs in pillowcases in the bottom of the dog crate and topped with pine shavings. I put a heavy bowl of water in so that it wouldn’t get tipped up and a dish of food. We left at 1.00pm and arrived at the farm at 3.00pm.

The guy at the farm was expecting us and looked at Poppy first. He agreed she was a roo and said he would look after him and breed from him in the future. He said he really didn’t think Dotty was a roo. Then he looked at Peppers crop and massaged it for a bit. He took her away to milk it, which means expelling the contents through her beak. When he bought her back her crop looked much better.

I asked if it was a good idea to add some bantams to my flock, but as they are really tiny he suggested I add two of his breeds that are the same age and size as mine. We were happy to be advised. He used a large net to catch them (so that’s how it’s done!).

We now have a chalkhill blue which will lay blue eggs and a longtown brown which will lay very dark brown eggs. Both breeds are docile, hardy and good layers. He said the journey home would be long enough for them to get acquainted and they travelled together with no squabbles which was pleasing. On the way home I thought about names and decided to stay with descriptive ones, I settled on Bluebell for the chalkhill blue and Treacle for the longtown brown.

We got back home at 6.00pm (two hours each way was pretty good) and decided to use the same tactic as when we bought our first two home. We put the dog crate against the coop door leaving them the coop and a small temporary run, with food and water inside and outside until dusk. The new girls went straight in the coop while the other two stayed out and Pepper was very vocal about being contained. It was only an hour until their bed time so we so we decide they would have to put up with it. I checked them a couple of times later and they were all in the coop and still no squabbling, so far so good.

New girls in the coop

This morning I went out to the girls at 5.00am as I knew pepper would not be happy if she couldn’t get out. Pepper and Dotty were in the crate while the new girls were still in the coop. Pepper was still protesting vocally and as I removed the crate they both ran out happily. I cleaned the crate and did my morning chores and half hour later decided it was time to force the new girls out. I reached in through the nest box and shoved them out. once out they happily explored. I spent an hour sitting with them, taking photos and making sure they were all okay together. Pepper and Dotty stayed close together while the new girls wandered separately. The new girls found the feeder and Treacle being slightly bigger soon showed she is top hen for now. She would give Bluebell a quick peck if she got to close but Bluebell was not put off, how ever when Pepper and Dotty tried to get to the feeder she would peck at them and they would scuttle away under the shrub. They are going to have to toughen up a bit. By the time I left them they had all four been round the feeder and water together, so I think they will soon get used to each other. It will be interesting to see how they go in tonight.

Bluebell, the chalkhill blue

Treacle, the longtown brown

Pepper with her crop looking better

I realise now that I thought Dotty was looking more upright like Poppy and therefore possibly also a roo (as well as having a more curved tail), but Pepper was much lower to the ground because of her crop problem. Pepper is now more upright than before.

Bluebell

Treacle

All four feeding and drinking together

I am feeling so much happier now. It was the right decision to go back to Dorset and I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from me. I am going to enjoy my extended flock.

I have rung around every vet within our area this morning. I only found two with chicken experts and both were on holiday for the week. None of the vets I spoke to had the experience to treat Pepper. I felt it could not wait until the weekend so we have shuffled our work tomorrow and will take all three back to the farm in Dorset so that they can treat Pepper and take a look at the roos.

If they don’t have more Dominiques, I am thinking that if we can sort out Pepper’s crop problem perhaps I could take three bantams as a mixed flock that would fit with Pepper,  as she will be quite a small hen and I don’t want her to end up alone or picked on if mixed with new hens. I was thinking possibly of bantam : sussex, cuckoo maran and wyndotte.

I feel very tearful and sad that I have had my little flock for a month and may have to leave at least two behind tomorrow. I am trying to remain positive and think at least I have cared for them for a month and watched them grow and change so much in that time. I have had that experience and given them a lovely time with me. Now maybe I can look ahead to to a possible new flock and hope it runs more smoothly next time.

We three stick together

I love this photo as it shows how together these three are. I feel very sad at the thought of splitting them up.

Poppy, our beautiful roo!

Poppy in the tree

Not the best photo but to just to show her latest trick of perching in the tree.

Poppy in the flower pot!

Dotty watches poppy in the flower pot!

I am so sad that these may be the last photos of them together. I have loved them so much in this month that we have shared together.

I can’t bear to think that sweet little Dotty is also a roo, but she is growing more like Poppy each day.

Poppy has a roo like tail

Poppy has long legs and the upright stance of a roo

Is dotty also getting a roo like tail?

Only time will tell.

As the chooks were getting ready to put themselves to bed tonight, I took the chance to quickly pick Pepper up and have a good feel of her crop. It was squidgy and liquid like, not firm as in compacted crop and no smell as in sour crop. I have now done a bit of further research on the internet to try to find out what could be the problem with pepper’s crop and it looks like it may be what is called Pendulous crop. The pictures looked just like Pepper. It said that the crop gets blocked and the food  then stretches the crop so that it hangs down lower than it should.

The treatment is to pour a couple of teaspoons of olive oil down the hens throat and massage the crop for five minutes. Then turn the bird upside down and massage the contents out of the beak, for a short period of ten seconds at a time. Return the bird to the right way up in between to rest and breath or it may suffocate. This is a two person  job and needs expertise. Not a job for the likes of me! I now need to either find a vet that can do this or take her back to the farm we got her from, so that they can do this. It is a four hour round trip (without traffic problems) which I am afraid may also stress her. I will ring some vet’s tomorrow. I will keep posting as I get more information on this.

I phoned the farm where I got my chickens from, for advice on pepper and the possibility of Poppy being a roo and maybe even Dotty too. The lady I spoke to was really helpful, I gave her the link to this blog so that she could see the photo of Pepper. She said that it looks like pepper has a problem with her crop which is really common and can be sorted out. She said it may need milking, or have become stretched or become disattatched. She said I should worry less as they are hardy farm animals and it can be sorted out. She also said they would see if there were more Dominiques in their mixed flocks and if mine turn out to be roos, I can take them back and possibly exchange them and get pepper looked at, at the same time. She said not to waste money on a vet that won’t have experience with chickens. I had made an appointment with the vet for Monday but as they told me that they had  no idea what the problem could be or much experience with chickens,  I think I will cancel the appointment.

Dotty is starting to look more like Poppy than Pepper which is a worry to me, but I keep thinking I must try not to think about it and give it more time.

On a more positive note, I have discovered a treat they go crazy for. I gave them some raisins and they chased each other to snatch them. I had to throw them in three directions for each of them to get one. They would run with them or try to snatch them from each others beak. I also tried giving them strawberries again. They couldn’t bring themselves to peck a whole one but liked them once I had broken them in to small pieces. It seems that anything bigger than a raisin is still scary to them.

I wrote earlier that due to Pepper’s lop sided look, I had thought she may have impacted crop. I treated her for that and felt her crop when empty and full, it was soft as it should be. I then looked back at photos taken on her first day with us and noticed she was lop sided from the start. I hoped this was just the way she is, and she seems happy and normal in every other way. We have only had the chooks for two and a half weeks now and Peppers bulge seems to be growing quite quickly.

Has Pepper got a tumour?

Pepper on the left now has a huge bulge on her right side. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all but I am alarmed by how quickly it has grown. I am going to seek advice today from our local vet and perhaps from the farm where I got them from. I am so upset that so much has happened so quickly. I waited so long to get my chickens and now in less than three weeks with them, one seems to be a roo and one is not right. I don’t want little Dotty to end up on her own.  To make matters worse my son pointed out that we can’t yet rule out Dotty possibly being a roo either. My heart went cold, surely not! I really hope she is a hen.

On a lighter note, here are Poppy and Pepper perching on their branch.

Perching on high

They love to perch on the highest part of the branch. I wanted to capture all three perched together but Dotty had jumped down and was scratching about at the base of the branch.

I would be glad of any advice or any comments on Pepper’s condition.

As each day goes by, I am more convinced that Poppy is a roo. I could say it’s her big feet, long legs and long curved tail. I could say it’s her sometimes loud call but not the boc boc sound that pepper is now making. I could say it’s her strutting her stuff while the other two hang together, but sometimes it is just the look she gives me. The other two run to me to see if I have treats and if I do they happily accept them, if I don’t, they go on their way. Not Poppy, she stares me in the eye, sizes me up and seems to say that she is not afraid of anyone or anything!

Poppy gives me the eye!

This is the look she gives me! This had already got me convinced but then a further incident happened. My youngest son and his partner called by just before the chickens bed time and we went to look in on them. As usual, pepper was first to want to go in the coup and Dotty as always was behaving like the youngster and wanting a last run around. Poppy always waits until they are in before going in herself. Suddenly she seemed to think that strangers were distracting her girls from bed time and looked as if she was about to launch herself at my sons partner, giving her quite a scare. Several times she looked as if about to jump at her. When I knelt beside Poppy she wasn’t worried by me, as I am familiar to her, but she seemed not to want someone else there while she was trying to get her girls to bed. We retreated and she followed the girls in to the coop. I feel sure this is the behaviour of a protective roo. I can’t imagine that a hen would take up that attack stance. I feel that after tonight, I am more sure than ever that my beautiful Poppy is a protective roo watching over the girls.

It always amuses us how utterly together these three are. They all go to the feeder, they all preen then snooze, they all perch, they all peck at the greenery, they all scratch for bugs, they all take a drink and finally they all put themselves to bed.

We all find the best bugs together

Here you can just see three tails as they search for bugs that are under the flower pot.

We all take a drink together

Then they all take a drink, they dip their beaks in and raise their heads to swallow the water. Two up and one down in this photo.

All three also come running when I walk up the path towards them. I know it’s not to see me, as much as it is to see if I have anything for them, but it’s fun to see all the same.

In their enclosure the chickens have two big shrubs, a sage bush, a pot of nasturtiums, a pot of mixed herbs, a tray of pak choi as well as weeds and an apple tree. But what do they want? The sweet peas growing outside their enclosure!

We want what’s on the other side

Its now been two weeks since we bought our chickens home. It’s amazing how much they have changed and grown in two weeks. They have discovered every part of their enclosure, where as on the first day, when they were up one end they seem to forget the other end existed. They love to shelter or hide under the big shrub, they like to try to perch in the apple tree even though there is not room and also like to perch three in a row on the branch we put in. They have found spots to dust bath and the best places to scratch and forage and now enjoy pecking all the green plants and herbs we put in for them.  They look very happy in their new home and keep us constantly amused and entertained.

This is the favourite spot to scratch for bugs

Dotty on the right has now filled out her back feathers

Dominiques have what’s called a pea comb, which is like a row of pink/red peas ending with a small backward spike. Pepper and Poppy are just starting to get the first pea of their comb where as baby Dotty has no sign at all yet. Pepper is also starting to change her sound from baby cheeping to a more grown up boc boc.

Pepper on the left has the first pea of her comb forming

I have e-mailed the farm where we got the chickens from and expressed my concerns that poppy may turn out to be a roo. I gave them the link to this blog, so that they could look at the photos. They say it is tricky, but that I could be right and to give it another few weeks to see for sure. I have said that I am in no hurry to part with poppy and would keep her until adult, but need to have a plan for the future.

It would be heart breaking to part with her but as I have neighbours very close either side of us, I know I can’t keep a roo. If she is a roo we hope to take her back and if they have more Dominique chicks, take one or two more. I keep hoping she turns out to be a hen after all, but in my heart I feel more certain each day that she is a roo.

We three feed together

Poppy on the right has a roo like tail