Carol's Chickens

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

Yesterday afternoon I took the the girls a chunk of lettuce. I held it out to them and they pecked at it as I held it, with Pepper getting very close to my fingers. Once I put it down they completely lost interest and didn’t touch it for the rest of the day. Do they prefer me to hand feed them?

Pepper’s crop has remained looking lop sided. She feeds with vigour and is happy, tail up, runs,  jumps and seems fine in every other way. When they were putting themselves to bed yesterday evening, I saw my chance to pick her up. As she was hovering in the coop door way, I quickly scooped her up. I felt her crop once again and it still feels soft, both sides feel the same. I returned her to the doorway and she went about her way. I have now satisfied myself that her crop is soft, both in the morning when empty and in the evening when full. Maybe she is just meant to be bigger one side than the other. I will continue to watch them all closely.

This morning I took the girls their breakfast treat and they came running as soon as they saw me, as usual. I then saw that Poppy had a bit of twig stuck in her leg ring, which she was trying her best to remove. They were all close around my feet waiting to see what I had for them,  so I let her get close to me, then quickly picked her up. I removed the twig and although she was calm in my arms, she was very vocal about her displeasure at being picked up. When I put her down, all three ran under the shrub to show me they were not happy about that. They soon returned though to see what I had for them. The amusing thing was Poppy remembered what she was doing, before I picked her up and returned to picking at her leg ring. She looked slightly surprised that it had magically disappeared.

I then offered them cooked peas for the second morning running. This time they were straight to them, no hesitation!

We love peas

Is Poppy a roo? Look at her tail

I am still concerned that Poppy may be a roo. Poppy on the left has a longer, curved tail. Dominiques have rounded, blunt tails like Dotty on the right. I do hope I turn out to be wrong because I love them so much already and would hate to have to give her up. I am trying not to think about it too much, only time will tell.

This morning I took the girls some cooked peas as their breakfast treat. I am struggling to find different things they will eat at the moment. They came running as soon as they saw me, but were not impressed with the peas. They pecked at them a bit, then abandoned them. Pepper took a peck at my ring instead, I have heard that they like sparkling things!

I left the small pot of peas by the feeder and when I came back later in the day they had managed to shell them and just left the husks. It’s amazing how good they are with their beaks.

Now we have seen the enclosure in action for just over a week, we realise that we need to make a few modifications. The main thing we need to do is to extend the dry area. We are finding it too cramped for the chickens, their feeders and us.

When I replaced the pine shavings in the coop at the weekend, I found there was not enough room for me to comfortably move round. We will extend the plastic roof, out over all of  the patio area and leave the garden part as the open area.

I would then swing the coop round sideways so that I can get round it easily. We also thought we would put a shelf behind the coop to store the overflow of chicken related things, which at the moment are cluttering the shed.

We have also put a gate closer on the back of the gate.

Another minor thing, is to move the hanging basket from the front of the enclosure to inside. We thought it would make it look attractive from the outside but now find it blocks our view in.

I mentioned in an earlier post, that we only had three apples on the tree in the enclosure, as we have now realised the mesh put the bees off going in to pollinate. After a heavy shower this afternoon, I looked in on the chickens and saw that the top most apple had fallen off. It seems the apples are not meant to be this year. Never mind, I would rather have chickens!

Last night after the girls had put themselves to bed we pushed the dog crate against the coop door again, like we did on their first day with us. I lined the floor with shavings and put their food and water in. This was so that we could go out to them at 5.00am and shut the coop door, meaning they were contained in the crate so that we could pick them up.

First we picked up Pepper so that we could feel her crop to see if it’s hard and impacted. To my relief it was soft, both sides felt the same and felt as they should do. She still looks a little lop sided but I have since looked back at the photos we took on the first day and see that her chest was a bit like that to start with, so maybe it wasn’t the noodles.

Next we picked up Poppy and put the green leg ring on her. At the moment we have no problem telling them apart as they appear quite different to us, but as they become adults, they may become more alike. Pepper has some white feathers on the edge of her wings and Dotty is the smallest. Poppy has the curved tail and is taller.

Now that we have felt Pepper’s crop, I am feeling happier about her. My other worry was that Poppy may be a rooster. Flock Mistress, very kindly e-mailed me some photos of her flock at the same age as mine. Her Cuckoo Maran (coincidentally also named Poppy) turned out to be a roo, but at this stage was twice the size of the rest of the flock. She has told me not panic yet, as they can develop at different stages. She doesn’t think my Poppy looks likes a roo. Poppy is quite different from the other two but maybe she is just a different hen. She said to try to get a photo of them side by side, which I managed today while they were eating their afternoon maggots.

Dotty, Pepper and Poppy

You can see that Dotty on the left is smaller, Pepper in the middle has the white wing feathers and Poppy on the right has a much more arched tail.

I am now going to try to stop worrying and just enjoy them. Thank you Flock Mistress for your advice on this.

After eating the maggots, all three go and preen together followed by a snooze, as close to each other as they can get. The favourite spot seems to be the wooden steps and they are always in a really tight huddle.

Preening, we three are as one

After the girls have eaten, they like to preen together. They are so together that it can be difficult to tell where one begins and another ends.

If one preens, we all preen!

It’s been difficult to get any good photos, between the constant showers, but I quite liked this one of poppy and Dotty.

Poppy and Dotty

I am trying not to worry if Poppy is a roo as only time will tell.

First I just want to quickly update on Pepper. I talked to the vet at our pet store today and he said everything I am doing is correct. He said it really does take 5 days and if she is not better by the start of next week, I could take her in but he didn’t seem to be too worried and she does seem slightly improved.

Now we move on to the next problem. We think Poppy is a roo. The other two hang together all the time while she (I am going to continue to call her “she” until we are certain), is often off on her own. We had noticed that she has bigger feet and longer legs, she is also taller and much more upright. When we gave them the maggots this afternoon, poppy found them first and gave a loud call which had the other two running straight over. Finally we noticed her tail is longer and curved while the other two have quite rounded tails.

The better news is that Pepper may not be so bad as I thought because I had been comparing her shape to the sleek upright shape of Poppy as they were the same size and are the same age. I can now see little Dotty (two weeks younger) developing the same shaped chest. Both Dotty and Pepper have pigeon shaped chests and are low to the ground where as poppy is sleek and upright. All the more reason to think she is a roo. They have changed so much in just a week.

I wanted to show this with pictures but they are not great as it rained most of the day and it was really difficult to get the three of them together, unlike the other day when I couldn’t get  them to part.

Poppy on the right has bigger feet and a longer tail

Poppy has a roo like tail

All three on the perch

This is the first time I have seen all three on the perch. Although it’s not a great photo as I had to take it from outside, I wanted to include it to show their new skill. I can’t get one from inside as they all jump off. Do they feel safer with the mesh between us?

We have an automatic door opener on our coop, that works with a light sensor. I have caught it closing at dusk between 8.00 and 9.30pm. I always check on the chickens several times before and after it closes to make sure they are shut safely inside. They put themselves to bed about 7.00pm, so no worries there. If I look in on them quietly they stay put, but on one occasion when we had family round and were chatting, they came out again for a last forage around, then returned. Now I try not to disturb them.

I haven’t managed to see it opening though. It gets light before 5.00am at the moment and I go in to say hello and give them a morning treat between 6.30 and 7.00am. Today I decided to try to see when it opened and how soon they came out. I went out at 4.45am, which was first light and I could hear the dawn chorus, but it was still closed. I went back to bed and returned at 5.15am to find it open and the chickens already at the feeding station, I leave the food and water out so that they have access to it as soon as they come out. I think this means it opens about 5.00am and they must come out straight away. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t come out again in between and managed to see it, but at least I have a better idea for another morning. As it was raining, I was reluctant to hang around.

One of the purposes of doing this today, was to see how Peppers crop looks first thing, when it is empty. It looks much less noticeable but still slightly lop sided. It does appear to be slightly improving though. I will continue with the maggots and watch her closely.

I am continuing to give the girls live yogurt in the morning and maggots in the afternoon, which they love. Pepper is eating, drinking, pooping and her tail is up, she seems happy enough but still looks lop sided. Unfortunately she is not used to me enough yet, to allow me to pick her up and feel if it’s hard. The advise says the maggot treatment takes five days to work which will take us to Sunday. If it’s not improved by then I will look for a vet on Monday. I feel so awful that this has happened so early on, yet the other two girls are fine.

Pepper with her bulging crop on her right hand side

The other thing I did today was change them over from chick crumb to growers pellets as I was advised to, at the end of their first week with me. I was worried they wouldn’t like the change but needn’t have been, as they loved them. I think getting used to the maggots has got them ready to accept the slightly bigger pellets. I have also bought layers pellets ready for the next stage, when they are ready to lay, which may be around October time.

I shall be keeping a close watch on Pepper and may try to entice her into the dog crate tomorrow, where I may be able to pick her up. The other advise is to gently massage her crop but it’s a bit tricky when she doesn’t want to be picked up. I can’t stop worrying about her at the moment and do so hope she gets better soon.

A few days ago I said that pepper had just discovered the perch. The following day Poppy found it, swiftly followed by Dotty. I didn’t have my camera with me the first day but have now managed to get a picture of Dotty and Pepper, Dotty is on the left, high up.

Dotty and Pepper on the perch

They also enjoyed a dust bath together. Dotty and Pepper are always almost on top of each other, Poppy is often a bit apart. What’s funny though is that poppy likes to stretch out her legs. You would be forgiven for thinking there is something wrong with her but she often does this while sitting and while standing.

Dust bath with Poppy stretching her legs

They constantly amuse me.