Carol's Chickens

Monday was day twenty one of tylan in the water. I am so disappointed that Salmon is still wheezing after three weeks of tylan. I can’t go on using it beyond three weeks and I feel if it hasn’t cleared up the wheezing now then it’s never going to.

I have to prepare myself that we may lose Salmon this winter. At the moment apart from the wheezing she looks absolutely fine so we will just have to wait and see how it goes with her.

Salmon on Monday

Marmite is still broody and I am lifting her from the nest box at the end of each day and placing her on the bedtime perch.

Broody Marmite

Ebony and Smoke are still laying so we are getting enough eggs for the weekend breakfasts. I keep thinking the eggs will stop at any time so any eggs we get are a bonus.

Smoke today

Speckles continues to look well despite her age. Spangle still squeaks and sneezes but otherwise seems fine.

Spangle today

Salmon today

Spangle close up

Salmon

I will just have to hope for the best with getting these little girls through the winter.

I have had the feeling, over the last few days, that Marmite was about to go broody. She has laid fifteen eggs in twenty five days which is pretty good going. The last few days she has spent longer in the nest box and started making the clucking sound.

Last night at bedtime when I checked on the girls the automatic door was just closing and Marmite was in the nest box. I lifted her to the bedtime perch.

This morning Smoke wanted to lay her egg in the same nest box that Marmite was occupying so she decided to share.

Smoke and Marmite share a nest box

Notice the difference in their tails. Smokes has the normal, together, tail and Marmite has the, fanned out, broody tail. As soon as Smoke had laid her egg Marmite promptly sat on it and shouted loudly when I removed it.

Being broody in November is ridiculous!

As the girls are still growing their new feathers I thought a protein treat of fish would be good for them.

A fish treat for the girls

The girls enjoy their treat

A group shot of the flock

It’s easier to get a group shot now there are only seven girls. The girls have been having tylan in the water for two and a half weeks now. I am going to keep them on it for three weeks as Salmon still has a slight wheeze although it has improved.

It concerns me that it is taking so long for Salmon to stop wheezing altogether and I worry that I may still lose her yet. Apart from the wheeze she looks normal and is active, doing all the usual chicken things and eating well.

I dread the thought of losing any more girls but there is nothing else I can do for them. I just have to hope that Salmon can shake this off. I am keeping everything crossed.

Sadly we lost our lovely Jasmine yesterday. She was our last silky girl. We had her for only a year and a half. Six months ago she had been diagnosed, by the vet, with a heart murmur so at least we had her for another six months.

Jasmine was a feisty character and was top girl of the little girls and was so friendly and so pretty. She will be very much missed.

Jasmine on the right with Sienna in the middle and Blue on the left, last July

Jasmine and Sienna at bedtime, these two were always together until we lost Sienna

Jasmine and Sienna

Jasmine the ball of fluff, this April

Jasmine dust bathing

Jasmine looking in the nest box

Jasmine in the nest box

Angry Jasmine when broody

Jasmine last week

Jasmine was such a pretty girl and a lovely character. Goodbye sweet Jasmine.

Jasmine perched on the edge of the cat box for about an hour looking as if she was dozing. She then  had a bit of a last hurrah. She had a wonder around the bathroom. I put her in front of her dish of treats and she looked like she might eat some.

I then realised she was picking up seeds and dropping them again. I realised that when I thought she was coming to the treats she probably wasn’t actually eating them.

I picked her up and she felt very thin underneath her fluffy feathers. I could feel a crackle in her breast and hear a crackle in her breathing.

I put her back in the cat box and she settled but her breathing her was very very shallow. When I next checked on her she was on her side and I knew that she was gone.

My lovely husband said that he would bury her for me. Sadly the chicken’s strip is filling up. This has been a heartbreaking year for losing girls. This is five this year and now we are down to seven. Jasmine was our last silky girl.

Jasmine has gone

My husband planted an aquilegia seedling on top of Jasmine. I suppose Jasmine was on borrowed time with her heart murmur. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur in May this year so we have had her for another six months. We are not sure if it was her heart or the dreaded myco but she was struggling to breath.

Jasmine was such a feisty little girl and I will miss her terribly. I will do a tribute to her tomorrow when I have looked through my photos. Jasmine was such a lovely little character. We have had her for a year and a half which is much too short a time. Goodbye sweet little Jasmine.

Jasmine has gone down hill over the last few days. She gives me hope when she runs to the treats but the rest of the time she sits hunched with her eyes closing.

Jasmine looks poorly

Her flock mates watch over her

I know that I am soon going to have to make a decision over Jasmine as I can’t let her suffer.

This morning it was frosty and I decided to bring Jasmine in in the warm. I wanted to give her a last chance of a bit of comfort and some treats before taking her to the vets to be put to sleep.

Jasmine inside with a dish of treats

I wondered if it would be less stressful to leave her out of the cat box.

Jasmine in the bathroom

I then decided to give Jasmine the choice in case she would be more comfortable in the cat box. Jasmine chose to perch on the edge of the cat box.

Jasmine has the choice of in or out of the cat box

I will try to get an appointment at the vets. I hate to give up on her but she is struggling with her breathing. Her breaths are shallow and laboured. I think her heart problem couldn’t cope with the moult and  the cold.

Jasmine is giving little squeaks as she breaths and I know it is time for her to go. I am so upset that I am going to leave this here for now and will return later with an update.

Yesterday afternoon Salmon and Spangle were sharing a dust bath. The girls don’t dust bath as much at this time of year but it is a great way to shake off those loose feathers. I don’t always catch them dust bathing but find dust holes with little piles of feathers in them.

Salmon and Spangle share a dust bath

Spangle is surrounded by feathers

Spangle had two remaining tail feathers in her last photograph and now has one remaining tail feather. Salmon has some loose tail feathers.

Spangle has just one tail feather hanging on

Salmon has some loose tail feathers

The photo doesn’t show it clearly but some of Salmon’s tail feathers are sticking out to the side. The new tail feathers are already underneath so both girls will soon be back to normal.

Jasmine, meanwhile, had a very loose wing feather.

Jasmine has a very loose wing feather

As Jasmine passed me I touched the feather and it came out. It wasn’t attached but just being held by the other feathers. I look forward to the girls getting through the moult and back to normal.

It’s a good job we don’t have a lovely lawn because we think we have a mole. We noticed two heaps of soil that must have come from deep down because it was quite different from the top soil. It was gritty and sandy looking whereas the top soil is dark.

Evidence of a mole

This heap is between the sage and the anemone.

And another heap

This one has spilled over the bricks onto the veg plot.

There are only the two so far. Our garden is very full and therefore full of roots so we are hoping that it will soon move on to an easier spot. This is the first time we have ever seen this in our garden.

With luck it may have already moved on as there are no new heaps.

I have got a bit behind with blogging lately due to being busy with e-bay selling and all the problems that that brings with it.

Today is day nine of the tylan and I am disappointed to say that Salmon is still wheezing. I mentioned continuing with tylan in the comments but I will repeat here for anyone that missed it. During an e-mail conversation with Sophie she said that her vet recommended continuing for two to three weeks if it was taking longer to have effect.

I replied that when my husband delivered a lunch to an exotic bird expert who was giving a talk, a few years ago, he said the same thing. He kept parrots and his wife kept chickens and had also had myco in her flock. He said it was sometimes needed to carry on for up to three weeks. Having had that advice from two sources I am going to follow it.

I have a big bottle of tylan and it has a “use by” date for July so I can feel free to use it whenever I need to. So for the moment I will keep going with it.

In other news Jasmine is looking very miserable while moulting and I worry about her but hope she will pick up when she gets through the moult. Spangle is the one that sneezes the most but she also makes the squeaky, hiccup, sound that Sienna used to make so I wonder if she too has a heart murmur. If so there is nothing to be done about that. Spangle seems well enough in herself so I hope that like Jasmine she can manage it for now. Spangle is also moulting quite heavily.

The other news is that Smoke laid her first egg today since her heavy spell of moulting. Ebony is still laying every other day. Marmite is also laying every other day and now Smoke has started again so that is more eggs than I expected as late in the year as this.

I know I have done this many times but I thought I would show an egg comparison again. Sophie is always amazed that I can tell my girls eggs apart but they are so different.

Eggs

Ebony’s large, beige, egg is on the right. Marmite’s egg in the middle is a similar beige colour and an oval shape. Smoke’s egg on the left is round and white.

Today I took a portrait of each of the girls.

Speckles

Ebony

Flame

Jasmine

Salmon

Spangle

Marmite

Smoke

Ebony, Marmite and Smoke have the white carotene on their heads which seems to last for ages. Both Ebony and Marmite also have white tips to some feathers since moulting.

I will be really glad when they all come through the moult. It would be good to get it over with before the colder weather comes.

I am quite worried about getting these little girls through the winter but I will have to cross each bridge as I come to it and hope for the best.

Speckles is very often surrounded by the little girls while Flame and Ebony are elsewhere. Sometimes she will be either be stood or sat in the run with the little girls all around her or sometimes she will be on top of one of the shelters with little girls.

Speckles is very much the head of the little girls whereas Ebony and Flame tend to perch together on the branch perch. Sometimes Speckles will join Ebony and Flame on the branch perch too. Speckles is definitely head girl despite her age making her look a bit fragile.

Speckles and her flock of little girls

A gathering on the small shelter

Meanwhile Flame and Ebony are on the branch perch

Flame has very few tail feathers left. This is the favourite perch of the bigger girls.

Jasmine is not looking happy

Jasmine looks like she did after she had her two funny turns, before we found out, she has a heart murmur. The vet said to try not to let her get stressed! Despite the heart murmur Jasmine is top serama and takes no nonsense from the other little girls. I think she is top because she came into the flock before the remaining little girls.

But Jasmine is now moulting. I have seen her fluffy, silky feathers, drifting around her. I think that is what is stressing her at the moment. I just hope that she will bounce back from this. The moult can be so hard on these girls. I think it was the moult that triggered Salmon into the wheezing.

I am disappointed that we are now on day three of the tylan and Salmon is still wheezing. I really hope she can shake this off soon.