Carol's Chickens

I have felt that Snow has been getting ready to lay over the last few days. It’s just over a month since she last laid. This morning she finally got her egg laid.

Snow’s egg is on the left, Gold’s egg is in the middle and Red’s egg is on the right. This is the first three egg day we have had in quite a while.

Cloud is looking better today. The spray must be working as she has stopped pecking at her legs and looks more her normal self today.

In future if I ever see what looks like a wound on any of the girls legs or feet I will now assume it’s scaly mite. As it happens I couldn’t have treated Cloud any quicker as I had to let her wound heal over before spraying her with the scaly mite spray.

I haven’t needed to separate Mango and Cloud today as Gold is no longer taking any notice of Cloud and Cloud is eating and drinking as normal. Happily things seem to be getting better.

On the third morning since first seeing the wound on Cloud’s foot I was really disappointed to see that she had picked a new wound on her foot. This is very much like Autumn last year.

The frustrating thing is that I can’t spray scaly mite spray on a wound but she probably won’t stop pecking off scales until the spray starts working so it’s a vicious circle. I sprayed the wound with the healing spray. I then decided to put a big blob of vaseline over the wound and spray again with the scaly mite spray. I then sprayed again with the purple spray and put Cloud in the crate for the sprays to dry. While in the crate Cloud refuses to eat or drink.

As soon as I put Cloud back on the chickens’ patio Gold took a peck at her leg again. I put Cloud back in the crate and sprayed on a bit more purple spray. The purple spray isn’t quite covering the redness of the wound.

I decided to close off the corner section of the run. I would need to do this in a month’s time for the new girls so it would be one job less to do later. I could then put Mango and Cloud in that section. It would be better than being in the crate and Cloud wouldn’t have to compete for food as well keeping her safe from being pecked.

I will put the girls together again before bedtime so that they go in the chicken shed together but keep them here during the day. I also closed off the bottom section of the run so that if I feel they need more space they can have half the run. At the moment I don’t think they need any bigger space than this as they are not moving around much.

I also cleaned out the chicken shed. I emptied it then hoovered it thoroughly. Then I sprayed every surface and every nook with disinfectant poultry housing spray. I blocked the pop hole and left it for the day to dry before putting in new pine shavings.

I really need Cloud to stop picking wounds so that I can be sure the scaly mite reaches every part of her legs and feet. As with Autumn she is her own worse enemy. Like Autumn it is also putting her off eating and I have only seen her eat a few sunflower hearts and a bit of chopped tomato. At least while she is in this section she has had water though.

I can only keep going with all three sprays and hope that I can get her through this.

This morning was day four and I really hoped for no new wounds. I picked Cloud up for a close inspection and was really pleased to see no new wounds, hurrah! Her legs and feet still looked nicely purple so there was no need to spray her with anything and tomorrow is the next scaly mite spray day, but I decided that while Cloud has no wounds I would give her an extra scaly mite spray today. I am going belts and braces with this.

Gold was taking no interest in Cloud so I decided to open up the separated section and leave the flock together. At least now I can close off a section at any time I need to. I am now feeling hopeful that I can get her through this.

Yesterday afternoon it seemed that Cloud had injured her foot. Earlier she had looked fine but then next time we checked on them we noticed her limping and she had what looked like a cut on her foot. I sprayed her with the healing aid and skin repair spray that I already had.

I put her in the crate with food and water and googled what to do for an injured foot. It recommended vetericyn an antimicrobial wound care spray. I ordered this straight away on Amazon for delivery next day.

I couldn’t imagine how cloud had got this injury. I looked all round the run and could see nothing that might have caused this.

Cloud was stressed in the crate and had her beak open so I gave her some water to the side of her beak with a dropper and then put her back on the patio area of the chicken run with some mash to encourage her to eat.

I was horrified that Gold pecked at her wound. We were lucky with Autumn that none of the girls pecked her but Gold has lately started pecking my legs so this seems to be her new thing. Mango and Cloud settled in the shelter out of Gold’s way and I ordered some purple spray from Amazon also being delivered the next day. This is skin cleansing and disguises the redness/blood to deter pecking.

Before bedtime I decided to put both Mango and Cloud in the crate so that Cloud wouldn’t be so stressed as she was on her own. I then moved them both to the perch in the chicken shed half an hour before the pop hole closed. I added more pine shavings to give a softer landing when jumping down in the morning.

The next morning I was horrified to see that cloud had another bloody patch on her other foot. I realised at this point that it wasn’t an injury. It must be self inflicted which means it must be scaly mite and yet there aren’t any raised scales.

My heart sank. This would mean treating all the girls with scaly mite spray every three days for three weeks and deep cleaning the chicken shed.

I started with the scaly mite spray right away. I sprayed Mango and Cloud and left them in the crate while I sprayed each of the rest of the girls. I put vaseline over Cloud’s wounds before spraying with scaly mite as I didn’t want to spray on to an open wound. At this point the new sprays arrived.

I sprayed Cloud with the vetericyn and then I sprayed her with the purple spray. I then returned Mango and Cloud to the run.

I am so frustrated to be back here again. The only thing that I can think is that I got Autumn through this so I will get Cloud through this and at least I have caught it early. I will use the scaly mite spray every three days on all of the girls and in between I will spray Cloud with the wound care spray and the purple spray.

I left Mango and Cloud in the run and they perched in the chicken shed at bedtime. Before the pop hole closed I sprayed Cloud again with the wound spray followed by the purple spray. I have a ridiculous amount of sprays in the chicken storage cabinet!

Tomorrow I will empty the chicken shed and disinfect before putting in fresh shavings. I will do everything I can to get rid of this. It is horrible to be back here again but I will throw everything at it once more to get rid of this again.

Both Storm and Cloud are moulting so that will be the end of their season for eggs. I feel sorry for Cloud moulting on top of this problem. Moulting has come early this year. On the other hand Snow was looking in the nest boxes this morning so I think she is about to start laying again. It’s exactly a month since she last laid.

Red came through her broody spell in a week. Storm had now been broody for three and a half weeks and Snow for just coming up to three weeks. This is Storm’s third year laying and she has never been broody for more than four days before. Snow is usually also only broody for about four or five days.

I think it’s partly the warm summer but I think it’s mostly these two girls being broody together. They are keeping each other in the zone and this is despite the nest boxes being closed most of the time. I sometimes feel that Sugar’s broody spirit is manifested onto these two girls.

I thought that when we lost Sugar I wouldn’t need to use the broody crate again but I do need to because they cannot stay broody any longer.

I decided to put Storm in the broody crate over night. It only ever took a couple of nights with Sugar and I thought I would start with Storm as she has been broody the longest then move on to Snow next.

In the morning Storm had eaten the mash and pooped all over the crate.

I decided to put Snow in the crate the next night. Snow is more broody than Storm and really just splitting the pair up is probably the most important thing. I put Snow on the perch and she stayed there.

The next morning Storm was out in the run for the first time in a very long time. I think just one night may have been enough for her.

Snow was still on the perch just as I had left her and hadn’t touched the mash and there was just one poop behind the perch.

I returned Snow to the run and she was still making the broody boc boc sound. I knew she would need another night in the broody crate but I felt we were getting somewhere now.

Gold has continued to lay her eggs in the shelter and I have left her to it as it means I can keep the nest boxes closed. Each time Gold lays her egg Cloud is straight into the shelter to sit on it. Cloud is broody after laying nine eggs in two weeks.

In the shed we keep old bedding to use as sheets to protect the floor when we are decorating. I have now hung an old duvet over the front of the shelter like a curtain and secured it with a couple of logs on top. This means that as soon as Gold has laid I can remove Cloud and drop the curtain but lift the curtain when Gold is due to lay.

It’s six days since Cloud last laid. By keeping her out of the shelter I hope to stop her broody spell quickly as the only sign that she is broody is her not laying and her sitting on Gold’s eggs.

Last night I gave Snow a third night in the broody crate just to make sure that she was through being broody. I think she is at last and last night was the fifth evening that Mango and Cloud went in on their own. I really think we are finally there with these two. They now go in with the rest of the flock.

I also think that Red will come back into lay soon as she was at the grit and oyster shell yesterday. It would be great to have her eggs again.

All in all I am very pleased with the progress and it is so good to have all the girls going in before we get our new girls.

Edit

This afternoon I could tell Red wanted to lay. It’s been two weeks since she last laid. I opened both nest boxes and the chicken shed. Red soon settled in the nest box to lay her egg.

The really good thing was that neither Storm or Snow took any notice. They are definitely through their broody spell now.

Hurrah on both counts, breaking the broodies and Red laying again. Back to some slightly bigger eggs too.

During the recent hot spell I have been leaving the chicken shed door ajar until I go in to lock up after the pop hole has closed. I did this for four evenings. During this time Mango and Cloud have been going in through the door and perching.

Before this I had been going up as the pop hole closed and would hold the shed door open and Mango and Cloud would go through the door and perch. It was good that they were going in themselves but I wouldn’t want to leave the door open on a more permanent basis especially in winter.

I now remember that this happened on a previous year. Two evenings ago as it was cooler I left the chicken shed door closed. I wondered if Mango and Cloud would still go in with the door now closed. I checked on them about an hour before the pop hole was due to close and was amazed to find them both in and perched.

I returned once the pop hole had closed and Mango and Cloud were still perched in the chicken shed. I now wondered if this was a one off or if they would go in the next night.

Last night I again checked on the girls an hour before the pop hole was due to close. Mango and Cloud were in the chicken shed and perched.

When the pop hole had closed I checked again and Mango and Cloud were still perched. I think we may have finally got there. They have twice, in the past, gone in for four days and then stopped so we need to get past the four day mark but I am hopeful that this time we have done it.

I will be keeping the top of the nest boxes blocked for a couple of weeks as I don’t want them to revert to sitting on top of them at bedtime which will be the next hurdle to overcome. But for now it’s looking good and I think we may have finally succeeded in getting these two to go in at bedtime.

Much to my surprise Gold started laying again yesterday. She has stopped moulting so maybe she is laying again as she only had a partial moult. It was over two weeks since she last laid.

The nest boxes were closed as I wasn’t expecting any eggs because Cloud had already laid. Gold laid her egg in the shelter. I left the nest boxes closed again today as I didn’t expect Gold to lay two days running but she laid in the shelter again today. Well done Gold for coming up with an alternative to the nest boxes.

Despite me keeping the nest boxes closed Storm has now been broody for three weeks, Snow for two weeks and Red for one week. They have never been committed to being broody before but they seem to encourage each other.

The broody girls perch at night and I am keeping the nest boxes closed and yet still they remain broody. I have kept the top of the nest boxes blocked off too but they sit together in the run or on the patio. If I open a nest box they are there straight away.

As it takes three weeks to hatch eggs I keep thinking Storm should come out of it any day now but at the moment she continues. It’s good to have two girls laying again for now though.

We are having a mini heat wave with a few days of slightly over 30 degrees. I could see the girls were hot as Snow was holding out her wings. I decided it was time to give the girls frozen peas again. I gave them two dishes of frozen peas in a little water. The water stops the peas drying out and the girls get some cold water while fishing for the peas.

The girls had soon eaten the peas and proceeded to drink the cold water. A double way to cool them down a bit.

Red has now gone broody again. She had laid eight eggs in twelve days which was exactly the same as last time. So now we have only Cloud still laying. I know that she will go broody again soon and then will probably moult and that will be the end of her laying this season along with Mango.

Gold is now also moulting. It’s two weeks since she last laid and she usually comes back into lay after around a week. This will mean she will have finished laying for this season too.

Red is also dropping a few feathers but I don’t know if it’s the moult just yet. This is going to be our worse year for eggs since we started chicken keeping.

I think that was has happened is that summer started early this year with an unusually warm May and has continued to be very warm. This has triggered the chicken hormones to keep going broody and those same hormones then say that after going broody x amount of times it’s time to moult.

I had been finding feathers under Gold’s roost spot for days. Last night at bedtime I found tail feathers under Gold’s roost spot.

This morning there were another two of Gold’s tail feathers under her roost spot.

Last year Snow was the last girl to stop laying and Storm was last but one. At the moment though these two are not coming out of their broody spell. I think being broody together has kept it going longer than usual even though the nest boxes are closed most of the day.

I have had to buy some eggs again. This is the first year that I have had to buy eggs several times in the summer. I hope that the new girls will change this around next year.

I am getting to my wits end with trying to train the terrible twosome to go in at bedtime. I keep trying different things in the hope of something working.

The night before last I decided that an hour before the pop hole closed I would remove Mango and put her in the “broody” crate. I thought that if she wasn’t there Cloud would go in and then I could return Mango to the chicken run and she would go in. If it worked I thought I could do this for a week to establish a routine and then stop doing this.

I kept popping back to check on proceedings. Several times Cloud went in the chicken shed and I thought it might be working. But each time when I next checked Cloud was back out in the run. Cloud was patrolling the entire length of the run.

I realised that Cloud was looking for Mango. She was only going in the chicken shed to check if Mango was there as she didn’t perch but just had a look around and then popped out again and continued to roam the length of the run.

Just before the pop hole was about to close Cloud was at the bottom of the run. I thought I would put Mango on the chickens’ patio and if she didn’t see Cloud she would go in. Of course that didn’t work! Cloud was immediately by Mango’s side and despite me trying to herd them in they resisted.

I scooped Mango up and shoved her in just as the pop hole started to close. Cloud followed her just in time and I held the door open to give them enough light to jump to the perch. That’s another plan that didn’t work!

So last night another plan was needed. I decided that it has to be Cloud that goes in the “broody” crate. Execute the plan in reverse. Cloud is more difficult to pick up so I planned to lure them with sunflower hearts and grab Cloud and put her in the crate. It was easy to grab her while having some sun flower hearts.

It was a repeat of the night before. This time Mango was patrolling the entire run looking for Cloud. She didn’t even look in the chicken shed though.

When it got to nearly the time for the pop hole to close I returned Cloud to the run. Neither of them showed any sign of going in. I eventually shoved Mango through the pop hole. The pop hole started to close so I shoved Cloud through too. I held the door open so that they could see to jump to the perch.

I felt deflated. I am not sure there is anything more I can do. I have hit a wall, I am all out of ideas. I am not sure I will ever get these two to go in.

My very last hope is that eventually Cloud will go broody again and maybe like last time that will kick start them going in again. The difference will be that they won’t be broody together. It may also go the same way of them going in for a short time and then changing their mind.

It’s about all I have left to hope for though as everything else isn’t working and I can’t keep going on like this as it’s a lot of effort for no return. For now I think I will have to admit defeat. I really didn’t want to give in this time but I am getting nowhere with this. I have never had this before but for now I feel beaten.

Mango is moulting and is looking very shabby. Her comb has also got paler. Cloud on the other hand still looks pristine and has a red comb.

Yesterday I could see that Cloud was getting ready to lay. It’s been three weeks since Cloud last laid. She was looking in the nest boxes and in the shelter and a corner outside the shelter. Cloud always has great difficulty in deciding where to lay.

Cloud used to lay in the nest boxes occasionally. Mostly Cloud would lay in the shelter and quite often would lay in the run. I think she takes so long running around trying to decide where to lay that it often takes her by unawares.

Cloud was spending a lot of time making a nest in the corner outside the shelter and then in both corners of the shelter. I decided to help her by putting some pine shavings in all three spots. I thought it might help her decide plus keep her egg clean.

When I returned Cloud was at the water and there was no egg in either of the three spots where I had put shavings. Sure enough she had laid her egg at the bottom end of the run in front of the ladder, sigh! This is not unusual for Cloud. It is good to have her back in lay though.

It means we now have two girls laying but also means that unlike Mango, Cloud will continue to lay for a bit of a longer season.

The night before last I went up before bedtime and picked Mango up and stood outside the run with her just behind the fence. Again Mango and Cloud were calling to each other. It reminded me of the scene from one of the Jurassic Park/World films where the velociraptors were communicating with each other. Mango and Cloud couldn’t see each other but were calling to each other.

This went on for about five minutes and then Cloud went through the pop hole and perched. I put Mango down on the chickens’ patio and she went straight through the pop hole and perched with Cloud. I’m not sure how any of this helps going forward though.

Last evening we decided to have a B.B.Q. We do this on the top patio next to the chicken’s patio. It’s really secluded and quiet there. It was also the hottest day of the year so far at 30 degrees. I felt really sorry for Mango as moulting while it’s really hot must be so uncomfortable for her. She will be feeling prickly and hot at the same time.

I decided that I would leave Mango and Cloud to do what they wanted at bedtime and just put them in myself. I felt that while it was so hot there was no point stressing them and it’s understandable that they don’t want to go in.

While we were waiting for the B.B.Q. to get going I realised that Red, Snow, Storm and Gold had all gone in the chicken shed. I could understand them going in an hour before the pop hole closes but this was two hours before the pop hole closes and on the hottest day of the year too. Talk about one extreme to the other!

I decided to get the girls out again and give them a dish of frozen peas in a little water. This would cool them down before bedtime and I would unblock the pop hole a bit nearer to bedtime. It’s the fist time these girls have had frozen peas and they loved them.

A bit later I let the four girls return to the chicken shed. Meanwhile Mango and Cloud were enjoying having the peas to themselves and had a feast.

Later just before the pop hole was about to close I returned to the chickens. Mango and Cloud were still out in the run and the pop hole started closing. I opened the chicken shed door and they both came running. They went straight through the door and perched.

This shows that do want to go in for the night but they want me to let them in. I remembered that I used to hold the door open for them rather than pick them up. That doesn’t actually help though.

I don’t know where to go from here. I am not giving up but I will just do whatever feels right from day to day. I am hopeful that maybe when the weather cools towards the end of the year they may go in. It may change it up a bit having Cloud laying and Mango not laying too although I won’t be holding my breath.

The battle of the bedtime will continue.