Carol's Chickens

Rusty and Freckles just love the wooden table/winter shelter. If they are not inside it pecking around they are on top of it pecking around. Sometimes as we approach the run we can hear the tapping of this pair pecking away. They seem to love pecking at everything all day long but especially pecking at the wooden table.

At the moment I am letting the girls out before the automatic door opens as the mornings are dark. Yesterday it was a murky morning and a bit darker than usual. I decided to stay and sweep the patio so that I could linger with the girls until it got a bit lighter. They don’t seem at all bothered about the dark mornings and are eager to come out however murky it is.

I gave them some sunflower hearts and Rusty and Freckles pecked around in the shed with me while I poop picked as they always do. They then had a quick drink and were off straight to the table. The bigger girls were scratching near the patio but these two were straight on to the top of the wooden table were they commenced their pecking at goodness knows what.

Freckles and Rusty on the table on a dark morning

Rusty’s fluffy bottom makes me smile

Rusty’s close up

Today I took a few more photos of them on the table.

Rusty and Freckles on the table again

They are pecking away together

They are so funny the way they peck together all day. My husband says that he somehow feels these two are the happiest chickens we have ever had.

I know what he means. They rush around the run together, they are always pecking often with their heads together and a fallen leaf will cause them to run over at speed to investigate. They run to greet us and somehow just have a joyfulness about them. You can’t help but smile at this pair.

Today has been a manic busy day with no time for photos or much time for blogging but I couldn’t resist just one photo at bedtime.

The current bedtime line up

Emerald is in Toffee’s former position with Speckles next and Peaches and Barley in their favourite positions together and Rusty and Freckles on their perch.

Today was the last day of the tylan so no more medicating for now. I will be keeping a close eye on the flock and am really hoping that we are through this now. I am trying to stay positive that we can now go forward as a healthy and happy flock.

The little girls have really taken to the winter shelter. It is just perfect for them because it’s too small to interest the bigger girls. This is a good thing because if the shelter was big enough for all the girls the bigger girls would probably chase the little girls out and it’s the little girls that need a little extra winter protection.

I am so pleased that they seem to love it and want to spend time in it because we all know that you can’t just make chickens do something because you think it’s good for them, they have to want to do it themselves and I think the fact that they love being in there may encourage them to go in during bad weather.

Rusty perched in the shelter

Freckles soon joins her

Emerald evicts Freckles

Emerald has been throwing her weight about since Toffee went. I think she is trying to show the flock that she is firmly in top place now.

She will intimidate the little girls into leaving the shelter but they bounce round in a circle and return once she has moved away. They are not bothered by the bigger girls for long.

Later in the day Rusty and freckles are in the shelter again

I wonder what they are pecking at

They have definitely made this shelter their own

They spend a lot of time pecking at tiny specks of dust in there. I have no idea why they do this but the little girls peck at specks all day all, over the run.

I think this shelter is one of the best things we have done for the little girls. It seems to be a resounding hit.

We have recently got rid of a chest freezer which we kept in the shed and this has freed up some space. We have also sold a few catering items. This is all part of the plan to slightly downsize our business.

This meant my husband now had room in the shed to build a work bench, which he had wanted for a while. He then picked up a free pallet from a neighbour in case we needed it for a mixer that we had put on ebay. In the end the buyer lived nearby and collected it so my husband decided the pallet could be up cycled into a work bench.

The pallet that we picked up for free

The base of the pallet

The pallet has been taken to bits

The beginnings of legs for a work bench

An inexspensive work bench to help with building the proper work bench

A bit more work on the bench and the other work bench fits underneath

The bench is almost finished

The bench is finished

I think this bench will get a lot of use and make future projects much easier. It has also made good use of a free pallet and parts of the pallet have also been incorporated in the little girls perch in the chicken shed and in the wooden table shelter. Not a bit got wasted.

We have had a really bad run of luck here lately. I have never before lost three girls in quick succession, in fact, I have never lost more than one girl at a time before.

I took photos of the girls at the water yesterday morning and I was intending to use the photos in a post later on in the day. However I took Pebbles for her appointment with the vet in the afternoon and didn’t bring her back with me. After that I didn’t have the heart to write a post, but today I know I need to do this, so I am going to use yesterday’s photos as they are the last ones of Pebbles.

My post was going to be about the way Pebbles liked to stand on the side of the pellet or water dish. She sometimes stood on the edge of the pellet dish but she always stood on the edge of the water dish. She was the only one of the girls to do this.

Pebbles stands on the edge of the pellet dish

Pebbles stands on the water dish

This is how Pebbles always drank from the water dish

This is the first time that I have seen Rusty drink from the other water

Well done little Rusty!

And back to Pebbles

I had been increasingly worried about Pebbles because she had been wheezing for a month and on the antibiotic, baytril for three weeks, but wasn’t improving. Added to that she had taken to sitting on her favourite perch all day and dozing. She was eating but then so was Caramel right up until the end.

I also thought she was spending a lot of time with one eye closed and was rubbing at it and shaking her head vigorously. I took her to the vet at four o’clock yesterday afternoon.

I put Pebbles on the vet’s table and we immediately noticed that her right eye had swollen and was foaming. She was shaking her head and it was obvious that it was really bothering her. At that moment I knew with dread that she probably had the same thing Caramel had. The vet took some photographs and asked me to wait while she called the specialist.

While sitting in the waiting room with Pebbles in the cat box I could hear that her breathing was worse. The specialist confirmed my worst fear that it was mycoplasma. I have since looked it up again and the symptoms are foamy eyes, swollen eyelids and breathing problems. I had researched it before and it is one of the worse respiratory illnesses for chickens. Even if the bird does recover it can come back again and can potentially spread through the entire flock.

I told the vet that I really felt it would be best to have Pebbles put to sleep because I couldn’t bare her to go the same way Caramel did and I couldn’t risk the rest of the flock getting it. The vet said she felt that I was making the right decision to both spare Pebbles suffering like Caramel and to protect the rest of the flock.

She suggested that I treat the rest of the flock with tylan, which is a powder, in the water for five days to protect them.

I held Pebbles while the vet tried to inject a vein in her wing but Pebbles was struggling so the vet took her away and gave her some gas to put her to sleep before giving her the injection and returning her to me. She seemed to be gone ages and said it was because Pebbles breathing was so poor that it took a while for the gas to work and she didn’t want to give the injection until she was asleep so that she wouldn’t feel any pain. I am so lucky to have found a good vet.

I hated having to make this decision while Pebbles still appeared lively but I know how Caramel fought this when she was in such a terrible state and I couldn’t let that happen again. I also couldn’t risk the rest of the flock especially  Rusty and Freckles who were in such close contact with her.

This morning I started the five days of Tylan in the water. I can only hope and keep everything crossed that the other girls are okay. If we can get through this I will add two more seramas in the spring but I want to be sure we are through this first and get these girls settled and through the winter. I am feeling very sad right now that the flock has so quickly diminished to six and I have a dread of losing any more girls but I must stay positive and concentrate on keeping the remaining girls happy and healthy.

The little girls have really taken to the shelter. Rusty and Freckles have been in there several times today. They either perch on the front piece of wood or they stand on the side bits, pecking around.

Rusty and Freckles have taken to the shelter

They seem to like it in here

It’s their new place to hang out

Speckles is the only one of the bigger girls to venture in and she likes the branch perch. Pebbles likes the front perch and Rusty and Freckles like all of it. I am really pleased with the way they have taken to it.

I have an appointment at the vets tomorrow at four o’clock with Pebbles. She has been on antibiotics now for three weeks in total, a week on then a week off then two weeks back on. She is still wheezing and it doesn’t seem to be improving. She also spends a lot of her day on a perch, dozing. I am really disappointed that there has been no improvement as she has been like this for a month now.

It seems to have been one thing after another lately with several visits to the vet. I just wish we could get back to a well flock once more. This seems to have been dragging on for ages and I dread any of the other girls going down with it. I will report back tomorrow.

Since we made the girl’s wooden table into a shelter I have been trying to get photos of the little girls perching in there. Freckles and Rusty have been in there but I didn’t manage to get a photo. I did manage to photograph Pebbles though.

Pebbles perches in the new shelter

Bigger girls on top and a little girl underneath

I think this will work well in bad weather and is probably a much better idea than trying to confine the little girls to the patio area and chicken shed. The perspex sheet was a bargain as it was reduced to half price. There was just one square bit left over.

The three little girls were perched together on another of their favourite perches when I had an idea for the last square of perspex. I thought that if I put it behind this perch it would provide another spot that would be sheltered from the wind.

I have fixed the perspex square behind the little perch

Pebbles tries out the new sheltered perch

Pebbles seems to be the girl first to try everything at the moment. The little girls often perch here together so this will give them another sheltered area. It won’t always stay dry as the rain drips in from above at this spot but when it is dry it will give shelter from the wind.

A few sheltered spots for the little girls to perch may be all the winter protection they will need. They seemed totally unfazed by the recent frosts. I am quite pleased with the new sheltered areas and the way the girls have investigated them. Happy girls makes for a happy me!

I had an idea for turning the girl’s wooden table into a shelter. I thought that we could put some strips of wood over the gaps on top to make it waterproof from above.

I thought some strips of clear perspex on the back and sides would stop the rain blowing through and provide a shelter from the wind. A perch inside would give the little girls somewhere sheltered and dry to perch and provide a dry dust bath area underneath.

Whether they choose to use it is another matter but they like the perch on the side of the table and they like to sit on top of the table when the ground is cold.

The wooden table before modifying it

Perspex added to the back and sides and planks inside which the little girls could sit on

The top of the table before

The top of the table after

The table back in place with a branch perch added to the inside

Emerald and Barley went straight over to investigate

Peaches and Speckles soon joined the investigation

Speckles was the first to go in

She tries out the perch

I put Freckles on the perch

She didn’t seem impressed but I think that the the little girls need to find it in their own time. I am sure they will discover it over the next few days.

I feel sure that they are unlikely to go in the chicken shed during bad weather but perhaps they might like to perch here. Time will tell.

The first day after Toffee had gone the flock seemed split into groups of the three little girls as usual and two pairs, being Peaches and Barley who have always been inseparable and a new pairing of Emerald and Speckles. I had the feeling that Emerald was missing Toffee and so paired up with Speckles for company.

Three little girls share a dish of fish

Peaches and Barley perch together like a pair of bookends

Speckles and Emerald perch together

Three little girls at bedtime in their usual positions

Peaches and Barley together at bedtime

Emerald and Speckles together at bedtime with Emerald in Toffee’s corner

The first night after Toffee had gone

The second day after Toffee had gone the four remaining bigger girls grouped together. At bedtime they were all four together with Emerald still taking Toffee’s position in the corner.

The second night after Toffee had gone

I think the flock is adjusting to the loss of Toffee as are we. It still seems very strange not seeing her each day. She has left a hole in the flock and it is taking time to get used to not seeing her with her flock mates.

I really wanted to do a tribute to Toffee yesterday but our internet went down for twenty four hours. I felt really frustrated as I was out of contact completely which is not good for business or blogging.

At last I am back and I have been searching for some photos that sum up Toffee’s character.

Toffee was a lovely gentle character despite being our biggest and heaviest girl. She has always been a shy and cautious girl and rose to being top girl through being the oldest and with us the longest. She never bullied and was easily spooked and would run to the bottom of the run shouting the alarm call, with all the other girls following her just in case, when there was in fact nothing to run from.

Toffee had sturdy, digger, legs and loved digging, dust bathing and sun bathing. Of all our girls Toffee was the one that liked the sun the most and could always find a shaft of sun to sit in. She would stretch out on her side with her legs out at comical angles.

Toffee came in with Emerald and they have always spent time together. Sometimes they would share the nest box and Toffee had a habit of flicking pine shavings on to her back. After she had laid her egg she would come out and have some treats with shavings still sitting in a little pile on her back.

Another of her daily habits was to moan when the morning seeds and evening corn ran out. She was the only girl to do this and twice a day she would make a mournful sound and we would say “what’s up Toff, have the treats run out again just like they do every day!” I miss this ritual.

Here are some photos of our beautiful girl.

Toffee shows off her lovely breast markings and her sturdy legs

Comedy Toffee

This photo reminded of “the funky gibbon” from the “goodies” show. People of a certain age will know what I mean.

Toffee and Emerald in the nest box together

Toffee in a typical pose with one foot raised

Toffee and Emerald on the gate

For a while Emerald had a habit of jumping on to the inner gate when I came through the outer gate in the morning. Toffee soon decided that she could do this too, despite looking precariously balanced.

Toffee and Emerald often dozed together in the afternoons

Toffee and Emerald perch together at the end of the day

Sun bathing girls

A heap of sun bathing girls with Toffee in the middle

Toffee poses

I am so sad to lose this lovely girl but we have many lovely memories of her. She was an amazing head girl and Emerald was her next in command and so has taken over as head girl. I think Emerald is missing her. The first morning after Toffee had gone Emerald stayed close to me which is unusual. Emerald now perches in Toffee’s corner of the chicken shed.

A lovely girl, sadly missed. Goodbye Toffee.