Carol's Chickens

Topaz lives to sit on eggs. Topaz doesn’t lay eggs herself (at least, she laid six eggs last year and eight eggs this year) but spends her entire life waiting for her flock mates to lay their eggs so that she can sit on them. Once I remove the eggs from under her she comes out of the nest box shouting.

She is perpetually angry, because I think in her mind, she sees me as someone taking her future babies from her every day. I am spoiling her life by not letting her do what her heart truly desires. I can’t put her in a separate nest box to just sit it out because as soon as she sees any girl go into a nest box she is right there beside them, waiting for her chance to sit on their eggs.

I have never seen Topaz go into the main coop nest box. The only girl that uses the main coop nest box is Honey. There is a slow down in eggs at the moment due to Emerald and Toffee moulting  and Sparkle recently not being well. Honey is the only girl that likes to use the main coop nest box. Yesterday when Honey was missing I looked in the main coop nest box and there she was with Topaz squeezed in next to her.

I went back to the house to fetch my camera to try to get a photo of the two of them together. However once I opened the nest box again I infuriated Topaz and missed the shot of them sat together. Instead I got a shot of Topaz leaving the nest box and shouting out her anger at this double disturbance.

Topaz is leaving the nest box in a huff

An angry Topaz shouting at me

I have started to consider the idea of letting Topaz go to somewhere where she can sit on eggs and raise chicks. This is only an idea at the moment and may not go anywhere but I am wondering about having a chat with Richard at the farm that I got the wyandottes and game  girls from. He needed reliable broodies for his breeding program and I wonder if he would take Topaz back.

She is so beautiful but she doesn’t lay eggs and most importantly I feel she isn’t as happy as she could be because I am not allowing her to fulfil her desire of sitting on eggs and raising chicks. With Richard she could do this and I think she would make a wonderful mum.

Because she is top hen and is feisty almost to the point of aggressive, I feel she wouldn’t be vulnerable going into another flock. She is the only girl in my flock that would peck me. I have to move her off the eggs with a net as she will peck me and at bedtime I have to pick her up from behind or she will peck me. None of my other girls peck me and I feel that all this anger is because she is desperate to brood and is not able to.

She also pecks all the other girls out of her way. I am aware that if she were to go it would upset the pecking order massively but I wonder if that is a chance worth taking.

If Richard would be willing to take her, I would ask if I could buy another gold laced wyndotte and another game girl to accompany her so that I could introduce two together to my flock (I think it is better to introduce two at a time). This would bring my flock back to eight girls. I know I would be taking another chance on getting a broody but I am really beginning to feel that Topaz would be happier in an environment where she could raise some chicks.

This may come to nothing in which case I would keep Topaz and plod on as we are but it’s just something that I am mulling over at the moment. I hate to think that I am constantly holding her back from what she wants and she has now had two summers with me resulting in her being deprived of being properly broody.

This is all just a thought process at the moment but I felt that I should air it and would welcome any one else’s thoughts on this.

I think that sparkle is pretty much back to normal. She hasn’t resumed laying eggs and I’m not sure she will this season but she is moving a bit quicker than she has been. She is dust bathing and she is eating pellets. She has a red comb and wattles, fluffy and intact feathers and when I pick her up she feels robust and a good weight.

I am happy that we have weathered the storm with Sparkle and she is going to be fine now.

Emerald is in full moult and is looking more shabby than she did last year. Her face has also now become as pale as it was last year. Toffee has also started to moult as I am finding her feathers in the run and she last laid an egg ten days ago. She still looks good at the moment though.

We are now down to three girls laying. Sparkle hasn’t laid since she was unwell, Topaz is perpetually broody so doesn’t lay, Emerald and Toffee are both moulting so not laying leaving Honey, Peaches and Barley still laying. Having seven girls and only having three laying at this time of year is a bit disappointing but as long as they are all healthy that is the most important thing to me.

I have a theory on the game girls although I am only guessing really. When I researched the breed it said they were not good egg layers. I wonder if that is because of a short season rather than their egg laying ability.

I got them In June last year so have now had them for one complete year. Last summer Emerald had only laid one egg while we had her and Toffee had laid five. I know the farm I got them from kept them as they make good broodies so they may well have had a broody summer.

This year since they have been with me they haven’t gone broody and have laid well. Emerald has laid thirty nine eggs and Toffee has laid forty eggs. I was surprised when I counted how close their tally was. Maybe that is enough for them and so they have come to the end of their season and started their moult. Maybe game girls moult earlier as they started their moult in June and July last year.

One thing I can say is that I love these game girls and if their egg laying season is short so be it. They have already exceeded my expectations by not going broody. Topaz on the other hand laid six eggs last year and eight eggs this year and is perpetually broody and bad tempered with it. She is a beautiful girl but the least lovable because of her nature.

I photographed each girl today to demonstrate their condition.

Poor Emerald is looking very shabby

Toffee looks okay apart from a slightly ragged tail

Topaz looks great as usual but has her usual mean look in her eye

Sparkle actually looks really good

Honey looks good but always has sad eyes, Amber had much happier and prettier looking eyes

Peaches and Barley look great

Peaches on my back

Peaches and Barley still like to jump on me whenever they can. As I was photographing the girls Peaches jumped on me and I handed the camera to my husband who was stood at the gate. Unfortunately I look terrible as usual as I was trying to move my hair from my face but Peaches looks great.

In the better ones of me Peaches had turned her head away so I decided to go with this one. I am quite used to walking round with Peaches or Barley or sometimes both on my back. I still find it amusing that they like to do this although they often leave my cloths with muddy or dusty footprints. A small price to pay for the fun of this behaviour.

So all in all I think the flock are doing pretty well considering. I am sure they will throw some more drama my way soon.

I wanted to wait for a few days after I’d finished giving the flubenvet to do an update on Sparkle as I felt she had more chance of being back to normal without any medications in her system.

Sparkle is much better than she was but I would say she isn’t quite back to normal. I’m not sure if full recovery will just take time or if this is just as good as she will be.

While on the flubenvet she seemed only to eat the treats and I didn’t see her eating pellets but for the last few days I have seen her start to eat pellets again. She is still not dust bathing as much as usual and is still slow, although she has always been the slowest girl. But when I throw out bits of chopped grapes she isn’t quick enough to get them even though I drop some right under her beak. She is not willing to compete with the other girls. She also spends her afternoons perched in her favourite spots.

On the positive side, her comb is a lovely red colour and when I lift her from the perch at bedtime she feels robust and a good weight. I think she will be okay and it’s just going to take time. I will know she is back to normal if she starts laying again but I am not sure that she will lay again this season. Only time will tell.

The table is one of Sparkle’s favourite spots

This is another of Sparkle’s favourite spots

I love the way the three of them turn to look at me but Barley’s ridiculously large comb blots out her face.

Emerald, Sparkle and Barley

Barley overcomes this by turning her face the other way. Sparkle has a red comb and the fluffiest bottom of all the girls. I am not worried about her now as she seems okay and is eating better. I think these things always take time.

For the past four days I have been finding Emeralds feathers in the coop in the morning when I poop pick and in the run during the day. When she perches up at bedtime feathers flutter down from her and when she makes any quick movement in the run they flutter from her.

It seems very early in the year to be moulting. I looked back at last year and both Toffee and Emerald started to moult half way through July. The rest of the flock started to moult in August, September and October.

I wonder if the game girls moult earlier than the other girls. I also wonder if it may be that last year Emerald may have been broody at the farm where I got her from so she had had a break from egg laying, then while with me she laid only one egg, then started her moult. This year she hasn’t gone broody and has been a really good egg layer. She started laying in March and has consistently laid six days out of seven and her eggs are also the biggest of the flock.

Emerald laid an egg four days ago but before that hadn’t laid for seven days and before that was laying almost every day. I wonder if she just needs a break. Her comb and face are red and she seems in really good health.

The other thing about Emerald moulting is that she never seems to look any different. I find lots of feathers but she never has any bare patches. She is still looking almost as good as ever.

Emerald is moulting

Emerald’s tiny comb and face are still a good red colour

Her feathers are beautiful

I pick up at least this many feathers every time I go in the run. Her feathers have such a lovely sheen. Emerald is the picture of health so I am not going to worry about her moulting early.

Toffee started laying in April which was a month behind Emerald. She lays five days out of seven and her eggs are smaller. I think this may mean that she will start to moult later.

This is the earliest moult one of my girls has had yet. As long as she looks happy and healthy with a good appetite I am not worried, they are all quite different.

I tried to hand pollinate the apple tree, in the chicken run, by using a paint brush but this experiment has failed. I had nothing to lose by giving it a try but I now know that it is a waste of time so won’t need to do this again.

The pear tree in the garden has lots of tiny pears

The apple tree in the chicken run has no apples

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Slight change of subject but I couldn’t resist this new plant for the garden.

New primula

Tying in with this post it is called Japanese primula – apple blossom. I liked it’s unusual height.

The hyacinths in my chicken bucket had gone over so I planted them in the garden. My husband drilled some drainage holes in the bottom of the chicken bucket and I re-planted it. It now has a new lease of life.

Chicken bucket

It can brighten up the patio once more.

It’s only the second day of flubenvet but Sparkle is already looking so much better. I just went up to check on them and for the first time in two weeks Sparkle is having a dust bath.

Sparkle is in a dust bath

A happy Sparkle

This made my heart soar. Sparkle was twisting and turning, flicking and flapping and having such a lovely time in her dust bath. A happy Sparkle means a happy me. This is such a joy to see and  now I know she really is feeling better.

I love this time of year when everything in the garden is really lush. The veg plot is really getting going now.

The veg plot is coming on

The potatoes on the left of the plot are growing really fast.

geraniums

The geraniums are just starting to go over but I love to see them in the sun.

Forget me not

This is a perennial with forget me not like flowers and foliage rather like a hosta. The flowers have started to go over but I also love the way this looks in the sun. Once it has flowered the leaves continue grow and come into their own.

Every part of the garden is full to bursting

Cornflowers

I love the unusual colours of these pretty cornflowers.

London pride

London pride are another of my favourites.

Flox

I love the way the flox drifts through the succulents.

Hosta

The hosta pots look amazing.

Amazing contrast

I don’t remember what this shrub is called but I love the strong contrast of it’s foliage compared to the plants around it.

Even the chicken run is starting to flower.

The rose in the chicken run is in bud

This is just getting ready to flower and I will photograph it again when the buds open.

This shrub in the chicken run is in flower

I don’t remember what this shrub is called either but I chose it for it’s umbrella like shape keeping it above the height that the girls can destroy.

I wonder if the girls appreciate the garden’s beauty too.

It’s now been two weeks since we first noticed that Sparkle wasn’t well. She finished her course of antibiotics four days ago. Since she was first unwell she hasn’t had a dust bath but spends a lot of time preening instead, she seems to eat just as much as she needs to survive and she expends as little energy as possible.

Sparkle goes to the morning corn and evening sunflower seeds, she pecks at grass, spinach and apple and sits in the sun or on a perch all afternoon. I don’t see her eat pellets but when I pick her up at bedtime she still feels a good weight and quite robust.

We thought that maybe it was just going to take some time for her to get back to normal. She isn’t normal but she isn’t worse and isn’t uninterested.

Then this morning when I poop picked the coop I got a shock. I found worms, prepare to be revolted!

Worms

At the same time as I felt horrified I also felt hopeful. Maybe this is what is wrong with Sparkle and if that is the case it is easily remedied.

We had only been saying yesterday that it was time to worm the girls but I said that I wanted to get Sparkle eating properly first. No time for that now. I had some flubenvet in stock and I had a tin of fish in the cupboard.

Back went Sparkle into the cat box with a little dish of fish laced with fubenvet. I put some fish and flubenvet in two dishes for the rest of the girls. I knew that the only way I could get Sparkle to take hers was to separate her as she wouldn’t be able to compete with the other girls.

Sparkle is back in the cat box

Flubenvet on fish for the rest of the girls

The fish and meds are gone in seconds

The girls will need seven days of flubenvet but if this is what is troubling Sparkle there should be an improvement in a couple of days. I will continue to put her in the cat box unless she returns to eating normally in which case she can join in with the other girls.

I am now feeling hopeful that sparkle should soon be back to normal.

Today I had arranged to see Jackie and she had told me that there were some turfs which had been dug out of the allotment and were going begging, so we went to collect them for our girls.

I filled her in with the latest details about Sparkle and said she could come and see her for herself. I gave Sparkle her final day of her medicine this morning on some fish in the cat box. Once she had her medicine I offered her some more fish and some mash but she wasn’t interested so I returned her to the run.

I said to Jackie that a stranger would think Sparkle looks okay. She has a red comb and she will join in with her favourite things, corn, sunflower hearts and spinach. But I know that she is far from right.

She is very slow and since I first noticed she wasn’t well ten days ago, she hasn’t had a dust bath and she hasn’t eaten any pellets or in fact much of anything during the day. She spends her days sitting in a patch of sun if there is some and if there isn’t she sits on a perch and often doses.

I showed Jackie that I could throw out chopped grapes and even though I throw bits directly under her beak she is too slow to pick them up. Everything she does looks half hearted and she soon loses interest.

We put some turfs in and once again she did join in but not with her usual enthusiasm and she soon lost interest and went to a perch.

Sparkle joins in with the turf

The girls love to have some grass

It’s good to see Sparkle joining in

Sparkle returns to a perch

It seems as if it quickly becomes too much effort and Sparkle perches up again. Most days she will stay like this all afternoon.

Jackie said that she could see exactly what I meant and that although Sparkle didn’t look too bad she was clearly not at all her usual self. I said that I felt it’s beginning to sound as if I am being negative but it’s just that after ten days of her medicine I had hoped for her to be getting back to normal.

She is certainly not as bad as she was but she is no where near normal either. I wonder if it’s just going to be a slow process for her to get back to normal. Now that she has finished her medicine I feel that there is nothing else I can do but wait and see how it goes. I can encourage her to eat but I can’t force her.

I feel as if she is just eating enough to survive and no more which is not good for a chicken who usually spends the best part of the day looking for food. I think that only time will tell.