Carol's Chickens

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.

I always think a weed is just a plant that is somewhere you don’t want it to be. I think of weeds as the invasive sort that are difficult to get rid of. Sometimes a weed can be pretty and if it’s not doing any harm then perhaps it should be allowed to stay. This is the sort of weed that has arrived, all by itself, on our front drive. It is delicate and pretty.

Is this really a weed!

It brightens up the gravel on the drive and as it’s against the wall it isn’t in the way. I think it’s rather sweet and it can stay.

Since Sparkle hasn’t been a hundred percent she hasn’t been joining in flock activities such as dust bathing. I think that when I see her dust bath again I will know she is really feeling better. At the moment she does follow the sun and will sit in a patch of sun while the other girls are dust bathing.

For the last two mornings I have put her in the cat box with her medicine on some fish and she has taken it like this which is much better than putting it her beak and there are only two more days of medicine to go, hurrah! It has become harder to pick her up which is sign of her returning to normal and I am looking forward to the end of her medicine so that I don’t have to annoy her by picking her up.

Today we had another near dead plant to remove from the garden. It was a hebe, which although usually hardy, had been completely knocked back by the winter frosts and as we had another plant that was being crowded we decided to take the hebe out and replace it with the other plant.

As usual the dead plant went into the run for the girls. Sparkle was straight to it and was soon on top of it pecking away at the soil. She also pecked away the lower ranking girls if they got in her way.

Sparkle went straight to the dead plant

All the girls join in

They all joined in except Toffee who was laying her egg. It was good to see Sparkle taking part and looking more like her usual self. I really do think she is almost back to normal. I am feeling much more positive about her now.

The thing that had been worrying me most about Sparkle was that she didn’t appear to be eating during the day but this morning she joined in with the mid morning spinach then she went to the dish of mash. I have been putting in two dishes of mash each day just to try to tempt her and this was the first day that we saw her eat from it. She even pecked Emerald out of her way.

She is much more difficult to pick up for her medicine in the morning and this morning she struggled when we put it in her beak (this also shows she is gaining strength). We don’t want to put her through the stress of this but she wouldn’t take it from food before. Now that she is eating again we have decided that tomorrow morning we will put her in the cat box with her medicine on some fish as this is what she seems to like to eat the most.

She needs to take her medicine for four more days to the complete the ten day course so I measured out her medicine to see if there was enough to waste another day’s dose if this doesn’t work. There are two extra days dose so we will give this a go tomorrow.

I listened to her breathing and could no longer hear the bubbling noise. We decided that as she was eating again we wouldn’t need to put her in the cat box in the evening.

She was preening and moving around more during the day and also joined in with the bedtime sunflower hearts. She perched up next to Topaz at bedtime. I hadn’t really noticed that much of a friendship between these two before now but since Sparkle has been unwell they have spent a lot of time sitting together which is quite heart warming.

Sparkle and Topaz at bedtime

I am now feeling much more positive about Sparkle. I really do think she is now on the mend at last.

I picked up Sparkle this morning and my husband administered her medicine to the side of her beak. This has now become the morning routine until her medicine is finished. She seemed brighter in the morning and did attempt to join in with the mid morning spinach.

During the morning the egg laying routine commenced. As I have said before Toffee seems to like company when laying and soon she and Emerald were side by side in the left coop.

Toffee and Emerald in the nest box

Barley and Peaches are always so nosey when there are girls in the nest box and soon came over to investigate.

Barley watches Toffee and Emerald in the nest box

Barley came over to have a look and Peaches wasn’t far behind. You can just see her feet bottom left of this photo.

Peaches joins the audience

Barley and Peaches suddenly decided they would go into the right coop together.

Barley and Peaches go into the other nest box

A little while later I found Barley’s, Toffee’s and Emerald’s egg in the left coop and Peaches egg in the right coop.

A littler later again I found Honey’s little egg in the main coop nest box which is where she prefers to lay. Not a bad day, five out of seven but Topaz and Sparkle aren’t laying at the moment, so you could say a full house.

The thing that worries me most about Sparkle is that I don’t see her eating during the day. She spent most of the day sitting in patches of sun.

Sparkle sits in the sun

At six o’clock I put Sparkle back in the cat box with an array of food items. She didn’t seem interested at first but I got her take some spinach through the bars. She then pecked at a bit of melon then some sunflower seeds and eventually some fish. I am just putting everything in, in the hope that she will eat something. I was pleased to see her eat but I worry that it’s not enough.

We are three quarters through her medicine and I am worried that she is still so slow and eating so little. I don’t know what else I can do for her. I am encouraging her to eat but can’t force her.

I am still not sure how this is going to go. I just wish I could see her eat more. Her comb is still red though and to look at her you wouldn’t know anything was wrong but I know. She should be eating more. I suppose only time will tell.

This morning we tried to give Sparkle her medicine on a bit of bread. I held her while my husband offered her the bread but she was having none of it. He touched it against her beak and she clamped it shut and turned away. This wasn’t going to work. I felt annoyed with myself for wasting a dose of her medicine.

We resorted to giving her another dose by syringing it into her beak which actually isn’t too difficult so I think we will have to do this each morning as I can’t risk wasting more of her medicine.

She looked a little brighter, moving around although very slowly, but I was concerned that she wasn’t eating. She was drinking water but although I had put out two large dishes of mash in the hope that she would eat, I didn’t see her make any attempt at eating from them.

Sparkle by the water

I tried dropping bits of grape, sunflower seeds and bits of spinach in front of her but she was so slow that the other girls took them from under her beak before her beak could get to the ground. She had a couple of bits but nothing like enough.

I decided to put her back in the cat box at six o’clock which was when she started eating yesterday. I put in a dish of water and a mix of foods to tempt her. I put in a dish of mash topped with fish (sardines in olive oil), sunflower seeds, chopped grapes, chopped tomato, a wedge of tomato and spinach.

Sparkle’s restaurant

Sparkle tucked into the fish with gusto so I kept topping up the fish. At this stage I don’t care what she eats as long as she eats something and the fish provides protein. I held spinach leaves through the bars of the cat box and she pecked at it enthusiastically. She also pecked all the seeds and then the centre from the wedge of tomato. Like yesterday I felt so uplifted to see her eat. I think that at the end of the day she is hungry but she can’t compete with the flock and this allows her to fill up in her own time.

I will continue with this regime until she can eat properly in the run. Once she had stopped eating and had been just sitting for a while I returned her to the run. She immediately took up her position on the bedtime perch and started preening. Again I think this is a good sign. When I lifted her down to put her in the coop at dusk I thought she felt more robust.

I think this may be a slow process but I will continue in this way until she builds up her strength and is able to feed properly. I am hopeful that she will continue to improve but I think it will take a bit of time yet.

This morning when I went out to the girls Sparkle was stood under the bush. This is never a good sign. By the time I had done my morning chores Topaz had gone to stand next to her.

I soaked a bit of bread with her liquid baytril and offered it to her but she refused it. I put her in the cat box with one ramekin dish of water and one of mash, some sunflower seeds and some chopped grapes. Sparkle refused to eat anything.

There was nothing for it but to put her medicine directly in her beak. I held her while my husband administered it a drop at a time in the side of her beak waiting for her to swallow each drop before giving the next. We managed this without any being wasted.

I left her in the cat box because she has everything she needs and doesn’t have to compete with the other girls which she is unable to do at the moment. I can watch to see if she eats or drinks and I can see if she poops. She is comfortable in there and hasn’t complained.

Sparkle in the cat box

Sparkle settled in

I saw her drink from the water dish but was disappointed that she wouldn’t be tempted to eat anything. I know from past experience that if you can get them to eat and gain strength you may get them better (Amber and Emerald) but if you can’t get them to eat then it’s probably a losing battle (Treacle). The problem is you can’t force them to eat you can only keep trying to tempt them.

I am hoping that once the medicine kicks in she will get her appetite back and start to eat and gain strength. I am willing her to eat something. I am hoping that she may eat in the late afternoon like yesterday and then I can return her to the run.

Tomorrow we will put her medicine in her beak again in the morning. I then have to go out and do my deliveries but on my return at lunch time I will put her back in the cat box with food and water. I will repeat this until she starts to eat in the run.

At six o’clock Sparkle suddenly got her appetite back. She started eating the chopped grapes then moved on to the sunflower hearts. She suddenly started pecking at the slice of melon which I put it in with her at lunch time and  she wouldn’t even look at, at that time.

Sparkle suddenly starts pecking at the melon

Look at her go!

Hurrah! Melon in Sparkle’s beak

This makes my heart sing

I can’t describe how this simple act made my heart soar. Sparkle then moved on to her mash and then my husband gave her a big worm and after a bit of a struggle she got it down. My heart felt fit to burst.

I then offered her some spinach leaves which she ate with gusto. Hurrah, I think we may be back on track. I decided it was time to return her to the flock and she joined them eagerly. She was moving around after having sat for a whole day. I think (hope) we have reached a turning point. After a day of worry I am feeling so happy at the moment. Lets hope tomorrow continues as well as this.

Anyone who has chickens will have experienced the trance stare. Two girls will be staring at each other and will be as still as statues. I think it is probably a pecking order thing and they are waiting to see who will break away first. My husband jokes that they are communicating telepathically. He imagines a stream of messages passing between them.

Yesterday Topaz and Barley were doing this stare. I tried to get a photo but it’s not quite perfect because the camera distracted Barley and she slightly shifted her gaze towards me. It’s the best I have though and it gives a good idea of what the trance stare looks like. We call it that because the two girls appear to go into a trance like state and they stand motionless beak to beak.

Topaz and Barley do the trance stare

I like the way Peaches is in the background watching with interest. You can still see the trance in Topaz eyes but Barley has just broken away slightly. They are funny girls.

This morning we were surprised that Sparkle was sitting in the nest box. After her soft shelled egg the day before it seemed unlikely that she would lay again so soon.

Once again when Toffee wanted to lay her egg she chose company rather than one of the two empty nest boxes. Toffee really does seem to like company when laying her eggs which is quite unusual.

Sparkle and Toffee in the left coop

Toffee soon laid her egg but Sparkle was still in the coop. I started to think something was wrong. I lifted Sparkle out of the coop and she was slow and a bit wobbly. I tried to tempt her to eat and dropped chopped grapes in front of her but she ignored them. This wasn’t a good sign.

I offered her scrambled egg, mash and sunflower seeds along with chopped grapes and all she managed was two little bits of grape and about two sunflower seeds. She did a very liquid watery poop and then went to the water.

Poor Sparkle by the water

She drank quite a bit and then returned to the nest box. By now I was worried. A little later I lifted her out again and tried to temp her with food but again she showed no interest. She did another watery poop and went back to drinking the water.

I was by now beginning to feel alarmed. I picked her up and inspected her. I could hear a slight bubbly sound from her beak. Her eyes were clear and no liquid from her beak but there was a faint rattle as she was breathing. I thought this may be a respiratory problem and decided that I would need a visit to the vet.

I googled respiratory problems and it mentioned that it could effect egg shell quality, lethargy and lack of appetite were also symptoms. I phoned the vet and managed to get an appointment an hour later. Luckily the chicken expert who I have seen before was available.

I put Sparkle in a cat box with pine shavings and threw in a hand full of sunflower seeds just in case she decided to eat. She was very well behaved in the cat box and just sat quietly.

When I took her out and handed her to the vet she pecked him which was a surprise as she has never pecked anyone before. He listened to her chest and said that it was all clear but he could hear the slight rasping from her throat. He said it was rather like us getting a cold or flue and  that it was in her throat but hadn’t reached her chest.

He gave me liquid baytril to give her for ten days. When I put her back in the cat box she pecked at the sunflower seeds and he said she seemed hungry.

Back home I measured out the baytril and put it on a piece of bread (I wouldn’t usually give bread but needs must). She slowly ate it and I then put in the cat box some chopped grapes, sunflower seeds, corn, mash and water. At times like this if I can get them to eat anything I don’t care what it is as long as they eat something. I needed to build her strength back up.

I left her in the cat box for about half an hour until she had eaten all the grape, sunflower seeds, corn and some of the mash plus water. I then returned her to the flock.

When I gave them a handful of sunflower seeds before bedtime she joined in even though she was a bit slower than usual. She was looking more her usual self and better than she had all day. I felt relieved and felt glad that I had acted quickly and made the right decision to take her to the vet. The cost was twenty eight pounds which I thought was quite reasonable.

Before bedtime she was perched up next to Topaz as usual. I will put her in the cat box each morning with some bread soaked with the baytril to make sure she gets her dose and then return her to the run.

I am hopeful that having caught it early she will be okay. Just when everything seems to be running smoothly there is always something else to throw a spanner in the works. I really hope she will be okay now.