Carol's Chickens

As this has progressed we have had a re-think. It seems more likely that perhaps Amber has scratched her face, maybe flown into the wire or maybe been stung and the infection has perhaps stopped her laying her egg.

We are thinking this because it seems unlikely that a broken egg would effect her face so quickly and looking on the internet it seems other hens with a swollen face were thought to have an infection.

The good news is that after the first day of bright yellow poops there have been no more. Amber seems almost back to normal, eating, drinking, pooping, preening, just with a terribly swollen face. She is also very quiet.

I called into the vets today with a photograph of her and Honey together for comparison. The vet was in theatre but the nurse took the photo to him. They agreed it looked like an infection. I asked if I could use a human antiseptic such as savlon or something similar. The nurse said yes as there isn’t a chicken version but use with caution as it’s not tested and don’t get it in her eyes (obviously).

We decided to apply it at bedtime when she would be docile. I am feeling much more positive now. Amber is a fighter, a tough little cookie.

This was her with her poor little face while soaking up the sun this afternoon.

Amber in the sun

We checked in on the girls at eight o’clock and they were already settled in their bedtime positions so we decided it would be better to treat Amber sooner rather than later.

I lifted her from the perch and held her securely while my husband held her head and applied the cream carefully, stroking it downwards away from her eyes.

I put her down and gave her a few sunflower hearts as a reward. My husband said the swelling felt as hard as bone.

I stayed with the girls for a while as they milled around and re-settled again on the high perch. Before Amber went back to the perch she was chatting which was the first time I had heard her do that all day. I think this is a good sign that she is beginning to feel better.

Emerald tried to join the girls on the high perch but it was Amber that chased her away and she then settled as usual on the shoe box. Perhaps this why she is never on the high perch, as bottom girl she isn’t allowed and Amber must be feeling better to be able to see her off.

We will keep applying the antiseptic cream before bedtime for the next few days and see if it has any effect. I don’t hold out too much hope that it will do much good but do hope that given time her face will return to normal. She does seem better in herself so we can only hope she recovers from this.

It always seems that which ever next box is chosen by the first girl that wants to lay then that nest box is the one most desirable to all the girls. There are three nest boxes yet when three girls want to lay at about the same time then all three of them want THAT nest box.

Sparkle goes into her chosen nest box and Toffee wants to get in there too.

Toffee watches Sparkle in the nest box

Toffee decides to join Sparkle in the nest box

Honey comes over and watches them in the nest box

We all want this nest box

Toffee and Sparkle share the nest box

The odd thing was that after Sparkle laid her egg in here Toffee lost interest in this nest box and went and laid her egg in the nest box in the main coop. Shortly after that Honey also laid her egg in the nest box in the main coop.

It appears that a nest box is most desirable when another girl is using it. Who knows what goes on their little chicken brains!

Poor little Amber has had an egg laying problem right from the start of her egg laying and she has gradually got worse. She laid for three months, June, July and August then had five months of not laying while she moulted. During that time she was healthy.

She started laying again in February and was still struggling to lay and laying soft shelled eggs no matter how much limestone flour, cod liver oil and crushed egg shells I gave her.

Recently she has been laying every four days and looking unwell the day before. We had noticed that she was now snoozing a lot during the day with her head under her wing and I felt after five months of laying she was getting worse.

Seven days ago she had looked unwell all afternoon and while we were watching her she kept closing one eye. My husband said he thought she was straining. Then right in front of me she laid her egg. I picked it up and it was like rubber and could be squeezed. We were always relieved at each egg she managed to pass and always fearful of an egg breaking inside her.

Amber returned to her normal self until four days later when her next egg was due. She looked unwell as usual and I expected to find an egg in the nest box the next morning. There was no egg and she still looked unwell and I saw her pass a bright yellow poop which is not a good sign.

As the day went on she was snoozing a lot with her head under her wing. Throughout the day I found three bright yellow poops. I did wonder if it was egg at first but it was definitely poop.

By the afternoon my husband said he thought her face was changing. A few hours later when I next checked on her I was shocked to see that her face had really swollen. We began to think that her egg must have broken inside and wondered if this was some sort of poisoning.

Amber’s swollen face

Amber’s face is puffy between her eye and her beak

Honey’s face is flat

I took this one of them together for comparison

Amber spends a lot of time like this

We really feel her time is coming to an end. We have always known this would happen at some stage. We have had her for fourteen months and she is about two years old now and has always been smaller than Honey.

We talked at length about what to do next and I cried for her. We decided that we would let nature take its course if we could. I would rather she went in the coop with her flock mates than at a vets. We decided we would only have her put to sleep if she was suffering. We didn’t feel she could take the stress of going to a vet and felt that she was too far gone for medication.

She still made it to the high perch last night and I went out at half past five this morning half expecting her to have passed away in the night.

She was still there and ran eagerly to the morning corn. She is eating, drinking and pooping. She is eager for treats and then spends time snoozing with her head under her wing.

Amber still runs to the morning corn

It’s been difficult to know what to for the best but from my research we think we think this is right for her. I read on a blog of something similar and the hen was treated and made a short recovery but died a month later. I know that whatever we tried to do would stress her and the problem would return with her next egg.

I have also read on the same blog that as long as a hen is eating, drinking and pooping then they can be left alone as they still have quality of life. When they stop doing these things it’s kindest to end their suffering.

Before Treacle died she had given up and spent her time standing behind a bush or by the water. She wouldn’t eat anything at all even her favourite treats. I knew it was her time.

Amber still runs to the treats eagerly, she is still eating pellets. She is snoozing and isn’t showing any sign of distress. She used to make a sad sound when trying to lay her eggs but isn’t making this sound.

We feel that as long as she seems happy we will let nature take its course but if she becomes distressed we will have her put to sleep. I really hope she goes in the coop with her flock mates. No one is bothering her and the girls especially Honey come to sit with her.

I suspect that when her next egg comes that may see her off. In the meantime I am going to give all the treats she loves so that her time is as happy as it can be.

I gave the girls mash this morning with finely chopped tomato which Amber tucked into. This afternoon the girls had yogurt.

Amber enjoying some yogurt

We will take it one day at a time and see how she goes on.

The bedtime line up is exactly the same each night since Topaz  joined the girls on the high perch four nights ago. last night I went in to the girls an hour before dusk and was surprised that they were already in their bedtime positions.

The bedtime line up on the high perch

From left to right is Amber, Honey, Topaz then Toffee.

Sparkle and Emerald in their bedtime positions

Sparkle is always on the top of the store cabinet and Emerald is always on top of my shoe box.

When I went back just after dusk to lift the girls down into the coop they were all in exactly the same positions. They are such creatures of habit.

At long last Topaz laid her first egg yesterday. We have now had Topaz and Sparkle for three months and Sparkle laid an egg on her first day with us. Topaz has been practising for ages and the farmer we got her from was surprised when we last talked that she hadn’t laid yet.

Yesterday Sparkle and Honey laid and Topaz spent ages in the nest box. Whenever I checked on her she didn’t run out shouting like she usually does. She was also doing a lot of scratching around in the nest box.

Later when I checked there was her first egg, rounder and slightly larger than Sparkle’s egg. I was right about her coming of age. Two nights ago she started roosting with the older girls and now she has laid an egg. Well done Topaz.

Then today Toffee laid her first egg with us. I can’t claim it’s her first egg because she had been brooding on eggs for the farmer and he said it would take about three weeks before she started laying again. We have had the new girls exactly three weeks today and right on time Toffee has laid her first egg for us. She behaved just the same as Emerald and was in each of the nest boxes in turn all afternoon and scratching around all the time then went quiet for a bit and got her egg laid. Well done Toffee.

Hurrah, we have now had an egg from all six of our girls. It will be interesting to see when Toffee lays again as Emerald laid three weeks ago on her second day with us but has not shown any interest in the nest boxes since. I am not sure that the game birds are very good at egg laying but I am happy as long as my flock is happy and it’s very settled at the moment.

There isn’t really an appropriate photo for the egg laying as all the girls eggs look much the same these days so instead I thought I would celebrate with a couple of updated photos of the veg plot. As the girl’s extended run is on the original veg plot (and I am very glad to give them the extra space) here is an update on the new veg plot which is coming along nicely.

The new veg plot

It’s looking good

I am actually finding it much more convenient to have the veg plot nearer to the house as it is easier for watering and weeding. We have had four courgettes so far and nothing else is ready yet but there are flowers on the potatoes and broad beans are forming. It won’t be long before we are picking veg from the garden.

I should have known that the girls would immediately set about stripping the new plants of their leaves. The tall one is tall enough to be safe but the other two shrubs were quickly becoming bare.

It’s not pretty but this was all the chicken net I had left so I cobbled up some protection as best as I could.

Plant protection

I made a sort of tent out of the chicken net. It’s not great but it’s the best I could do with what I had. They may peck through the net but once they have taken what they can reach the rest will be protected.

I hope these shrubs grow quite quickly.

I felt the new part of the chicken run was a bit barren. I thought it could do with some more plants to give the girls shade, shelter and something to scratch under.

We went to our local garden centre and were pleased to find they had a “three for the price of two” offer on. I picked three plants, two that looked tough and woody and able to survive chickens and one that was tall enough to be mostly out of reach of the girls.

Three new shrubs for the chicken run

The middle one has pink foliage and doesn’t show up so well but I thought it would provide a contrast. I am hoping that as they mature they will all merge together and make a good sized area for the girls to scratch and shelter under much like the huge hypericum.

I think this will provide a good wall of green for the girls

Once my new babies, which I will be getting in a few weeks time, are integrated with the flock I think we will take down the divider in the new part of the run. This will still leave the part that has the spare coop as a separation area if we ever need it and the divider could also be put back if it’s ever needed.

In the meantime it will give the girls (and me) a bigger open space instead of two narrow spaces and will give room for the plants to grow. The run is always evolving and improving and I want to end up with the best possible space for the girls to enjoy.

When I said in a recent post that I wondered if chickens could be colour blind I realised that wasn’t really what I meant. What I meant was that Emerald didn’t seem able to see sunflower hearts when sprinkled over a background the same colour as them.

Chickens have really good eyesight so I wondered if Emerald’s eyesight was less sharp than usual. I decided to do an experiment. I took our orange bath mat and sprinkled some sunflower hearts over it and hey presto! Emerald could see them.

The bath mat experiment

Emerald can now see the sunflower hearts

Emerald is bottom girl and in such a small space she got chased from the mat a few times but even so she managed to get some of the sunflower hearts. Emerald is on the left of both photos.

Emerald taking sunflower hearts from the orange mat

I wasn’t going to include this photo as it’s not such a good one but changed my mind as it clearly shows Emerald (on the left) taking the seeds from the mat.

I think this clearly proves my theory that Emerald can’t see the seeds when they are on the same coloured background. She must have a slight fault with her eyesight but it doesn’t cause her any problem (except where sunflower hearts are concerned). I will continue to give her a sprinkle of meal worms when the girls have sunflower hearts.

The bedtime line up has slightly changed. For the last two nights Topaz has joined the girls on the high perch. Up until then she had always put herself to bed in the coop at least an hour before the other girls settled.

The night before last I was surprised that she was still in the run pottering with the other girls when she would usually be in the coop. I was surprised again when I returned at dusk and she was on the high perch.

Last night I decided to take my camera with me when I went in to put them to bed and sure enough Topaz was on the high perch again.

Topaz on the high perch at bedtime

Topaz is on the left next to Toffee then Amber and Honey on the right.

Sparkle as always is on top of the cabinet

I have never found Sparkle anywhere else but here at bedtime. You can see by the gift she has left me that she has been settled here for a while.

Emerald is on my shoe box

Emerald always settles here. It is funny how they have their preferred places to roost and stick to them every night.

I wonder if this change in Topaz marks her coming of age and maybe she will finally start laying some eggs. She is really taking her time getting started.

I have noticed an odd thing with Emerald. Emerald can’t see sunflower hearts. We have had the new girls for two weeks now. I have the habit of giving what I call the “scratch treat” in the morning and evening. In the winter they get corn in the evening as digesting it helps keep them warm and in the morning they get sunflower hearts or dried meal worms. In the summer it’s the reverse with corn in the morning and sunflower hearts or dried meal worms in the evening. They also have greens mid morning and fruit mid afternoon.

Emerald very quickly sussed out the treats system and is the only one that jumps to the coop roof as soon as I open the store cabinet where the treats are. But on the days when I throw out some sunflower hearts she bounds out eagerly and then while the other girls tuck in she looks around as if to say “where are they?”

If I then throw out some dried meal worms or corn she is straight on to it. When I told my husband he said that perhaps she didn’t like sunflower hearts. I explained that it wasn’t that because she has never tried them as she can’t find them. I demonstrated to him several times and the same thing happens every time.

Today I thought I would see if I could show it in photos. I took these photos in quick succession.

I throw out the sunflower hearts and all the girls hoover them up except for Emerald at the back of the photo

I can almost read her mind saying “where are they?”

Emerald doesn’t see the sunflower seeds

I then throw out some dried meal worms and Emerald joins in straight away

Now Emerald can see them

Emerald happily joins in

It is exactly the same each time. If I throw out sunflower hearts she runs out eagerly with the other girls then looks around in total confusion. As soon as I throw out either meal worms or corn she falls straight on them.

I really don’t think she can see the sunflower hearts. I wonder if anyone else has come across anything like this.