Carol's Chickens

I have been struggling with what to do for the best for Sienna. Over Easter I considered taking her to the vet but then she seemed to bounce back again. My youngest son and daughter in law visited over Easter and went in the run to see the girls.

I explained my dilemma and Sienna made what I had thought was her sneeze sound. My daughter in law said that it didn’t sound like a sneeze but more like a hiccup. I decided to leave Sienna until after Easter. We then noticed that the hiccup, squeak, sound she was making was becoming much more frequent. I started to think that it wasn’t a sneeze after all. The other girls make a sneeze sound which is similar to us sneezing but Sienna was making a squeak sound.

I thought that maybe I should take her to the vet for her to listen to because if it was a sneeze I would have to think about the myco and the other girls but if it wasn’t a sneeze maybe I could just leave her be and maybe it was an egg problem as she wasn’t laying.

I got an appointment today and put Sienna in the cat box and drove the five minutes to the vet. In that short time Sienna went rapidly down hill. Sienna was struggling to breath and making a wheezing sound. The vet said that the stress of putting her in a cat box shouldn’t have caused this much of a reaction. The vet listened to her and said that she was in heart failure.

The vet said that she must have hatched with a heart defect and she was lucky to have had a happy year with us. She said this was why she wasn’t laying and that the squeak was also being caused by this. The vet said she had rapidly become stressed because her heart couldn’t cope with something as simple as being put in the cat box.

The vet said she had a crackle in her breathing and her heart was beating so hard that it could be felt by putting my hand under abdomen. Her heart felt as if it was beating out of her body. The vet said that if I hadn’t bought her in today it would have happened some time soon and there was nothing that I could have done for her.

We agreed that the kindest thing was to put her to sleep right away. I held Sienna while the vet tried to find a vain in her wing but because she was shutting down there were no veins to inject. The vet gave her the injection in her breast and Sienna didn’t even wince or show any sign that she noticed. Sienna went really quickly which the vet said was a sign of how weak her heart was.

We have been so unlucky lately but on the other hand I felt relieved that it was heart failure. It wasn’t the dreaded myco, wasn’t contagious and there wasn’t anything I could have done for her. The vet said that Sienna had been lucky to have had a year with me.

Sienna yesterday

I had a feeling this day was coming soon so I tried to get a good photo of Sienna yesterday. This was the best one.

We have lost two girls in the space of two weeks. I really hope that things will settle down now.

Ebony likes to lay her eggs in the corner of the chicken shed. The back, left, corner is her corner. Vanilla has taken up residence there since she has been broody. This has not pleased Ebony.

Two days ago she decided to settle in the large shelter instead. She spent a while placing pine shavings on her back and then went on to lay her egg there.

Ebony in the shelter placing pine shavings on her back

Back, left, corner again, interesting!

Ebony went on to lay her egg there

Today Ebony settled in the shelter again and went on to lay her egg there for the second time in a row. I don’t mind where she lays as long as she is happy and not shouting like when she first came to us.

Two days later Ebony lays her egg here again

For the last week there haven’t been sloppy poops under Speckles roost spot or in the run.

Speckles has become very vocal over the last few days and yesterday when I went to stroke her she dropped into a squat. I think she is getting ready to lay again.

Speckles comb is looking great

Today Speckles inspected the nest box.

Speckles inspects the nest box

It has been nearly two months since Speckles laid her first egg this year. She then started drinking loads and doing sloppy poops. I looked back at last year because she laid eight eggs then started the drinking and sloppy poops. She then took a break of nearly two months and then laid another four eggs. There seems to be a pattern forming.

While I was at the vets with Dandelion I explained what was going on with Speckles and asked if she had come across this before. She hadn’t but she agreed with my theory that it is probably something hormonal because Speckles is fine over winter when she isn’t laying. As soon as she starts laying she starts drinking lots of water which causes sloppy poops and a break in laying.

After a break from laying she gets back to normal but getting back to normal means she starts laying again. I am not expecting her to lay many eggs if she does start laying again. The vet said she would ask around and call me if she found anyone who could shed any light on this. She hasn’t called me so I assume she hasn’t been able to find any information on this. I have researched this and haven’t been able to find anything so I am not surprised.

I said to the vet that if Speckles started to look poorly then I would bring her in to be put to sleep because she is an elderly girl but that while she looks happy and healthy in every other way I will leave her be and she agreed that that was the right thing to do.

There is never a dull moment with this flock.

I love the way the tulips open up in the sun.

The big tulips opened in the sun before Easter

The next batch of tulips opened in the sun over Easter

We had a lovely sunny Easter and the garden is blooming.

For a while now I have known that there is something wrong with Sienna. Three weeks ago she laid a tiny, grape sized, egg under her roost spot. I knew it had to be hers because all the other girls had been laying for some time and she was the only one yet to start.

Since then she hasn’t laid again and I have never seen her in a nest box at any time. After this I noticed that she would spend time sitting with her eyes closed and her chest going up and down with her breathing but at other times she looked normal again.

About the time that I had to make the decision about Dandelion I noticed that Sienna was sitting with her eyes closed more often. She is also the only girl that still sneezes and yet I don’t think it’s myco because they had all had tylan in the water at this stage and it didn’t make any difference to Sienna.

Sienna doesn’t look good

I have been struggling with what to do next because I am now in the awful position that if I leave a poorly girl too long I could endanger the flock as I can no longer medicate but I don’t want to have a girl put to sleep to early when she may recover.

Then the last four days Sienna has been doing green poops. They look just like pea soup or mushy peas. I know that this is not good. It’s a sign that something internal isn’t right. Sienna is just coming up to a year old and isn’t laying beyond the first, grape sized, egg which in itself is a sign that all is not well. That along with moments of sitting like the above photo and doing green poops all points to something being wrong with her.

I have nearly taken her to the vets a few times recently but then the next minute she looks normal again and she is eating normally. I really don’t know what to do. If I take her to the vets it is unlikely that they will be able to tell what is wrong with her and if she perks up at that moment it will look like there is nothing wrong with her anyway.

I am thinking of asking if the vet could ring me for a chat and advice. This is a real dilemma!

Cinnamon has taken to dust bathing with the bigger girls. I missed getting photos of her dust bathing with Speckles because as soon as I get near them Speckles comes over to me. I did get a few photos of Cinnamon dust bathing with Flame yesterday.

Cinnamon and Flame dust bathing together again

Enjoying the sun together

It is sweet to see them enjoying a sunny dust bath together.

We had just a few days with no broody girls then back to two broody girls again. First Smoke started her broody behaviour again. She had only laid five eggs in ten days so this seemed really quick to go broody again. Smoke lays a few more eggs after she goes broody and so she laid her sixth egg yesterday.

Later that same day Vanilla went broody. Vanilla had laid twenty four eggs in one and a half months. Vanilla is an angry broody and pecks me and growls like an angry cat.

Broody Smoke

She does look magnificent.

I sit Smoke in the run

Broody Vanilla

You can see the anger in her eyes.

Broody Vanilla and Flame together

Flame likes to lay her eggs in this corner and wasn’t put off by Vanilla.

Smoke is easy to lift and I am closing the nest boxes at bedtime again which forces her to perch up rather than settle in the nest box. Vanilla on the other hand pecks me with fury and is difficult to move. She likes the back corner of the chicken shed so I am having to lift her to the perch at bedtime.

If I left Vanilla in that corner she would be under Speckles firing line. When I lift her and place her on the amigos’ perch I can her angry growl after I shut the door. I never would have thought these little girls could get so angry!

Oh well, I feel as if we are destined to have some broodies all the time with these little girls. Smoke and Vanilla are the two best layers too. They lay the most and also the biggest serama eggs. We are still getting plenty of eggs so that’s okay. I could do without the angry pecking though!

The day after Dandelion had gone it was so sad to see Cinnamon spending time alone in the small shelter where they had spent a lot of their time together. It was if she thought Dandelion might suddenly appear in here. She spends some time alone in here every day.

Cinnamon alone in the small shelter

Cinnamon has taken to sticking very close to Speckles and to hanging out with the bigger girls.

Cinnamon sticks close to Speckles

Cinnamon with Flame and Speckles

Cinnamon dust bathing with Flame

The flock seems to have formed two groups, Cinnamon and the bigger girls and the amigos and the silky girls. I am glad Cinnamon has the bigger girls to hang out with. It’s so sad to see her without Dandelion.

As this is the first year of having an allotment we are on a learning curve. We were all very eager to get everything started and now realise that we sowed our runner beans and dwarf beans a bit too early.

They can’t be planted outside until there are no more frosts and we are getting frosts every morning at the moment. We are still hardening the beans off by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night.

What we now realised was that they were out growing their pots and the roots were coming through the bottom of the pots. If we didn’t transplant them we wouldn’t be able to get them out of the pots without damaging the roots and we want to keep the pots intact to reuse next year.

We decided to move them on to grow bags which we cut down to fit our plastic crates. This will make them easier to transport to the allotment when we are ready to plant them.

Beans hardening off

We have planted the broad beans on the left into the allotment plot because broad beans can withstand frost. The beans on the right have trebled in size and we have now transplanted them.

Transplanted beans

This has been our first lesson learned. Next year we will sow our beans at any time between now and the end of April. This means they will be able to go straight from the pots to the allotment in May without us having to do this middle stage.

We hadn’t realised how quickly they would grow and during a recent chat with my mum she said that she will be setting her beans over the next week or so. Never mind, I am sure we have a lot more to learn yet.

A few days after the first post I did about Ebony and Vanilla sitting in the corner of the chicken shed they settled in there together again.

Once again Vanilla settled in the corner behind Ebony

And just like last time once Ebony had laid her egg Vanilla moved it around

I removed Ebony’s egg and a few minutes later Vanilla laid her egg. Two days later they were settled together again. These two seem to be perfectly in sync with their egg laying.

For the third time running Ebony and Vanilla settled together in the corner of the chicken shed

When I checked back a little later Ebony and Vanilla’s eggs were together in the corner. I can’t believe how in tune these two are at the moment.

This was also our first, seven egg day, of the year. We had eggs from Ebony, Vanilla, Jasmine, Flame, Smoke, Spangle and Salmon.

Well done girls!

Sadly we lost Dandelion yesterday. She was such a lovely girl. She was beautiful and so friendly and was not only top serama but was joint top girl with Speckles. No one messed with Dandelion and she got on with all the girls, bigger or little, but she especially had a really close friendship with Cinnamon.

The three amigos in April 2017

An inseparable pair 2017

Dandelion in the nest box 2018

Dandelion dust bathing in the sun June 2018

Cinnamon and Dandelion dust bathing together November 2018

Dandelion was always happy to share a nest box March 2019

Cinnamon checks on Dandelion in the nest box March 2019

Dandelion April 2019

We will miss her so much and I know that Cinnamon will miss her steadfast companion. We were lucky to have her for the time that we did. Goodbye sweet Dandelion.