Carol's Chickens

This morning was the hardest frost of the year yet.

The view from our bedroom window

A very frosty garden

The bird bath was frozen solid. The waters in the chicken run are more sheltered but there was ice on one of the chicken’s water dishes. The metal one was okay. As it’s their last day of tylan in the water the water couldn’t be changed so I broke the layer of ice. I felt sorry for the girls having to drink their water so cold as I would usually change it but they must have their last day of the tylan.

Freckles and Dandelion are still sneezing. At bedtime I spent a bit of time with them and I realised that Dandelion has a whistle to her breathing. When I started the treatment I was finding it difficult to tell if the breathing sound was coming from Freckles or Dandelion and I now wonder if it was Dandelion all along or if it was both of them.

I am a bit worried that we are finished the five days of tylan and yet the girls are still sneezing and Dandelion still has a whistle to her breathing. I will be keeping a very close eye on them. I seem to remember that I read somewhere that you can treat again three weeks later. I can’t find this information at the moment so I may ring the vet next week and ask her advice. I will also ask, that if I do use my last dose of tylan, would I be able to order some more from her to keep in stock for the future.

The weather is forecast to be really cold which makes me worry about the little girls. Freckles was fine last winter but this will be the three amigos first winter as we got them in February. I hope they will make use of the shelters. They have been snuggled up close together at night apart from Freckles but she has been right up against the shed door.

I am still worried about Freckles and Dandelion but I will just have to keep everything crossed and keep a close eye on them.

We have been really busy again and I haven’t had much time for blogging. I don’t know why the orders are pouring in at the moment but we are taking bookings for more lunches and bigger lunches than usual. Maybe everyone is trying to get their training and meetings out of the way before Christmas.

Yesterday I took a few photos of the flock perching in the sun again. At this time year if there is any sun it is always on the ladder and the perch above it so this is the spot where the girls congregate together.

The flock perch in the sun

The two bigger girls perch side by side

The four little girls lower down

Because of the dividing wire in this part of the run I can’t step back enough to easily get all the girls in when they are at different levels. It is lovely to see them all together and making the most of the sun.

Tomorrow will be the fifth and final day of the tylan in the water. I am still hearing them sneeze occasionally, especially Freckles and Dandelion. They look fine though and I can’t hear any wheezing in their breathing. I would like to see Freckles looking more alert but she isn’t dozing like she was doing. I think perhaps they are just not enjoying the cold.

I would be glad to see some egg laying to reassure me that they are fully well but egg laying has completely stopped for now.

I am still picking up loads of feathers so that is probably why there are no eggs. The moult seems to be going on forever this year. Emerald is still dropping some long feathers and some short fluffy ones. Dandelion is dropping wing and tail feathers and some of them are really ragged.

Dandelion’s feathers

Dandelion’s tail

Dandelion now only has a couple of tail feathers. I will be glad when this moult comes to an end as I am sure the girls will too. It would be good to get them all fully feathered before it gets any colder.

It’s early days yet as it’s the first day on the tylan and the girls drink less this time of year than in summer but as my girls are so small I think that they only need a small amount of the tylan.

I was disappointed that when they came out this morning they had some food and then perched on the ladders without having a drink. In the summer they would all go straight to the water. I knew that they had to drink during the day though so tried not to worry. I didn’t give them their usual fruit at lunch time as I wanted them to get all their moisture from the water.

A little later Dandelion went to the water and then suddenly it was if the word had gone out and all the girls gathered around the water and had a drink. I felt relieved.

Dandelion has white pins on her head instead of her usual ginger feathers

I love seeing Speckles and her girls feeding together

Speckles has taken to standing here and jumping on my back

It’s a funny habit that she has of jumping on my back in summer but not in winter. I have no idea why this is but just recently she has started to jump on me from here.

Emerald is looking good

Freckles is drinking the water before bedtime

She looks okay

Speckles and the rest of the little girls are feeding together in the background. When I gave the girls some spinach on the patio I noticed that Dandelion has a slight wheeze to her breathing too. I am so glad that I am able to treat the whole flock.

I thought I would add a link to my past post about mycoplasma in case it could be of help to new readers. Click on the link below for all the information that I gathered.

http://www.carolschickens.com/blog/?p=22041

I will give a progress report as the week goes on.

For the last week I have noticed Freckles sneezing from time to time. She also hasn’t laid for just over a week which is very unusual for her and the tips of her comb are dark. I have been keeping a close eye on the girls and have now heard nearly all of the girls give an occasional sneeze. The only two girls I haven’t heard sneeze are Emerald and Cinnamon but Freckles sneezes the most.

I wasn’t sure if I was being paranoid but yesterday when I gave the girls their spinach on the patio I heard the slight “Darth Vader” like sound to Freckles breathing. I decided to give it one more day before deciding to take action. I have enough Tylan to give two more treatments. I don’t want to waste it unnecessarily but on the other hand I don’t want to risk leaving treatment too late.

Before bedtime all the girls were together at the ladder but Freckles was the only one dozing. She has been doing this a lot lately and I feel that all is not quite right with her. Before she dozed she was opening and closing her beak almost as if there was something sticky on it. I know that once mycoplasma has been in your flock it will always be in your flock and I decided it was best to take action. Better safe than sorry.

I dissolved a teaspoon of tylan powder in a litre of water and divided it into the two water dishes. I put it out at bedtime so that the girls will have it from first thing in the morning. It needs to be renewed at the same time each day, with any remaining thrown away and needs to be given for five days. It not only treats mycoplasma but gives all the flock protection from it. Mycoplasma will not get better without treatment.

The girls are all together before bedtime

Freckles is dozing

Notice the dark tips to Freckles comb compared to how red Cinnamon’s comb is. Cinnamon laid an egg today.

I am disappointed that this keeps recurring but I am so glad that I have the tylan to hand. I feel it’s best to act sooner rather than later and not take any chances. This may have to be a regular treatment for my flock.

As yesterday morning was frosty I decided to give the girls some warm mash. By the time I took it out to them Apricot, Speckles and Emerald were on the perch above the ladder in a spot of sunshine but Freckles, Dandelion and Cinnamon came straight to the mash.

Some warm mash on a frosty morning

Apricot and Emerald in spot of sunshine

As I got here Speckles had just jumped down. Apricot is fluffed up like a ball.

Emerald loves to perch in a shaft of sunshine

Speckles and Apricot join the girls at the mash

Finally Emerald joins the girls at the mash

I just love Dandelion’s comedy foot move

After their mash all the girls returned to the spot in the sun

It was difficult to get a shot of all the girls because Cinnamon and Dandelion were at a lower level. You can see how blue the sky was while the garden was still frosty. Despite the frosty start it was a lovely day.

This morning there was a beautiful autumn frost. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining and lighting up the autumn colours. This was my first look at the day from our bedroom window.

Sunshine and frost

What glorious autumn colours. The garden looked so pretty that I decided to take my camera with me on the way up to the girls.

The cabin roof

Next year’s fox glove

Sedums

Oregano

Sage

This is my favourite of this batch of photos. Somehow the sage looks really christmassy.

Poppies in the chicken’s dandelion strip

I am amazed that these yellow poppies are still flowering. I think it’s because it’s sheltered here with the chicken run on one side and the brick wall on the other.

I don’t mind a bit of frost when it’s a clear sunny day and no wind to make it feel it colder. It did make the garden look quite beautiful.

We are having a crazy, busy spell, work wise at the moment. On top of an already busy week we have been getting loads of late lunch orders which have pushed us to our limits. This has meant that I haven’t had much time for blogging or for taking photos of the girls.

I took these photos a couple of nights ago when it was really cold and the girls were really snuggled up together. Tonight is much milder and the three amigos have settled at the other end of the perch to the two bigger girls. It seems that on cold evenings they gravitate towards the bigger girls which is heart warming to see.

The three amigos snuggled up to the bigger girls

I nearly didn’t include this shot because Dandelion has her inner eyelid closed and it always makes the girls look a bit spooky when a photo catches them like this. I kept it though, because the last shot I took caught Emerald in a headless position.

I only took three photos as I don’t like to disturb the girls too much although they are used to me checking in on them each evening. I always talk to them so that they know it is only me.

Freckles is in her usual spot

Headless Emerald

I have mentioned before that the girls often use the little bit of light I let in to check out beneath them but on this occasion Emerald used it to have a quick preen giving her the headless look.

I do like to see them snuggled on cold nights.

Apricot seems to have had pin feathers on her head for ages and now Dandelion has pin feathers on her head. I wonder if this is more of a feature with silkie and frizzle feathered, girls because this hasn’t been noticeable on Freckles and Cinnamon, the straight feathered, girls.

When we got Dandelion in February she had a bald head so I am pleased that during her moult she has kept her head covered.

Dandelion has pin feathers on her head

I have also been picking up her tail feathers and yet her tail looks no different from normal.

Apricot’s head feathers are almost back to normal

Freckles and Cinnamon under the shelter

Another view of Dandelion’s pins on her head

Freckles looking good

The girls having some mash

Freckles moult hasn’t been noticeable at all apart from picking some feathers up from under her roost spot. Cinnamon sometimes looks a little scruffy and I am finding her little orange feathers. Sometimes she shows some grey under feathers, as in her wing, in this shot. Her tail feathers are also quite ragged if you compare them to Freckles.

They all seem to be coming through the moult at the moment and Freckles is continuing to lay regularly. It is good to have one regular egg layer. Freckles is six months older than the three amigos so I don’t know if that makes a difference or if it just down to different girls varying.

Yesterday afternoon when I checked on the girls the three amigos were hanging out together in the small shelter. Freckles was enjoying a dust bath and the two bigger girls were having some spinach.

Freckles in a dust bath

The three amigos in the small shelter

They seem to like hanging out in here

Freckles is still lounging in her dust bath

Meanwhile Emerald and Speckles have some spinach

It’s just another hard day in the chicken run!

Eggs are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. The little girls are still moulting and as well as fluffy little feathers I am picking up very ragged wing and tail feathers.

Apricot hasn’t laid for two and a half months now. Dandelion laid three eggs last month and none since. Cinnamon laid two at the end of last month and two this month so far. Freckles continues to lay every other day with gaps of  four days now and again.

After Dandelion laid another thin shelled egg I gave the girls mash with ground egg shell. Dandelion hasn’t laid since then. Freckles is always at the grit every afternoon before bedtime and that combined with the egg shell I gave them has lead to her egg shells having little calcium bubbles on them. Her egg shells are harder than the shop bought egg shells. I have never seen Dandelion go to the grit and wonder if that’s why her shells are thin. She does pick up grit from the ground though.

Freckles and Cinnamon’s eggs

From the right, the first two eggs are Cinnamon’s oval shaped eggs. The next round one is Freckles. The next is Cinnamon’s and the two on the left are Freckles. I went from right to left as that’s the oldest to the latest eggs. It’s Freckles latest egg that has the calcium bubbles on it’s shell.

Freckles egg on the left with calcium bubbles on the shell and Cinnamon’s on the right

A medium, shop bought, egg on the left, Freckles egg in the middle and Cinnamon’s on the right

Freckles egg on the left, cinnamon’s in the middle and a medium, shop bought, egg on the right

I thought this would help give a size comparison. Cinnamon’s eggs are the biggest of the little girl’s eggs despite her being the tiniest girl. Freckles eggs are the only ones that are completely round. Rusty’s used to be the same. Dandelion’s are oval like cinnamon’s and Apricot are more strawberry shaped and also strawberry sized and the smallest of all our eggs.

I must admit that Apricot’s eggs are not so much missed due to their tiny size. We eat the little eggs two at a time but eat Apricot’s eggs three at a time.

They are all special though and I love being able to tell them apart. At the moment we are only getting enough for Sunday breakfast and I am buying six, shop eggs, a week. I will look forward to an increase in the eggs when the moulting slows back down again.