Carol's Chickens

This is going to go one day at a time now. This morning when I went out to the girls first thing I felt sure this was Toffee’s last day.

She hadn’t come out of the shed but came out when I gave the morning sunflower hearts. She looked at them but didn’t have any.

She sat on the patio between the little coop nest boxes and the store cabinet. I have never ever seen her sit on the patio before. I thought I would move her to the shed where she would be more comfortable as it was a cold morning.

Toffee sits on the patio

When I went to move her she made her own way to the shed. She wobbled as she went up the step to the pop hole. She looked at the perch as if she wanted to get up there but didn’t have the strength.

I move her into the chicken shed

Some of the girls keep her company

I expected to be taking her to the vets in the afternoon but when I checked back on her she was perched in the sun at the end of the run with her flock mates.

Toffee perches in the sun with her flock mates

I was amazed that she had managed to get to here. I felt that this meant she hadn’t given up yet. I couldn’t deprive her of some last moments in the sun with her flock.

At lunch time she was perched in the shed again but she had managed to get up to the perch. I gave the girls some ripe pear and Toffee came out and had a peck at the pear. She had a flick around in the pellets but I am not sure she actually ate any. She had a quick drink of water and then settled back on her usual spot on the perch in the corner of the shed.

She stayed there until the rest of the girls went in. I know she is near the end of her days now and I mustn’t leave her too long but I don’t want to rush into it if she still wants to sit with the flock.

I was so sure this morning that she was done but when I saw her perched with her flock I didn’t have the heart to end it yet. I will see what happens tomorrow and take this a day at a time. I feel that I just have to follow my instinct for when the time is right.

Sadly Toffee is deteriorating quickly. We think she is coming to the end of her days. I researched yellow poop and it says that it can indicate a kidney problem.

I was happy to leave her as long as she was eating. Today she has spent most of her day in the chicken shed. When I gave the morning sunflower hearts she came out and picked at a few but with no enthusiasm.

At bedtime tonight she wouldn’t join in with the corn. She looked at it and returned to the shed. I put a dish of sunflower hearts in front of her in the shed and she hovered over it as if about to take one but it was if she couldn’t bring herself to. After a minute she returned to her corner of the perch.

She is pooping a lot of water or yellow poop. Emerald has been sitting in the shed with her at times yesterday and again today. These two came in together and it’s as if Emerald knows there is something wrong and wants to keep her company.

Emerald keeps Toffee company

Toffee and Emerald

I feel so sad at the thought of her going. As long as she was eating I was going to leave her but if she is going to spend all her time in the shed and she won’t eat then I know we will soon have the dreaded decision to make.

I know from past experience that when a girl won’t eat she has given up and it would be cruel to let her starve herself to death. We feel we must make the decision over the next few days.

Toffee is top girl and has such a lovely nature. She has never bullied the other girls and has always been a shy and cautious girl. She always had the habit of being vocal when the treats ran out. Every day she would make her mournful sound when the seeds or corn ran out which makes it even more sad to see her refusing them now.

I have a lump in my throat right now so I am going to end here but I knew I had to write this post tonight.

I have got the regime down to a fine art now. Pebbles has her sticky baytril on some seeds in the the cat box twice a day. I am keeping the cat box on top of one of the little coops.

Pebbles has her medicine

She tucks into seeds with baytril

The three little girls perch together on the high perch

Catching a bit of sun

At lunch time the little girls have some seeds coated in a little olive oil then topped with flubinvet worming powder. I gave the bigger girls a dish of mash on the patio and put the little girls and their dish on top of the little coop and guarded them to stop the bigger girls getting up.

Worming the three little girls

The little girls have seeds with flubenvet

Yesterday I gave them the flubenvet on chopped grapes but Pebbles wouldn’t touch the grapes. I then gave her some on chopped melon and she ate that. I hadn’t realised she didn’t like grapes. All the other girls love grapes. Today I thought I would go with the easier option of sunflower hearts. I worry they are getting too many sunflower hearts at the moment but I figure that’s the lesser of two evils.

Freckles on a different high perch with no ladder

This was the first time I had seen freckles on this perch. She is a really good flyer so is probably the only one of the three little girls that can reach a perch this high with no ladder.

Toffee in her usual corner in the afternoon

Toffee now has her own routine of spending her afternoons here. She has the morning treats and has had some pellets and mash. She perches with the rest of the bigger girls in the mornings. After the lunch time offering of apple or pear she settles in the chicken shed and always sits in the same corner .

Her poop has been quite yellow which is a bit of a worry. I think she is suffering from age but the colour of her poop is the most alarming thing to me. I think this indicates that there is something going wrong inside of her.

She is eating and doing all the normal chicken things until lunch time when she goes to perch in the shed. She comes back out for the bedtime corn before returning to the shed. As long as she doesn’t appear to be suffering and she continues to eat I am inclined to just leave her be. I know that there is nothing a vet could do for her and I feel that I will know when she needs help.

Pebbles is still wheezing slightly but I think it is getting better. I think we just need to keep going with everything and wait for improvement. I have done some research and it said that the sooner you catch it the better the outcome and that sometimes it is a case of antibiotic roulette and you need to try a few different ones until you find the one that works.

The encouraging thing is that Pebbles is getting better rather than worse so I am hopeful. She seems fine other than the wheezing and she is eating well. It seems that these things progress slowly and we must just keep on medicating and keep our fingers crossed.

We have to give Pebbles her antibiotic twice a day. Rather than stress her by trying to put it into her beak we decided to put it on some sunflower seeds in a little dish. It is sticky so will stick to the seeds.

I decided to put Pebbles in the cat box in the morning and evening with her own dish of seeds laced with her medicine at the same time as the other girls have their seeds/corn.

The vet called this afternoon to let me know what the specialist thought after seeing the video and hearing the recording of Pebbles. Her opinion is that it is probably viral and she thinks it’s a form of bronchitis. She suggested we carry on with the antibiotic but that I call her straight away if Pebbles worsens.

My greatest fear is the other girls catching it but she thinks that as it’s been several weeks since Pebbles first started to wheeze it seems they may not catch it. She said the youngest two are most at risk as the older birds will have built up some immunity but that there is no point in separating Pebbles as the other girls have already been in contact with her. If any other girl shows any symptoms I am to call her straight away.

The vet said if Pebbles doesn’t respond to the antibiotic after a few weeks we could try a different one and she could also take a swab from inside her beak to check for anything bacterial. She also suggested that I worm the three little girls as I had just done the bigger girls before I got them. I had intended worming them next time round which will be March but the vet said it would be best to do it now as any worms could make them more vulnerable to virus and any virus could make them more susceptible to worms.

Tomorrow lunch time I will add some flubenvet to chopped grapes and give it to the three little girls on top of the little coop while guarding them against the other girls.

While we were talking I said that Pebbles eye seemed fine today so it may just have been coincidence and perhaps she had rubbed or scratched it. Other than the wheezing she seems fine and is eating well and drinking and pooping.

I am so glad that I have found such a good vet and I am really impressed with her.

Toffee is not her usual self either but I think this is just down to old age. She is spending periods of time in the chicken shed especially in the afternoons. She also has a slightly mucky bottom and is producing very wet poops (which is why the mucky bottom). She is eating and she came out for a mixture of corn and seeds this evening. She looks fine and still complained, which she always does, when the treats ran out which is a good sign. She also had a peck at some pear that was on the patio.

I think that as long as she doesn’t appear to be suffering in any way and is still eating, I will just leave her be and keep a close eye on her.

In other news, Pebbles has got the hang of going to bed without help ever since we added the extra perch so at least that is one problem solved.

I felt this post was a bit dull without any photos so this one was a few days ago when I gave the girls a dish of mash. The little girls wait until the bigger girls have had their fill and then they have the mash to themselves.

Three little girls have the dish of mash to themselves

The little girls love me to hand feed them spinach but they all move so fast that most of the photos came out blurred. I did just get one close up of Rusty.

Hand feeding Rusty some spinach

I will continue with the new regime, keep updating and keep everything crossed.

This morning I took some photos of the three little girls perching together on the high perch.

The three little girls like to perch high up

A close up on a high perch

It has now been two months since we lost Caramel. It has been one month since I gave Pebbles the baytril antibiotic for a week after I noticed that she was wheezing.

Her wheezing got better and after some research I found that some people had this with their girl and thought that they had something stuck rather than a respiratory problem.

Pebbles always used to get hiccups after food from the day she came to us but after this bout of wheezing she has never hiccuped again. I started to think there might be a connection. Recently the wheezing started again and I wondered if she had something stuck somewhere and it had moved a bit.

She has been lively, eating well and showing no other symptoms, so I thought that I would just keep an eye on her.

I got home at lunch time today and my husband said that he had noticed that sometimes Pebbles had one eye closed. This alarmed us both because of Caramel having a swollen and closed eye before she got really very ill.

I kept checking on Pebbles and sometimes she would be sitting with one eye shut and then they would both be open again. She was still wheezing and later in the afternoon she was occasionally rubbing at her eye.

We decided it would be best if I took her to the vet. After what happened with Caramel I am a bit paranoid about leaving it too late to catch a potential problem. I managed to get an appointment at the end of the afternoon.

The vet said that it was possible that Pebbles started to get better after a week of antibiotic but that it wasn’t long enough and therefore she had relapsed again. She said it can take two or three weeks with anything respiratory to clear completely. She said the wheeze appears when Pebbles breaths out but she couldn’t see a blockage. She took her temperature and said it was the high side of normal but still within the normal zone.

She said it seemed unlikely to be connected to Caramel’s illness because of the time lapsed and because Caramel didn’t have any wheezing but that the eye connection seemed odd. She recorded Pebble’s breathing and said she would talk to a specialist as she was at a loss with the symptoms of a respiratory problem and a possible eye problem.

She gave me more baytril and said to give it twice a day for three weeks and she would call me to let me know what the specialist thought. She said to call her if any of the other girls showed any symptoms.

I asked about treating the whole flock but she said that she preferred to treat only the girl with the symptoms unless there were symptoms appearing with more of the flock.

We gave Pebbles her first dose of the baytril before I returned her to the bedtime perch. It’s a shame I didn’t know before that the baytril needed to be given for a longer period of time as I could have continued after a week last time.

I just hope that we have caught it early enough to treat this time. Pebbles has been eating well and behaving normally in all other ways. I do find it odd that two girls from the same breeder have gone down with a similar problem and my biggest fear is it spreading throughout the flock. I can’t even bare to think about that.

I am keeping everything crossed and will be watching the whole flock very closely.

For the last few days the weather has been horrendous. It has rained all day and all night and although the entire run is roofed the rain blows in through the sides and most of the run ends up wet.

It has been cold and wet and miserable. Toffee has taken to perching in the chicken shed in the afternoons. I have never known this before and was a bit worried about her. She seems absolutely fine and I wonder if she is just feeling her age.

Although we have only had both Toffee and Emerald for three years we didn’t really know their age when we got them. The farmer used game birds as his broodies for his wyndottes but was happy to let us have a couple as he had plenty of new game chicks.

Toffee always looked like an older bird and we felt she had a bit of a grandmother air about her. She may have already been several years old when we got her.

Toffee has been spending her afternoons here

Are you looking at me!

Just chilling

I think perhaps as the outside perches have been wet she likes to perch here late afternoons as it is warm and dry. I have never known the girls to go indoors during the day before apart from to have a brief scratch in the shavings.

I will be keeping a close eye on Toffee but she seems fine in herself and only does this late afternoon, before bedtime. Maybe she feels she has had enough by then and needs to retire early. Maybe this means if the little girls were cold in winter they may do the same thing.

If it was really cold I would pin the shed door open and then if any girls wanted to go in and shelter it would be lighter than with the door shut.

At the moment though I will leave it closed because if Toffee is happy to settle in here a bit early then I think that it is okay to let her decide and leave her to do what feels comfortable for her. As always I will be keeping a close eye on her.

I love to see the girls perching together. The bigger girls perch together and the little girls perch together. The two groups never mix on the same perch but they do perch near each other.

The three little girls perch together on the lower perch by the ladder

The five bigger girls perch together on the higher perch by the ladder above the little girls

This is another favourite perch of the little girls

Closeup

They do look cute perched together.

We have been having an ongoing problem getting Pebbles to go in to bed on her own for a while now. I have tried putting her in early and she just comes out again. I have tried leaving her and she stays outside until after the door closes. I have resorted to putting her through the pop hole and blocking it until she perches up.

This was not satisfactory and I needed a rethink. There has to be a reason she isn’t going in on her own.

I decided to try adding another perch lower than the existing one to form a sort of ladder. The little girls move up the outside ladders easily. There seems to be a two fold problem with the bedtime perches. Freckles can’t easily judge the perch and always flies too high then drops back down on to the perch. I worry that she could hurt herself.

Pebbles has to have her position next to the door and if there isn’t a big enough space there she can’t judge the jump up.

The little girls’ perches

A new perch added

I put Pebbles on these perches several times to show her. Once she had jumped down a curious Emerald decided to check it out.

Emerald tries out the new perch

I decided to stay with the girls at bedtime so that I could see what happened and take photos. The bigger girls always go in first. I think the little girls wait until the big girls are settled to make it easier for themselves which is understandable.

As usual Rusty went in first and was soon followed by Freckles. To my surprise Pebbles followed them a few minutes later without any help from me.

Rusty was first up to the new perch

Freckles hopped up easily

Rusty and Freckles do a bit of beak to beak contact

Freckles moves up to the top perch and Pebbles hops on to the bottom perch

Rusty gets ready to join Freckles

Rusty hops up to the top perch

Pebbles gets ready to hop up

They settle in their usual positions

I was really pleased with this. I feel that all three girls were able to get up much easier. I think it’s much better for Freckles and I think it’s easier for Pebbles to get into the position she wants. Pebbles was also able to linger on the lower perch while Rusty and Freckles sorted themselves out then she made her move.

I think perhaps she wasn’t going in because it wasn’t easy enough for her to take the position she likes. I am hopeful that now it is easy for all three of them to get to the perch the bedtime problem will be solved at last.

Even if she doesn’t go straight in tomorrow night I think it won’t take long for her to get used to it but I am hopeful that having gone in on her own tonight she should do it again tomorrow.

I am much happier with this perch arrangement as it is now really easy for all three little girls to get to the bedtime perches. Sometimes I have to just keep watching the girls and mull over a problem for a while before fine tuning to get it just right. I am quite confident that this is now going to work.

I took the water bottles away three days ago and I have been worrying about whether Freckles and Rusty have been drinking from the water dish.

I have given them mash and melon and grapes as well as spinach so that they have had some moisture from their food.

Every time I went in to the run I didn’t see them take a drink of water. On the other hand I didn’t see several of the other girls take a drink of water either. I saw Peaches and Speckles drink yesterday and yesterday morning, first thing, I saw Pebbles drink but that was all. Just because I don’t see them drink doesn’t mean they aren’t drinking and they look happy and healthy but I just wanted that reassurance of actually seeing them drink.

Mid morning, yesterday, I went in and I was so pleased to see Freckles, Rusty and Peaches at the water dish.

Freckles and Peaches have a drink of water

Rusty and Peaches have a drink

Rusty and Freckles have just had some water

Rusty has some water

I am now happy and satisfied that Rusty and Freckles are drinking without the water bottles.

This morning I sprinkled some of their sunflower hearts near the metal water container.

Rusty and Freckles by the other water

Three little girls by the water

Rusty takes a seed from the water

A sunflower seed had dropped into the water and Rusty picked it out. This has satisfied me that they know there is another water. It would seem that they just prefer the china water dish. I would have thought this water would be easier for the little girls to reach but they seem to prefer the other one.

It doesn’t matter which water they prefer as long as they are drinking. I am happy with that.

The little girls have become much braver about getting their share of treats. With most of the treats that I leave on the patio such as spinach, mash, fish or apples, the little girls wait until the bigger girls have had some and moved away, then the little girls have the treat to themselves.

Today I put four little dishes of yogurt on the patio and the little girls were quite bold about helping themselves to their share.

Four dishes of yogurt

Pebbles was the first of the little girls to have some yogurt. Emerald is at the fourth dish which she is hiding. Peaches is more interested in the water at the moment and Toffee hasn’t bothered to come to the patio at all.

Rusty decides to join in

Rusty is very brave to have yogurt next to Speckles. They both have yogurt beaks.

Bold little girls

I thought Pebbles and Rusty were quite brave to hold their position between Peaches and Barley.

Barley has her share

Although Barley is at the dish the little girls move back a little but they don’t run away. Barley and Rusty both have yogurt beaks in this photo.

Eventually the little girls move on to another dish

I am quite impressed with how bold these little girls are. They hold their position quite well against the bigger girls. They no longer run from them but just casually move on to the next dish.

The little girls are perfectly capable of getting their share of the treats. They are quite used to moving away a little and bouncing back to an easier position. They are not intimidated for long.