Carol's Chickens

Having researched seramas before I got them there are mixed messages about keeping them warm in winter. Some people say they keep them inside (chicken shed or barn not in your house, of course) over winter, or at least during cold spells and some people say they are fine to be kept outside if that’s what they have been used to.

They originate from Malaysia and have only been bred in this country for about ten years so some people say they need a little help in winter. My research says that you will know if they need a bit of help because they will be huddled and miserable looking if they are cold and you will then need to give them some protection.

I had the idea that if we could rig up some sort of screen we could keep them contained to the patio area during cold weather. I could hook the chicken shed door open and put a washing up bowl of dry soil in for dust bathing, not that I have seen them dust bathing very often.

A catalogue dropped through our door, one of those that is full of things that you don’t really need, but they try to persuade you that you do! I saw an inexpensive, mobile, door or gate divider. It concertinaed closed for easy storage and pulled out to fit the gap you needed to block.

I thought this might do the job. We could keep it in the shed and pull it out when needed and simply open it across the patio area keeping the little girls contained where it is sheltered on all sides and has a solid roof, is free from drafts and they would stay warm. Perfect.

You are probably sensing a catch here. When these things finally arrive (after more than three weeks in this case) they never turn out to look like they did in the catalogue. I could soon see that this divider was not going contain my little girls. There was a gap underneath (I thought from the picture it went to the ground) that they could simply stroll under, the diamond shaped holes, when stretched out, were big enough for my little girls to get through, that is if they didn’t already take the easy option of walking underneath and lastly it wasn’t high enough to stop them flying over as a last, unnecessary resort.

I thought it would be fun to try it out and demonstrate this.

The divider

You can probably already see that this isn’t going to work.

Not only Freckles and Rusty went under it but Peaches and Speckles squeezed under it too

Rusty can simply walk underneath it

This isn’t going to stop Rusty

Okay, got to admit, this idea is rubbish. I did think we could clad it with chicken net, going to ground level, but my husband said it wouldn’t fold up then. I did wonder if we could fix something to the wooden outside posts to extend some chicken net higher up. I thought we could modify it but now I am not so sure.

Yesterday it rained all day and the three little girls spent a lot of time on the patio and were often sat together on the little coop roof. Maybe they can be trusted to seek shelter when it’s cold and don’t have to be contained after all.

I think we will play it by ear and see what happens. Perhaps they know best after all and will just do what is best for them. If we see them looking miserable we will come up with a plan but maybe they will just do what is right for them without our help.

They have sussed going to bed without my help and It turned out I was just distracting them. Today we got home from a day out, after dark, and the three little girls were on their perch. They might just have more sense than we are crediting them with. I think we will just and wait and see how it goes.

I decided to take some close up photos of the little girls to show their combs. Pebbles is over a year old and fully mature but hasn’t laid any eggs since we have had her. She seems to have been moulting quite a bit since she has been with us and has a head full of white quills that seem to have been taking ages to open.

Rusty and Freckles are now about five months old but silky feathered girls mature slower and whereas freckles has quite a mature comb Rusty’s comb is still tiny. The funny thing about Rusty’s comb is that it is the same ginger colour as her feathers instead of red like Pebbles and Freckles.

This makes it quite hard to see it but I think it’s quite cute. I wonder if it will stay this orange colour or if it will change to red as she matures. I like to think it might stay this cute orange colour.

This morning was a little bit frosty and the three little girls were gathered together on the wooden table giving me the ideal opportunity to photograph them. The bigger girls were all on the wooden perches. All the girls prefer to perch on wood when it’s cold as it is warmer than either the ground or the metal table which is popular on warmer days.

Three little girls on the wooden table

Cute little Rusty

Rusty is so curious about everything including my camera and has no fear or shyness at all. I thought this was cute and comical.

Freckles has a red comb

Pebbles has a red comb

What look like white feathers on pebbles head are white spiky quills which haven’t yet opened.

Rusty’s close up

Rusty is a beautiful little girl.

Rusty has a little ginger comb

Her little ginger comb barely shows up but it is just there.

They make a cute little trio

I find it hard to imagine these little girls laying eggs but I guess they will eventually.

As Rusty has started to mature she has had some spats with Freckles. She has chased her in the mornings when I am cleaning the shed and the first morning this happened I was quite shocked. They are so inseparable and yet Rusty was chasing Freckles and they were raising their ruffs at each other. At one point Rusty chased Freckles and forced her to run through the water dish. They were really going at each other.

I picked Rusty up and held her for a moment but as soon as I put her down they went at it again. I picked Freckles up for a moment and again they continued when I put her down. The next moment they were side by side at the water dish drinking together as if nothing had happened.

It seems that as they mature they must establish their pecking order even when they are a tight pair. I remember being surprised to see Amber and Honey do this and also to see Peaches and Barley do it too.

I think it surprised me even more with these two as Rusty often behaves as if she is Freckles chick. It was obvious that Rusty is top of these two and she was doing all the chasing, yet she she will still flutter under Freckles when they perch together and still touches her beak against Freckles beak like a chick at times.

This happened for three or four mornings then I haven’t seen it since. It is quite clear that Rusty is top of these two. Rusty is the more immature yet she is a feisty little girl. When Freckles and Rusty get chased from the treats by the bigger girls Freckles will retreat but Rusty will bounce around them and go back to where she was.  Rusty is quite a character and is friendly, fearless and constantly chattering away.

The chatter, or more aptly twittering, is also a sign that they haven’t reached maturity yet. Pebbles doesn’t make a sound unless she squeaks if she is chased by one of the bigger girls but Freckles and Rusty and more so Rusty twitter away all the time. I will miss this if they mature into quiet girls like Pebbles.

I am loving watching these little girls develop. There is so much that is so cute about seramas and I can’t wait to see what their little eggs are like but I just love the sweetness of them right now while they are still so chick like. I am in no hurry to have to have them grow up as they are so entertaining just as they are.

Every now and then we get witchetty grubs in a plant pot and they eat through the roots of the plant causing the plant to die. They are white, maggot like, grubs that turn into moths and they will eat through wood or plant roots.

The plant in my chicken bucket was looking a bit sick. It looked as though a frost had got to it although it was supposed to be hardy. I decided to cut it back and when I touched it, it came away in my hand. It was just sat on the surface of the compost with no root at all. I delved into the compost with the trowel and sure enough there were the witchetty grubs.

We have lost a few pot plants this way. Usually I bin the compost because of the grubs but my husband suggested that I put it in the chicken run and let the girls have the grubs. He said it would serve the grubs right for eating our plant!

I put the compost in the run and the bigger girls soon ate all the grubs. The little girls had no chance.

The girls investigate the new compost

They soon pick off the grubs

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of doing this in the the past. In future I will just give them to the girls. In Australia some people eat them, yuk! (I think they have much larger types). This means they are good enough for the girls.

Peaches was the last girl to moult and the last one to get her feathers back to normal. Her new breast feathers are almost fully grown but she has one patch of grey downy under feathers still peeping through.

She reminds me of a toy teddy bear with it’s stuffing trying to spill out of a hole in it’s tummy. Her tail is also almost back to it’s full length but she is sporting a three quarter length tail at the moment.

Peaches reminds me of a teddy bear spilling out it’s stuffing

She has a three quarter length tail at the moment

She is nearly back to perfect once more, it won’t be long now.

At the moment we are really busy and it was just gone half past four when I found an appropriate moment in our work to slip up and check on the girls.

To my amazement the automatic door had already closed but the girls were all in. We are still trying to tweak the timing on the door since it has started working again and it closed earlier than I would like because it doesn’t allow much time for all of the girls to get in. Despite this Pebbles made it in, in time, and was on the perch next to Rusty and Freckles. I felt so proud of them.

The three little girls went in on their own

The five bigger girls were all on the back perch

I can’t believe we have cracked it at last. I think perhaps a few nights of me staying away at bedtime has helped them to go in on their own rather than rely on me to help them. I am so pleased with them tonight.

I didn’t get to call the vet today but I sucked the baytril into the syringe to see how much was left in the bottle and there is easily enough to give Pebbles a dose each day for a week so I won’t be needing any more for the moment. Pebbles seems to be completely back to normal which is good news. Let’s just hope it stays that way, I can do without any more drama.

After arriving home last night to find two out of three of the little girls had made it to their bedtime perch I felt that I should hold back from checking on the little girls and wait to see what they would do without my help tonight. They have been going in at about quarter to six but with the clock change this would now be about quarter to five.

I went out at quarter to five and was surprised to find that the automatic door had closed already. It hasn’t been working for the last few days. Like last night Rusty and Freckles were on their perch but Pebbles was on top of the little coop in the same position as the night before. I listened to her breathing and all was normal, thank goodness.

Pebbles is settled on top of the little coop

Rusty and Freckles have gone in on their own again

I think with the recent problems with the automatic door closer, it may have closed sooner than usual today and caught Pebbles out. Having said that she was on top of the little coop last night when I had propped the door open but it could have been down to her not being well.

I will watch over the girls tomorrow and see if I can persuade Pebbles to go in. She used to go in without a problem but this seems to have changed since we have had the two newer girls.

I opened the main door and settled Pebbles on the perch with Rusty and Freckles.

I put Pebbles on the perch

I waited a few moments then checked on them.

A few moments later they are snuggled up together

My husband had come up to see what was happening and suggested I shone a light on the door and it opened. It then closed again. I shone a light on it again and it opened again and then closed again. Earlier on today the light had caused no response from it.  Could it be that is working again? We won’t know for sure until the morning when we will see if opens.

My husband thinks that it may have got some moisture in it (with the battery leak) and may have now dried out. We are hopeful that it may now be working again. This would be great news but we will have a better idea when I see if it opens at first light in the morning. We are feeling hopeful.

I am also feeling much more positive about Pebbles. With a bit of luck she is back to normal and all is well again.

Last night I was bit panicked about Pebbles. She was whistling as she was breathing. I put my post about her out this morning. You can see it here.

This morning when I checked on her she was no longer whistling as she was breathing. I put some food and water in the cat box and she tucked in. She was alert, had pooped and had some food and water. She seemed back to normal. If she hadn’t been wheezing yesterday I wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with her. Her face is a good red colour, not pale, which can be a sign of something wrong.

It would seem cruel to keep her in the cat box. I felt that I should follow my instincts and return her to the chicken run.

Pebbles back in the run this morning

I gave Pebbles the antibiotic at lunch time today. I intend to do this every lunchtime for a week. I will ring the vet tomorrow and ask their advice. I will also ask if I can buy some more baytril as I don’t think there is enough to last the week.

I wonder if her improvement is due to me giving her some antibiotic straight away, although the improvement seems very quick. It is weird because the wheezing while she was breathing yesterday, and even more so last night, was very loud and noticeable. She was also bobbing her head while dozing which indicated a problem with breathing.

Yet today she seems back to normal. I hope that catching it early has nipped it in the bud. I will be keeping a very close eye on her.

I am sad to say that I have good news and some very bad news. I thought I was pretty clued up about chicken health but one of the observations from Terry from her former blog “Hencam” was that you need to really know your girls to know, very quickly, when there is a problem.

With Caramel, we had only just got her and didn’t know her. We noticed that she wobbled her head occasionally and that her head bobbed up and down when she dozed (we now know that was because she was having trouble breathing). When she had a swollen eye we thought perhaps she had taken a peck to it. I rang the breeder and she said that she had been fine with her and we thought as she had had her for a year maybe this was just how she was, apart from the swollen eye that is.

After losing Caramel I thought that I would never make that mistake again. I would know these were signs that there was something wrong. Pebbles had had hiccups, after feeding, from the moment we got her. I also thought this was odd but perhaps just something peculiar to her and something that she could live with okay. After losing Caramel I was paranoid every time Pebbles hiccuped. Was it hiccuping or sneezing, they sound similar.

As time went by I began to relax. The time that a respiratory disease is contagious is six to twelve days according to my research. I began to think we had had a lucky escape. It has been five weeks since we lost Caramel.

This afternoon I heard Pebbles sneeze. Not too alarming on it’s own but then I noticed that she was perched up and dozing and her head was bobbing gently up and down. Alarm bells started ringing. I poop picked the run and when under the ladder where she was dozing I could hear her breathing. She was wheezing as she was breathing. Now I was really alarmed.

I had kept the meds from Caramel in case any of the other girls went down with what she had and decided to take action straight away. I gave Pebbles a dose of the antibiotic, bayrtil.

I was worried about having to be out until late but the afternoon tea had been booked months ago and there was nothing we could do about that.

I worried all the way home about where the girls would be. We made it home by half past six but it was dark.

The good news is that Rusty and Freckles were on their perch. The bad news is that Pebbles was on top of one of the little coop nest boxes and I could hear her whistling as she was breathing.

Clever girls, I am so proud of them

Poorly Pebbles

I am really worried about Pebbles. I put some pine shavings in the cat box, put Pebbles in it and bought her indoors. I gave her another dose of baytril and also the pain killer that I had for Caramel and then gave her some water to her beak. I settled her in the bathroom in the cat box.

I am going to keep her in the bathroom for now. In the morning I will put in water and a selection of food stuff. I will call the vet on Monday when they open and ask their advice. They told me to call if any of the other girls developed symptoms.

I don’t want to risk putting her back in with the rest of the flock now that I know that it is a respiratory problem. I am really worried about Pebbles and about the rest of the flock. I hope that catching it straight away gives her a chance of getting better but I am concerned that this has happened five weeks later, when I thought all was safe.

It seems that every time we think things are going well there is something else to deal with. We will have to take it one day at a time but I am worried right now. I can only hope that acting quickly may give her the best possible chance of coming through this.

On a side note, in case it may help anyone else, our automatic door closer stopped working a few days ago. After nearly five years the batteries had run out, which is amazing. The problem is that as the batteries were so old they had leaked some acid. We cleaned it up and put in new batteries but it hasn’t worked since.

In hind sight we should have checked and replaced the batteries much sooner and it’s looking like we may have to buy a new one. This is a pain as they are expensive and it is another lesson learned. I thought I would mention it in case it could help someone else to be aware to check the batteries.

At least it has happened in winter when it is easy for me to go out at first light and open up. I will give a daily update on Pebbles and am keeping everything crossed.

We are still struggling with bedtime. The problem lays with the bigger girls not the little girls. The little girls know where they are supposed to go at bedtime and they want to go in the shed and get onto their little perch.

The problem is that the big girls do so much jumping up and down from the perches that they intimidate the little girls. When the bigger girls finally seem to be settled, the little girls attempt to go in, but once they are in the shed Speckles jumps down again and scares them back out.

I have watched them night after night and it’s clear that Speckles is still bottom of the bigger girls and although they all perch happily together during the day at bedtime the pecking order is firmly invoked. None of the bigger girls will tolerate Speckles next to them. Most of the time she ends up on the corner perch by herself.

During the day I have often observed what I call “paying it down”. If Toffee has a go at Emerald she will turn round and have a go at Peaches or Barley. They will then have a go at Speckles. Speckles in turn will have a go at the little girls.

This seems to be happening at bedtime with all the girls pecking Speckles away from them, it can appear quite brutal. She then, in turn, jumps back down from the perch and chases the little girls out when they try to get to their perch.

I end up watching over them until they can go in safely and sometimes I help things along by moving Speckles back to the perch or even by placing the little girls on their perch. It’s not a problem when I am around to do this but I need this to progress for the times when I am not here.

Today for example we have an afternoon tea to cater for and it’s an hours drive from us. This is outside our usual delivery area but being a Saturday we don’t have corporate lunches to deliver so we have agreed that they will contribute towards the cost of the diesel and we will deliver it and set it up for three o’clock and return to clear by six o’clock. This means that it will be about seven o’clock before we get back and the girls are in bed by between half past five and quarter to six at the moment.

This will be the night that we see what happens when I am not here. I am going to prop the pop hole door open so that the little girls can’t get shut out. I have no idea if they will be able to make it to their perch before it gets too dark, without my help. If not I hope that they will at least go in and settle on the floor of the shed.

If they are on the shed floor I will lift them to the perch when we get back and if they are outside the shed I will put them in. I really hope they don’t end up outside the shed. I don’t like not being here but it can’t be helped and maybe it will move things on. At least I will be back to put them in about an hour after their usual bedtime.

Below are some photos of last night’s bedtime line up which is typical and is the order they have ended up in for the last few nights.

The little girls on their perch, goodness knows what Pebbles is looking at!

Speckles on the corner perch on her own

Peaches and Barley together

Toffee and Emerald keeping their distance

This is really typical. Peaches and Barley, and, Rusty and Freckles, are the only girls that actively want to be together. They are the only bonded duos that really want to be together and are distressed if they can’t be together.

Pebbles tolerates Rusty and Freckles but will peck them if they get too close when they first perch up. As it gets a bit darker she accepts them.

Peaches and Barley have always wanted to perch together but the other three don’t want to be close to each other or to Peaches and Barley. I think perhaps if you have a flock all at the same time this may not happen but if you add girls as time goes on the divisions seem to be set. Having said that Emerald and Toffee joined the flock together and they don’t choose to sit close to each other either.

It may not be the same in all flocks but in our flocks this is how it is and the bigger girls go through this every night but end up all settled in plenty of time before the door closes. The question is ….. will the little girls be able to settle without my help. Tonight we will see but that will be tomorrow’s post.

My husband thought it would be fun if I took a photo of Rusty with my rusty chicken. My rusty chicken is on the banner at the top of my blog and is the same size as Rusty. In the photo on my banner it is also the same colour. It would have been amusing to see two such similar rusty chickens together.

But over the years my rusty chicken has turned green. They are not now the same colour but are the same size. My rusty chicken was my first chicken and I never thought back then that I would have real chickens of that size. Take a spin up to the banner above to compare with the photo below.

Two rusty chickens

Not as good a photo as it would have been if my rusty chicken was still it’s original colour but I thought it would still be fun to include it.