Carol's Chickens

Morning

Dot and Storm have been laying their egg on the same day recently. Sometimes I lift Storm to see if she has laid and find that she is sitting on both Dot’s egg and her own.

This morning I checked on them and found them in the current favourite nest box together. They looked so cute that I had to grab my camera.

Both girls later got their egg laid.

I have been a bit worried about Diamond because she hasn’t started laying yet but I am now thinking that she may be getting ready to lay. Diamond spent all morning hanging around the nest boxes. It seemed as if she didn’t know where to go if she wanted to lay. She did look in one of the nest boxes and she did look in the chicken shed.

By lunch time Diamond seemed to have given up but I think this is a hopeful sign that she may be getting ready to start laying. I would love Diamond to lay an egg just to prove that she is healthy. She has had a clean bottom since I washed it so am feeling encouraged that she may be okay.

Afternoon

Over the last week I have been thinking about adding a new girl. The flock of six feels small and we only have three girls laying so eggs are not as abundant as they could be.

It suddenly came to me that it would be great to add another Flame. Toffee and Flame both had lovely natures and were good egg layers, non broody and long lived. I rang the breeder a few days ago and asked if he had any of the brown and gold game birds to sell. I was disappointed to hear that he had given up breeding the game birds.

I then remembered that last year I really fancied a black star. In the end I found pipenchick and got Gold, Storm and Snowflake. My friend Jackie, many years ago, had a black star and I loved her and remembered her being quite small. Although not a bantam they are quite a small breed and when I researched weights, a bantam light sussex, Diamond, weighs seven pounds and black star hens weigh five pounds so I thought that now we have one bigger girl another bigger girl would fit in quite well.

Black stars are docile, quiet, hardy, usually non broody and good layers of a good sized brown egg. Their eggs range between chocolate brown and pale brown in colour but I don’t care about egg colour as any eggs are good for me.

I researched breeders close to us and found one half an hour’s drive away. I rang the breeder and it turned out that he had just one black star left. She is four and a half months old. I asked if we could collect her straight away and he agreed.

I had run out of black/gold names so I decided to name her Star. I put her on the chickens’ patio area and she went straight to the food and water.

I was really pleased that she found the food and water straight away and that the other girls didn’t take much notice of her. She later went in the chicken shed and had a good mooch round and then went in a nest box. I was happy that she had found all the most important things. I wasn’t bothered about her finding the run as she will in time and that’s not so important.

Star didn’t seem bothered by me or the camera which is great.

Star has feathers down the side of her legs stopping at her feet. I was sure that when I researched black stars they should have clean legs. I googled it and it says they don’t have feathered legs. I’m not sure if they will go as she matures or if she has a bit of something else mixed in her breed to give feathered legs. Either way it is what it is and she doesn’t have feathered feet so I am happy with that. I don’t like feathered feet because they get muddy when it’s wet.

A bit later I checked in again and Star had made it as far as the log. She has very long toes.

It looks like Star is going to fit in very well. I wondered if she would go in the chicken shed at the end of the day but as she had already checked it out I hoped she would.

At bedtime I checked and all the girls were in except Star. She was looking around by the chicken shed and nest boxes and sounding upset. Then suddenly she was through the pop hole without me helping her. She settled under the girls where she was right in the poop line.

I picked her up and put her on Diamond’s perch but she was straight off and settled in the corner by the door. I decided that was fine as she was now out of the way of being pooped on.

I am very happy with Star’s first afternoon with us. She seems a bright girl and has got the hang of everything very quickly. I feel certain that now she has gone in on her own tonight she will find her way in tomorrow night.

It may take a while to teach her to perch but for now as long she goes in at night that’s all that matters to start with. I am very pleased with her. I am happy with our flock of seven.

I wasn’t sure whether to do a tribute to the two girls separately but decided that as they went together I would do this for both of them in one post.

In my title I have put Spangle first as we have had her the longest. However I will do my tribute to Snowflake first as it’s shorter and was much quicker to find the photos as we only had her for a year and she was the one girl who hated me taking photos of her.

We had Spangle for five years and she has seen a lot of girls come and go in her time with us and she never minded me taking photos of her.

Snowflake

We got three new girls on 25/2/22. Snowflake was a chabo, Gold is an ardennaise and Storm is a modern game. They were three and a half months old. From the start Snowflake didn’t like being handled and photographed whereas the other two were not bothered at all.

Snowflake’s time with us was all too short.

Spangle

We got five seramas in August 2018 at two and a half months old. I called them the five amigos. They were Smoke, Salmon, Vanilla, Marmite and Spangle. Sadly only Salmon is still with us.

Spangle is the girl that has most changed in her appearance out of all the girls we have ever had. When we first got her we thought she looked like a turnstone. She had lots of brown feathers. As she moulted she gradually lost her brown feathers. First the feathers on her back disappeared and then gradually her tail feathers. She ended up with just a few brown diamonds on her back. I think she got more and more pretty as she changed.

Spangle is eating from the bowl on the left. She now has no brown tail feathers and in fact very few brown feathers.

With all the girls laying there were times when all the nest boxes were occupied. I knew Spangle wanted to lay so I made a temporary nest box from a crisp box which Spangle immediately took to.

Spangle is now white with a few small brown feathers. I thought she was a really beautiful girl. She also had a lovely friendly nature.

We were lucky to have a good five years with spangle. She was a beautiful girl with a lovely nature. She is very much missed and will never be forgotten.

I am writing this post in hind sight because I have been too upset to write it as it was happening. Yesterday, Thursday, I had to take both Spangle and Snowflake to the vets and they had to be put to sleep. I have never had this happen to two girls at the same time before and it has been heart breaking.

It was on Sunday that I noticed both Spangle and Snowflake were very inactive and were sitting with their eyes closing. I thought that maybe Spangle was feeling her age as she was five years old, Salmon and Spangle being the oldest we have got seramas to. What I couldn’t understand was Snowflake acting exactly the same at only one year old.

Then I remembered that Snowflake had been very vocal a few days before and I had thought she was about to lay. She then stopped being vocal. I realised that both Snowflake and Spangle were probably both about to start laying when they had run into a problem.

Spangle laid five eggs last year and I had hoped that she wouldn’t lay this year. Snowflake laid a hundred and forty seven eggs last year between March and November.

In February last year we lost Shadow due to an egg stuck and Smoke due to peritonitis. The frustrating thing is that this caused me to make the decision not to have any more seramas due to so many egg laying problems. I chose bigger, hardier breeds and at the end of February added Snowflake, Storm and Gold. Storm and Gold are laying along with Dot. It seems so unfair that this should happen to Snowflake as well.

Having read everything I could find in the past and again now I decided to do my very best to save the two girls or even possibly one of them. I read that if you treat them with antibiotic it can possibly stop the infection of peritonitis, or a broken egg inside. I had tylan in stock so started it in the water and in dishes of mash on Monday morning intending to give it for the recommended five days.

I examined both girls as best I could. I couldn’t see anything wrong with their vents and couldn’t feel anything in their breast. I had done the same in the past though and hadn’t been able to see anything.

I could see that both girls were not going to the water so I gave them tylan water to their beaks, with a syringe, twice a day. I also gave them sugar water and tomato juice with sugar dissolved in it to their beaks. I hoped that it might help start them eating again.

I had moments of hope as Spangle was pecking at the mash and I thought she was eating. Watching her closely I realised that she wasn’t actually eating it but just pecking at it, pretending to eat.

This was day three of giving them tylan and they both still had red combs. By day two Snowflake wasn’t perching at bedtime and by day three Spangle wasn’t perching at bedtime. I knew they were getting weak because of not eating.

On day two and day three there was a puddle on the chickens’ patio that was mostly pale yellow but with some orange streaks of egg yolk. When I cleaned it up with kitchen paper it was the consistency of egg white. I felt a little hopeful that one of the two girls was expelling the egg and had chances with the antibiotic of pulling through.

By day four, yesterday, Spangle spent all day with her head under her wing. Snowflake was weak and wobbly. Both girls’ combs had also changed colour. They had gone a muddy colour.

As the day went on Spangle had her head under her wing and Snowflake stood next to her with her eyes mostly closed. This was so sad to see. I knew at this point that I couldn’t let them suffer any longer and I rang the vet.

I got an appointment for six o’clock yesterday after four days of trying to treat them. I felt bad to take them to the vet in such a poorly state but I had felt that I couldn’t give up on them until I had given it my best shot at trying to get them through this.

The vet examined them both. She said that Snowflake’s breast felt hot from egg peritonitis. Her crop was very empty. She said that Spangle probably had passed the liquid egg that I had found but that she was too weak to recover. She said that I had done my very best for them and that I had done the right thing to bring them in to be put to sleep. It was the only kind thing for them.

I usually hold them while they are put to sleep but felt it wasn’t reasonable to do this with two of them. I asked to see them once the vet had put them to sleep. She said they went very quickly and quietly as they were so ready to go.

I am totally gutted by this whole thing. Sometimes I feel that we are so very unlucky. I was in tears at the vets and again writing this. I had been dreading writing this post but I owed it to the two girls to tell their story.

I will do a tribute to them soon when I can gather myself and look through my photos. The flock feels small having dropped from eight to six in one day and I am feeling so sad right now.

Since we have had three girls laying every single egg has been laid in the nest box by the chicken gate. It’s the favourite nest box at the moment despite being the least used one last year. My theory is that once one girl starts laying in a certain nest box the other girls think this must therefore be the best nest box and so is the one that they want too.

A couple of days ago we had our first, three egg day, of the year and today our second. Gold and Storm often lay on the same day but twice now Dot laid too. Gold and Storm seem very in sync with their egg laying and often while one of them is in the nest box the other will be standing on the ramp waiting her turn.

Today when I checked on them Gold and Storm were in the nest box together. They looked so sweet that I took a photo.

I love seeing the girls sharing a nest box. I also love having enough eggs not to need to buy any. Well done girls!

Worming time seems to come round so quickly. I usually worm in March and September but we are only a few weeks away from March and we already have three girls laying so I decided to get on with it.

I am sticking with my usual way of doing it which is to add flubenvet powder to mash for seven consecutive days.

Today is the third day and I haven’t found any worms so I am confident that they are worm free but it’s best to be preventative. The girls enjoy a week of mash anyway.

We used to have difficult neighbours, next door, last time this tree was tamed. Luckily we now have lovely neighbours next door. They moved in quite a few years ago and intend to stay. This has been great for us as before them we had a succession of neighbours that didn’t settle.

Recently they had their huge tree pruned which is really good for us as it was overhanging our garden and blotting out light in summer. I decided to take a before and after photo.

We are very happy with this tree being reduced again. A great job done.

For a while I have thought that Dot would be the next girl to lay. After being silent all winter she has become vocal again with her lovely sing song voice and her comb has grown in size and turned red. When her comb is like this it reminds me of a crown.

Dot started checking out the nest boxes this morning but we had to go out and I was certain that she would lay her first egg of the year while we were out. Sure enough on our return there was an egg in the nest box by the chicken gate. It’s unmistakably Dot’s egg as it is a larger size and has a beige tint. As I missed a photo of Dot in the nest box I took one of her magnificent comb instead.

I think that now we have three girls laying I won’t be needing to buy eggs for a while. We didn’t get Dot until towards the end of May last year so this year we will get a better idea how well she lays. She has got off to a good start by starting as early as February. Well done Dot!

We trimmed Diamond’s beak in December. It has grown back really quickly and we think we will have to trim it every couple of months. I had hoped it would go longer than that but it is easy to do so I suppose we and Diamond will just have to get used to it.

I took these photos in January and already Diamond’s beak had grown but I felt she could go longer before having a trim. Dot and Diamond are always found sitting together whether here in the sun or on the rungs of the ladder when there is no sun. It is funny how Diamond who is top girl and Dot who is bottom girl have formed an alliance together. It is heart warming to see their togetherness.

I didn’t want to take too much off and just did one snip of the transparent part that you can see in the close up photo of her. This is the part that overhangs.

When I gave out the sunflower hearts before bedtime Diamond was picking them up much more efficiently. This is a good test of how much easier it is for her when her beak is shorter. I think every two months will be fine for doing this job and will enable her to eat easily.

Today I was surprised that storm laid her first egg of the year. I was surprised because last year she only laid in May, June and July. As the breeder had said that her breed isn’t a very good layer I assumed that she had a short season.

Snowflake and Gold started laying at the end of March last year at about five months old. Storm started laying at about seven months old. I now wonder if she doesn’t have such a short season but was just a late starter. My seramas have often started laying quite late and I think that perhaps it’s the smaller breeds that start late.

If Storm continues to lay until the end of July like last year that will give her a six month season which I don’t consider poor at all. Some of the other girls lay for nine months but I would consider six months fair especially as Storm was a good layer while she was laying last year.

Storm had been looking in each nest box this morning and scratching the shavings out. After lunch she was missing and I checked the nest boxes. Just like Gold she was in the nest box by the gate and also like Gold by the time I returned with my camera she was already in the laying position. What are the chances that this happened again exactly the same as with Gold!

For Storm’s first egg of the year I thought her egg was bigger than I remember them from last year.

Well done Storm! I am very proud of her. I wonder who will be next. I think it may be Dot as her comb is red and she is a bit more vocal. It is lovely to be getting some eggs again.

Gold has a habit of trying to join me as soon as I open the chicken gate. I pick her up and put her back inside the gate. For the last week she has been squatting every time I do this. I wondered if she was getting ready to lay but thought it was a bit early in the year.

Gold has a lovely red comb and has become a bit more vocal too. This morning Gold went into each nest box in turn and scratched out some shavings. I have recently cleaned out the nest boxes and put in fresh shavings ready for spring egg laying to begin so I thought that may be attracting Gold to them.

This afternoon Gold was missing so I checked the nest boxes and sure enough she was settled in the nest box by the gate. I came back in for my camera but by the time I got back out to the chicken run she was already laying her egg.

It is amazing how often I catch the girls actually laying. Her egg is long and slim. The girls usually start laying mid February to March so I wasn’t expecting eggs just yet. Gold is a first year girl so that may be why the early start. She stopped laying at the end of August when she had a partial moult.

Snowflake has also become more vocal and has a red comb but she continued to lay until the end of November when she had a partial moult. It will be interesting to see if Snowflake starts laying soon too.

Storm only has a three month laying season which is May, June and July so I don’t expect her to start any time soon. Diamond is still dropping feathers every day so I am not expecting her to start yet either. It’s a good job she is a very fluffy girl.

Sugar usually starts laying half way through March. Salmon didn’t lay at all last year so I think she may be finished and Spangle only laid four eggs so she too might be finished. We only got Dot in May so I don’t know how early in the year she will start.

It is interesting to see when the girls start laying again and it was quite a surprise to see Gold lay today. Well done Gold!