Carol's Chickens

As the chooks were getting ready to put themselves to bed tonight, I took the chance to quickly pick Pepper up and have a good feel of her crop. It was squidgy and liquid like, not firm as in compacted crop and no smell as in sour crop. I have now done a bit of further research on the internet to try to find out what could be the problem with pepper’s crop and it looks like it may be what is called Pendulous crop. The pictures looked just like Pepper. It said that the crop gets blocked and the food  then stretches the crop so that it hangs down lower than it should.

The treatment is to pour a couple of teaspoons of olive oil down the hens throat and massage the crop for five minutes. Then turn the bird upside down and massage the contents out of the beak, for a short period of ten seconds at a time. Return the bird to the right way up in between to rest and breath or it may suffocate. This is a two person  job and needs expertise. Not a job for the likes of me! I now need to either find a vet that can do this or take her back to the farm we got her from, so that they can do this. It is a four hour round trip (without traffic problems) which I am afraid may also stress her. I will ring some vet’s tomorrow. I will keep posting as I get more information on this.

I phoned the farm where I got my chickens from, for advice on pepper and the possibility of Poppy being a roo and maybe even Dotty too. The lady I spoke to was really helpful, I gave her the link to this blog so that she could see the photo of Pepper. She said that it looks like pepper has a problem with her crop which is really common and can be sorted out. She said it may need milking, or have become stretched or become disattatched. She said I should worry less as they are hardy farm animals and it can be sorted out. She also said they would see if there were more Dominiques in their mixed flocks and if mine turn out to be roos, I can take them back and possibly exchange them and get pepper looked at, at the same time. She said not to waste money on a vet that won’t have experience with chickens. I had made an appointment with the vet for Monday but as they told me that they had  no idea what the problem could be or much experience with chickens,  I think I will cancel the appointment.

Dotty is starting to look more like Poppy than Pepper which is a worry to me, but I keep thinking I must try not to think about it and give it more time.

On a more positive note, I have discovered a treat they go crazy for. I gave them some raisins and they chased each other to snatch them. I had to throw them in three directions for each of them to get one. They would run with them or try to snatch them from each others beak. I also tried giving them strawberries again. They couldn’t bring themselves to peck a whole one but liked them once I had broken them in to small pieces. It seems that anything bigger than a raisin is still scary to them.

I wrote earlier that due to Pepper’s lop sided look, I had thought she may have impacted crop. I treated her for that and felt her crop when empty and full, it was soft as it should be. I then looked back at photos taken on her first day with us and noticed she was lop sided from the start. I hoped this was just the way she is, and she seems happy and normal in every other way. We have only had the chooks for two and a half weeks now and Peppers bulge seems to be growing quite quickly.

Has Pepper got a tumour?

Pepper on the left now has a huge bulge on her right side. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all but I am alarmed by how quickly it has grown. I am going to seek advice today from our local vet and perhaps from the farm where I got them from. I am so upset that so much has happened so quickly. I waited so long to get my chickens and now in less than three weeks with them, one seems to be a roo and one is not right. I don’t want little Dotty to end up on her own.  To make matters worse my son pointed out that we can’t yet rule out Dotty possibly being a roo either. My heart went cold, surely not! I really hope she is a hen.

On a lighter note, here are Poppy and Pepper perching on their branch.

Perching on high

They love to perch on the highest part of the branch. I wanted to capture all three perched together but Dotty had jumped down and was scratching about at the base of the branch.

I would be glad of any advice or any comments on Pepper’s condition.

As each day goes by, I am more convinced that Poppy is a roo. I could say it’s her big feet, long legs and long curved tail. I could say it’s her sometimes loud call but not the boc boc sound that pepper is now making. I could say it’s her strutting her stuff while the other two hang together, but sometimes it is just the look she gives me. The other two run to me to see if I have treats and if I do they happily accept them, if I don’t, they go on their way. Not Poppy, she stares me in the eye, sizes me up and seems to say that she is not afraid of anyone or anything!

Poppy gives me the eye!

This is the look she gives me! This had already got me convinced but then a further incident happened. My youngest son and his partner called by just before the chickens bed time and we went to look in on them. As usual, pepper was first to want to go in the coup and Dotty as always was behaving like the youngster and wanting a last run around. Poppy always waits until they are in before going in herself. Suddenly she seemed to think that strangers were distracting her girls from bed time and looked as if she was about to launch herself at my sons partner, giving her quite a scare. Several times she looked as if about to jump at her. When I knelt beside Poppy she wasn’t worried by me, as I am familiar to her, but she seemed not to want someone else there while she was trying to get her girls to bed. We retreated and she followed the girls in to the coop. I feel sure this is the behaviour of a protective roo. I can’t imagine that a hen would take up that attack stance. I feel that after tonight, I am more sure than ever that my beautiful Poppy is a protective roo watching over the girls.

It always amuses us how utterly together these three are. They all go to the feeder, they all preen then snooze, they all perch, they all peck at the greenery, they all scratch for bugs, they all take a drink and finally they all put themselves to bed.

We all find the best bugs together

Here you can just see three tails as they search for bugs that are under the flower pot.

We all take a drink together

Then they all take a drink, they dip their beaks in and raise their heads to swallow the water. Two up and one down in this photo.

All three also come running when I walk up the path towards them. I know it’s not to see me, as much as it is to see if I have anything for them, but it’s fun to see all the same.

In their enclosure the chickens have two big shrubs, a sage bush, a pot of nasturtiums, a pot of mixed herbs, a tray of pak choi as well as weeds and an apple tree. But what do they want? The sweet peas growing outside their enclosure!

We want what’s on the other side

Its now been two weeks since we bought our chickens home. It’s amazing how much they have changed and grown in two weeks. They have discovered every part of their enclosure, where as on the first day, when they were up one end they seem to forget the other end existed. They love to shelter or hide under the big shrub, they like to try to perch in the apple tree even though there is not room and also like to perch three in a row on the branch we put in. They have found spots to dust bath and the best places to scratch and forage and now enjoy pecking all the green plants and herbs we put in for them.  They look very happy in their new home and keep us constantly amused and entertained.

This is the favourite spot to scratch for bugs

Dotty on the right has now filled out her back feathers

Dominiques have what’s called a pea comb, which is like a row of pink/red peas ending with a small backward spike. Pepper and Poppy are just starting to get the first pea of their comb where as baby Dotty has no sign at all yet. Pepper is also starting to change her sound from baby cheeping to a more grown up boc boc.

Pepper on the left has the first pea of her comb forming

I have e-mailed the farm where we got the chickens from and expressed my concerns that poppy may turn out to be a roo. I gave them the link to this blog, so that they could look at the photos. They say it is tricky, but that I could be right and to give it another few weeks to see for sure. I have said that I am in no hurry to part with poppy and would keep her until adult, but need to have a plan for the future.

It would be heart breaking to part with her but as I have neighbours very close either side of us, I know I can’t keep a roo. If she is a roo we hope to take her back and if they have more Dominique chicks, take one or two more. I keep hoping she turns out to be a hen after all, but in my heart I feel more certain each day that she is a roo.

We three feed together

Poppy on the right has a roo like tail

Yesterday afternoon I took the the girls a chunk of lettuce. I held it out to them and they pecked at it as I held it, with Pepper getting very close to my fingers. Once I put it down they completely lost interest and didn’t touch it for the rest of the day. Do they prefer me to hand feed them?

Pepper’s crop has remained looking lop sided. She feeds with vigour and is happy, tail up, runs,  jumps and seems fine in every other way. When they were putting themselves to bed yesterday evening, I saw my chance to pick her up. As she was hovering in the coop door way, I quickly scooped her up. I felt her crop once again and it still feels soft, both sides feel the same. I returned her to the doorway and she went about her way. I have now satisfied myself that her crop is soft, both in the morning when empty and in the evening when full. Maybe she is just meant to be bigger one side than the other. I will continue to watch them all closely.

This morning I took the girls their breakfast treat and they came running as soon as they saw me, as usual. I then saw that Poppy had a bit of twig stuck in her leg ring, which she was trying her best to remove. They were all close around my feet waiting to see what I had for them,  so I let her get close to me, then quickly picked her up. I removed the twig and although she was calm in my arms, she was very vocal about her displeasure at being picked up. When I put her down, all three ran under the shrub to show me they were not happy about that. They soon returned though to see what I had for them. The amusing thing was Poppy remembered what she was doing, before I picked her up and returned to picking at her leg ring. She looked slightly surprised that it had magically disappeared.

I then offered them cooked peas for the second morning running. This time they were straight to them, no hesitation!

We love peas

Is Poppy a roo? Look at her tail

I am still concerned that Poppy may be a roo. Poppy on the left has a longer, curved tail. Dominiques have rounded, blunt tails like Dotty on the right. I do hope I turn out to be wrong because I love them so much already and would hate to have to give her up. I am trying not to think about it too much, only time will tell.

This morning I took the girls some cooked peas as their breakfast treat. I am struggling to find different things they will eat at the moment. They came running as soon as they saw me, but were not impressed with the peas. They pecked at them a bit, then abandoned them. Pepper took a peck at my ring instead, I have heard that they like sparkling things!

I left the small pot of peas by the feeder and when I came back later in the day they had managed to shell them and just left the husks. It’s amazing how good they are with their beaks.

Now we have seen the enclosure in action for just over a week, we realise that we need to make a few modifications. The main thing we need to do is to extend the dry area. We are finding it too cramped for the chickens, their feeders and us.

When I replaced the pine shavings in the coop at the weekend, I found there was not enough room for me to comfortably move round. We will extend the plastic roof, out over all of  the patio area and leave the garden part as the open area.

I would then swing the coop round sideways so that I can get round it easily. We also thought we would put a shelf behind the coop to store the overflow of chicken related things, which at the moment are cluttering the shed.

We have also put a gate closer on the back of the gate.

Another minor thing, is to move the hanging basket from the front of the enclosure to inside. We thought it would make it look attractive from the outside but now find it blocks our view in.

I mentioned in an earlier post, that we only had three apples on the tree in the enclosure, as we have now realised the mesh put the bees off going in to pollinate. After a heavy shower this afternoon, I looked in on the chickens and saw that the top most apple had fallen off. It seems the apples are not meant to be this year. Never mind, I would rather have chickens!