Carol's Chickens

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!

Last night after the girls had put themselves to bed we pushed the dog crate against the coop door again, like we did on their first day with us. I lined the floor with shavings and put their food and water in. This was so that we could go out to them at 5.00am and shut the coop door, meaning they were contained in the crate so that we could pick them up.

First we picked up Pepper so that we could feel her crop to see if it’s hard and impacted. To my relief it was soft, both sides felt the same and felt as they should do. She still looks a little lop sided but I have since looked back at the photos we took on the first day and see that her chest was a bit like that to start with, so maybe it wasn’t the noodles.

Next we picked up Poppy and put the green leg ring on her. At the moment we have no problem telling them apart as they appear quite different to us, but as they become adults, they may become more alike. Pepper has some white feathers on the edge of her wings and Dotty is the smallest. Poppy has the curved tail and is taller.

Now that we have felt Pepper’s crop, I am feeling happier about her. My other worry was that Poppy may be a rooster. Flock Mistress, very kindly e-mailed me some photos of her flock at the same age as mine. Her Cuckoo Maran (coincidentally also named Poppy) turned out to be a roo, but at this stage was twice the size of the rest of the flock. She has told me not panic yet, as they can develop at different stages. She doesn’t think my Poppy looks likes a roo. Poppy is quite different from the other two but maybe she is just a different hen. She said to try to get a photo of them side by side, which I managed today while they were eating their afternoon maggots.

Dotty, Pepper and Poppy

You can see that Dotty on the left is smaller, Pepper in the middle has the white wing feathers and Poppy on the right has a much more arched tail.

I am now going to try to stop worrying and just enjoy them. Thank you Flock Mistress for your advice on this.

After eating the maggots, all three go and preen together followed by a snooze, as close to each other as they can get. The favourite spot seems to be the wooden steps and they are always in a really tight huddle.

Preening, we three are as one

After the girls have eaten, they like to preen together. They are so together that it can be difficult to tell where one begins and another ends.

If one preens, we all preen!

It’s been difficult to get any good photos, between the constant showers, but I quite liked this one of poppy and Dotty.

Poppy and Dotty

I am trying not to worry if Poppy is a roo as only time will tell.

First I just want to quickly update on Pepper. I talked to the vet at our pet store today and he said everything I am doing is correct. He said it really does take 5 days and if she is not better by the start of next week, I could take her in but he didn’t seem to be too worried and she does seem slightly improved.

Now we move on to the next problem. We think Poppy is a roo. The other two hang together all the time while she (I am going to continue to call her “she” until we are certain), is often off on her own. We had noticed that she has bigger feet and longer legs, she is also taller and much more upright. When we gave them the maggots this afternoon, poppy found them first and gave a loud call which had the other two running straight over. Finally we noticed her tail is longer and curved while the other two have quite rounded tails.

The better news is that Pepper may not be so bad as I thought because I had been comparing her shape to the sleek upright shape of Poppy as they were the same size and are the same age. I can now see little Dotty (two weeks younger) developing the same shaped chest. Both Dotty and Pepper have pigeon shaped chests and are low to the ground where as poppy is sleek and upright. All the more reason to think she is a roo. They have changed so much in just a week.

I wanted to show this with pictures but they are not great as it rained most of the day and it was really difficult to get the three of them together, unlike the other day when I couldn’t get  them to part.

Poppy on the right has bigger feet and a longer tail

Poppy has a roo like tail

All three on the perch

This is the first time I have seen all three on the perch. Although it’s not a great photo as I had to take it from outside, I wanted to include it to show their new skill. I can’t get one from inside as they all jump off. Do they feel safer with the mesh between us?

We have an automatic door opener on our coop, that works with a light sensor. I have caught it closing at dusk between 8.00 and 9.30pm. I always check on the chickens several times before and after it closes to make sure they are shut safely inside. They put themselves to bed about 7.00pm, so no worries there. If I look in on them quietly they stay put, but on one occasion when we had family round and were chatting, they came out again for a last forage around, then returned. Now I try not to disturb them.

I haven’t managed to see it opening though. It gets light before 5.00am at the moment and I go in to say hello and give them a morning treat between 6.30 and 7.00am. Today I decided to try to see when it opened and how soon they came out. I went out at 4.45am, which was first light and I could hear the dawn chorus, but it was still closed. I went back to bed and returned at 5.15am to find it open and the chickens already at the feeding station, I leave the food and water out so that they have access to it as soon as they come out. I think this means it opens about 5.00am and they must come out straight away. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t come out again in between and managed to see it, but at least I have a better idea for another morning. As it was raining, I was reluctant to hang around.

One of the purposes of doing this today, was to see how Peppers crop looks first thing, when it is empty. It looks much less noticeable but still slightly lop sided. It does appear to be slightly improving though. I will continue with the maggots and watch her closely.

I am continuing to give the girls live yogurt in the morning and maggots in the afternoon, which they love. Pepper is eating, drinking, pooping and her tail is up, she seems happy enough but still looks lop sided. Unfortunately she is not used to me enough yet, to allow me to pick her up and feel if it’s hard. The advise says the maggot treatment takes five days to work which will take us to Sunday. If it’s not improved by then I will look for a vet on Monday. I feel so awful that this has happened so early on, yet the other two girls are fine.

Pepper with her bulging crop on her right hand side

The other thing I did today was change them over from chick crumb to growers pellets as I was advised to, at the end of their first week with me. I was worried they wouldn’t like the change but needn’t have been, as they loved them. I think getting used to the maggots has got them ready to accept the slightly bigger pellets. I have also bought layers pellets ready for the next stage, when they are ready to lay, which may be around October time.

I shall be keeping a close watch on Pepper and may try to entice her into the dog crate tomorrow, where I may be able to pick her up. The other advise is to gently massage her crop but it’s a bit tricky when she doesn’t want to be picked up. I can’t stop worrying about her at the moment and do so hope she gets better soon.

A few days ago I said that pepper had just discovered the perch. The following day Poppy found it, swiftly followed by Dotty. I didn’t have my camera with me the first day but have now managed to get a picture of Dotty and Pepper, Dotty is on the left, high up.

Dotty and Pepper on the perch

They also enjoyed a dust bath together. Dotty and Pepper are always almost on top of each other, Poppy is often a bit apart. What’s funny though is that poppy likes to stretch out her legs. You would be forgiven for thinking there is something wrong with her but she often does this while sitting and while standing.

Dust bath with Poppy stretching her legs

They constantly amuse me.

Yesterday we noticed Peppers breast looked a bit enlarged and lopsided. I was pretty sure that was her crop and remembered reading about impacted crop from other peoples blogs. I looked it up on the internet and sure enough I think I am right. The advice is to give live yogurt and live maggots. It also advised not to give bread which made me realise she has had too many noodles. I thought I was being careful as I had read a teaspoon per hen, morning and evening is okay but what I hadn’t taken into account is that pepper was getting the lions share, as she is always first and fastest when it comes to food. She may have been getting two teaspoons to the other two getting half a teaspoon each. The other two girls look fine and Pepper is eating, drinking and seems happy in herself. I am kicking myself at slipping up so early on.

I think Pepper has got impacted crop, this is her bulging right side

This morning I tried to tempt them with some live yogurt (there will be no more noodles for a long time). I tried some on it’s own and some mixed with chick crumb and even topped this with a few meal worms to try to get their interest but they were having none of it. I decided to leave the little pot with chick crumb and yogurt with them and go buy some maggots. I looked on the internet and found a fishing tackle shop that sold them.

I returned at lunch time, checked in on them and to my surprise the pot of yogurt and chick crumb was empty. After lunch we decided to try a small pot of the maggots. The advice is to give them, as their afternoon treat each day and it should fix the problem within about five days. At first they couldn’t get the hang of it but suddenly they got it and loved them. It’s the first time one of them would pick one up and run off so it couldn’t be taken from her. Once they realised there were enough to go round they steadily worked their way through them then all had a snooze.

Pepper has a maggot in her beak

I feel really bad that I hadn’t realised Pepper was getting too many noodles and am really cross with myself, but the good thing is that I was able to recognize the problem straight away because of all the information I have read from the blogs I follow, this information is invaluable.

After the maggots Pepper and Dotty settled together for a snooze. Dotty was constantly preening Pepper.They are so tight together whereas Poppy will wander on her own a bit. I wonder if Dotty is at the bottom of the pecking order, preening pepper who is at the top and Poppy in the middle does her thing some of the time.

Dotty is preening Pepper while Poppy does her own thing

Today Pepper managed to jump onto the lower branch of the apple tree. Poppy and Dotty were looking up at her as if to see if they could join her. Poppy jumped on to the same branch, knocking Pepper off (there is only room for one at a time). Dotty couldn’t manage it as she is too little at the moment. I then moved them toward the branch we have put in for them and Pepper soon perched on that. So now they have discovered something new in their world. Pepper returned to the perch later in the day. The other two don’t seem to have caught on yet but I am sure they soon will.

I had a few comments from the “Down the Lane” forum expressing worry that if my run was open topped  the chickens could escape via the tree or predators could get in. I just want to let everyone know that I have “Knowels Chicken Net” (which was recommended)  and is very tough, over the top and there are no gaps anywhere. I intend to keep the apple tree pruned beneath the net and if it proves a problem in the future will cut it down or take it out. At the moment I feel it adds some interest to their enclosure.