Carol's Chickens

Yesterday morning when I went out to the girls Smoke was out in the run. After just over a week she has come out of being broody. Vanilla who went broody the same day is still going strong.

Hurray! I thought, only one broody now but no it was not to be. That same day Jasmine went broody. We seem destined to have more than one broody at a time. Jasmine has laid twelve eggs in three weeks since her last broody break.

Today it is looking like Flame may be broody too. Flame laid her egg in the afternoon yesterday and has been in the corner of the chicken shed since this morning. She wouldn’t have been ready to lay as early as that.

I think Smoke has come out of it quicker because I close the nest boxes at the end of the day so she gets a couple of hours out in the run before bedtime. As Vanilla settles in the shed there is nothing I can do for her but lift her to the perch at bedtime. Vanilla also snaffles Flame’s eggs to sit on until I remove them.

Jasmine also settles in the shed but in the corner by the pop hole. Flame is settled with Vanilla. I have got used to Vanilla pecking me as it doesn’t hurt and she only pecks a couple of times. Jasmine is different and is full of anger and keeps on pecking me. Flame also pecks me and her pecks do hurt so she is difficult to move.

I am beginning to think that if there are going to be lots of broody girls at the same time I may have to just leave them to it, just making sure that they come out at least once a day.

An angry, broody, Jasmine

Broody Vanilla with a possibly broody Flame

Flame has laid fifty four eggs since starting this year at the end of February. She is a very good layer.

By the afternoon I decided to get all three girls out. I took the little girls out and then used gardening gloves to lift Flame out. She had laid and had been sitting on her egg.

Flame rushed around going from the mash I had put on the patio to the the top of the little shelter and back again at speed. Flame stood tall and shook herself and made a lot of noise. She rushed back to the mash again.

The next time I checked both Flame and Vanilla were settled back in their corner and Jasmine was settled back by the pop hole. Sigh!

Vanilla and Flame settled back in the corner again

In other news the hormones had kicked in with Speckles again and before she had got an egg laid she was back to drinking copious amounts of water again. There was a patch of wet, sloppy, poop under her roost spot again this morning.

It seems that this is definitely hormone related and I am not sure she will even lay an egg this time round as she has given up gong to the nest box. I am not bothered about having any eggs from her and she looks happy and fine in every other way so I am not worried about her.

There is never a dull moment in this chicken run!

I thought that yesterday might have been the day. Speckles has been very vocal to the point of being annoying. She stands at the bottom of the run shouting. It seems that it is for no reason but I think she is trying to announce to the world that she is getting ready to lay.

The hormones are raging and she has angrily had a go at Jasmine whenever she gets too close. She pulled a beak full of silky feathers from Jasmine’s back.

Speckles then settled herself in the nest box and set about piling pine shavings on her back. Peace at last!

Speckles in the nest box with pine shavings on her back

A bit later Speckles was back out in the run. I checked the nest box and …… nothing! No egg after all. More practice needed. Speckles always needs a bit of practice before laying her first egg after a break.

Sienna is another little girl that has only been with us for a year, too short a time. She was such a pretty girl, so like Rusty to look at, but with a more gentle nature towards the other girls. Here are some photos of her year with us.

Sienna and Blue – July 2018

Sienna and Jasmine – July 2018

Jasmine and Sienna – August 2018

Sienna – November 2018

Sienna and Jasmine – January 2019

Sienna and Jasmine February 2019

Sienna was so pretty. She had lovely round eyes compared to Jasmine’s slanted eyes and her colour reminded me so much of Rusty. She was a ball of fluff and had a gentle nature. The silky girls were such a close pair but recently Jasmine hadn’t been sticking quite so close to Sienna. I wonder if she knew there was something wrong.

Cinnamon now hangs out with the bigger girls and Jasmine hangs out with the amigos. I really hope we can have a healthier future with our girls now and that the flock can settle together with out any more drama.

I have been struggling with what to do for the best for Sienna. Over Easter I considered taking her to the vet but then she seemed to bounce back again. My youngest son and daughter in law visited over Easter and went in the run to see the girls.

I explained my dilemma and Sienna made what I had thought was her sneeze sound. My daughter in law said that it didn’t sound like a sneeze but more like a hiccup. I decided to leave Sienna until after Easter. We then noticed that the hiccup, squeak, sound she was making was becoming much more frequent. I started to think that it wasn’t a sneeze after all. The other girls make a sneeze sound which is similar to us sneezing but Sienna was making a squeak sound.

I thought that maybe I should take her to the vet for her to listen to because if it was a sneeze I would have to think about the myco and the other girls but if it wasn’t a sneeze maybe I could just leave her be and maybe it was an egg problem as she wasn’t laying.

I got an appointment today and put Sienna in the cat box and drove the five minutes to the vet. In that short time Sienna went rapidly down hill. Sienna was struggling to breath and making a wheezing sound. The vet said that the stress of putting her in a cat box shouldn’t have caused this much of a reaction. The vet listened to her and said that she was in heart failure.

The vet said that she must have hatched with a heart defect and she was lucky to have had a happy year with us. She said this was why she wasn’t laying and that the squeak was also being caused by this. The vet said she had rapidly become stressed because her heart couldn’t cope with something as simple as being put in the cat box.

The vet said she had a crackle in her breathing and her heart was beating so hard that it could be felt by putting my hand under abdomen. Her heart felt as if it was beating out of her body. The vet said that if I hadn’t bought her in today it would have happened some time soon and there was nothing that I could have done for her.

We agreed that the kindest thing was to put her to sleep right away. I held Sienna while the vet tried to find a vain in her wing but because she was shutting down there were no veins to inject. The vet gave her the injection in her breast and Sienna didn’t even wince or show any sign that she noticed. Sienna went really quickly which the vet said was a sign of how weak her heart was.

We have been so unlucky lately but on the other hand I felt relieved that it was heart failure. It wasn’t the dreaded myco, wasn’t contagious and there wasn’t anything I could have done for her. The vet said that Sienna had been lucky to have had a year with me.

Sienna yesterday

I had a feeling this day was coming soon so I tried to get a good photo of Sienna yesterday. This was the best one.

We have lost two girls in the space of two weeks. I really hope that things will settle down now.

Ebony likes to lay her eggs in the corner of the chicken shed. The back, left, corner is her corner. Vanilla has taken up residence there since she has been broody. This has not pleased Ebony.

Two days ago she decided to settle in the large shelter instead. She spent a while placing pine shavings on her back and then went on to lay her egg there.

Ebony in the shelter placing pine shavings on her back

Back, left, corner again, interesting!

Ebony went on to lay her egg there

Today Ebony settled in the shelter again and went on to lay her egg there for the second time in a row. I don’t mind where she lays as long as she is happy and not shouting like when she first came to us.

Two days later Ebony lays her egg here again

For the last week there haven’t been sloppy poops under Speckles roost spot or in the run.

Speckles has become very vocal over the last few days and yesterday when I went to stroke her she dropped into a squat. I think she is getting ready to lay again.

Speckles comb is looking great

Today Speckles inspected the nest box.

Speckles inspects the nest box

It has been nearly two months since Speckles laid her first egg this year. She then started drinking loads and doing sloppy poops. I looked back at last year because she laid eight eggs then started the drinking and sloppy poops. She then took a break of nearly two months and then laid another four eggs. There seems to be a pattern forming.

While I was at the vets with Dandelion I explained what was going on with Speckles and asked if she had come across this before. She hadn’t but she agreed with my theory that it is probably something hormonal because Speckles is fine over winter when she isn’t laying. As soon as she starts laying she starts drinking lots of water which causes sloppy poops and a break in laying.

After a break from laying she gets back to normal but getting back to normal means she starts laying again. I am not expecting her to lay many eggs if she does start laying again. The vet said she would ask around and call me if she found anyone who could shed any light on this. She hasn’t called me so I assume she hasn’t been able to find any information on this. I have researched this and haven’t been able to find anything so I am not surprised.

I said to the vet that if Speckles started to look poorly then I would bring her in to be put to sleep because she is an elderly girl but that while she looks happy and healthy in every other way I will leave her be and she agreed that that was the right thing to do.

There is never a dull moment with this flock.

I love the way the tulips open up in the sun.

The big tulips opened in the sun before Easter

The next batch of tulips opened in the sun over Easter

We had a lovely sunny Easter and the garden is blooming.

For a while now I have known that there is something wrong with Sienna. Three weeks ago she laid a tiny, grape sized, egg under her roost spot. I knew it had to be hers because all the other girls had been laying for some time and she was the only one yet to start.

Since then she hasn’t laid again and I have never seen her in a nest box at any time. After this I noticed that she would spend time sitting with her eyes closed and her chest going up and down with her breathing but at other times she looked normal again.

About the time that I had to make the decision about Dandelion I noticed that Sienna was sitting with her eyes closed more often. She is also the only girl that still sneezes and yet I don’t think it’s myco because they had all had tylan in the water at this stage and it didn’t make any difference to Sienna.

Sienna doesn’t look good

I have been struggling with what to do next because I am now in the awful position that if I leave a poorly girl too long I could endanger the flock as I can no longer medicate but I don’t want to have a girl put to sleep to early when she may recover.

Then the last four days Sienna has been doing green poops. They look just like pea soup or mushy peas. I know that this is not good. It’s a sign that something internal isn’t right. Sienna is just coming up to a year old and isn’t laying beyond the first, grape sized, egg which in itself is a sign that all is not well. That along with moments of sitting like the above photo and doing green poops all points to something being wrong with her.

I have nearly taken her to the vets a few times recently but then the next minute she looks normal again and she is eating normally. I really don’t know what to do. If I take her to the vets it is unlikely that they will be able to tell what is wrong with her and if she perks up at that moment it will look like there is nothing wrong with her anyway.

I am thinking of asking if the vet could ring me for a chat and advice. This is a real dilemma!

Cinnamon has taken to dust bathing with the bigger girls. I missed getting photos of her dust bathing with Speckles because as soon as I get near them Speckles comes over to me. I did get a few photos of Cinnamon dust bathing with Flame yesterday.

Cinnamon and Flame dust bathing together again

Enjoying the sun together

It is sweet to see them enjoying a sunny dust bath together.

We had just a few days with no broody girls then back to two broody girls again. First Smoke started her broody behaviour again. She had only laid five eggs in ten days so this seemed really quick to go broody again. Smoke lays a few more eggs after she goes broody and so she laid her sixth egg yesterday.

Later that same day Vanilla went broody. Vanilla had laid twenty four eggs in one and a half months. Vanilla is an angry broody and pecks me and growls like an angry cat.

Broody Smoke

She does look magnificent.

I sit Smoke in the run

Broody Vanilla

You can see the anger in her eyes.

Broody Vanilla and Flame together

Flame likes to lay her eggs in this corner and wasn’t put off by Vanilla.

Smoke is easy to lift and I am closing the nest boxes at bedtime again which forces her to perch up rather than settle in the nest box. Vanilla on the other hand pecks me with fury and is difficult to move. She likes the back corner of the chicken shed so I am having to lift her to the perch at bedtime.

If I left Vanilla in that corner she would be under Speckles firing line. When I lift her and place her on the amigos’ perch I can her angry growl after I shut the door. I never would have thought these little girls could get so angry!

Oh well, I feel as if we are destined to have some broodies all the time with these little girls. Smoke and Vanilla are the two best layers too. They lay the most and also the biggest serama eggs. We are still getting plenty of eggs so that’s okay. I could do without the angry pecking though!

The day after Dandelion had gone it was so sad to see Cinnamon spending time alone in the small shelter where they had spent a lot of their time together. It was if she thought Dandelion might suddenly appear in here. She spends some time alone in here every day.

Cinnamon alone in the small shelter

Cinnamon has taken to sticking very close to Speckles and to hanging out with the bigger girls.

Cinnamon sticks close to Speckles

Cinnamon with Flame and Speckles

Cinnamon dust bathing with Flame

The flock seems to have formed two groups, Cinnamon and the bigger girls and the amigos and the silky girls. I am glad Cinnamon has the bigger girls to hang out with. It’s so sad to see her without Dandelion.