Carol's Chickens

Smoke and Ebony both laid a Christmas day egg in the morning. I think this may be the first time we have have had eggs on Christmas day.

Mid morning I took the girls their fish treat in six little dishes.

Christmas day in the chicken run

A fish treat for the girls

By lunch time all the fish had gone

Ebony is out of shot because she is close to me. I thought the fish would last most of the day but it went very quickly. I think the girls enjoyed their Christmas day treat.

I would like to wish seasons greetings to all my readers and good health to you and all your girls.

Today I have dug the run over, swept the chicken patio, washed all the food and water dishes and made sure that everything is ready for the girls for Christmas day even though it doesn’t matter to them. It matters to me!

I have fish for their Christmas day treat.

Dandelion’s head looks like a porcupine with all the pins and Flame still looks very tatty but I think they are through the worst of their moult. Ebony and Smoke continue to lay but Marmite hasn’t quite managed her first egg yet.

Dandelion looks like a porcupine

Flame looks very tatty

There is only an occasional sneeze now so once more we have safely come through the myco but I will remain ever vigilant.

Tomorrow morning we will have smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast with our girl’s eggs so thank you girlies!

I felt sure that Marmite would lay her first egg today. She must be near to laying. She sat in the middle nest box for a while then moved to the nest box nearest the shed. She was in there for about an hour so when she came out I checked the nest box and nothing. It seems she is just practising.

Marmite practising

Some girls need more practice than others. Maybe tomorrow.

I decided to try the smaller pellet dish without the tray as I figured the dish is too small for Smoke to stand and the dish would be easier to reach without the tray. Once I had established that this was working and no pellets were being flicked out I had another light bulb moment. I decided to use two small dishes.

Solving the pellet dish problem

Look, no mess!

This means I can put out twice the amount of pellets and the girls have twice the space to get to them and there is still no mess. Hurrah!

Notice Dandelion’s head feathers are filling in at last.

We have felt today that Marmite is getting ready to lay. She has been very vocal all day and has been checking out the nest boxes.

I gave the girls some yogurt as a treat and Marmite was quick to the yogurt in between standing on the nest boxes and looking in them.

Marmite with a yogurt beak

Look at her red, comb, face and wattles

Marmite and Smoke together at the yogurt, bottom and top of the amigos

Look at the state of poor Flame in the background.

Little and large, black feathered, girls together

It’s interesting seeing the same coloured, different sized, girls together for comparison.

Marmite investigating the nest boxes

It was quite funny seeing Marmite checking out the nest boxes with her yogurt beak. I think she might lay tomorrow.

I had a bit of a light bulb moment. Instead of getting a bigger plant pot tray I decided to try a smaller dish for the pellets. I have plenty of assorted dishes. A smaller dish would make it difficult for Smoke to stand in.

Smoke takes a look at the smaller dish

Smoke took one look and then turned around and marched off. I could almost read her thoughts saying “Really! what’s the fun in that!”.

Dandelion shows how it is done

I may experiment and try it with and without the tray. It would be easier for the little girls without the tray but they may just flick the pellets out. It’s a work in progress. The bigger girls are able to easily reach over the tray.

Flame looks a sorry sight

Flame continues to look very shabby and is still lacking in confidence. I am still putting her on the perch at bedtime. I have never had a girl moult to the extent that they couldn’t get to the perch before. I will be so pleased when she has wing feathers again. I think with no wing or tail feathers she hasn’t the confidence to jump to the perch.

We will all be glad when moulting is over.

Since having seramas I had been pleased how little mess there was around the pellet dish. As long as I only filled it half way the pellets stayed in the dish and there were very few  flicked out on to the patio area.

Somehow Smoke starting to lay seemed to trigger a different behaviour in her. From the moment she started laying she has taken to standing in the pellet dish and scratching furiously until she empties the contents of the dish on to the patio.

On the patio the pellets get dirt mixed with them and I end up sweeping them up and throwing them away.

I decided to try standing the dish in a plant pot tray. Some pellets are still scratched out but much less as a lot get caught in the tray. A larger size of tray may be a possibility.

Smoke in the pellet dish

She likes to scratch with her feet

And flick pellets everywhere

Smoke is a really good layer. She has now laid seven eggs in nine days. That is really good compared to my previous seramas. I am wondering if she is a fluke or if the other girls will be such good layers.

Ebony is also still laying so I have come to the conclusion that she is a first year girl. I am going to guess that she is one year old and Flame is two years old.

I really wasn’t expecting to get eggs this winter so it is a lovely bonus.

At last the pins on Dandelion’s head are starting to open. Some are just uncurling and giving her some fluff on her head.

Dandelion’s head pins are starting to open

She is getting some fluff on her head

I am glad that Dandelion has the good sense to use the shelters. She comes out for food, water and treats and to perch in the sun if there is any, but spends the rest of her time sheltering here.

I think the shelters were a really good idea and I am so glad that Dandelion makes use of them. I am really hoping that her feathers will be fully through before the next frosty spell.

Meanwhile Flame looks very sorry for herself.

Flame’s pins look blue

The good news is that I am not picking up many feathers now so the dropping has slowed down.

Since I have been leaving the shed door wedged open the girls have all been getting in before the pop hole closes. However Flame has been sitting in the corner of the shed. I lift her to the perch each evening. I think it’s because with so few wing feathers she hasn’t the confidence to get up to the perch.

I don’t want Flame to sit in poop overnight so I put her on the perch. I lift her as gently as I can because she is as prickly as a hedgehog. I will be so glad when the moulting is over as will the girls I am sure.

We have had to cater for a function each weekend over the last few weeks so there had been no time to decorate the house for Christmas. I spent any spare moments writing and posting cards as getting them posted in time was my priority.

However we had a free weekend this week so it was time to swing into action. Yesterday morning we went out and bought a tree and in the afternoon we put the decorations up and I decorated the tree.

I am really pleased with it as it was reasonably priced and is a traditional (drop the needles) tree which we prefer because of the narrower shape.

Our Christmas tree

Close up

And again

At last I feel we are almost ready for Christmas. I just have a little more present buying to do and then wrapping and then lastly it will be the food shopping.

On different days we will be having both sides of the family over with assorted grandchildren, for the full Christmas dinner, so it will be a busy time but it will be fun.

Dandelion and Flame are both moulting and looking really shabby.

Poor shabby Dandelion

Dandelion has pins on her wings

I feel so bad for Dandelion losing feathers when it is now so cold. Flame also has pins on her wings and very few wing feathers left. When she raises her wings she has just one outside feather on each wing with a bare framework of pins over the rest of her wings.

Flame has pins on her wings

Flame’s front is just a mass of loose feathers. I tried to get a photograph but she was reluctant to show me her front. I held up a spinach leaf to get her to stretch up.

Flame looks hilarious

This wasn’t the shot I was aiming for but it’s so funny that I decided to keep it in.

This is the shot that I was trying to get

In other news Smoke has laid an egg three days running, missed a day, then laid her fourth egg. Each egg has been very slightly bigger than the one before. Ebony is also still laying although less frequently.

Smoke in the nest box laying her fourth egg

I had finished five days of tylan and yesterday stopped putting it in the water. Dandelion has been spending time in the shelters and Cinnamon often keeps her company and sometimes Speckles joins them too. These original three girls still tend to stick together.

The original three girls in the small shelter

Late afternoon when Dandelion was in the shelter I noticed that she was dozing and her tail was bobbing up and down. This is not a good sign and I recognise it as a symptom of the mycoplasma.

When I checked them at bedtime I stuck my head into the chicken shed and listened to Dandelion’s breathing. She was wheezing. I decided to start back on the tylan in the morning.

I mix one teaspoon of tylan powder to one litre of water and put it in the two water dishes. To give the girls an extra boost I mixed another half teaspoon with half a litre of water and added it to four dishes of pellets to make tylan mash.

Dandelion and Cinnamon having tylan mash

Dandelion has an almost bare head

As the girls drink less water in the winter I felt that taking it in the mash as well would give them a bit extra.

I am really frustrated that we just can’t seem to shake this. All of the girls are sneezing but they are all looking okay and the fact that Smoke and Ebony are laying is a good sign. Up until yesterday Dandelion was looking okay especially as she is moulting. But the weather turned much colder yesterday and we had a heavy frost last night with the chickens’ water dishes frozen this morning.

Today the temperature didn’t get much above freezing and I think that is really not helping Dandelion. It is forecast to be slightly milder for the rest of the week so I am hoping that with less cold temperatures and the tylan plus the boost of tylan mash today Dandelion will improve again.

I just want her feathers to come in and I wish I could put a little chicken jumper on her but that is not possible. I just have to hope we can get through this once more.