Carol's Chickens

I have on occasion seen Spangle fly on to the top of the store cabinet and then fly down to the run from there. She is the only girl that I have seen do this. The space between the top of the cabinet and the roof of the run is quite small.

Recently on a handful of occasions I have gone in to give the bedtime corn and when I have opened the store cabinet door Spangle has surprised me by flying down to the run. I hadn’t noticed she was there until she flew down.

Yesterday this happened again but this time she had her corn and then flew back up there again. She settled down to sit up there and I wondered what she could be doing up there.

Spangle is on top of the store cabinet

What is she doing up there!

She is now sitting up there

I decided to take a patio chair in to stand on and see what she was doing.

I climbed on a chair to see what she was doing

To my surprise there was an egg up there. The top of the cabinet is filthy! I lifted her down and removed the egg. I then swept the dirt and dust from the top of the cabinet.

A minute later Spangle was back up there again. She has never repeated going up there before. It was getting near to bedtime so I lifted her down again and put my broom up there to put her off while I went to look in the shed for something to block it with.

I put a broom up there to block her but that didn’t work

I lifted her down again and blocked it with a few items.

It’s now blocked with a box and a log

Spangle tried to fly up again and just dropped back down. I couldn’t understand why she was so determined to get back up there. I waited a few moments to make sure that she had given up.

I checked back a little later and the girls had gone in the shed. I always check the nest boxes just in case and there was Spangle’s, still warm, egg. I know Spangle’s eggs because they are a darker colour than the other girls and narrower.

This was obviously why she was determined to get back up on top of the store cupboard, She must have laid her egg up there a day or two earlier and was determined to get back to her new egg laying spot. Once I blocked it she must have gone straight to the nest box and laid her egg.

As it’s been so cold it doesn’t matter that the egg may have been there a day or two but it was filthy from being laid in the dust and we didn’t fancy eating it. Instead I scrambled it in a little olive oil and water and put it in the fridge to feed it back to the girls the next morning.

Scrambled egg for the girls

Spangle gets to eat her own egg – scrambled

Notice how red those combs are.

I am hoping that now the store cabinet is blocked off Spangle will return to laying in the nest boxes. There always seems to be some drama going on with these girls. They always manage to surprise me with some new behaviour. They are funny girls!

I thought a fish treat would be good for the girls as a bit of extra protein to help those feathers through for some of them. It also gives me a chance to get a group photo as they all come to the patio area for some fish. I put six small dishes on the patio.

Fish treat

Salmon was just hidden behind Sienna in this one.

The whole flock together

All twelve girls in shot.

The girls love the fish

I love seeing all the girls together. They are such a pretty flock.

We have our laptop on a corner of our kitchen worktop. Probably not a conventional position but it suits me. I pass it every day from any room to the cabin outside the back door which is our catering work space or from there to the front door if off on my deliveries.

It means I can constantly check if there are any new lunch orders and I can confirm them promptly. It also means I can write my blog or read blogs while keeping an eye on cooking our evening meal.

I also prefer to stand as both my husband and myself have spent our entire working life on our feet and we feel it’s good to continue that way. I am not comfortable sitting apart from eating meals and watching television in the evenings or reading in the sun in the garden in summer.

I hadn’t realised how low it was though and at Christmas when oldest son and I were working on a project together he commented that he didn’t know how my back could take stooping down to look at the screen. I admitted that it was sometimes uncomfortable.

My son said that the screen should be in line with my eye level and the keyboard should be on a level of my elbows held horizontally.

His job is in I.T. self employed and working from an office space in his home. He has a standing desk for a similar reason. He doesn’t want to spend his days sitting down at a desk.

This started me thinking that I should do something about this as I spend a lot of time on the laptop. I searched on line and found a simple stand which was inexpensive and adjusted to three heights. You alter the height by leaving the legs off for lowest height, slotting them in one way round for middle height and slotting them in the other way round for maximum height.

I decided to try it on maximum height as this fitted in with my son’s advice.

Our laptop on the kitchen worktop

I have a past flock as my screen saver. Sadly all those girls have gone now, the last one, being Emerald last summer.

Our laptop on the stand

The cooker is to the left and then my food preparation worktop to the left of that, so away from this corner, which only serves to house the vintage bread bin which stores potatoes and the utensils container and of course the laptop.

Yesterday was the first full day of using it like this and I am already getting used to it. At first the key board felt high as I have been used to having my hands down at hip height up until now. It is great though being able to watch the screen while standing perfectly upright rather than stooping.

I am amazed that I have managed for years like this without coming up with a solution. I think this will make a huge difference to me. Already I am very happy with the change.

Eggs are coming thick and fast at the moment. This morning when I poop picked the chicken shed I found another egg, this time under the silky girls’ perch. As Jasmine has been practising and I have never seen Sienna in the nest box I am concluding that it is Jasmine’s egg.

The egg is a normal size this time. As the morning went on Jasmine returned to the shed a few times as if she wasn’t sure she had laid it. This often happens on a first egg, from the perch, first thing in the morning.

And here are photos of these two lovely, newest laying, girls.

Salmon

Jasmine

Only Vanilla and Sienna to go now. We are going to have so many eggs which is lovely and something I didn’t expect at this time of year.

These tiny eggs seem to be a feature of the amigos starting to lay. This morning when I poop picked the chicken shed I found another teeny, tiny, egg under the amigos roost spot. I almost missed it amongst the shavings. It must have dropped from the perch because it had a little hole in it.

I know who laid it by it’s position under the perch.

Another tiny egg on a teaspoon

You can just see the tiny hole in it where it landed.

Next to a pound coin for size comparison

This one is nearly all white with the tiniest yolk

The shell was soft enough for me to break with my finger nails which must be why it cracked on landing in the shavings.

Only Vanilla and Salmon hadn’t started laying out of the amigos so that narrowed it down to two girls as the silky girls perch on the opposite side of the shed. I happen to know exactly where these two girls were perched.

The reason for this is that when I checked in on them at bedtime last night, before closing the door, I thought that there appeared to be only four amigos on their perch. There were no girls on the floor so I was a bit puzzled. I then swept my torch over the amigos and saw that salmon was sitting on Vanilla’s back! This isn’t the first time she has done this. There was no space either side of Vanilla as she was up against the side of the shed.

I lifted Salmon from Vanilla’s back and placed her on the other end of the perch next to Smoke and nearest to the pop hole. The tiny egg was under the perch next to the pop hole. This means that it must be Salmon’s egg.

These girls are all getting started thick and fast. I would have guessed at Vanilla being next as Salmon is the smallest of the amigos but it’s not always anything to do with size. I would also have thought that Jasmine may have started by now but she hasn’t shown any interest in the nest box since her practise.

It is fun seeing them start one by one as I haven’t ever had so many point of lay girls at one time before. I wonder who will be next!

Since I posted a few days ago about seeing first Dandelion and then Cinnamon having a dust up with one of the amigos I haven’t seen Dandelion do this again. It’s as if she is happy that she has proved her point and that’s done with.

Not so with Cinnamon. Cinnamon has continued to have spats with the amigos. Twice today I saw her take on the amigos two at a time. I am not sure if she meant to or if it’s their strategy that when she start a battle with one of the amigos another joins in as a safety in numbers measure.

I worry that Cinnamon is going to get hurt. She is the smallest girl in our flock but seems to have no conception of that or that she is outnumbered.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon tries to make herself look bigger by standing upright with her chest thrust out. Her chest seems out of proportion for her small size.

Cinnamon’s back view

Her wings almost touch the ground and she marches around full of purpose. I will be glad when she tires of proving her status as she is so tiny that I worry for her when two amigos manage to corner her.

Cinnamon is a tiny girl who imagines that she is much bigger than she is and is feisty and fearless!

There are signs of spring in the garden. The pulmonarias have started to flower and so have the primulas. Bulbs are pushing through and new green growth is erupting. The first proper sign of spring though is always the snowdrops and hellebores.

Snowdrops

hellebores

I love to see the first snowdrops appear every year. Bigger, later, ones will follow but these smaller ones always come up first. It brings the feeling that spring is that little bit closer.

We have recently been asked by friends to join them in sharing a local allotment plot. It’s going to be shared by our good friends and neighbours opposite who have two boys a similar age to our eldest two grandchildren and their friends further up the road, who through them, have also become friends to us and have two girls a little younger, plus ourselves and then our friends opposite got their next door neighbours on board too.

We all felt the more the merrier as it is a large plot and the more hands the better. The idea is to provide a bit of social interaction and community spirit, to get some fresh air and exercise and to share some fresh produce.

The plot is in beautiful surroundings but has been empty for a few years so was very overgrown. We have been advised that we will need to put some fencing around the plot or the deer will eat everything.

Between us we are able to supply different things to get us started. Some of the guys are able to obtain stuff from their work such as pallets to build raised beds and a pathway and posts to attach the fencing. Someone has supplied a couple of wheel barrows and we have supplied a fork and spade.

The ground is full of large bits of flint which is why we have opted for some raised beds.

We plan growing some fruit canes, vegetables, probably a lot of potatoes in the first year and some flowers so that there is something for everyone. There has also been talk of a bench and some possible beer and wine partaking!

Overgrown allotment plot

The most daunting thing was getting the plot ready but we have until March before we can start planting so we will all do a bit at a time, individually or together, as and when we are able.

The allotment plot is now taking shape

The first raised bed is in place

In the wheel barrow are some of the large bits of flint removed from the plot. The pallets are ready for the next raised bed and a walkway through the middle of the plot.

View from the other end

A few weeks ago a guy from the parish council used a digger to scrape the top layer for us. We opted not to go for a rotavator as we didn’t want to dig in the couch grass. We plan on gradually digging a strip at a time and pulling the grass and roots out as we go.

My husband has been working on trying to get an edge to the plot and digging the strip as he goes. It is going to be hard work but this bit is the worse bit. It also gets dark early and has been quite cold so as we move into spring it should bring better conditions for working on it. It will also be much nicer working on it in the summer.

I will do some updates as we progress.

Time to give Ebony her own post. I described Ebony as a bit of a thug recently but she has just redeemed herself in my eyes.

The reason I said she was a bit of a thug is this. All the girls have their pecking order behaviour. This usually involves a bit of pecking usually on the head or the back. Sometimes the pecks don’t even connect they are just a warning. Sometimes a stare will do and sometimes a girl will run at another and chase her away.

Ebony is different. Ebony grabs a girl and holds on to her. I have seen her grab Flame’s wing and as Flame tries to get away her wing is at full stretch. Ebony grabs the little girls by their back and as they run away Ebony is left with a beak full of feathers. It is not nice to watch.

Over the last few days I have seen spats between the little girls. I am putting it down to hormones as egg laying has begun because we have noticed this before at the start of egg laying.

Two days ago I was surprised to see Dandelion having a go at several of the amigos. She pecked and chased a few of them and then started a spat with Smoke. It looked quite brutal and they both had their ruffs raised and were really going for each other. I tried to get my arm between them to break it up but it had no effect.

Ebony spotted what was going on and went straight over and broke it up. I was amazed! Then yesterday when I was giving out the afternoon corn Cinnamon did the same with Marmite. Again both girls had their ruffs raised and were really going for each other. Once again I tried to get my arm between them but they moved round me and carried on.

Once again Ebony marched over to them and immediately broke it up. She sent the two girls in different directions. I was so surprised to see this two days running. It is as if Ebony is taking on the role of a cockerel. Despite being a bit of a thug herself she won’t tolerate girls fighting. She broke up the fighting so quickly and easily whereas I was unable to do this.

I think Dandelion and Cinnamon are reinforcing their top positions because the other girls have started egg laying. It’s the only thing that makes sense because Marmite is bottom girl. I think the egg laying gives them a new found confidence which lead her to retaliate. It’s probably not a coincidence that the spats are with the egg laying girls.

Ebony with her “mini me” in the background

These two girls look quite different really but their colour is exactly the same.

Ebony

Ebony has a funny face when straight on

I always think this face looks like the face of a thug but well done to Ebony in being a keeper of the peace.

As Dandelion is still wheezing I have decided to continue with tylan in the water. Dandelion has been wheezing for seven days and I had given tylan for seven days but have now decided to continue until Dandelion improves.

In the comments Sophie said that her vet recommended three weeks as she hadn’t shifted myco symptoms from one of her girls. I also did some more research on mycoplasma as I seem to be compelled to do each time I have this problem.

I find sometimes by putting a different question in the search you can throw up new information. I put in the information that after using tylan in the water for seven days I still had a chicken wheezing. This lead me to some threads on forums which have the advantage of being conversations between people that have chickens or have had chickens with myco rather than just medical facts.

Some of the threads had chickens that had symptoms for many weeks despite using tylan. The answering chicken keepers said that it can be difficult to shift and can need three weeks of tylan to clear it.

The good news was that chicken keepers said that despite being difficult to shift in some cases they hadn’t lost any chickens that they had treated once symptoms had been seen. This is reassuring and I haven’t lost a girl to it since I have been able to identify and treat.

It is said to be stress that makes it reoccur and my research stated that the stress of moulting or cold spells can be the trigger so for Dandelion moulting combined with a frosty spell will have been the trigger.

The other thing that I am aware of is that chickens drink less in the winter as their days are shorter. To encourage them to have a bit more tylan I make a dish of mash from the tylan water. As Dandelion and Cinnamon are top girls I don’t have to worry that they will be kept away from the mash and it’s a good way to get a bit extra to Dandelion as she will be first to the mash.

Dandelion and Cinnamon are first to the mash

Dandelion has some mash

The conversation on one of the threads said that myco is much more prevalent in back yard chickens than most people think. It is very contagious and gets passed from hens through their eggs and on to their chicks so breeders may have it and be unaware. It can be passed from a chicken keepers clothing or footwear.

The general feeling was that we should be less scared of myco because once we are aware we can be vigilant and treat when symptoms show. Some flocks may have carriers and never know as it doesn’t present itself. Some flocks will experience stress and it will appear. Chickens become carriers for life.

Chicken keepers, rightly, have a dread of myco but back yard chicken keepers can live with it in their flock as long as they are ready to treat it. For me it means that I no longer need to worry about it coming into my flock because that ship has sailed.

The problem for me is that Dandelion is vulnerable to it. I already have to accept that Dandelion is unlikely to be a long lived chicken but I felt that about Amber and I had her for four years. I just hope to keep Dandelion as long as I can.

There is a chance that if I lost Dandelion the myco may not reoccur but only time will tell. For now all that I can do is continue as I am doing. I write posts like this because I hope it may be of help to others.

I am just hoping that continuing with the tylan will shake Dandelion’s wheezing in time. I will keep updating on her progress.