Nuggets puffy face

On Thursday last week I went out to give the girls some veggies when I noticed Nuggets face looked odd. Her eye looked puffy. At first I thought she might have been pecked in it but then I noticed the other was also puffy.

I posted these pictures on a helpful online forum and was told it was the start of mycoplasma so she would need antibiotics and isolating as it spreads quickly. The rest of the flock would also need treating just in case.

A few hours later she was at the vet for a shot of antibiotics and I was told to bring her back on Saturday morning for another. We kept her isolated as advised. On Friday her face swelling had reduced significantly and she was much happier. She was eating lots and scratching around. On Saturday morning at the vets she was very feisty and feathers flew as she battled getting a second jab. Our vet tried to teach me how to give injections as we thought this may be easier that syringing but she was having none of it. We left with a syringe and a further 3 day course of baytril. The rest of the girls have denaguard in their water for a week just in case and we have noticed some sneezing.

So last night was Nuggets first dose of antibiotics via syringe. We waited until about 9.30 when it was dusk as she had put herself to bed. We quickly grabbed her, opened her beak and down it went. It was surprisingly easier than I was anticipating but let's see if the next two nights are so easy! 

New setup and Noodle II

As we wanted to integrate all the girls gradually we purchased chicken netting from Omlet to allow them to free range together safely. This however is not what happened!

Noodle II decided that she wanted to take on the big girls so she ran at Sage who is a lot bigger and grabbed her by the neck but she was soon put in her place! Next Nugget was jumped on and then it was Sparta's turn. She decided that the only way away was up so she jumped on top of her coop and swiftly over the netting!

What ensued was about 15 mins of herding where we thought we'd lost her more than once. We knew that if she went over the garden fence that we would never get her back and she was fast! Finally we managed to pin her down and get her back inside the coop.

So it was back to the drawing board, clearly they were still not ready to be together and were too flighty to free range. We decided to put Nugget and Sparta in the dog crate with the walk in run so they could get used to each other for a few more weeks.

Noodle II however decided that she wanted to stay with the bigger girls and only recieves the odd peck to keep her in check. 

Noodle

The girls were fine for a few weeks but one evening we noticed the other two newbies really attacking Noodle. They had already started plucking out her tail feathers so we had used violet spray on her tail area. I also sent hubby out to get some anti peck spray but it made no difference. We decided that it was best to separate her and we planned to feed her up, allow her to get bigger before reintroducing her back.

After having her in the house we noticed something wasn't quite right with her. Her eyes were glazed over and she couldn't seem to pin point food on her own. To me she was blind.

The next few days were a struggle to get her to eat and drink but she would with lots of encouragement, scrambled egg and honey water. But on Friday she gave up, she wouldn't even try to eat or drink and just sat huddled in the corner of the cage. We called the supplier and he asked us to bring her back so he could take a look at her so hubby took the long drive back on Saturday.

The supplier said that it could have been stress and they decided to replace her but no longer had any Chalk Hill Blues. We were given one of their point of lay breading birds that they use to make the blues. She also lays blue eggs. She is called Noodle II!

Home with the ladies!

After a long road trip we put the new girls in their coop for the night. Our 16 month old was very interested in them and sat by their carrier when we got home saying "hello chickens".

Over the evening and next day we watched as pecking order was being established. I was a little worried about our Blue as she was clearly bottom of the pecking order. She didn't leave the top of the coop and when the other two came near she would cower in the corner with her head down. As we were worried that she wasn't eating or drinking we put an additional food and water supply up the top with her. She's already stolen my heart! 

We watched closely over the next few days and were happy that she was now leaving the nesting box for food and water so removed the additional supply. 

We also decided on names:

Chalkhill Chestnut Brown - Nugget

Chalkhill Blue - Noodle

Chalkhill Pearl - Sparta (fans of the film 300 and we can introduce her "THIS IS SPARTA!")

Expanding the flock

We've always wanted four chickens and waited for the weather to improve a little. Hoping to have a more friendly flock we thought we would go for some growers so we can get them used to us. 

I've had my eye on a Chalkhill Blue and Chestnut Brown since deciding to keep hens and as the Browns are larger ladies that why we opted for the larger Eglu cube. I spoke to my normal supplier and he was expecting some Blues but sold out of Browns. So I looked into getting them direct from his supplier as these were our last additions for a while but it was a four hour drive!

I read about a trio on the suppliers website. It had both of my wish list girls along with a Chalkhill Pearl. All of these girls would lay different color eggs and as hybrids would lay nearly daily. This appealed as Sage our Bluebell was the only one laying. I called to find out more and when hubby got home from a night out with the boys he said "let's go for it".

So I confirmed his agreement next morning when he was sober with "so we"ll go collect them next weekend". We (he) got the old coop ready for our new girls and we set off on a family road trip! 

Onions crop

In September 2014 we noticed that Onions crop was swinging (like a fat persons belly). We left her for a bit as it didn't seem to bother her. Plus Buffy was our main concern at that point. After a few more months it was still pretty large and wasn't emptying at night. She had also stopped laying. Reading online posts I read about impacted and sour crop.

Our girls aren't the friendlist and run when you go near. I think it's because we got them at point of lay and haven't spent as much time with them as we would like due to having a new addition to the family. So the next task was to investigate further but first we had to catch her and that was a task in itself.

To me it didn't feel hard, more gritty so not impacted. Her breath didn't smell bad so not sour. We had no idea so off to the vets we went.

On inspection the vet agreed it wasn't impacted or sour. He said he was happy to give her minor surgery by going down her throat to investigate but she could die. As she was happy and it wasn't bothering her we agreed to just leave her and keep an eye. We now only feed her on layers pellets and the odd vegetation treat rather than daily as before. 

Suddenly in March we had 3 spontaneous eggs but that was it, none since.

Sage and Onion

We went to collect our new girls in August 2014. Sage a Bluebell (left) and Onion a Rayleigh Rock (right) and Buffy showed them who was boss!

After a few weeks we heard Buffy's breathing sounded rattly so it was back to the vets for some antibiotics.

 She was fine for a few more weeks but then stopped eating and drinking. Over four months she had been to the vet three times and was just about to go again. This time we decided that it was best to put her to sleep as she wasn't herself and just kept going downhill. Sadly she didn't make it to the next day :(