Goodby Dillys darling

Dillys died today.

Dillys, and her twin sister Phyllis,  were hatched in 2014 from one of the Welsh Black harem girls and our gorgeous boy Henry.    Unlike all the other black offspring,  they had flat ('normal') combs instead of pea combs.  She was, like her sister,  large, bolshy, inquisitive and friendly.  Always pecking for attention, always tripping us up for treats.

She had been off colour, on and off,  for a little while. We'd seen her a few times (not when it was this hot) with a blue tinge to her comb,  and each time we've thought she was probably going to go, so it's not exactly unexpected.   She looked a bit off colour again on Wednesday, and DH gave her some Nutridrops... but this time,  it was the last.   I don't think it was particularly the heat, although I guess that might have been the last straw.

I can't find many pictures of  her (them).   I found this one, which has both of them in.  I can't tell them apart in the picture... I often couldn't tell them apart unless they were both in front of me at the same time.  In case you can't see the combs, one of them is on the left eating from a fruit bush;  the other is in the foreground looking at the slab.

I guess flat combed chicks are more likely, now that our cockerel is a Vorwerk.They'd have to go some to be as cheeky as Phyllis and Dyllis.

I haven't told Small Person yet.    I'll wait until we are chatting tonight.    I would bet that, after she's interrogated me on the details of what happened and had a bit of a reminisce about Dillys,   she'll ask me whether it means we can keep more girls from this year's hatch.

Poor babies

The chicks are really struggling with the heat. 

CHickens dont sweat.  They lose heat through their combs and wattles.  If it's really hot, and they can't lose enough heat through the combs and wattles,  they pant.  They are coarrying around feather duvets, and they often have to lift their wings up to try and let some air flow in.

Most of the chicks have no combs or wattles yet, so the ONLY way they can lose heat is panting.  Sometimes, this isn't enough... you may remember that we lost one to heatsroke last week.    Our chooks have a gazebo, a tree, and some other shade.  They have an electric fan.  WeThey have waterers which are re-filled twice a day (so the replacement water is cooler). 

Recently we added two shallow troughs (one was a cat litter tray we bought to use as a chick dust bath, the other was a washing up bowl which is usually used when the allotmenteers need a bath).   A small amount of water,  we tried getting them to stand in them initially, but that didn't work.  Now we use them as additional drinkers, with water refreshed seveeral times a day.    We throw in some sunflower seeds (which the chicks love, but which are far too fattening for them), so the chicks have to dunk their faces to get to them.

Yesterday it hit 35 degrees and the chicks were struggling.    Small Person and I ended up giving each chick a quick bath,  just enough to get them damp.     In the aftermath of the bath, none of the chicks were panting, and they all looked quit ecomfortable.    Of course it wore off, so we ended updoing it several times a day.

I tried using a sprinkler on mist (as recommended by FlytesoFancy), but the chicks were too afraid of it.  

Today, I've put bottles of frozen water in the troughs, to try and keep the water cooler for longer.    Of course the chicks didn't like this change... but sunflower seeds in the water meant it wasn't long before they were trying to stand on the bottles to reach in to the water.

We've got a small area of shrub which they don't currently have access to,  and I've been busy pruning the bay tree so we can get some netting round it.     Then they can have that, and hopefully that will be enough for them to withstand today's temperatures without repeated bathing.  I've done them once today so far.

We tried feeding the chicks some tiny cubes of cucumber, but they didn't want to know.   Small Person sat for ages in with the Big Girls feeding them cucumber.

Rest of the week

It continues hot and, apart from a welcome short drizzle last night, no rain.

PinkComb is still with us.  Several times a day I've been picking him up, bringing him in, and giving him a drink from a syringe.  Up until yesterday, he drank every time.   I've also been massaging his crop, as I think he has a bit of a blockage.

Yesterday he didn't want to drink from the syringe, and he seemed quite perky.

I'll keep an eye on him, of course.

It's now easier to tell who is a boy and who is a girl.  If the 6 black chicks,  PinkComb BlackRing and OrangeRing are boys;  purple ring is a girl;  I'm not sure about RedRing and PinkRing.    Of the others,  Brownie is a boy,  Number 6 may be a girl (although that might be wishful thinking),  and Penguin...well, I'm not sure.

Penguin, Number 6 and Purple Ring spend a lot of time together. 

Black Ring, the least hand tame, likes to climb on the coop and then fly out of the run. 

They don't look like chicks now, they all look like tiny chickens.

Back in the Big Girls coop, Poppy has given up being broody.  She has been out for a couple of days, and is being completely vile to Faye.  I'm guessing that Poppy has slipped down the pecking order to fourth, and doesn't want to bottom.     It gave me a tinmely reminder of how difficult it is going to be if I decided to add more girls to their flock.

Poppy can't help it.  She endured torment from monster hen Milly (something I very much regret not dealing with sooner).     She did not tke kindly to the introduction of Faye, Sasha and Fleur,    and I suspect that the nastiness may have affected them too.

Yesterday and this morning

Later on, another bird - PinkComb, a boy - seemed a bit listless.  I picked him up, but he wasn't particularly warm so heatstroke seemed unlikely.  I gave him some yoghurt (laced with AviPro), which he refused to eat,  and I attempted to give him some vitamins.  I ended up wearing the vitamin drops.

I put him back in the run.  He was eating and drinking a bit, but didn't look right.

This morning, he was OK, but not quite himself.  I made up the dog crate for him,  but he's not letting me catch him (which is a good thing I suppose).

I've been scrubbing and disinfecting all drinkers and feeders in both the Chick area and the Big Girls area.    I've bought some Coxoid, just in case we need it.

It's not licensed for poultry, but it used  to be the thing that chicken keepers used.    I'm not sure whether to dose everyone, just in case.

They've all been sitting around this morning.  That's not unusual,  but it is worrying when I'm in a state of anxiety.   

In an attempt to get them to do something, I  refilled the dust bath. Fresh sand, fresh woodash, fresh topsoil.     They all attempted to get in.  At the same time.

PinkComb was in the midst of the dustbath, and he's (mostly) wandering around with the others and is eating and drinking.

Stressful day.

So. Very. Sad.

One of our chicks died yesterday.

I could see that she wasn't right. She was sitting away from the others, and kept moving away when any of them came to keep her company.

It looked like heatstroke,  so I did a cut down version of the usual stuff.  She was very warm. Chicks are very warm, but she seemed warmer than 'normal'.   I thoroughly wetted a towel,  with warmish water, wrapped the chick in it,  then wet a small rag and put it over her head.  I unwrapped her so she would feel the cooling effects, and rewet it.  I put it underneath her.  I checked her over to see if I could see any signs of injury, and I checked her vent in case there was blood.

I was loathe to do anything more dramatic. I wasn't sure she could cope with being more thoroughly wetted.     

I squirted some water in her beak, using my smallest syringe. I mixed some Avipro ith a tiny bit of yoghurt which she ate.and then put her back outside. I put a wet towel next to her so she could lean on it if she wanted. 

An hour later, I got her out again, and repeated it.   

A little later she took herself up to bed.

And then I heard a scuffle from inside the coop, and I knew she had died.

Poor little poppet.

Benched

We moved the chick bench into the chicks enclosure,  so they'd have something to jump up and down from, and somewhere to congregate off the floor.

We had a discussion about whether to put it in or not.  The reason for the discussion is that Wash had adopted the bench and really liked stretching out on it, and it seemed mean to steal it back from him.

But, steal it back we did.

It's been a great success.

I might see about getting another one for Wash.

Photo call

They are starting to turn into young chickens now,

Brownie

Penguin

Brownie, PinkComb, and 3 of the other black chicks

Number 6

Shade

It's so hot! 

33 degrees Celsius yesterday.


Everywhere is tinder dry.   We've rearranged the Big Girls area so that they have the back fence and shrubs, andthat's where they spend most of the day.  It's pleasant and cool there.     They have a waterer there too, so they don't have to go back in the Run to get a drink.

It was more problematic for the Littlees.  We'd been putting up the table shade, which casts a shadow over part of their run for most of the day.  I'd put some special greenhouse shading on the run, which blocks the heat but lets the air in.

Then I'd had to put a shade shade on the run.

Then I'd added in some pram shades, but they were a bit dangerous. All these things only helped shade the run, not the free range area.

In the end we excavated Myshed to find the gazebo, and it for them.   It's something like 3m square, so it covers a good part of their area.   They also have 3 watering stations.

Can't do much about the grassm though.

Jumpy Uppy

Small Person (I really must come up with a better name for her now) came after school earlier in the week.     She sat in the run and played pick up chicks (holding each one correctly and giving himher a treat as a reward),  and then she decided to try and teach them JumpyUppy.   She wasn't quite clear with her arm, and ended up being mugged by a swarm of small chickens.

Since then, I've neen training them to do jumpy uppy myself.  They are getting the hang of the flying up,  but they have no concept of taking turns,  and the opportunist ones interpret any bit of arm as an invitation.   We've probably got 6 or 7 that are happy to jump up now.

It came in handy today because Penguin escaped.   I brought the treat bowl out,  offered my arm,  and heshe gently landed on my arm and got carried back.    No drama.

My arm is quite badly scratched, because the little ones have such sharp claws.

I've also done pick up chicks as well, to make sure they don't lose that skill.

They really are a lovely bunch.    

Brownie is six weeks old tomorrow, Penguin is 6 weeks on Saturday,  the other 2 earlies are 6 weeks on Sunday.     The rest of the bunch are 5 weeks old now.

Time to stop putting the hen on overnight.

Beddy Byes

It's continued to be unbearably hot.

A few nights ago, we decided to see if the chicks would take themselves to bed.  7 managed it, 3 did not.  The following night, 9 managed it and 1 did not.  It has continued like that for several nights now.

The sleeping positions vary.  Some nights they are all on the floor,  some nights 7 of them pack on to the top of the hen.     I've still been putting the hen on before  I go to bed, because it gets a bit nippy at 4 in the morning.

We've tried teaching the straggler to go up the stairs, but she just isn't getting the hang of it. 


Today, after I mucked out.  I  decided to put the roosting bars in.  I don't want to force them to sleep on roosting bars though, so they also have a flat nest box as an option,   plus the top of the hen.  It will be interesting to see where they choose to sleep.

This morning

I was expecting to be woken very early by Faye.  I hadn't closed the pop hole, because of the heat.   Usually this means they get up at about 4am, and Sasha and Faye start whingeing straight away.  This morning, there was nothing until someone - Fleur I think - started crowing at about 6.   She stopped after a few goes,  so I went back to sleep.

DH went down to make a cup of tea,  and I got up at about 7.45 to see what the Sasha Situation was.

She as alive.  She looked reasonable, although not right. She refused food and water.  Her tail was up, but her wings were down.  I picked her up and she felt cool.  I took her out to the run, and watched to see what happened.

She went to the drinker and drank.  Quite a lot.  Then she stood for  while,  and then she jumped up on the garden chair which acts as one of their many perches.    I left her there.

She's been OK during the day, and her wings are returning to their normal position.  She's a bit quiet, so not completely well,  but she looks OK.

We've left the Intensive Care suite made up in the kitchen.

Heatstroke

The Big Girls have been suffering with the heat.  Gloria has been physically panting;   Fleur and Gloria have diarrhoea; Poppy is still broody;   Sasha and Faye have been OK.

I've been giving Fleur and Gloria a little yoghurt each day, laced with Nutridops.  Sasha and Faye have had a small amount too. Poppy has had a little, but not so interested.

I've been feeding them lettuces, and some watermelon, during the day.   We changed their free ranging area - DH mowed the grass especially - so that they have access to all the area under the trees at the back of their run. This also gives them more under-hedge space,  so adds to the amount of shade they already had.

Sasha had been in the nest box for a long time.  I opened it up to have a look,  and she was in there looking very unwell.  She was so very hot.   I shut the nest box door, and ran into the house.  I pulled some old towels out of out old towel basket,  put them in a bucket, and covered them with cool water.  Not too cold,  I didn't want to risk shock.

Back at the coop , I lifter Sasha out of the coop and onto a towel, I wrapped it over her, covered her head with a small towel, and held her carefully.  The towel was baking.  She dozed off (which wasn't a good sign). I swapped it for another one.  I put a small towel underneath each wing. 

When she was cooler, I let her go.   I then went and gave Fleur and Gloria a wet towel treatment.  They seemed to enjoy it.  Poppy didn't want it, so I let her go.  I couldn't catch Faye.

I noticed that Sasha had gone back in the nest box, and when I opened the door, she had her head underneath Poppy.

I took her in the house, and sat with her on my lap, both of us getting soaked in wet towels.  I syringed some water (laced with Avipro) into her, but she didn't want to drink.   After nearly an hour of towel changing, she had cooled down,  and I put her back in the run.  Faye came and tried to peck her head.  

I picked Sasha up, took her back in to the house, and this time I put her in a sink with some cool (not cold) water.   She was again covered in a towel, and this time I used the kitchen spray,m on low,  and sprayed the towel.   Spraying her directly would be too painful for her, and I also needed to be careful about the temperature of the water.

As the sink filled, she sat down,  and gradually got very drenched. She was dozing, and I held her head so she didn't drown.   I syringed more water in to her,   a tiny bit at a time, stopping each time to let her 'swallow'.    She looked in a bad way.

I've had a hen with heatstroke before.  Years ago Milly, our horrible horrible bully hen,  suffered from it  and I had been through this with her.  She survived, and had been in a worse state than Sasha.

Eventually,  she seemed much cooler.   She sat there,  most unlike her.    I put her in a dry towel, and we made up a dog crate in the kitchen for her.  Water,  chick crumb, Alfamix chick, in pots.    When she was drier,  I put her in the crate.   She stood there, tail and wings down,  looking very unwell. She wasn't interested in the water, which was the most worrying thing.

Things didn't change much during the evening.  She stood in one place,  and I was preparing myself for coming down in the morning to find her dead.

She didn't die.

She looked better,   but still didn't look right.  She wasn't eating or drinking,  She was dry, of course.   I put her back in the run with the others. She had a long, long drink.   Then she stood around a bit.  A few minutes later, she was on the arm of the chair.

And an hour later,  she's squawking in response to Faye's egg announcement.

She looks better.  Here's hoping.

Pre-teen

We're now at pre-teen stage.

The chicks know their own minds, thank you very much.   They understand treats and the treat bowl,  and we now have 9 of the 10 who come to be picked up. They no longer queue patiently they barge into each other and jostle.

Number 6,  the youngest and coincidentally the smallest, chick has cast off his shyness and manages to be number 3 or 4 in the picky up and treat games.       We've started lap training which has nothing to do with circuits,  it's getting them to sit (stand) on our laps while we stroke them.    

Of course they don't stay on our laps,  but those that leap off usually just go round and round the outside of the chicken run.   A couple of them, however,  have realised that there is a world beyond the run.  One of the little black chicks is particularly adept at running off.

A couple of days ago, it ran off, got caught, flew out of my hands, climbed up the outside of the run (The Wrong Trousers style) and stood on the top.  S/he then flew off the top of the run, landing in front of a surprised cat.  

Luckily for all concerned,  Wash showed great restraint.  He rolled over so his back was to the tempting morsel.

That night, none of the chicks woudl stay in the bucket.  As dast as I put them in there (with food), another would hop out.  I had a sea of chicks running around., flapping.   Wash, who was lying nearby and who was concentrating hard on not looking at the chicks,  started to twitch.  Then he jumped up and walked away, round th eother side of the Pampas.   Out of the way of temptation, I think.

I threw some Alfamix Chicks in the run and most of them ran in.   We had to carry the chicks back to the shed two by two.

More work on getting them to use the ladder today, I think.  Once a few of them have mastered it, we'll be able to consider putting the chicks outside overnight (with an electric hen if necessary).

Chicks in the sun

The chicks are enjoying the freedom of the grass run.

 It's so hot, we've put up the table shade to cast more shade on them.

Brotherly Love

My latest birthday card make

Before During After

DH has spent ages sanding down the garden table and chairs.  The mouse sander is great for this, but it takes its toll on the hands.

L: before; C: sanded unrtreated; D finished

The difference is startling.

DH has said he might do a second coat... but as he's also planning on doing the swing and the companion set,  I think he'll have had enough long before then.

4ish weeks

The older chicks are now 4 weeks old;  the next 5 are 5 dys younger,  and the youngest is 3 weeks.

They're outside, in a secure run,  for as much of the time as the weather allows.  It needs to be dry and warm, so some days they've been out for about 7 hours, otherdays they haven't been out at all. 

The shed brooder has been extended again.  We've now removed the plastic stuff that we use to make it round (or oval),  and we've put weldmesh panels along the open bit to make it harder for the enterprising youngsters to fly up and perch.

Hand taming is coming along really well.   7 or 8 of the ten now rush to be picked up when they see me get the treat bowl out. The treats are actually just Garvo Alfa Chick feed, but they get very excited about it.

It's great when I want to catch them to take them outside, or to catch them to bring them back in again.  I hope it continues as they get older.

The remaining 2 or 3 just don't really want to be picked up, which is fair enough.  I usually end up taking the 7 or 8 who do out to the garden,  and then come back for the stragglers.  If there's one straggler,  s/he cheeps loudly and pitifully when it realises it's left on its own.   I usually leave it alone while I take the feeders out, and then come back and catch it.

This tactic has sort of worked with Number 6, who is the youngest and one of the stragglers.   He's still one of the last 2 or 3 to be picked up,  but he hasn't been the last one for some time.

One of the smallest black ones,   so one of the youngest,   acts unlike the others.  S/he doesn't want to be picked up, which is OK.  If she ends up on her own, s/he doesn't cheep loudly.  Today she was left on her own while I conveyed the others (7 then 2) out to the garden run.   I came back in to the shed to get her, to find her perched up on the top of the weldmesh, waiting.    S/he's an interesting one.

Back in the run,  a couple of them (Penguin - who is the Leghorn/Legbar cross from a bought-in egg,  and a little black one - possibly the interesting one mentioned earlier) have tried climbing the ladder up to the coop.  Neither made it to the top, even though the pop hole was open.  

Once the group starts to take an active interest in going up and down the steps then we can consider moving them to the outside coop.   It's only possible to even vaguely consider this if the weather forecast is warm and dry,  and even then we would still have an electric hen on in the coop itself.

Otherwise, they'll stay in the shed overnight.

Procrastination

For most of my adult life, I've been excellent at resisting procrastination.    I realised very early on that procrastination is the thief of time and that it's much better to just get on with things.  

All the effort spent in putting them off is just wasted time, energy and emotion.

I've always excelled at working out exactly why I'm tempted to procrastinate (don't really want to do something,  don't know how,  don't agree with it,   etc etc).  And then I've always dealt with the issue and not allowed myself to procrastinate.

I've never had the luxury of time to procrastinate before.
 

Now I have time on my hands, and I've lost the ability to decisively make myself just get on with it.  I still recognise immediately if I'm in danger of procrastinating,  and I still work out exactly why i'm procrastinating.. I've just lost the ability to stop myself actually procrastinating.

I'm doing it now. Procrastinating.

The very act of thinking about it,  complaining about it,  googling images to see if any match up with me,  writing about it... it's all procrastination.

I think confessing it here is my way of trying to give myself a boot up the backside.

Patience

The chicks are 3ish weeks old now, and are feathering up well. They are growing quickly, and we've been putting them outside when it is sunny enough (and not too windy). 

Yesterday they were out for nearly 5 hours.  They have a secure run, food & water and grit,  shelter,  and an electric hen.   They don't use the hen very often, although they do try and all sit on the top sometimes.

When they are in the Shed brooder, I spend a lot of time (and patience) trying to get them to feel comfortable being handled.   I now have about 6 of the ten who will wait for me to pick them up.  The reward is a food treat (actually the lovely Garvo Alfa Chick feed which they love).. Several of them will come back repeatedly and stand waiting to be gently scooped up and rest on the palm of my hand.  One or two don't mind being picked up, but they don't want to lie in the palm of my hand.

Yesterday I practiced picking them up while they were in the grass run.  That went OK, but it's hard lying on the ground for so long!

While they were out I cleaned out the brooder.  It wasn't really dirty, but it was a bit smelly - mainly from the excavated food that gets damp and then warm.

Alittle while later, it looks much the same as it did before.

Buckets

I use a large trug bucket to move the chicks from the shed brooder to the outside run.

Yesterday, some of the chicks dicovered that if they flapped really hard, they could get to the top of the bucket.  What one chick discovers, quickly becomes common knowledge.  Catching them to take them out was a pain.  Catching them to put them back had to be done in relays.

They haven't discovered the dust bath yet, which has been in the outside run for them the last couple of times they've been out.

Maybe today?