... And not so thin egg shells

Good news on the egg front. The last three sets of eggs have been completely normal with good strong shells, so I think we can rule out calcium deficiency. I think Cissy must just had a fright (or was disturbed by one thing or another) while in mid-lay in the nest.

I did, however, do my research, in case it happens again. I found that baked and crushed egg shells should be enough to provide them with calcium, or alternatively I could spike their pellets with a small amount of limestone flour (a calcium supplement for horses) and cod liver oil (to help to absorb the calcium). The important thing is only to give them one supplement at a time, because over-dosing the chickens with calcium might lead to other problems.  

Have I learned anything from this? Yeah, keep your nose out of the coop unless both of the chickens are out!

Thin egg shells

This morning I found something interesting in the nest. My first thought was that I shouldn't have been feeding the chickens their egg shells as they now seem to have developed a taste for eggs, but on closer inspection I could see that the shell was very thin, so instead of an egg eating monster I have at least one chicken (Cissy by the looks of things) that's not getting enough calcium to produce strong shells.

Now that I think about it, they seem to have been pecking the grit pot a lot... I've topped it up with grit mixed with (baked and crushed) eggshells, and they're not getting any treats for a couple of days. If that doesn't help then it's time for more drastic action, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Mission bum wash

 

After a few weekly inspections I can now say that our chickens are lice-free. It took three weekends of spraying, but the nasties have finally gone. It was a nice and warm day yesterday, so I thought I'd tackle their dirty bums next. I was dreading it, thinking that the chickens wouldn't be taking it quietly, but it went better than I expected.

I put some warm water in a flexi tub and got into position, while Hubby grabbed Bella and then plonked the poor chicken in the water. I was trying to give her a good wash, but soon realised there wasn't enough water in the tub. Hubby let Bella go, I went back in to fill the tub a bit more and then it was Cissy's turn. She wasn't a happy chook, but eventually settled down. I was pretty pleased with myself, until I realised that Bella's bum was barely wet and that she still needed a good wash. This time I thought I'd try to tackle the task by myself, so I grabbed her and put her in the tub while Hubby was busy trimming the lawn edges. A big mistake if you only have two hands! Hubby came to help as soon as he could stop laughing and we finally got chicken number two clean. Phew!

I was chuffed that we managed to get both of the girls nice and clean, but the chickens didn't look too happy. They marched to the border to sulk and to dry themselves in the warm soil. I've never seen such a sorry sight.

Today I've been admiring my two lovely chickens and smiling from ear to ear. Sometimes it only takes two fluffy chicken bums to make me happy.

Spring cleaning

Cleaning the chicken coop is an ideal job for warm days, so as soon as the weather warmed up we took the whole coop apart and washed every nook and cranny. We used an ecological washing up liquid and a coarse brush to give it a good scrub, then rinsed the foam off and left the parts to dry in the sun. After putting the coop back together I sprayed the insides of the coop with a lice/mite spray to prevent any nasties and left the door and the eggport open to ventilate the coop before letting the chickens back in the run.

At this point I asked Hubby to catch the chooks one by one, so that I could give them a quick health check. This time I wasn't so totally shocked to find out that the girls had lice as it has happened before and the first time it was very easy to get rid of them. We sprayed the chickens and a few days later Cissy laid us this whopper as a thank you.


Our first XL-sized egg



To make sure all the lice had gone I sprayed the chickens again the following weekend and was happy to see their bums looking healthier already. I would have thought that this would be more than enough to get rid of all the lice and the eggs, but after having just checked the girls again I found Cissy's bum crawling with the little buggers. I didn't find any on Bella, but nevertheless both of the chickens got sprayed again. This time I'll be keeping a very close eye on the chickens and I will not let go of the spray can until all the nasties are gone. I don't know if I should blame the warm weather or the visiting wild birds, but I'm not liking it one bit!

We've got nasties!

Image from: http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum

Almost a week ago I finally managed to have a closer look at Bella's bottom feathers while Hubby was holding her and to my utter shock and horror, found some little critters moving near the vent. A quick look at the Chicken Clinic told me they were lice. For a moment I felt like a complete failure, but reading further on made me realise that it's a very common problem and it can be easily solved. I happened to have bought some sort of mite and lice spray* and had in fact treated the birds not too long ago as a precaution, but as I wasn't sure that they had lice I wasn't being vigilant enough. This time I made sure everything got treated. I cleaned and sprayed the coop and made sure it was dry and well ventilated before letting the chooks in. While Hubby was holding Bella, I parted some feathers and sprayed straight at the lice. Cissy wouldn't let us anywhere near her after one failed attempt to grab her, so we waited until she was half asleep in the coop before giving her bottom feathers a good squirt.

The spray seemed like a good all-in-one product for getting rid of all sorts of nasties, but I was quite shocked to find out that after spraying the birds there would be a seven day egg withdrawal period. I was agonising over throwing away all the eggs that were laid after Sunday and decided to do some research. I found that some people think it's perfectly ok to eat the eggs, but others would rather throw away the eggs that have been laid within the seven day period. I'm going to compromise between the two and (as suggested by another chicken keeper) bin the eggs laid within 48 hours of spraying the chickens and keep the rest. We can do this as long as the eggs are for our own comsumption and won't be sold to anyone.

I should treat the chickens again this Sunday to make sure I'll get rid of all the lice and their eggs, but if the weather is as cold as it has been for the past few days, I might have to wait and do the whole thing again later. The chickens are coping with the cold (Bella's still laying almost daily), but I don't want to make it harder for them by spraying wet stuff on them as it will take ages to dry in this weather.

Sorry about the picture (just thought someone might find it helpful), it doesn't half make me itch!

*) Pyrethrin based insecticide spray to destroy lice, fleas, ticks and red mite.

The worming begins

Today's the day I start worming my girls. As I said, they seem fine, but the common practise seems to be to worm chickens at least twice a year, especially if they are allowed to free-range as they might pick up all sorts of things while pecking the ground. I doubt mine have been wormed (was much too giddy to ask), so I decided to go for it, just to be on the safe side.

As soon as I woke up I went out to get the chicken feed and measured 2 kg of pellets with our not so reliable scales. I put a small amount in a big bowl, mixed it in with a level scoop of the worming stuff, Flubenvet, added the rest of the measured pellets and gave the lot a good mix.

It's still dark, but soon I'll go and let the chooks out and give them their medicated pellets for breakfast... The exact same meal they're going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next six days. I shouldn't give them any treats while they're being wormed to make sure it's effective, I must resist!

Hope it works!

Healthy chickens?

They eat, drink, poo, scratch the ground and walk about with a twinkle in their eye. In other words, they appear very healthy chooks. Despite this, I keep spotting (or imagining?) things like excessive preening, droopy tail feathers, pale faces, odd poos and scruffy knickers. Just to be on the safe side the chooks are still being fed all the possible tonics mixed with their food and water, and given warm oat porridge in the afternoons to keep them warm at night. They've been sprayed against lice, mites and every other sort of creepy crawlie known to man (and chickens) and I'm still in doubt. Should I be doing something else for them? To cover all bases, the king of the wormers, Flubenvet, is on the way.

I think the best thing to do is to stop reading the Chicken Clinic!