Archive for category Bea’s Blog

Want to know the story of my little Welsummer pullet’s amazing recovery from a near-death experience?

“Wellie” as she has become known (there are two of the same age & size in the “Big Shed” – you can’t tell them apart!) was found by Mr Bea in the nesting box, all limp & eyes closed.
He brought her out & placed her on the wheelie bin/food bin to show me when I got home from work on Monday. However, by the time I got home, he’d then played mid-wife to our goat & there were two gorgeous female kids to surprise me too!!   (for cute photo, see my “2011 poultry plans” blog!)
In the end, little Wellie was still on the bin quite late on.. I said we ought to dispatch her (I hold them & he uses the dispatcher, as he doesnt like the twitching & I dont like to watch!!) but he was reluctant, saying she was virtually gone anyway.

The next day, I went to her & her eyes were half open!
She was able to orientate her head as I moved her body round, but couldnt move her  legs or wings independently or fully open her eyes. This meant I could dip her beak in water & she could swallow if I held her up. We isolated her and agreed to see how she went on.
A marvel of evolution, a bird’s ability to “head track” – that is, to keep their heads (and therefore eyes) totally stationary while the rest of the body moves.
By Wednesday, she could lift her head up & was beginning to flap one wing… after “bedtime” we peeked in and she had shuffled herself all the way around the coop to the other side.

Thursday, Wellie went out in a cage to catch some sun & look at/talk to her friends. I didnt want her to get trodden on by them, so didnt put her in with them.

Today, Friday, she has a limp, as one foot is still very curled up. but she is able to move quite well, and has found her voice again! We are hoping to re-introduce her to the “Big Shed” over the weekend.

We have concluded that she had sustained a head and/or neck injury from flying about in the shed.
The Derbyshire Redcaps fly up & roost on the shelf in the shed, we did use it for storage when the warrens lived there… but of course the Reds make a mess up there. I saw a Welsummer up there for the first time ever a week or so ago. It quite an awkward flight, high but not much “take off” or “run up” space.

So of course, we are thrilled that she is getting fitter day by day, and sooo glad we didnt euthanise her on Monday.

So come on, who has big plans for their poultry keeping this year? 

Ok, so its March already, but Spring has been a long time coming and after a beautiful sunny weekend here at Stile Croft, I’m looking to the future!

I have set the incubator for the first time this year, in the hope that when the eggs have hatched & the chicks are off heat, it will be nice and warm outside.  There are 17 Light Sussex and 6 Silver laced Wyandotte eggs in there… roll on hatching time!  (I’ve no patience when it comes to little fluffy baby things!)

I know the old saying about “Don’t count your chickens til they’re hatched” … but I have big plans for them!  The Wyandotte girls will go into the “big shed” where the colourful hens are, and we are hoping to set up three small breeding pens with the Light Sussex girls.  There will be one group with a LS cockerel (probably the best from this hatch, in with the three older girls we have already) then one with our black Silkie cockerel, Lenin. This will give us sex-linked chicks and “goldtop” hens who apparently make excellent broody mothers.  The last group will be added to my trio of Rhode Island Reds, the sex-linked chicks here will give us Warren-like hybrids, for good egg laying.

It’s quite long-term, and requires a fair amount of DIY in the next few weeks & months, some careful introductions and lots of patience!

We have ended up with more Drakes than ducks in the “Quacky” pen.  So two of the Aylesburies are advertised, hopefully a good home can be found soon.  The girls ahve started laying now, so we are enjoying duck eggs as well as variety of different coloured & sizes of hens’ eggs. 

The quail on the other hand are still feeling wintery – no eggs yet, since September!  They are lovely little birds … but I’m beginning to understand while shops charge so much for quail eggs

One last thing …. our goat kidded on the Spring Equinox, two beautiful little girls!  They are absolutely gorgeous, and Geraldine is very proud & very good mum.  Its only her second kidding, and although difficult, she and the girls are doing well.

I’m back!

Its been a while, sorry.  But we’ve had quite an eventful few months and the rural internet connection isn’t what it should be!  The last blog from Stile Croft (the World of Bea!) was during the heavy snow, when the dog was all excited and the hens were quite fed up!

This was followed by weeks and weeks of freezing temperatures, which makes  the care of the livestock soooo much harder….  Frozen drinkers, frozen pipes, extra food and bedding for all , its harder to actually walk anywhere, and a nightmare to fetch feed supplies.  Add to this a severely sprained wrist and injured shoulder from a (stupid!) fall on a wet and slippery path and you can see why I’m hoping Spring is coming soon!

I was relieved to be off work for the Christmas period, I dragged Mr Bea out to the shops the first day of my holidays…  we returned to find the central heating pipes had burst, flooding our kitchen and ruining the ceiling, carpet, cooker and most of the electrical equipment!  So Christmas dinner was a small affair cooked on a 2 ring hob & oven from out of the caravan, and we are still waiting for the repairs to be done and the Insurance to replace the damaged stuff.

We had some losses over the winter, three young hens, a young guinea pig, an old hen and just yesterday poor little Daffy Duck, our runner duck with a twist to her beak that looked like she was permenantly smiling! 

She was always a bit of a loner, and reluctant to be handled, so although I tried, she wasnt f or this life any longer.

Today, I’ve scrubbed out the big chicken shed and the duck house, then braved the wet of the ducks’ run to remove all the stray bits of straw and hay that stop it draining .

It looks much better, and hopefully the ducks will continue to use the house for laying their beautiful eggs rather than outside like the first few were!

  next time, I will insist that Mr Bea helps out!

Well, after a few cooler days… there’s suddenly 4 inches of snow outside!

No, we were expecting it really, Britain has had weather warnings all week. It was just a case of when and how much.  Following texts from my mum and a lack of agreement between myself and Mr Bea, I really did go out with a tape measure and check how much snow we’ve had.  We were kindly informed of the fact early- doors by a German Shepherd bounding in to wake us up!  She absolutely loves the snow and expects lots of snowball games…

What's there?!

So after a blast in the snow with the “puppy” (she’s 3!) I braved a proper look round the garden.   The layer chickens were refusing to leave their coop – can you blame them when it looked like this outside? 

The quail, guinea pigs and rabbits had to be dug out to some degree, but all were well & warm.  The pigs & piglets came out for breakfast, but were happy to go back into the shed rather than tramp though the snow. 

As for the goats, the hairy billy goat is not at all bothered by any sort of weather, he has a good thick & long coat and an amount of “billy grease” that keeps cold and wet off his skin.  His son Max wasn’t keen – he’s never seen snow before & it took him all day to decide to come out and have a proper look …. he wasn’t out long!  His mum has been happy to stay in by the hay rack, thankyou very much, and would like her water warmed slightly please !

I think this picture says it all … chickens aren’t so keen on snow, but will have a wander out if they think there’s a chance of food!

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here to post – lots going on at home & work… and suddenly it seems to be Winter again!  Getting up in the dark, coming home from work in the dark, and having to wait til the weekend to look at my livestock in the daylight.  Hoorah for wind-up torches and huge rechargeable 500 billion candlepower lanterns (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration!)

So what do we need to do to get ready for the “proper” winter we might expect in England?

Firstly, I check all the animal housing.  The chicken pens need secure wire to a) keep them in, b) keep Foxy out and c) withstand the weight of fallen leaves, high winds and snow.  Any damp patches or damage to the woodwork needs investigating – it could be loose felt on the roof or rat damage.  We have had a very strange occurance of mould growth on the roof of one end of a double-ended chicken  house & run combo.  To prevent any respiritory problems in the girls, I have to keep on top of scrubbing it away with bleach (dont worry – the hens are well away from it when I do!) and allowing it to thoroughly dry before they go in.

The rabbit & guinea pig hutches get an extra covering during the winter: an eclectic collection of blankets, carpets, tarps, and towels to keep out the worst of the wet and cold (and to add abit of colour to the garden!) I’m thinking this year of bubble-wrapping all their water bottles to insulate them… but first I’ll have to change all the holders so they’ll sill fit on the front wire.

As for the hens, they have galvanised metal drinkers, which will ice up but won’t weaken or split like plastic ones.  The pullets drink absolutely gallons of water every day, so theirs will barely get chance to freeze!

As the little ones are now unlikely to start laying eggs  until the Spring, I have been adding a variety of mixed flakes (wheat, oats, barley, maize) to their pellets:  they are abit old for growers pellets so I just buy tonnes of layers pellets.   The cereals not only help the food go further, they also help the birds keep warm as they are high in energy.

Plenty of fresh, clean bedding for all the animals helps too.  Although both the goats and pigs tend to pile theirs up, then lie on the bare floor or use it like a pillow!  Its just a big game to them…     The piglets all snuggle up together, with “dad” Murphy lying across the open doorway to keep out the chills so I’m not too worried about them.  (the pig shed had a double door… but the girls knocked the bottom off, then tried to destroy it every time I replaced it until I got the message that they wanted to come and go as they please, thankyou very much!)

With the variety of creatures we have, I try to keep a good stock of feed in, in case bad weather stops me getting down to the agri merchant.  And I find that I do spend more on treats for them, like fruit and veg as the garden gets emptier through the Winter.  I’m sure if I was better organised, I could provide “greens” for us and the animals all year round … but you can’t have everything 

What alot of rain we’ve had this week!  well, this year really….

Our poor hens are getting to the point of needing wellies themselves.  The goats are really miserable – baby Max (3 months old and fun of mischief!) ventures out of the shed to the covered part of the pen, then refuses to go back out into the rain to get back.  So his mum Geraldine shouts him… he shouts back…. his mum shouts him… Max shouts back… you get the idea!    Daddy-goat has the sense to stay in the shed and keep well out of it – his beautiful long hair takes more looking after!

As for the ducks… they seem quite happy splashing about in the mud, they have their pond refilled to clean it several times a day.

But the poor hens.  We’ve tried sand, bark, pavers, covering the run top, and still when its continuous rain it ends up looking like the Somme. (no offence meant)  The water collects in puddles, which the more daft of the ex-battery hens like to drink from, despite the pure crystal-clear stuff in their drinkers.

At least the younger ones have the sense to stay indoors when its very wet.  This means they keep dry… and we get more to clean out from the shed when the rain stops!

What a week!

Over the last year, we have slowly added to our flock, and lost a few of the “old girls”…. to the point where I knew we had alot of hens, but no real idea of how many.

The total number of wings and beaks we have has really been brought home this week, as we have had to treat every bird from 6 week old Japanese quail to elderly ex-battery Warrens for suspected Coccidiosis by oral medication.

Last month, 2 of the oldest hens died,  including the boss Gladys.  As the saying goes, “where there’s live stock, there’s dead stock” and so although upset I put it down to age, and the previous demands on a battery hen.

On Friday, my husband text me at work to say we had lost another chicken.  By the time I got home (feeling very ill myself as it happens) there were 8 corpses in the greenhouse awaiting my inspection – 2 warrens, 4 tiny quail and my beloved Derbyshire Redcap hen, just 15 weeks old.  One of the warrens he said had been “gaping” and so armed with this, and my rather limited knowledge of chicken ailments I went off to the vets.

Once the receptionist had tracked down a vet who “knows about chickens,” we agreed on a course of treatment that consisted of Panacur wormer for two days, then 9 days off and another dose on the tenth day (its all counted up in my diary – my adding up is notoriously bad!) and they would send for some Baycox.  The Panacur (Fenbendazole)  will hopefully destroy any gape-worm or similar nasties, and if the cause is Coccidiosis, the Baycox is one of the few liscensed- for- poultry treatments available.

So armed with a pocket full of syringes, and an intruction to dose “0.5ml per kg” of chicken, off we went…

10 Warrens, 1 Maran, 1 Bluebell amd a very stroppy black Silkie cockerel in one pen.  7 adult quail and 8 babies in another.  The “big shed” with 2 light sussex, 2 black copper Maran, 1 frizzel Pekin, 3 Plymouth barred rocks, 7 Derbyshire Redcaps, 4 Welsummer, 1 naked neck and one mongrel.  And finally, 8 wet ducklings!

and two very tired, very muddy, coughing, sneezing people, with guestimates of birds’ weights spinning in our heads, and white splashes all down our overalls!  Phew, first dose done!

Dragging myself out of bed the following day, I found that the vets had forgotten to bring over the Baycox from the other surgery.  Instead, we were given Baytril, an anti biotic that would treat the infection and carry on the good work started by the Panacur. This time, “0.2ml per kg” for… wait for it…. 5 days!

how much of a kg does a baby quail weigh?   How do you keep track of who’s been dosed when they all look the same ? (purple spray on their foot works only the first two times – then you run out of places to spray the identifying mark!)  And how much fun is it, crawling around in the mud in the duck pen being quacked at, trying to catch Aylesburies straight from the pond?!!

But, thankfully, there have been no further casualties.  We don’t know for definite the cause of the deaths, but at least we know our girls (and boys) will be free of worms & parasites and if we have brought in Coccidiosis (or any other infection) with our latest birds, they should all be ok now.  3 more days of syringing to go…