Hippie Chick

Well, the only change since the colder weather is that Timmy the Speckledy has now started laying eggs too!

She's still going strong - well, 8 eggs so far anyway! Tonight we've gone down to below freezing though...

Hmmm... I've just seen others have eggs too! Definitely the weather then 😄

I think the warm weather is messing things up here in Yorkshire. My roses are still in flower and today I opened the chicken coop up to clean it and found an egg! I confirmed it was from Brunhilde my Bluebelle girl when she squatted for me, so I gave her a bit of a cuddle for her efforts ❤️ I wonder if she'll stop laying when the weather turns cold again?

Speckledys are Rhode Island Red x Maran, yours does look more Maran than mine does. The Speckledy lays brown eggs that are usually speckled, I'm not sure if Marans lay speckled eggs? Anyway, this is my Speckledy for comparison and one of her eggs (turns out I don't have a decent current photo so this is from when we first got her).

If you mean that her rear is moving in time with her breathing, sort of pulsing then some do it more than others I've noticed. My Bluebelle has always shown prominent movement like this but the others I have to look at closely to see a similar thing.

Sorry I can't help you Natspringy but sounds like a good idea

Great news

Natspringy there's a Facebook page she has called A Coven of Cackling Hens where you can find out more about Checkers and see how she was a few months ago as well, but if you don't have Facebook this is the text that went with the video "This is AMAZING! Checkers is walking! If you are new, this is Checkers. She is an exchequer leghorn. She began to show symptoms of Marek’s disease in January. It hit hard and fast. In the matter of a couple days, she went from normal late teen peep to paralyzed, barely able to hold her head up. I immediately had a dander test done and it came back positive. We are a Marek’s positive flock. But there was something in Checker’s eyes, she wanted to live. She went through many uncontrollable muscle spasms, but the next moment she was looking for pets and love. Marek’s attacks the nerves. The paralyzation happens when it attacks the sciatic nerve. I began vitamin and CBD oil therapy. I carefully watched (and still do) her liquid and food intake. Feeding time was messy as I held a cup of mash right up to her beak for her to eat. But soon she has able to eat on her own. We received the incredibly kind donation of a Chicken Therapy Chair. Checkers was not a huge fan, but it provided and easy way for her to eat and drink. And it made physical therapy much more productive. Soon she was sitting up nice and tall. Then she was getting strong enough and flopping herself out of the chair. As I said, she was not a fan! In March, she began “running in place” while in her wheel chair or laying down. Her legs would uncontrollably go through the motion of running. It was exhausting on her. Sometimes her legs would run most of the night. As suddenly as the running started, it stopped. But we saw an immediate drastic improvement! Checkers was standing. Just barely off the floor and for short periods, but wow! Slowly she stood taller and taller. Next she started walking. The walk had a lot of wing flap and zero steering, but it was forward motion. And now look at her! Those are deliberate steps with more control! The will and soul of this little being is STRONG!"

I'm on Facebook and have been following a backyard chicken keeper's page for a couple of years now. She's situated in Arizona and like most of us she's been learning as she goes along. Several of her flock died unexpectedly and unfortunately Marek's was the cause. One chicken, only a few weeks old when Marek's struck suffered leg paralysis and the usual weakness that Marek's brings seemed particularly feisty and her owner decided to give her a fighting chance as long as she didn't seem to be suffering. A chicken wheelchair was donated, she became an indoor chicken and amazingly today 'Checkers' was able to walk around again. Her owner is an incredibly compassionate lady and has documented her experience of Marek's and shared her research with us and how it's affected the way she's had to change how she treats her little flock even when she's been heartbroken by her losses. It's been a very informative - and today heartwarming - journey and I hope Checkers continues to make progress. I'm going to share a link to the video and summary of what's happened, fingers crossed it works. If it doesn't then if you are on Facebook and interested in taking a look then the page is A Coven of Cackling Hens. Here goes: Checkers

Newland Poultry sell it online too, both the coated pellets and the tub which works out at £33.50 with delivery added on. There is an online form to fill in first to satisfy the prescription requirements, then you just order as soon as you've done that.

They look very similar to my Green Frog coop. When it got hot here (for a week lol) I noticed that the coop was noticeably cooler inside than the outside heat. The recycled plastic didn't attract the heat and that was something I was worried about too. I know it's not the same as the Solway ones but it's closer than the Omlet ones.

Thanks Dogmother She's been perfectly fine since, no eggs but that's fine too. She's as ravenous as always and has way more energy than me, although she's been mightily unimpressed by the snow!

My 3 year old Rhode Rock, Agnes, has successfully laid an egg today which appears normal. She remained in the egg box when I let them all out to free range but wandered out when I annoyed her by taking the eggs out of the box. She was having a good grumble at me when she had a bit of a normal poo (sorry) and also passed a tablespoon or so of clear jelly/thick egg white and 3 things that I can only describe as looking like baked beans. Apparently the baked beany things and the egg white was delicious She's seems OK in herself, she's with the others all having a group preening session, ran like a maniac to be first in the queue when she saw me approaching with tinned tuna (in spring water) and is walking OK, no limps or stiff gait. They were all wormed at the end of November. So, as long as she's OK in herself I'm more interested than worried. I can well believe that she's at the end of her egg laying life as she laid nearly every day for the first 2 years, all through the winter to the expense where she couldn't re-feather properly after moulting and despite my best efforts she's always been too thin. This winter she's had a break and re-feathered and put on some weight. She started egg laying again in January but maybe only 1 egg per week. She's very welcome to go into a healthy retirement! I think the jelly is egg white that hasn't had a shell formed around it, her bum is clean so it seems to have been self contained. The baked bean things at first I assumed to be bits of shed oviduct, hopefully due to age and not due to a bad infection (I'll keep a close eye on her). Now I'm wondering if they were small eggs that never formed, I can remember someone doing a dissection on their chicken when it died naturally and showing photos of the eggs inside her from tiny little things through to eggs ready to lay and it did remind me of that. But then again she laid a normal looking egg as well. Any thoughts or experiences?

Clara is my lavender araucana - she's very possibly my favourite out of the lot. Unfortunately the place I got mine from stopped selling chickens due to the bird flu outbreak a few years ago, they felt it wasn't worth carrying on with all the restrictions. Clara is very friendly and actually likes and wants to be carried around, she loves the attention. She has the biggest character out of the lot of them and is a very good layer of turquoise to light blue coloured eggs, about 4 a week. The eggs are equivalent to a supermarket small size, I save hers for boiled eggs as they are so tasty and the yolk is large. She's a bit out of the ordinary in that she goes broody a lot. She will lay about 10 eggs then is broody again but it's just the luck of the draw as they're not really known for being as broody as that. Unlike some hens that apparently get annoyed when they're broody she's still thrilled to be picked up and thinks her broody cage is a special treat just for her and marches into it herself once I've turfed her off everyone else's eggs! She's probably a bit deranged lol. She fits in with the rest of the flock very well, although she's the smallest one she doesn't get bullied and is good natured with those lower in the pecking order. If I were starting over again I'd choose a flock of Araucanas and pure bred Sussex. Edited to add - just seen Dogmother's post above mine "mad as heck" sounds about right!