Ali James' Garden Chickens

[Ribh]

Blue and Charlie have both been opening their mouths wide and making a bit of a retching movement in their throat.

They could be adjusting their crop. I have some chickens do this more than others. Or just yawning. I wouldn't worry unless they are obviously acting sick.

I have a favorelle who regularly gets what looks & sounds like hiccups. Incredibly weird but despite me freaking out the first couple of times it happened it is perfectly normal for her. She's my only chicken that does it too.

 

[Ribh]

I’ve also noticed that the second in pecking order is often the most outgoing

Interesting observation, @Kris5902. I've got pecking order flux but it's my outgoing girl causing all the ruckus. The other day she got herself sat on ~ literally ~ & hard!

 

[LozzyR]

They could be adjusting their crop. I have some chickens do this more than others. Or just yawning. I wouldn't worry unless they are obviously acting sick.

I have a favorelle who regularly gets what looks & sounds like hiccups. Incredibly weird but despite me freaking out the first couple of times it happened it is perfectly normal for her. She's my only chicken that does it too.

Yes, my girls will “yawn” on occasion and I asked my very experienced friend about that. She said the same thing about adjusting their crops. Although if you are feeding them sticky rice, you might want to break it up into tiny clumps. My Australorp gobbled down some big lumps of rice and then it looked like she’d got it stuck in her throat! I was freaking out, following her around with water in the hope she’d wash it down (you can lead a chook to water...) but she kept running off. She seemed to have it sorted by bedtime, but I resolved to break rice up into small clumps.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I feel silly now ....
On first reading I thought you might be referring to some complex chicken psychology about someone keeping guard / standing watch over the flock...

This is just the sort of thing I'd do too Ali

Hi @Kris5902 thanks for your thoughts. I didn't think it could be panting as the day has been quite mild heat wise. Plus there is a definite upwards pull from their throats when they do it; a bit like when a cat has a hairball.

When we rounded them up for bed, I had a feel of what I think is Blue's crop - I have no frame of reference at all - for all I know I could have been fondling her boobs! I will check again in the morning.

Silly girls repeated last nights performance of all trying to roost on the roof of the coop, and Delta repeatedly pushed everyone off one by one. I was expecting it to be much harder rounding them up this evening, as I thought they would have wised up to us. But it was pretty straight forward again. We didn't have to chase or grab anyone, we literally just picked them up of the roof and posted them through the pop door.

Its been lovely watching them again today.

I sit and watch mine too. I call it "Chicken meditation" . It's very relaxing ... Ohmmmmm.

The first time I noticed a full , and very protruding, crop on one of my hens , I thought she had some sort of tumor on her chest!

I found Chicken anatomy pictures very helpful. There is a good one on BYC but I couldn't find it.

Here's this pic in the mean time.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Wow! Today has been a whirlwind and so enjoyable. We picked up the girls this morning and brought them home. The moment we opened the box they all hopped out and began exploring their new digs. I spent several hours over the course of the day just sitting on the log watching them and have already learnt so much.

Let me introduce you to our flock:

View attachment 1894137
Left to right: Charlie (Heritage Skyline), Echo (Bovan Nera), Blue (Blue Rhode) and Delta (Light Sussex)

Oh, they are simply gorgeous!!

 

[Kris5902]

When we rounded them up for bed, I had a feel of what I think is Blue's crop - I have no frame of reference at all - for all I know I could have been fondling her boobs! I will check again in the morning.

Its been lovely watching them again today.

If that’s what it looked and felt like and one side felt a whole lot bigger, then you were probably checking the right spot! I’ve never heard it put so aptly though.

Here’s a really clear pic of a distended crop on one of my little ones from February and of a fullish, but a little less distended one in an adult girl (someone is a piggie!) if the “boob” is gone tomorrow morning before she gets feed or water then you found the right lump!

 

[Ali James]

<Yawn> Morning everyone. Up at 6am trying to get back into the regular daily routine in time for schools restarting this week.

The girls were pacing in their coop and couldn't wait to get out when F opened the pop door for them. There was no chance I could fondle Blue again before they all got to the feed and water. The all look perfectly normal this morning, but I will spend some time just watching them in a bit.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts on the crops. The photos and diagrams are fab, thank you @Kris5902 and @Aussie-Chookmum . I was afraid I was looking at an impacted crop and dreading having to do that inducing vomiting thing with the girls

 

[Ali James]

Here are the girls this morning

I offered them a slice up apple core earlier. Delta as always hung back and it was Blue and Charlie that were most interested. Blue took a quick peck of a piece from my hand and that was good enough for me, I know I need to be patient. Once I put it down on the ground, everyone had a go!

There may a next box wars situation going on ... Echo has gone into the boxes, and not long after I saw Delta go up too. From my observations so far, Delta makes a point of wanting whatever one of the others has, simply because she can take it. Whether it is a particular spot at the feeder/drinker/grit, the entire roof of the coop at roost time, a certain spot to scratch in, you get the idea.

Echo seems to prefer the left hand nest box, whereas Delta layed in the right hand one yesterday (when she had the choice of either). It will be intersting to see whether she tries to turf Echo out of the left hand one today!

I am meant to be working from home today. I work in a managerial position in a large doctor's surgery. I have a lot of audit and data crunching to do... but ... chickens ...

 

[ValerieJ]

I work in a managerial position in a large doctor's surgery. I have a lot of audit and data crunching to do... but ... chickens ...

This gives a whole new meaning to chicken math.

 

[Ribh]

They will sort it out ~ eventually. Even if they end up doing this!

From my observations a laying hen has more status than a non~layer & there are always issues when new girls come on the lay. Once she's laying regularly everything settles down again.