BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[AntiqueB]

An infected oil gland would be blocked. The blockage would have to be removed, similar to a pimple. Warm compresses until the plug loosens, then an antibiotic cream, if possible, or the wound spray is what I would do. Whatever she'll sit still long enough for!

 

[BDutch]

Thanks. I looked into this article about gland problems too: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-preening-uropygial-gland.77113/

 

[BDutch]

Black, Katrientje, Kraai and Ini mini.

Cleaned it. The gland was slightly red. Several feathers came loose when I cleaned it.
Ini mini was not amused. After spraying with a wound disinfection she was glad I let her go.

 

[AntiqueB]

I hope she feels better now!

 

[BDutch]

I hope she feels better now!

Hard to tell. She was reasonably active. About what I image one can expect from an 11 yo chicken.

 

[BDutch]

Pearl went to the neighbours today. Maybe to see if there were any strawberries left for her. Didn’t count on the dog, who immediately came in action to play with the funny creature from next door.
Pearl didn’t need much time to fly back to the coop.
Probably she won’t go there again for a while.

 

[BDutch]

We had 2 so called tropical days with temps around 33°C . My hens decided the nestbox was too hot. I dont blame them for not wanting to get roosted. The nestbox in the playhouse and the large nestbox in the run are much better in sunny hot weather. It seemed Black needed to lay an egg when I was cleaning the floor. She obviously thought the large nestbox was too big. Bc I caught her just after she laid an egg on the compost heap.

A few started to lay outside in the shadow on the compost heap too.

Temps are okay again. Nevertheless I had 2 eggs from the nestbox in the playhouse and 2 in the compost heap today. I wonder if I missed a few eggs bc the bluejays and magpies love chicken eggs.

 

[BDutch]

Update with a gif of my flock made from a short video to start with.

Some info is posted in Shads thread too.

Amrocks with black spots on their combs
I noticed the bigger Amrocks are panting a lot more in hot weather than the slim Dutch. The Amrocks are getting smarter and are the first to lay in the shady spot with rising temps. The dark spots on their combs have all vanished now.

Nest boxes
Since my last post I rearranged a few things to make egg laying a bit more comfortable for my chickens.

The chickens favourite nestboxes are hang-outs with a black lid in the sun in the afternoon. I covered it with some white isolation material since it got real hot a few weeks ago, and it has 1cm air flow space under the lid (ventilation). They have another nest-box on a shady spot under the prune tree in the second run. If it’s getting real warm, my chickens lay most eggs in the shady nest-box now.

Happy hour
My lot seem to organise a happy hour each evening around sunset since solstice.
The chickens gather in the extension where 4 chickens sleep at night and face each other as if they have a group conversation.

Ini mini and Janice do not join every day. I often find one of them alone in their sleeping quarters (converted playhouse) But the 2 Amrocks are joining in the extension every evening.

Shortly before its getting darker and the pop doors closes, the playhouse bunch move to their own bedroom.

Roost-room 1 : extension with Kraai, Black, Pearl and Katrientje
Roost-room 2 : playhouse with Ini mini, Janice, Gin and Tonic (the Amrocks).

Random photos/gifs from our garden
Janice found the grass container of our lawn mower very interesting

Chicken sitting
This week I am chicken sitting on: 2 Cream legbars, 2 rare Chinese weirdo’s (Dongxiang), 2 pullets of another Chinese breed I forgot the name, a bantam Sussex mother with 6 adopted chicks.

The green egg is from a Dongxiang who lay green eggs but are not related to Auracana’s. These Dongxiang have a black skin.
The other 5 are from my own chickens.