Chicken Tales - My First Year (and more!)

[Farmgirl283420]

February 2023 - New Feathered Friends

The Guard Pup: Something I haven't really spoken about yet here is that I've been trying to train my Shetland Sheepdog puppy to guard the chickens. My family got him for me July last year and he's pretty much been around them since. I'm not sure if he'll be a good protector, but he absolutely adores the chickens. In fact, I think he thinks he IS a chicken. Everything the chickens eat, he wants; zucchini, spinach, cabbage, you name it. He's even gone after their feed.

He's really good at watching them. He'll follow them around the yard and if they're split into groups, he'll check each group out at a time. It took some time for them to ignore his puppy antics, but they don't mind him now and he's learned to be a bit more careful. They still get tail slapped from time to time but they have such a good attitude about it!
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Ella's Return to Laying:
I forgot to mention that Ella started laying again January 30th! I also noticed the EEs began to treat Ella nicely again. The only one who bullied her was Tilly, but everyone else suddenly change their opinion of her. Chickens can be so weird sometimes!
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Reserving Chicks!
As for the chicks... I continued to peruse my local feed & seed store's expected chicks. A breed I wasn't familiar with caught my eye: Crevecoeur. After looking into them, I decided they might get along great with Ella since they're crested and the same color as her. I got my heart set on getting 2-3 of them on the 10th when they were due to arrive. However, as I checked the feed store's site daily for updates on other breeds coming in, I noticed various breed types getting reserved out. I made the call to reserve a few Crevecoeurs and my family wanted me reserve 4 of the 6 they had left so I did.

But then later after some discussion, my family wanted to reserve a couple Rhode Island Reds. I had them handle the call for me at the time, which was a mistake? blessing? Probably both. ♥ They went ahead and reserved the other 2 Crevecoeurs as well as the last RIR that wasn't reserved out of the February 10th bunch. Then they reserved 2 Leghorns that would be coming in February 24th. Here I am trying to be responsible and not give in to my love of chickens too much and here they are feeding my addictions!

New Chicks Arrived! Needless to say, I was very excited to see my new chicks! I already had some name ideas ready. The Rhode Island Red I named Marceline. The Crevecoeurs I needed to be able to tell apart first. So I put into use my nicknaming!

Milk Mustache - The white on her beak blended in to the white around her beak.
Big Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the bigger of the two.
Little Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the smaller of the two.
Big Grey - Lots of grey in the crest.
Little Grey - A little grey stripe in the crest.
Blackie - No color in crest; all black. Also the smallest chick.

Unlike my EEs, these girls took to the brooder plate properly so that was also a relief!

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Day 1: Pasty Butt & The Chick Who Wouldn't Eat But Also Struggled to Poop
Seems I was in for a bit of trouble with these chicks. I had dealt with pasty butt once before with my EEs. Pretty sure it was Moose who I found had pasty butt when I got my EEs home. But it was also a very hot day and our AC in the truck didn't work well. A quick cleanup and I never saw pasty butt again.

Well, I got my chicks into their brooder. Showed them all their food and water. Everyone except Blackie ate and drank. I let it be for a while. I checked everyone for pasty butt not long after. I had to cleanup Blackie and another chick that I don't remember. Blackie's pasty butt wasn't too bad. The other chick, however, had quite a plug. Not the worst but it took a bit more time to get off her and boy did she have a pretty big BM after that.

Later that day I got worried about Blackie. I saw her squat and tremble. It didn't really click what she was trying to do until I saw her do it again; she stood up really really tall and trembled as she squatted down. She was trying to poop? But she also wasn't eating. I offered her the feed wetted down but she wouldn't eat that either. My family and I decided to give her scrambled egg and it did the trick! She gobbled so much down and finally started pooping without struggling! She still didn't want the dry feed so I tried to the wet feed again and she finally ate it! Such a relief!

Week 1: Names! And the end of Pasty Butt!
As I got to know my new girls, I started handing out names!

Milk Mustache - Mim
Big Mustache - Yzma
Little Mustache - Helga
Big Grey - Leslie
Little Grey - Gaz
Blackie - Alice

Alice soon began eating her dry feed. Sadly that first day was not the end of pasty butt. Alice got pasty butt about twice more which isn't a lot but I had to keep my eye on her for a few days as a sanity check; I checked her morning and night. My setup was fairly similar to my first girls' setup; home varies from 65-75 degrees so they had both their cool and warm spot. I didn't understand what was wrong. But thankfully it cleared up in those first few days.

Alice Starts Coughing - Aspiration? Also poop ball toes...
February 21st I had an unforeseen issue again. It was the first day I introduced dirt to everyone and they had a blast, dust bathing and eating the dirt. I also switched them to partial straw bedding since they had started getting poop balls on their toes and that was a thing I had to clean off every day multiple times a day.
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Later that evening I offered some wet feed for a treat. It had been a couple days since I fed them some. They all started gobbling it down greedily. Yzma and Alice both had to pause and take a bit more effort to swallow their mouthful because I think they nearly choked themselves on it. Yzma recovered just fine and went back to eating (although I took the food away a moment later). Alice, however, sneezed a couple times. After that, she coughed again and again. For hours straight, she had a chronic cough. I at first wondered if it was the dirt, did something make them sick and it's just showing now? Did her airways get irritated and the food made it worse? Or was it the straw dust? I removed the straw. I was panicking. I've never seen them choke before, so why would they now? Especially when they had plenty of dry food still. No one was particularly hungry. Then I realized that she might've aspirated some of the wet food. Sadly the next day, the cough wasn't gone. Nor the next...

February 23rd - Ella's Green Poop
As if I needed yet another thing to stress over, I was doing my morning rounds when I saw that Ella had pooped green all night long. She also wasn't interested in her food despite not eating all night long. It dawned on me that I haven't seen any eggs from her for about 3-4 days too. She just started laying 3 weeks ago and suddenly stops? I checked her and she didn't feel egg bound. I felt her crop but it just felt empty.

Thanks to the wonderful folks here, I was told her poop wasn't particularly concerning. Likely from something she ate. But she had only been eating Purina Flock Raiser pellets for the past 40ish hours (she didn't go out foraging the prior day). The idea was that she might've eating some red clay. I had no idea that could cause such a reaction!
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I decided to quarantine her for a few days just to be on the safe side but nothing changed. She had a weak appetite and consistently pooped green. I finally let her out into an enclosed area of the yard separate from everyone and she spent the day mostly eating dirt.
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A few hours later she started pooping brown (all that dirt she ate) and after a few days her appetite finally came back. She would poop green during the night and normal during the day. It took a few more days but she finally stopped pooping green. Glad she got that out of her system but it sure gave me a scare at a very inopportune time! But it's all about the learning process! And I'd rather be worried than not. Always good to err on the side of caution and be vigilant.

Leghorn Chicks!
Of course, the day after Ella started pooping green, it was time to pick up my Leghorn chicks. I felt sad that I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready for them. Alice was still coughing, Ella was pooping green... I was pretty stressed and questioning whether I should even get the Leghorn chicks. I also didn't like that they were 2 weeks apart in age from the other new girls so I couldn't put them all together and I only had the one brooder plate.

Still, I went to get them anyway! Both very sweet, timid chicks and thankfully no pasty butt! I named the lightest one Tirdy (right) and the darker one Gretchen (left). I realized right away the difference in temperament. They were far more skittish than the EEs, Crevecoeurs, and RIR.
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I went ahead and got the space heater going in a room for the older girls so they could stay a tad warmer without the brooder plate. They were already rarely using it anyway so I figured they'd be okay.
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February 27th - Sour Crop???
I'm still not quite sure if it was sour crop, but the symptoms all point to it. The 27th started out fairly normal. I keep a sleeping box in the bathroom for the older 7 chicks with the space heater on low. They go in there at night. During the day, I bring them to a play area I have setup in the living room next to my couch.

Everyone was running around and having fun. Marceline was normal to start off with. She ran around playing too. But late morning she suddenly started just standing around doing nothing. After about 30 minutes I realized she was acting lethargic. I picked her up and she just cuddled into my hand. She's very calm about being handled but is always far more active; looking around and such. But she just fell asleep in my hand as I was walking around the room. I had to run to the store and when I got back, she was still lethargic. I finally thought to check her crop. It felt full but it was just squishy like it was full of air. I began gently massaging her crop and wondering how the heck this could happen. She seemed to really enjoy the massage. I ran back out to the store after that and got some Miconazole cream and plain Greek yogurt for her.

I couldn't get Marcy to eat, though. Not their feed, not the yogurt, not scrambled egg, not the medicine... I managed to get a tiny bit in her beak and then massaged her about once an hour. After a few hours, she pooped and suddenly perked right up. She began to eat and behave normal again. Thank goodness.
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End of February, End of Troubles?
Despite all the various happenings, I'm glad things seemed to be going well and grateful nothing tragic happened! Marcy was getting her medicine once in the morning and once at night. She had one more little bout of her crop getting gassy? again. I massaged her again and I felt a couple bubbles move or pop or something? Regardless, that was the last time she had a soft squishy crop. So Marcy was on her way to recovery. Ella was starting to poop normal again so she was on her way to recovery. The only real concern was Alice's coughing that still hadn't gone away.

Marceline
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Alice
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Despite everything, everyone was seemingly doing great! The older chicks were also already flying around a lot more than my EEs did at that age.


Yzma always visits me:
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Helga (left) Yzma (right) The Two Mustache Girls
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I even let the Leghorns play with the older chicks; supervised only. Tirdy is the bravest one. She squeezed in there in between two of the big girls! Gretchen is more timid.
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Here's to a more peaceful, healthier March! ♥ And the chicks' first trips outside!

I always enjoy your stories and updates keep us updated we expanded our flock of six to 14!!! So sweet their names are

My year old hens
Breed: first four hens are jersey giants last two are buff Orpingtons

Blossom
Jessie
Lily
Marigold
Hope
Daffodil (nicknamed Daffy)

My batch of chicks A
Breed: roosters calico Cochins pullet frizzle Cochin
Amelia
Violet is a rooster open to name ideas
Natasha nicknamed Nat Nat is also a rooster open to name ideas


My other batch of chicks B
Breed: silkies
Tilda
Leia
Evelyn
Belle

Hen I rescued
Breed: blue laced Wyandotte

Josephine

Her old owner my friend had gotten seven rooster with her 20 something hens all the roosters hurt her by all mating with her right after each other it broke her leg good thing is she recovered and is doing well she gave her to me I'm starting to bond with her she is very sweet she is in a little coop all her own next to my big coop once when gets used to her soon to be family she will join them!!! She is a little younger then my year old hens

Note: all my hens except Josephine are lap chickens

 

[Cinnaminute]

@Farmgirl283420 I love their names! Marigold and Daffy are probably my favorites. It's always exciting getting new chicks. And poor Josephine, what a rough time. It's very sweet of you to give her a good home! I'm sure she's very happy!

 

[Predoggg]

Wow what a story. Thank you for sharing.

 

[TwoCrows]

March 2023 - Bonding with the Babies

Zelda & Tilly Return to Laying
Seems Zelda and Tilly finally finished their mini molts! They both have returned to laying eggs and all the EE girls are producing so wonderfully! Tilly's return to lay also calmed down the fighting; seems they've let her back into their clique. I guess they realized there's nothing wrong with Tilly. Silly birds! It's good seeing all 6 get along again.

Zelda (who for some reason was not happy about me taking her photo)
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Zelda (left) Tilly (right) Fiasco (photo-bombing on the far right)
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Ella... Molting?
Alright so, I think Ella might be going through a mini molt? Ella! It's spring, girl! But yeah, her poop is normal again and her appetite is a tad on the low side but it's still decent; she shows interest in her food in the morning and treats even though she doesn't eat quite as much. I've noticed though... feathers! So many feathers! Most are black but some are even white ones from her head. So this would explain the lack of eggs and just general weirdness. Chickens really are weird. But I love them! Haha!

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Gretchen's Slow Feathering Out - Uh oh... could it be?
So, as Tirdy and Gretchen (my white Leghorn chicks) have been getting older, I noticed right away that Gretchen was different. Tirdy grew her tail and wing feathers so quick just as every other chick I've had has done. But Gretchen... 2 weeks came quick and Gretchen still had no tail feathers! I've never seen anything like it. Not to mention, Gretchen barely has any wing feathers. I'm used to 2 week old chicks beginning to perch and balance but Gretchen just can't very well. It's not that s(he) is small, either. Gretchen quickly got bigger than Tirdy, but just looks like a giant chick!
And yet, I also grew suspicious... is Gretchen... a cockerel? I'm new to chickens and I've never been around a rooster, except for the ones I passed by at the feed store last month.

Tirdy (March 4th)
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Gretchen being a boss baby (March 4th)
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Tirdy & Gretchen (March 4th)
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First Trip Outdoors - Meeting Ella & The Others!
March 6th I decided to take the older chicks on a trip outside to meet Ella and the EEs! Everyone has been healthy and happy and the weather was nice so I figured it would be a great day for it! Ella seemed fascinated by them and just hung around them the entire time. She started scratching around foraging and even spent some time sunbathing next to their cage. They were pretty nervous at first, but Ella's presence calmed them down. They got so used to her that they would fuss if her or I weren't there near them. For some reason, however, my EE girls were spooked by the babies. They stayed on the opposite side of the yard the whole time the babies were outside! And when they saw me bringing them out, they took off running! Clearly they were worried someone would accuse them of being the mother.

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The Case of the Frightening Sunflower Shirt!
Okay so this was pretty weird. Let me begin by saying I have worn all sorts of different clothes around my EEs. They have seen me in everything. So they've seen a lot of different colors, patterns, and cartoon characters. Usually if it's new, they just peck at the patterns for a bit before moving on. Like my new galoshes I got last month. Chicken pecked and approved!
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I wanted a long sleeve dark shirt for working outside and decided to get one plain and one with sunflowers on it. Well, I went outside as normal to let the girls out to free range. They seemed excited to see me but as soon as I reached for the door, sheer panic! They all started flapping and charging in different directions before most of them darted back into the coop box. What? When I moved out of the way, they cautiously ran out into the yard. Okay... They then proceeded to avoid me the entire time I was out there. That's when I knew something was up. Only Ella wasn't scared because she can't see above her (she needs her crest trimmed more.) I had to go inside and change my shirt before they let me near them again. I wonder if they thought the sunflowers looked like eyeballs? Anyone else have this happen?
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March 13th - Wattles!
I noticed Marcy's wattles coming in! She's got a tad bit of pink on her comb too. She's awfully young for that. I've had her for 31 days and she was probably a few days old when I got her, so she's not quite 5 weeks old. Please please please be a pullet!

Marcy (March 13th)
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Not just Marcy, though! Gretchen, too, seems to be showing some wattles! But Gretchen is even younger than Marcy! Two weeks younger, in fact! With the slow feathering and signs of wattles so young... I feel pretty certain Gretchen is a cockerel. I kept wondering if I'd end up with a roo this time and Gretchen may very well be a Foghorn Leghorn, I say!

Gretchen (or) Filburt (March 14th)
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Just look at that grumpy face! ♥
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First Trip Outdoors - Tirdy & Gretchen(Filburt) Edition (March 19th)
Since they're a little over 3 weeks old now, I figured my two little Leghorn babies need to start having trips outside. Been trying to find a day of good weather since we've had a cold snap and I don't want the babies getting too cold. The big babies are used to going outside daily for about an hour, so they're always eager. Tirdy & Gretchen(Filburt) were only a tad nervous at first, but seeing the big babies that they're familiar with and seeing Ella (who always hangs near the chicks when they're outdoors) seemed to calm them. They had a great time!
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They were so sleepy after all the fun. And they've been getting really cuddly as of late. ♥

Gretchen/Filburt (left) Tirdy (right)
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Tirdy lookin' back with such sass:
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Gretchen(Filburt)
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March 28th - Ella Return to Laying!
Ella seems to be over her weirdness! No more feather loss, eating normal, and she finally laid an egg again! I guess I'll just have to remember that Ella gets a little odd sometimes.

The white egg is Ella's. From left to right we have: Moose, Kiki, Ella, Zelda, Cleo, & Tilly.
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March 29th - Stitch's Eye Injury
So today was a pretty normal day. I had all the chickens out in the yard (babies in the kennel run and big girls free ranging). I decided to spend some time gardening on my front porch; filling up my porch boxes with dirt at the moment. I'm hoping to fill all of this up with herbs and flowers! My mom had these built over a year ago as a gift to me so I'm pretty excited to finally be using them.
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Well, on one of my trips to the backyard, I saw Stitch laying between the kennel and the gate around the hvac. I couldn't tell if anything was wrong. She was just laying there near the babies. She stood up and approached me when I called her. After I walked on, she just laid back down over there. My next visit to the yard, I couldn't find her. The other 5 ran up hoping for treats but she was nowhere to be seen. Finally found her in their little run but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Now, I want to note that I'm near-sighted and have no contacts - I'm spooked by the concept. My glasses are pretty beaten up and old so I can't wear them when doing any activity other than sitting.
My third visit to the yard, I saw Stitch standing out in the open with her right eye closed (that much detail I can see from a distance). Something was wrong so I got up close and saw that her eye was really red. She had a slight cut on her face, ear, and eyelid. I'm worried she scraped her eye. I put her in a box. She just laid there resting with her eye closed, the poor dear. I could tell she was hurting. I went to the store up the street and couldn't find anything worth using on her. I had to homemake a saline solution to flush her eye with (I have no idea why no stores around me carry it). I did get an off-brand Neosporin cream (no neomycin, just the other two active ingredients in petrolatum). When I got back, however, she was much more active. Feisty enough to escape me and run me around the living room. I opted not to use the cream for now. Her eye doesn't look too bad, just red instead of the normal color, and she wasn't resting it anymore. I still flushed it and gave her a whole hard boiled egg to enjoy afterwards for being such a good girl. Here's hoping it heals nicely. I also treated the small cuts on her although they had already scabbed up by this point.

Very blurry, but you can tell she hurts.
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March 30th - Stitch is okay!
I don't know if what I did was of any help, really, but in the morning she was loudly protesting her confinement in the box. She wasn't resting her eye anymore and it didn't look half as red as it did the day before. I rinsed with my homemade saline solution one more time before returning her to the coop with everyone. However, I noticed Kiki started bullying her for no apparent reason. I removed Kiki for a few hours and returned her when I let them out to forage. I really don't get why this random in-fighting happens. I had wondered at first if she was injured on some sharp edges on a piece of chicken wire in the yard. That's still very likely, but I'm now wondering if this happened due to a spat with Kiki. I'll be keeping a close watch on things.

Stitch - You can see the bit of red on her eye where it got injured and the cut on her face.
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End of March - They Grow Up So Fast!

I can't believe it's the 31st already. Plants and flowers are sprouting, my allergies have been through the roof, and my babies are growing up! The older baby chicks are now 7wks old and the Leghorns are 5wks. To celebrate, I took nice pictures of everyone!

5wk - Gretchen(Filburt) is finally getting feathers! Look at that little tail! I'm still convinced they're a cockerel but only time will truly tell. They do get to stomping sometimes! Little foot tapping here and there. Such a cutie!
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5wk - Tirdy is as feisty as ever! I love her energy! She plays a bit hard-to-get with Filburt. She has a very independent spirit.
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7wk - Marceline is such an odd one. Maybe because she's raised with 6 Crevecoeurs! Don't let her fierce looks fool you, she's very sweet and calm. A little concerned still about all that red on the comb and wattles! But I'm still betting on Marcy being a she.
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7wk - Alice is such a beauty and a sweetheart. She already comes to her name. Thankfully her crooked beak isn't too bad; she's still eating and drinking easily enough. It seems her top beak is shorter than the bottom. I don't think there's much I can do for her currently, but I'm still keeping a close eye on it.
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7wk - Gaz is a cutie! She's got a lot of spunk. And I just love the beard+cheek puffs! Sometimes at first glance she reminds me of Alice; they both have a smaller, rounder head.
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7wk - Helga is a bit more distant than the others, but she's super sweet. She seems to be very trusting of me. I tend to get her and Leslie mixed up due to their longer heads. If it wasn't for Leslie's strange crest, I would not be able to tell them apart. Helga, like Leslie, also has a bit of the wattles showing!
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7wk - Leslie is probably the most distant of the bunch. She's also a bit anxious; she cheeps a lot and very loudly when she gets separated from the others. The others don't fuss because they're used to being separated for short spans, like when I'm carrying them to and from their play area. But Leslie will always fuss no matter now normal it is. She also was the only baby with the flattest head and tiniest crest. Nowadays her crest is growing in a bit lopsided so between that and the fussing, it's easy to know it's Leslie!
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7wk - Mim is very calm and laid back. Somehow she's always the last one I grab up because she's so still. It's really odd that her beak has always been whitish. Again, I'm loving the beard and cheek puffs!
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7wk - Yzma is a darling and she's the biggest of the bunch! She's a little feisty and funky but very tame at the same time. She reminds me of Ella the most. Her crest is also so large that it's blocking her right eye. She already needs a trim!
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10mo Easter Eggers - Meanwhile, my first babies! Only a couple months to go before they're officially hens! And my very first chickens ever! They hold a very special place in my heart. I just wish they didn't hate getting their pictures taken as much as I do.

Zelda (right) with Tilly (left) - Zelda realized I was taking photos and decided to let me get one good one.
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Kiki, the only one willing to actually pose for me several times.
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Stitch - clearly this is what she thought of my photo taking. Talk to the fuzz butt!
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Moose (right) kept as much space between her and I as possible when she saw the camera. This was all I could get of her, sadly. Caught her coming out of hiding from behind Stitch.
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Tilly didn't really care so thankfully hers was decent. She still wasn't amused.
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Cleo was as elusive as Moose. I'll take what I can get.
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Last but not least, Ella! She's supposed to be around 1yr 1mo now. So she's my only official hen! I adore this goofy bird. She's always willing to give me a pose! Such a sweetheart.
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Coming next month: The New Coops & Runs I've been working on!

Beautiful birds!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

@Farmgirl283420 I love their names! Marigold and Daffy are probably my favorites. It's always exciting getting new chicks. And poor Josephine, what a rough time. It's very sweet of you to give her a good home! I'm sure she's very happy!

Thank you! Josephine has been visiting the girls! And I think she likes it Josephine is also warming up to me!!!

 

[Cinnaminute]

April's update got delayed because my draft vanished. I was going to take some time this week to type it up again, but my dear Ella passed away sometime last night.

RIP (Cru)Ella aka Yellin' Ellen

I'm just devastated and can't stop crying. I actually have a bit of a bad history with birds. My first bird was a parakeet I named Polly. I had him in first grade. That's when I first learned how much I adored birds (well, that and the Polly movie I had seen that made me want a green parrot). I woke up one morning for school and Polly had passed away. My mom told me it might've been disease or stress from a wing clipping that had just been done on him a day or so prior. It felt so unfair that my sibling's parakeet lived for many years but they didn't care about it. I'm glad that bird lived, but I felt bad for it because said sibling just didn't care about it. The thing was practically wild and got rehomed.

I was ready for another bird come 4th grade. Friends of the family had a couple old cockatiels that couldn't be handled. They offered to give me one and I got to choose so I just chose "the one that was less mean" haha. I ended up getting a cranky old bird named Pretty Boy. He could not be touched. I tried to get him off of seed but he thought every piece of fruit or veggie offered was me trying to poison him or something. I tried so hard to work with him. Under his wings was bald but I couldn't get close enough to use a special spray I got for him. He was even too scared to leave his cage. I remember leaving it open for days on end until finally one day I found him on top of his cage. Curiosity finally got him! I had him until the summer after 8th grade. That time of my life was really terrible. Divorce, my mom and I homeless, hopping from place to place. It ended up that I couldn't keep Pretty Boy and had to give him away. I cried off and on for years but I knew it was for the better.

The third bird I cared for was actually a wild mockingbird baby that had fallen from its nest. It was during another terrible time in my life about 3 years later. It took a while for our lives to get straightened out. All the more reason I'm grateful to these lovely chickens I get to care for! But the baby had definitely been abandoned. It was wandering on a roadway. The parents had been flying around it. I watched them from a distance. Eventually the parents flew off. I worried they gave up. I didn't want the bird to get ran over. We were pulled over. We got out and started checking all the nearby trees but couldn't see a nest. The parents still hadn't returned. We took him in and raised him. Named him Coo Coo. He stayed outside primarily. It was rewarding watching him learn to fly and forage for bugs. One day he flew up and landed on a power line to greet a dove. That dove wing-slapped him! He finally found a group of mockingbirds feeding from a berry bush. He joined in, flying around with them and gobbling down berries. It was a few days or so after that, one morning he flew off as he did but that night he didn't return. I never saw him again. We moved in with someone a week or so later. I could only hope he left with a mate or something.

Life improved over time. 2021 I finally have my own home and a yard of my own to plant in and such. My family kept suggesting I get a bird knowing how much I love them but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Last year I finally decided that maybe chickens would be good. They'd lay eggs and could be pet birds.

Losing Ella hurts. It hurts because I loved her and we were close. It hurts too because of my history with birds. It hurts because I'm an anxious person. I feel like I failed her. She was one-of-a-kind. She bonded with me so much because she had no one else. I was the only "chicken" that accepted her. It hurts because she didn't deserve to die like that. If what her prior owners said was true, she was so young...

A little recap in memory of Ella: I adopted her August 23rd, 2022. I wasn't fond of her previous name and her crest made me think of Cruella De Ville so I named her Cruella. But she was so sweet I just called her Ella. At the time, I didn't have a coop yet. I had just gotten the Easter Eggers June 6th, 2022 and they were having to live in my closet at the time. I did my best to quarantine her. Ella spent a lot of time with me those initial days. We grew very close. She'd climb onto my lap and perch on my leg or just sleep on the arm of the couch. Sometimes if I was eating something like salad, she'd try to bum food off of me and manage to get a few pieces of carrot or lettuce (don't worry, no dressing on the salad!)


When I finally introduced her to them, they were all kinda spooked of each other.


In October, I moved her into my new coop with everyone. I was hoping it being unfamiliar to them all would also help with relations.


Shortly after (October 4th) Ella laid her first egg!


Ella really loved tomatoes. She was the one who thought to swipe cherry tomatoes off my plant! I actually have some cherry tomatoes plants I started for her this spring. Sadly she'll never get to taste anymore tomatoes, but I'll always think of her when I see them.


Everyone got along for about a month...




But in November, Ella quit laying eggs for the winter. The Easter Eggers seemed to turn on her immediately after that. I let them "fight it out" against my better judgement. Nothing was really going on beside Ella being scared to hang out with them. She'd stay up in the coop and nest boxes and then hang out in the run when everyone went out foraging before finally going to forage. At night, she didn't want to go in with them. I should've remedied this right away but I couldn't tell who was bothering her. December 12th, I went out in the morning to tend to them and found her injured.



I felt so bad for her. Funny enough, she didn't seem particularly traumatized by it. The next day I let her out to forage and supervised. She wasn't any extra scared and just went about her business as usual. Eventually, with supervision, I soon found who was bullying her. Unfortunately I couldn't keep her around 4 of the 6 Easter Eggers. This made removing a bully difficult so I had to keep her separate in the end. So I kept her in a separate cage beside their run, let her out to forage during the day with them, and then brought the cage in during the night to keep her safe from predators. Every time I let them all out, it was funny seeing the Easter Eggers flock to her cage to gobble down her food. Naughty birds.



By January, it was really obvious how close Ella got to me. She'd follow me around when I was out in the yard, unless the Easter Eggers were following me and in those situations she'd wait for them to disperse.



She loved to perch up on me too when given the chance! She would chase the others away when they'd get on my lap. She was so jealous over me!





There were two health scares I had with her. The first one was during her quarantine. My third thread on here, actually: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ot-laying-blood-in-stool-by-2nd-week.1546952/

To summarize, it seems she was shedding intestinal lining. I noticed it in nearly every poop she had and I had never seen it in my 6 Easter Eggers so I was baffled. Seems she was (probably) okay?

In February, I ended up getting 6 Crevecoeur chicks in hopes of them being Ella's new flock! I figured after the quarantine I could slowly adjust them to each other early on in a safe way.

It was shortly after I got them, the morning of February 23rd, she pooped straight green all night. There was no reason I could think of to cause that. She didn't eat any different food that I knew of: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...y-decreased-appetite-1-yo-polish-hen.1565748/

I can't say what role either of these play in her health. But I know both times I was scared for her, trying to do anything I could. But she seemed to be doing great regardless and even got over the green poop episode (even though it would happen again from time to time but it only lasted a single night).

But back to the babies! The Crevecoeurs (and the RIR!) all proceeded to give me a lot of trouble. I've never had so many actual health problems until February this year. Two Crevecoeurs had pasty butt, one so bad that after cleaning her she just expelled so much poo. The other (Alice) I had to check twice a day, morning and night. Alice also aspirated moist feed and had a chronic cough for weeks. ALICE also has a slight crooked beak. Marcy got sour crop - twice - and I swear she was far to close to death for my comfort the second time (you'll get to hear about that when I post my April update).



But through everything we persevered. I'd been introducing Ella more and more to them, even letting her inside the run I have for the babies (supervised of course).




Ella was actually the only adult bird not scared of the babies. She was very intrigued by them. She also liked to show off by sun bathing or grooming right outside where they were.




Introducing Ella was always tricky. She very clearly had transference issues! I've witnessed Tilly go to bully her and when Ella would escape her, Ella would look for Cleo or Kiki then proceed to bully them. Well, she made sure to give the babies a peck if they got too near. They weren't scared of her but they didn't like getting pecked and I had to make sure she couldn't hurt them. She would always take the time to eat all their food and drink as much of their water as she could. The brat. ♥




Ooooh and the spring rains brought on some lovely green grass the big birds got to enjoy! This picture was just a month ago on April 10th. During that time, Marcy was coming down with her second bout of sour crop so sadly I didn't spend a lot of time with Ella. I regret that. I wish I gave Ella more time, but Marcy needed to be nursed back to health.



By April 18th, Marcy was better (she bounced back on the 15th day before my birthday so that was wonderful). I went back to introducing Ella and the babies. I was getting excited, they were getting closer in size to her! Soon I'd be letting them out to forage with her and they could become friends. I also had my plans for their coop so Ella could go back to staying outside at night and have a bunch of buddies to share a roost with. Only wanted to wait a few more weeks for them to get a tad bigger. But sadly, it seems that wasn't meant to be...


May 3rd I had a scare with my Easter Egger Zelda. So grateful to you folks here because Ella may not have been my only loss. Zelda needed more calcium. I increased calcium for all 6 Easter Eggers immediately after Zelda's recovery on the 5th. Ella, of course, has full access to this calcium as well. She even nibbled some yesterday. And she l aid on egg on the 8th, I believe. She always skips a day or two.

May 8th, 2023 (two days before she passed) I spent some time with her in the yard. I was ready to do a lot of yard work and spend time with my chickens, including Ella, since I wasn't fretting about anyone. Everyone was seemingly healthy. It was a hot day so I was trying to introduce them all to the idea of maybe dipping their feet in the pool? I tested each one with the pool. Some didn't mind. Others hated it. Ella was just baffled, I think. Probably because the poor dear couldn't see. I trimmed her once but her feathers had grown back by now so I was planning a spa day for her and the Crevecoeurs this week. No spa day now. I'm so sorry Ella.

Gosh, I miss her so much. I'm scared to wake up tomorrow and find someone else dead. I stood on the back porch wanting to call her in like I always did:

But Ella didn't come. Ella can't come anymore. She died too soon. Too young, too, if her age they told me was correct. She was a friend of mine. She always talked to me. She'd yell if I was late letting her out in the morning. She'd come up on the porch on her own if I was late to let her in. She'd complain if I shut a cabinet too hard "bawk bawk bawwk bak bawk" she'd gripe. She'd follow me around the yard sometimes, chatting to me "bak bak" "baaak bak". Such a gentle voice, soft and cheery. I wish I had more videos of her moments. I'll remember you, Ella. RIP my dear bird friend. I'm sorry for failing you.

She appeared to be getting ready to go to sleep in the straw when she passed. Sometimes she would sleep in the straw, sometimes the roost. I last saw her when my family fed her some hard boiled egg around 10pm. They said they were worried because she only ate half and not all of it. She would do that sometimes (she did that about a week ago too); not be as gluttonous as usual. But she had eaten nearly all her feed before going to bed so I wasn't too worried. She was likely just full. She passed away before she pooped out what she ate, so I know it was early. 2-5am maybe. My family last saw her around midnight because she was sassing them about making noise, as she does.

I always check on Ella first in the morning. I keep her sleep cage slightly covered to block light from bothering her. I didn't suspect anything amiss. I just flung off the cover as I do, "Good morning, Ellaaaaa!" The second I saw her, I knew. I touched her just in case. She was already gone.

Spoiler: RIP Ella - Possibly Graphic Warning

That initial shock is so weird. When, for a moment, you feel nothing like what you're seeing isn't real. I called to my family "Ella's dead! Ella died!" Then I wondered why I was so calm and wasn't crying. I love Ella. But as they checked her and saw that she was gone, the pain hit. I haven't lost a pet since I was in 1st grade. I've either deftly dodged the losses or they were fish (which is sad but doesn't feel the same) or just haven't had any pets to lose. I went about 17 years without any pets. Having grown up with them, that felt strange. Of course, I got used to not having them. And now, as an adult, I think the pain is almost worse. Maybe I get attached too easily. But that's okay. Ella deserved to be cared for and about.

It was my mother's idea to get a tree or shrub for Ella (and future chickens, hopefully that's not for several years - they're all so young).

Spoiler: Saying Goodbye to Ella - Possibly Graphic Warning

My mother who got Ella for me came to help me plant Ella's tree and bury her. Goodbye my dear Ella.

This is now Ella's tree. It's a Lavender Lace Crepe Myrtle. The dark nearly black leaves make me think of her black iridescent feathers and the purple flowers are for the color purple I assigned to her when I was silly and color-coded by flock. I'll be making her gravestone when I get a chance. Goodbye my little friend. Thank you for all the joy you gave me and for letting me be your friend when no one else wanted to. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for being a part of my life.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

April's update got delayed because my draft vanished. I was going to take some time this week to type it up again, but my dear Ella passed away sometime last night.

RIP (Cru)Ella aka Yellin' Ellen

I'm just devastated and can't stop crying. I actually have a bit of a bad history with birds. My first bird was a parakeet I named Polly. I had him in first grade. That's when I first learned how much I adored birds (well, that and the Polly movie I had seen that made me want a green parrot). I woke up one morning for school and Polly had passed away. My mom told me it might've been disease or stress from a wing clipping that had just been done on him a day or so prior. It felt so unfair that my sibling's parakeet lived for many years but they didn't care about it. I'm glad that bird lived, but I felt bad for it because said sibling just didn't care about it. The thing was practically wild and got rehomed.

I was ready for another bird come 4th grade. Friends of the family had a couple old cockatiels that couldn't be handled. They offered to give me one and I got to choose so I just chose "the one that was less mean" haha. I ended up getting a cranky old bird named Pretty Boy. He could not be touched. I tried to get him off of seed but he thought every piece of fruit or veggie offered was me trying to poison him or something. I tried so hard to work with him. Under his wings was bald but I couldn't get close enough to use a special spray I got for him. He was even too scared to leave his cage. I remember leaving it open for days on end until finally one day I found him on top of his cage. Curiosity finally got him! I had him until the summer after 8th grade. That time of my life was really terrible. Divorce, my mom and I homeless, hopping from place to place. It ended up that I couldn't keep Pretty Boy and had to give him away. I cried off and on for years but I knew it was for the better.

The third bird I cared for was actually a wild mockingbird baby that had fallen from its nest. It was during another terrible time in my life about 3 years later. It took a while for our lives to get straightened out. All the more reason I'm grateful to these lovely chickens I get to care for! But the baby had definitely been abandoned. It was wandering on a roadway. The parents had been flying around it. I watched them from a distance. Eventually the parents flew off. I worried they gave up. I didn't want the bird to get ran over. We were pulled over. We got out and started checking all the nearby trees but couldn't see a nest. The parents still hadn't returned. We took him in and raised him. Named him Coo Coo. He stayed outside primarily. It was rewarding watching him learn to fly and forage for bugs. One day he flew up and landed on a power line to greet a dove. That dove wing-slapped him! He finally found a group of mockingbirds feeding from a berry bush. He joined in, flying around with them and gobbling down berries. It was a few days or so after that, one morning he flew off as he did but that night he didn't return. I never saw him again. We moved in with someone a week or so later. I could only hope he left with a mate or something.

Life improved over time. 2021 I finally have my own home and a yard of my own to plant in and such. My family kept suggesting I get a bird knowing how much I love them but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Last year I finally decided that maybe chickens would be good. They'd lay eggs and could be pet birds.

Losing Ella hurts. It hurts because I loved her and we were close. It hurts too because of my history with birds. It hurts because I'm an anxious person. I feel like I failed her. She was one-of-a-kind. She bonded with me so much because she had no one else. I was the only "chicken" that accepted her. It hurts because she didn't deserve to die like that. If what her prior owners said was true, she was so young...

A little recap in memory of Ella: I adopted her August 23rd, 2022. I wasn't fond of her previous name and her crest made me think of Cruella De Ville so I named her Cruella. But she was so sweet I just called her Ella. At the time, I didn't have a coop yet. I had just gotten the Easter Eggers June 6th, 2022 and they were having to live in my closet at the time. I did my best to quarantine her. Ella spent a lot of time with me those initial days. We grew very close. She'd climb onto my lap and perch on my leg or just sleep on the arm of the couch. Sometimes if I was eating something like salad, she'd try to bum food off of me and manage to get a few pieces of carrot or lettuce (don't worry, no dressing on the salad!)
View attachment 3500991

When I finally introduced her to them, they were all kinda spooked of each other.
View attachment 3500988

In October, I moved her into my new coop with everyone. I was hoping it being unfamiliar to them all would also help with relations.
View attachment 3501009

Shortly after (October 4th) Ella laid her first egg!
View attachment 3501007

Ella really loved tomatoes. She was the one who thought to swipe cherry tomatoes off my plant! I actually have some cherry tomatoes plants I started for her this spring. Sadly she'll never get to taste anymore tomatoes, but I'll always think of her when I see them.
View attachment 3501006

Everyone got along for about a month...
View attachment 3501016

View attachment 3501017

But in November, Ella quit laying eggs for the winter. The Easter Eggers seemed to turn on her immediately after that. I let them "fight it out" against my better judgement. Nothing was really going on beside Ella being scared to hang out with them. She'd stay up in the coop and nest boxes and then hang out in the run when everyone went out foraging before finally going to forage. At night, she didn't want to go in with them. I should've remedied this right away but I couldn't tell who was bothering her. December 12th, I went out in the morning to tend to them and found her injured.

View attachment 3501023

I felt so bad for her. Funny enough, she didn't seem particularly traumatized by it. The next day I let her out to forage and supervised. She wasn't any extra scared and just went about her business as usual. Eventually, with supervision, I soon found who was bullying her. Unfortunately I couldn't keep her around 4 of the 6 Easter Eggers. This made removing a bully difficult so I had to keep her separate in the end. So I kept her in a separate cage beside their run, let her out to forage during the day with them, and then brought the cage in during the night to keep her safe from predators. Every time I let them all out, it was funny seeing the Easter Eggers flock to her cage to gobble down her food. Naughty birds.

View attachment 3501027

By January, it was really obvious how close Ella got to me. She'd follow me around when I was out in the yard, unless the Easter Eggers were following me and in those situations she'd wait for them to disperse.

View attachment 3501028

She loved to perch up on me too when given the chance! She would chase the others away when they'd get on my lap. She was so jealous over me!

View attachment 3501039
View attachment 3501038
View attachment 3501037

There were two health scares I had with her. The first one was during her quarantine. My third thread on here, actually: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ot-laying-blood-in-stool-by-2nd-week.1546952/

To summarize, it seems she was shedding intestinal lining. I noticed it in nearly every poop she had and I had never seen it in my 6 Easter Eggers so I was baffled. Seems she was (probably) okay?

In February, I ended up getting 6 Crevecoeur chicks in hopes of them being Ella's new flock! I figured after the quarantine I could slowly adjust them to each other early on in a safe way.

It was shortly after I got them, the morning of February 23rd, she pooped straight green all night. There was no reason I could think of to cause that. She didn't eat any different food that I knew of: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...y-decreased-appetite-1-yo-polish-hen.1565748/

I can't say what role either of these play in her health. But I know both times I was scared for her, trying to do anything I could. But she seemed to be doing great regardless and even got over the green poop episode (even though it would happen again from time to time but it only lasted a single night).

But back to the babies! The Crevecoeurs (and the RIR!) all proceeded to give me a lot of trouble. I've never had so many actual health problems until February this year. Two Crevecoeurs had pasty butt, one so bad that after cleaning her she just expelled so much poo. The other (Alice) I had to check twice a day, morning and night. Alice also aspirated moist feed and had a chronic cough for weeks. ALICE also has a slight crooked beak. Marcy got sour crop - twice - and I swear she was far to close to death for my comfort the second time (you'll get to hear about that when I post my April update).
View attachment 3501090
View attachment 3501087

But through everything we persevered. I'd been introducing Ella more and more to them, even letting her inside the run I have for the babies (supervised of course).

View attachment 3501112
View attachment 3501113

Ella was actually the only adult bird not scared of the babies. She was very intrigued by them. She also liked to show off by sun bathing or grooming right outside where they were.

View attachment 3501119
View attachment 3501120

Introducing Ella was always tricky. She very clearly had transference issues! I've witnessed Tilly go to bully her and when Ella would escape her, Ella would look for Cleo or Kiki then proceed to bully them. Well, she made sure to give the babies a peck if they got too near. They weren't scared of her but they didn't like getting pecked and I had to make sure she couldn't hurt them. She would always take the time to eat all their food and drink as much of their water as she could. The brat. ♥

View attachment 3501123View attachment 3501122


Ooooh and the spring rains brought on some lovely green grass the big birds got to enjoy! This picture was just a month ago on April 10th. During that time, Marcy was coming down with her second bout of sour crop so sadly I didn't spend a lot of time with Ella. I regret that. I wish I gave Ella more time, but Marcy needed to be nursed back to health.

View attachment 3501129

By April 18th, Marcy was better (she bounced back on the 15th day before my birthday so that was wonderful). I went back to introducing Ella and the babies. I was getting excited, they were getting closer in size to her! Soon I'd be letting them out to forage with her and they could become friends. I also had my plans for their coop so Ella could go back to staying outside at night and have a bunch of buddies to share a roost with. Only wanted to wait a few more weeks for them to get a tad bigger. But sadly, it seems that wasn't meant to be...
View attachment 3501132

May 3rd I had a scare with my Easter Egger Zelda. So grateful to you folks here because Ella may not have been my only loss. Zelda needed more calcium. I increased calcium for all 6 Easter Eggers immediately after Zelda's recovery on the 5th. Ella, of course, has full access to this calcium as well. She even nibbled some yesterday. And she l aid on egg on the 8th, I believe. She always skips a day or two.

May 8th, 2023 (two days before she passed) I spent some time with her in the yard. I was ready to do a lot of yard work and spend time with my chickens, including Ella, since I wasn't fretting about anyone. Everyone was seemingly healthy. It was a hot day so I was trying to introduce them all to the idea of maybe dipping their feet in the pool? I tested each one with the pool. Some didn't mind. Others hated it. Ella was just baffled, I think. Probably because the poor dear couldn't see. I trimmed her once but her feathers had grown back by now so I was planning a spa day for her and the Crevecoeurs this week. No spa day now. I'm so sorry Ella.

Gosh, I miss her so much. I'm scared to wake up tomorrow and find someone else dead. I stood on the back porch wanting to call her in like I always did:

But Ella didn't come. Ella can't come anymore. She died too soon. Too young, too, if her age they told me was correct. She was a friend of mine. She always talked to me. She'd yell if I was late letting her out in the morning. She'd come up on the porch on her own if I was late to let her in. She'd complain if I shut a cabinet too hard "bawk bawk bawwk bak bawk" she'd gripe. She'd follow me around the yard sometimes, chatting to me "bak bak" "baaak bak". Such a gentle voice, soft and cheery. I wish I had more videos of her moments. I'll remember you, Ella. RIP my dear bird friend. I'm sorry for failing you.

She appeared to be getting ready to go to sleep in the straw when she passed. Sometimes she would sleep in the straw, sometimes the roost. I last saw her when my family fed her some hard boiled egg around 10pm. They said they were worried because she only ate half and not all of it. She would do that sometimes (she did that about a week ago too); not be as gluttonous as usual. But she had eaten nearly all her feed before going to bed so I wasn't too worried. She was likely just full. She passed away before she pooped out what she ate, so I know it was early. 2-5am maybe. My family last saw her around midnight because she was sassing them about making noise, as she does.

I always check on Ella first in the morning. I keep her sleep cage slightly covered to block light from bothering her. I didn't suspect anything amiss. I just flung off the cover as I do, "Good morning, Ellaaaaa!" The second I saw her, I knew. I touched her just in case. She was already gone.

Spoiler: RIP Ella - Possibly Graphic Warning

View attachment 3501185

That initial shock is so weird. When, for a moment, you feel nothing like what you're seeing isn't real. I called to my family "Ella's dead! Ella died!" Then I wondered why I was so calm and wasn't crying. I love Ella. But as they checked her and saw that she was gone, the pain hit. I haven't lost a pet since I was in 1st grade. I've either deftly dodged the losses or they were fish (which is sad but doesn't feel the same) or just haven't had any pets to lose. I went about 17 years without any pets. Having grown up with them, that felt strange. Of course, I got used to not having them. And now, as an adult, I think the pain is almost worse. Maybe I get attached too easily. But that's okay. Ella deserved to be cared for and about.

It was my mother's idea to get a tree or shrub for Ella (and future chickens, hopefully that's not for several years - they're all so young).
View attachment 3501191

Spoiler: Saying Goodbye to Ella - Possibly Graphic Warning

My mother who got Ella for me came to help me plant Ella's tree and bury her. Goodbye my dear Ella. View attachment 3501183

This is now Ella's tree. It's a Lavender Lace Crepe Myrtle. The dark nearly black leaves make me think of her black iridescent feathers and the purple flowers are for the color purple I assigned to her when I was silly and color-coded by flock. I'll be making her gravestone when I get a chance. Goodbye my little friend. Thank you for all the joy you gave me and for letting me be your friend when no one else wanted to. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for being a part of my life.
View attachment 3501147

You’re making me want to cry! I’m so sorry I felt like I knew Ella through your stories.

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

February 2023 - New Feathered Friends

The Guard Pup: Something I haven't really spoken about yet here is that I've been trying to train my Shetland Sheepdog puppy to guard the chickens. My family got him for me July last year and he's pretty much been around them since. I'm not sure if he'll be a good protector, but he absolutely adores the chickens. In fact, I think he thinks he IS a chicken. Everything the chickens eat, he wants; zucchini, spinach, cabbage, you name it. He's even gone after their feed.

He's really good at watching them. He'll follow them around the yard and if they're split into groups, he'll check each group out at a time. It took some time for them to ignore his puppy antics, but they don't mind him now and he's learned to be a bit more careful. They still get tail slapped from time to time but they have such a good attitude about it!
View attachment 3424170

Ella's Return to Laying:
I forgot to mention that Ella started laying again January 30th! I also noticed the EEs began to treat Ella nicely again. The only one who bullied her was Tilly, but everyone else suddenly change their opinion of her. Chickens can be so weird sometimes!
View attachment 3427953

Reserving Chicks!
As for the chicks... I continued to peruse my local feed & seed store's expected chicks. A breed I wasn't familiar with caught my eye: Crevecoeur. After looking into them, I decided they might get along great with Ella since they're crested and the same color as her. I got my heart set on getting 2-3 of them on the 10th when they were due to arrive. However, as I checked the feed store's site daily for updates on other breeds coming in, I noticed various breed types getting reserved out. I made the call to reserve a few Crevecoeurs and my family wanted me reserve 4 of the 6 they had left so I did.

But then later after some discussion, my family wanted to reserve a couple Rhode Island Reds. I had them handle the call for me at the time, which was a mistake? blessing? Probably both. ♥ They went ahead and reserved the other 2 Crevecoeurs as well as the last RIR that wasn't reserved out of the February 10th bunch. Then they reserved 2 Leghorns that would be coming in February 24th. Here I am trying to be responsible and not give in to my love of chickens too much and here they are feeding my addictions!

New Chicks Arrived! Needless to say, I was very excited to see my new chicks! I already had some name ideas ready. The Rhode Island Red I named Marceline. The Crevecoeurs I needed to be able to tell apart first. So I put into use my nicknaming!

Milk Mustache - The white on her beak blended in to the white around her beak.
Big Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the bigger of the two.
Little Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the smaller of the two.
Big Grey - Lots of grey in the crest.
Little Grey - A little grey stripe in the crest.
Blackie - No color in crest; all black. Also the smallest chick.

Unlike my EEs, these girls took to the brooder plate properly so that was also a relief!

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Day 1: Pasty Butt & The Chick Who Wouldn't Eat But Also Struggled to Poop
Seems I was in for a bit of trouble with these chicks. I had dealt with pasty butt once before with my EEs. Pretty sure it was Moose who I found had pasty butt when I got my EEs home. But it was also a very hot day and our AC in the truck didn't work well. A quick cleanup and I never saw pasty butt again.

Well, I got my chicks into their brooder. Showed them all their food and water. Everyone except Blackie ate and drank. I let it be for a while. I checked everyone for pasty butt not long after. I had to cleanup Blackie and another chick that I don't remember. Blackie's pasty butt wasn't too bad. The other chick, however, had quite a plug. Not the worst but it took a bit more time to get off her and boy did she have a pretty big BM after that.

Later that day I got worried about Blackie. I saw her squat and tremble. It didn't really click what she was trying to do until I saw her do it again; she stood up really really tall and trembled as she squatted down. She was trying to poop? But she also wasn't eating. I offered her the feed wetted down but she wouldn't eat that either. My family and I decided to give her scrambled egg and it did the trick! She gobbled so much down and finally started pooping without struggling! She still didn't want the dry feed so I tried to the wet feed again and she finally ate it! Such a relief!

Week 1: Names! And the end of Pasty Butt!
As I got to know my new girls, I started handing out names!

Milk Mustache - Mim
Big Mustache - Yzma
Little Mustache - Helga
Big Grey - Leslie
Little Grey - Gaz
Blackie - Alice

Alice soon began eating her dry feed. Sadly that first day was not the end of pasty butt. Alice got pasty butt about twice more which isn't a lot but I had to keep my eye on her for a few days as a sanity check; I checked her morning and night. My setup was fairly similar to my first girls' setup; home varies from 65-75 degrees so they had both their cool and warm spot. I didn't understand what was wrong. But thankfully it cleared up in those first few days.

Alice Starts Coughing - Aspiration? Also poop ball toes...
February 21st I had an unforeseen issue again. It was the first day I introduced dirt to everyone and they had a blast, dust bathing and eating the dirt. I also switched them to partial straw bedding since they had started getting poop balls on their toes and that was a thing I had to clean off every day multiple times a day.
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Later that evening I offered some wet feed for a treat. It had been a couple days since I fed them some. They all started gobbling it down greedily. Yzma and Alice both had to pause and take a bit more effort to swallow their mouthful because I think they nearly choked themselves on it. Yzma recovered just fine and went back to eating (although I took the food away a moment later). Alice, however, sneezed a couple times. After that, she coughed again and again. For hours straight, she had a chronic cough. I at first wondered if it was the dirt, did something make them sick and it's just showing now? Did her airways get irritated and the food made it worse? Or was it the straw dust? I removed the straw. I was panicking. I've never seen them choke before, so why would they now? Especially when they had plenty of dry food still. No one was particularly hungry. Then I realized that she might've aspirated some of the wet food. Sadly the next day, the cough wasn't gone. Nor the next...

February 23rd - Ella's Green Poop
As if I needed yet another thing to stress over, I was doing my morning rounds when I saw that Ella had pooped green all night long. She also wasn't interested in her food despite not eating all night long. It dawned on me that I haven't seen any eggs from her for about 3-4 days too. She just started laying 3 weeks ago and suddenly stops? I checked her and she didn't feel egg bound. I felt her crop but it just felt empty.

Thanks to the wonderful folks here, I was told her poop wasn't particularly concerning. Likely from something she ate. But she had only been eating Purina Flock Raiser pellets for the past 40ish hours (she didn't go out foraging the prior day). The idea was that she might've eating some red clay. I had no idea that could cause such a reaction!
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I decided to quarantine her for a few days just to be on the safe side but nothing changed. She had a weak appetite and consistently pooped green. I finally let her out into an enclosed area of the yard separate from everyone and she spent the day mostly eating dirt.
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A few hours later she started pooping brown (all that dirt she ate) and after a few days her appetite finally came back. She would poop green during the night and normal during the day. It took a few more days but she finally stopped pooping green. Glad she got that out of her system but it sure gave me a scare at a very inopportune time! But it's all about the learning process! And I'd rather be worried than not. Always good to err on the side of caution and be vigilant.

Leghorn Chicks!
Of course, the day after Ella started pooping green, it was time to pick up my Leghorn chicks. I felt sad that I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready for them. Alice was still coughing, Ella was pooping green... I was pretty stressed and questioning whether I should even get the Leghorn chicks. I also didn't like that they were 2 weeks apart in age from the other new girls so I couldn't put them all together and I only had the one brooder plate.

Still, I went to get them anyway! Both very sweet, timid chicks and thankfully no pasty butt! I named the lightest one Tirdy (right) and the darker one Gretchen (left). I realized right away the difference in temperament. They were far more skittish than the EEs, Crevecoeurs, and RIR.
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I went ahead and got the space heater going in a room for the older girls so they could stay a tad warmer without the brooder plate. They were already rarely using it anyway so I figured they'd be okay.
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February 27th - Sour Crop???
I'm still not quite sure if it was sour crop, but the symptoms all point to it. The 27th started out fairly normal. I keep a sleeping box in the bathroom for the older 7 chicks with the space heater on low. They go in there at night. During the day, I bring them to a play area I have setup in the living room next to my couch.

Everyone was running around and having fun. Marceline was normal to start off with. She ran around playing too. But late morning she suddenly started just standing around doing nothing. After about 30 minutes I realized she was acting lethargic. I picked her up and she just cuddled into my hand. She's very calm about being handled but is always far more active; looking around and such. But she just fell asleep in my hand as I was walking around the room. I had to run to the store and when I got back, she was still lethargic. I finally thought to check her crop. It felt full but it was just squishy like it was full of air. I began gently massaging her crop and wondering how the heck this could happen. She seemed to really enjoy the massage. I ran back out to the store after that and got some Miconazole cream and plain Greek yogurt for her.

I couldn't get Marcy to eat, though. Not their feed, not the yogurt, not scrambled egg, not the medicine... I managed to get a tiny bit in her beak and then massaged her about once an hour. After a few hours, she pooped and suddenly perked right up. She began to eat and behave normal again. Thank goodness.
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End of February, End of Troubles?
Despite all the various happenings, I'm glad things seemed to be going well and grateful nothing tragic happened! Marcy was getting her medicine once in the morning and once at night. She had one more little bout of her crop getting gassy? again. I massaged her again and I felt a couple bubbles move or pop or something? Regardless, that was the last time she had a soft squishy crop. So Marcy was on her way to recovery. Ella was starting to poop normal again so she was on her way to recovery. The only real concern was Alice's coughing that still hadn't gone away.

Marceline
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Alice
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Despite everything, everyone was seemingly doing great! The older chicks were also already flying around a lot more than my EEs did at that age.


Yzma always visits me:
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Helga (left) Yzma (right) The Two Mustache Girls
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I even let the Leghorns play with the older chicks; supervised only. Tirdy is the bravest one. She squeezed in there in between two of the big girls! Gretchen is more timid.
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Here's to a more peaceful, healthier March! ♥ And the chicks' first trips outside!

I'm SOOO enjoying your chick-raising saga, thank you! And they're all so darn cute. Quite the roller coaster of chick-issues but hey, you've pulled them all through - BRAVA!

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

I'm SOOO enjoying your chick-raising saga, thank you! And they're all so darn cute. Quite the roller coaster of chick-issues but hey, you've pulled them all through - BRAVA!

Ohhhh, how sad - I hadn't read all the way through to Ella's passing. Why is it so often our favorites who leave us early? Ella RIP. Loving all your flock stories, so much detail and personal involvement with each bird. Please keep sharing your chicken adventures with us!

 

[Cinnaminute]

@Farmgirl283420 and @RedwoodCoastChick thank you so much. Ella was such a sweetheart and I miss her so much. I'm very happy that all my others have been happy and healthy. That's been a big scare these past 3 weeks. But I've been making sure everyone gets all the care and love they deserve.