MJ's little flock

[Shadrach]

Here's a list of the pullets achievements in the funrun today.

• Drinks
• Snacks, both proper food and foraged
• Jacaranda tree experimentation
• Sunbathing
• Snoozing in the shade
• Suddenly becoming very frightened for no discernible reason
• Chats
• Scratching
• Jogging
• Sprinting while flapping
• Avoiding photo opps
• Flying over the log pile.
• Hopping up on things.

I bet you didn't do half that much.

 

[MaryJanet]

I bet you didn't do half that much.

So true! I sat around reading byc!

 

[MaryJanet]

We're back from the vet. Peggy is getting along very well. Mark is still concerned about Jan's bacterial infection. He's taken a swab and will be in touch about next steps. She may have an abscess we can't see without taking images, but that's not guaranteed. I think I've mentioned before that his diagnostic procedure is cautious and usually goes like this: maybe this, maybe that, try broad spectrum antibiotics, check chicken, try stronger broad spectrum, check chicken, take an image, see what it suggests, maybe surgery, eureka! Found the problem, 100% certainty.

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm so proud of the pullets! On only their third day of being asked to go from the funrun back to the sleepout at the end of the day, they walked calmly all the way, without the slightest fuss. Like a team of tiny and very clever angels

In other news, the little coop is equipped with chick starter and water in case any little ones hatch.

 

[Grammy60]

Good evening MJ and everyone

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

 

[MaryJanet]

I know she has reproductive issues because she can never get a shelled egg even though I have given her a lot of calcium.
My fear about internal laying is that she was going into the nest box and sitting for quite a while but not producing anything. I hope she is simply post-menopausal and a bit wistful, but I am mentally prepared for the worst.
Right now she is not doing any laying for which I am very grateful even though it means I have to buy eggs from the lady down the road.

I'm trying to recall her age. Is she 4?

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm trying to recall her age. Is she 4?

She will be four in March. And she is an ISA Brown so prone to reproductive issues.

 

[MaryJanet]

She will be four in March. And she is an ISA Brown so prone to reproductive issues.

Is such a paradoxical breed. They're so sweet and endearing, they make great pets! They live such short and fraught lives, they make awful pets.

I'm already worried about Christa. I'm pretty sure she laid the soft egg on the first day and she's had a slight penguin posture a couple of times. She comes good again, but it doesn't bode well. If Mark suggests it, we'll go for a hysterectomy before eyp gets too serious.

Thankfully Joyce hasn't yet given me cause for concern.

Back to Diana. What do you have in mind for her at this stage?

And how's Bernadette getting along?

 

[MaryJanet]

Here are the clever and courageous little ones.

They continue to sleep in a huddle on the sewing table instead of roosting on the branch. i guess it's because they're quite young still and need the warmth.