We were a little late on our monthly chicken health checks, but we got them done! The most surprising event is Navi’s recovery. She no longer has a pendulous crop, her comb is now red and getting larger, she is back in the flock weight wise, and she has started laying. Wha? I’m just going to take it and be glad we didn’t lose her. I don’t think Cockatrice is laying yet, which is interesting. Her vent still looks like a pullet vent. And it is easy to tell. I need to reweigh Cloud. Her weight is down over 200 grams. She has never been the biggest chicken, but that seems drastic. Or I could have written the number down wrong. However, the scale broke during weighing (the glass top popped off, probably because of the recent freeze). I have an idea how to not just fix it but make it better, but I actually have to implement my plan. Magic’s weight is back on track (it was down last check), which makes me hopeful for Cloud. I also need to keep an eye on Seashell’s foot. She has what looks like a healing wound and it is a little swollen, but it doesn’t effect her gait. We rinsed her foot well and put wound spray on it. We recently visited an alpaca farm and had some extra alpaca feed, so the chicken’s treat after checks was alpaca food. They loved it. (Apparently chickens can eat alpaca food, but alpacas shouldn’t eat chicken food. So there we go.)

We did a health check recently and from the look of the hen’s vents, we think everyone except Navi and Cockatrice are now laying. Navi has finally gained some weight, but if we let her out of isolation for even parts of the day her crop gets large and squishy. We have decided to go for quality of life and are letting her run with the flock. If she gets lethargic and won’t eat, we’ll put her back in isolation with copper sulfate water.

Magic lost her colored band for awhile, but we made sure it was her and put the band back on. However it does look like she lost weight, so either we mixed up chickens or we need to keep an eye on her too. Seeing as how she was the heaviest chicken last month, and is still the heaviest chicken, I don’t think we have a chicken identity crisis.

We did our monthly health check of the whole flock: checked vents, looked for parasites under the wing, checked feet, checked weight. This time we moved all the bands to the chickens’ left leg to make it easier to identify them. Navi’s colors were changed too, because a white band on a white feathered leg is not helpful. Although honestly, it is really easy to tell which one is Navi since her crop is distended.

Not surprising, Navi lost some weight. It looks like what ever is ailing her started over a month ago. Although she gained weight the month before, it was not in proportion to her flock mates and dropped her to the lowest weight bird. Her comb also has not developed, which may or may not be related. Most of the flock now have bright red defined combs, while Navi has almost no comb and the area is still light pink.

The chickens are 113 days old, or 3 months and 22 days. We did a health check because the weather was cool which is better for handling. Everyone is still putting on weight, which is good; and starting to molt, which is normal but may mean it will be months until they lay their first egg. Since that will put us into winter, we may not get eggs this year. A bit of a bummer, but we’re in for the long haul, so it will be what it will be.

We did discover a calmer technique for holding the chickens for well checks. My eldest held the chickens under the chest, with the chicken’s head tucked in the crook of her arm. Even Taco (pictured above) calmed down for the toe nail clip, band check, foot pad check, and mite check (in the triangle of skin between the wing and the body). We also weighed and checked vents.