Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

jexygirl

Kevie, I am not experienced enough to advise you sorry, but I am sure someone else we be along soon. Have to say the price seems a little steep though it depends on the breeds I guess. sorry to not be much help :S

Truly , this is from a site which was recently posted here, I forget who the OP was sorry but the site is http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/default.aspx its a wealth of information but copy pasted this:

Egg without shells or soft eggs

Hens become quite stressed when moved from farm to rescue, this shows in their egg quality. You may find very soft shelled eggs or even eggs without a shell at all. Don't be panicked, this is ok. This shouldn't be a problem for long, let them settle and try them on a vitamin supplement in their water. If it continues it may mean there is a lack of calcium in the hen's diet, or it is not absorbed.. Eggshells can be baked in the oven, cooled, crushed and mixed with the food. Apple cider vinegar is also thought to increase calcium absorption. Vets can also give a calcium injection, presumably if the above don't work.

Egg breaking or egg eating

Hens are clumsy when first out of farms, some have never seen their eggs before let alone laid them in straw nest boxes!

They may stand on them and break them accidently, if this happens they will eat them. Try not to worry they will learn not to stand on them.

If they purposely eat eggs, again its for the same reasons as above.

Things to try..

- Remove the eggs quickly in morning to break the cycle and never leave eggs lying around

- Add mustard to the eggs to put them off eating them again

- Distract hens

It is also a sign of hen lacking in protein, feed them something high in protein like sardines, or cat food.


As for how long it normally takes, the egg should be solid within a few minutes, if it isnt, Im told its still ok to eat, (I had my first "leather" egg yesterday) but I decided not to!

HTH Jex

DON79

Would appreciate any ideas please? Sadly found one of our Barred Rock chickens dead this morning, outside of the coop. I went out last night to shut the door etc and didn't think to check they were all in.

We had a egg laid a couple of days ago with blood on it and all then hens were behaving as normal so we didn't think anything of it really as it was not a great deal of blood.

But obviously Cackle has been dead since last night

Could this have been caused by being eggbound? Having had a look at her this morning, she does have blood around her vent and also on her back legs. Not sure if she could have been attacked by something or not.

We have two dogs and two toddlers - the dogs ignore the chickens completely but the toddlers have been getting in trouble before the bloody egg appeared for stressing some of the chickens out

Would be helpful if anyone could give me any other ideas as to possible causes of death or if being eggbound can cause this or if it could be just stress?

Thank you

Wee_Bargain_Hunter

Hi, thought you might all enjoy this chicken story. Was going to post it on the daily for haribo but then spotted this dedicated chicken thread! It mentions Warren chickens too for someone who was asking. PS I don't keep chickens - just thought this was funny link

jexygirl

Hi Don
Sorry to hear about your hen, Sounds like she may have had a prolapse

There is lots of info here though on medical conditions including prolapse.
http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/after.aspx

jex

DON79

thank you Jexygirl, will have a read through, not much can do about it now obviously but I would still like to know why it happened.

trying to keep positive though and on a plus, we are potentially hatching some silkie chicks hopefully! three little eggs in the incubator

Kimitatsu

Kevie192 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I've managed to find a nice lady who will sell me 3 chickens, a house and run that is easily big enough for £150 plus £50 delivery. Then for now all I'll need to buy is feeders, wood shavings and food (i think!)

The problem is... She either has warren browns at pol or light star and cream legbar which are 6 weeks old. Apart from obviously needing to wait 12 weeks for the younger ones to lay, are there any obvious positives/negatives to having younger chicks? Also, could I keep 1 warren brown and one of each of the younger chicks together successfully? I don't know what the size difference is so I wondered if there will be bullying or anything? Any complications with feeding?

Thanks,

Kevin

Kevin to give you an idea warrens go for about £15 a bird at point of lay (very good layers though) Cream legbars about £20 a bird at point of lay when you can find them and they lay every day but the eggs are pale blue and delicious. Are they off the heat completely? if they are then they should be fine but you will have to put them to bed for the first few days and make sure they go in when it rains - they are not very bright at that age. Be careful of the frosts as they DO need to be kept warm at that age and if you get bronchitis then the mortality rate is higher the younger they are.

If you keep girls together then you do have to be careful of bullying - we have 15 girls and they would all bicker between themselves if we didn't have one (very happy)cockeral. With three you should be fine but I would start them all off at the same age and then you wont get bullying issues. Our legbars run with Orpingtons, and the legbars are smaller but do hold their own, but they came in as pol.

HTH but ask if you have more questions )

Mutantk

Hi everyone, haven't popped into the thread for ages! All the advice many of you were kind enough to give me though was not wasted, about four weeks ago we got 3 Black Rocks at POL and called them Matilda, Pixie and Carnoustie and they're fab! Eggs are bigger than I thought they would be but lovely and the chooks seem happy so all going well.
Only question I really have is how much you all handle the hens...mine are very happy to take food from us and come over to us as soon as we go out etc but if I make a move to pick them up they scarper and flap about!

tracyk

Hi Mutantk,

If you put your hand on their back (shoulders); they should 'squat' & stay still for you, then you can pick them up. Try to do it from behind so they don't see you.

I think they do this because it's what they do when a cockeral comes a calling

Nargleblast

As Tracyk says, approach them from behind with your arms open wide, talking softly to them. They will crouch down in the "ready for action" position(!) and you will be able to grasp them firmly, holding their wings close to their bodies. I too have a Black Rock who has to tell the world about it when she lays an egg - she crows almost like a c o c kerel for a few moments after!

Mutantk

Hahaha thanks Nargleblast, I'll try that - one of mine is like that too - goes off like a car alarm (honestly what it sounds like!) after she lays!!!