Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

moominyak

Hi all,

I see missymoo81 you've been having trouble with dirty stop-outs! I've only had mine for 3 nights, but so far I've had one who seems to like to settle at the top of the ramp to sleep - facing outwards, 'surveying her manor!' She's done that the past two nights, I have to turn her around and there's a bit of flapping but I get her in the coop eventually!

On the first night none of them came out at all, they were just settling in after the days stresses, poor things.

One of them ventured out on Sunday, and yesterday three of the four came down and have been pecking about 'downstairs' in the run. The fourth one hasn't ventured out yet, she'll come to the top where I try to tempt her out with mealworms, but that's as far as she's got so far. Although initially she was the first to come out and managed a couple of rungs - I think the wood was a bit slippy for her so I've put some garden mesh over it now, I hope she'll have another attempt soon, now that the other three have made it down!

She also appears to be the boss hen, as I've seen her pecking at the others a bit and they just let her.

Thought one had evaporated last night, after I'd got the ramp-hogger into the coop I could only see three in there - but the other one had snuggled down in a nesting box, awww!

I'm hoping by the time I get home tonight they will all be downstairs... they're certainly not in a rush to get out in the morning, but maybe they will be once they are going to bed earlier and they've settled in properly.

Egg count - 7 so far since Saturday evening - one had laid an egg in the travelling box!

Sorry for long post

moominyak

WEEZE210 wrote: »

time.
I bought my first lot of layers pellets from our local pet shop at £1 a kg. Where does everyone get there's from and how much do you pay? I live near Stafford, Staffordshire anyone know of anywhere locally selling layers pellets?
Weeze x

Hi Weeze,
Can't help you with the local knowledge I'm afraid, but I paid £7.44 for a 20kg bag of layers mash up here, and I picked up a 20kg bag of mixed grain which was £6.59, they were from Harbro (own brand) but I think they are a Northern Scotland outfit as they only seem to be in Inverness / Aberdeen. Not exactly spoilt for choice around here as far as I can tell.

A propos of nothing, they had a range of medications, cleaners etc but not the things I wanted (Diatom and Poultry Shield) so I ended up going online for those. Their Flubenvet was about £17 plus VAT!!! :eek: Thank heavens for the interweb

If I can ever get Madam No. 4 out of the coop, maybe I can clean it! :rotfl:

miss_t_2

Thought I would quickly post on update on Audrey and Gertrude, they seem to be getting on just fine now and have been since Friday :j, there has been the occasional squabble over various bugs but that's just Audrey! Gertrude is starting to become more confident and is happy to wander in with Audrey now and has made herself comfortable on the sofa much to my dog's confusion! :rotfl:

Have ordered the Flubavet, so am waiting for that to arrive. Just to add my experiences with layers pellets, I was buying a 20kg bag of Dodson and Horrell pellets, mash and corn for £7.50 from their country store which isn't too far from me, and mixed grit for about £7. However if I only need pellets or corn only, I do just get it from Pets at Home, for £9.50 as once I take into account petrol, the price isn't so bad! I get my Poultry Shield (1l already mixed) from e-bay for £4.99 but postage is £4.99, however I normally buy 2 so it costs £7 for next day delivery. If anyone knows anywhere cheaper I could buy this please do let me know as I am open to suggestions!

Muppet81

Good news Miss t

Thanks for the update.

miss_t_2

Well it seems once you solve one chicken related problem another appears! Over the past few days I've been wondering if Audrey has been okay, as when she has been going to the "loo" it has often been watery or very little. So this morning I decided to feel her crop when I let her out, and it didn't feel empty but there was a hardish lump there instead. I can't take her to the vet until tomorrow, (have to also find one who can deal with it as mine referred me to a vet in Bedford that deals with Woburn animals - which is 20 miles away) so is there anything I can do at home until then? She is still eating away quite happily, but looking at her I think she has lost some weight.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation?

moominyak

Hi miss_t,

Have your girls got some flint or mixed grit (not just oystershell)? (Sorry if I'm asking an obvious question)

Just the original adventurer of my four came out to play yesterday, but 3 are out today so that's good. The fourth one still isn't emerging from the coop

The adventurous one even went up onto a perch last night to sleep

@ 1335 ETA - They have all come down, yippeeee! All it took to get No. 4 down was some plain and simple bread along the ladder... if only I'd tried that before the mealworms and sweetcorn! I just hope they all remember where the food is tomorrow morning!! :rotfl:

miss_t_2

Don't worry about it being an obvious question - they have mixed grit available all of the time, and when they get given layers mash (made up with water) I normally mix it in then to make sure they've eaten some.

They normally free-range for most of the day when someone is at home to supervise, unless of course the weather is bad, so I think they pick up a lot of stones anyway, but this is the other reason I'm concerned that they've eaten too much grass or something, which hasn't passed through the crop.

I've seen on other forums to try giving her live maggots,so may give that a go. Not too keen on the thought of having maggots in my fridge, :eek: but willing to try anything at this point!

moominyak

miss_t wrote: »

Not too keen on the thought of having maggots in my fridge, :eek: but willing to try anything at this point!

Ewww!! :eek: Good luck, keep us posted

Muppet81

I have tried the maggot method and it seemed to work. I guess it depends how bad the impacted crop is. The girls certainly loved it.

miss_t_2

After spending yesterday massaging Audrey's crop I think I may have broken whatever the lump was down as there is nothing there now. :jAlthough I think after the goings on of this past week, I might still treat the girls to some maggots as I'm sure they will love them.

Unfortunately, I have just had the sad task of picking up Matilda's ashes.... I thought as it's been a week and a half the experience wouldn't be so bad, but I still really miss her...

Have also received the Flubavet today, so am now off to measure out 2kg of food to mix it in. Can I ask, do I treat them with this every month? I look in the leaflet but it only talks about what to do if they already have worms and to repeat the treatment after 3 weeks in case of reinfestation :huh: