Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

rsj

Help!!

I am the recent proud owner of 2 beautiful chickens Pepper and Ginger, fantastic girls they are and very kind to their new mum who has never had anything bigger than a cocketiel in the past.
Anyway, Pepper has laid an egg religiously everyday since she arrived a couple of weeks ago (Ginger just missed 2 days when she first arrived but has made up for it since!), Pepper missed her first egg yesterday, I wasnt overly concerned, but then this morning still no egg and she seemed a little quiet. I immediately worried about her being egg bound and did some research. One basin of warm water, a little tummy rubbing and lots of encouragement later a single egg was delivered. She seemed a little brighter straight away. Im still worried about her tho, she still isnt herself, but it has only been about an hour and a half since the 'delivery'. I tried to put her into her nest on a warmed towel, but she wasnt keen so is out in the run, she is still eating (she needed a healthy treat of mealworms after her experience). Im thinking about the 2nd egg that should have been laid, tho I cant feel any other firmness where I felt the first egg. Is it just a matter of settling herself now the egg is passed, is the 2nd one still stuck, am I over worrying or is there more I can do??
Thank you all

ginnyknit

Chickens do not lay an egg everyday, it can be less than 150 a year with some breeds. Often they have a day off especially when reasonably new to the home. Do not worry unless they are displaying other symptoms - have a look on a poultry site for the symptoms of an egg bound hen, I can't remember them!

rsj

Update, popped her back into the warm bath as she really was listing and out popped a 2nd, soft shelled egg! Immediately she is back to normal, thank goodness. Honestly, having children is easier!!! lolol
Thanks

Muppet81

Suggest you post your question about plucking tail feathers onto the Omlet Forum. Loads of knowledgable folk on there. Wondered about perhaps spraying tail feathers with something that tastes bad but not sure what. Someone on that Forum will have experienced this before and be able to suggest what to do for the best.

Muppet81

Also, should there be any blood drawn use a purple spray (from horsey suppliers) as this disguises the red and prevents worse pecking

Troythecat

Hello
I usually post on the grabbit forum, but have a look in here regularly and pick up lots of handy tips!

I have 3 hens (black rock, mendelsham blue & collumbine) All are healthy. The collumbine for some months now seems to have slightly longer "fluffier" bum feathers which would mostly be matted. I have wormed them though they will be due again soon to be done.

Now her bum feathers seem to have all but disappeared and there is a redness all over. I checked and see no evidence of mites or eggs so am at a loss.

Can anybody advise. She eats and seems sprightly enough and lays OK.

thanks in advance! XX

WEEZE210_2

After two days in "the naughty corner" Florence is now out with the others, yesterday I gave them a plant trough full of "gone over" radish plants and they had a whale of a time totally destroying the whole thing. Today I haven't noticed any tail feather plucking so hopefully she has learnt her lesson! Thanks for all the advice.

Weeze x

iloveboots

Hi
I have just found this site.
We have got 4 chickens, had them for 3 weeks now.
One has just started laying yesterday (so excited)
My question is, they are pooing in their nest, is this right???
we have a wooden coop that we got from the big pet store and it is placed on a concrete slab, it is quite a large coop, and we have also fenced off the bottom of the garden, so they roam around all day. In the nest we have hay and in the bottom of the coop we have sawdust, should they be doing their business in the hay???
Thanks

ginnyknit

apparently they digest most of their food at night so seem to mainly poo then. I put a folded up newspaper in the nest box covered with a bit of sawdust then just fold the lot up in the morning and compost the poo- I throw the newspaper in a seperate bin as it composts very slowly.:)

Fruittea

Hi there. I think if it's there - chickens will poop on it. So don't worry - just think of it as compost. I let mine roam in the front garden - I have no garden now.

But don't get to worried about the chooks - they are light sensitive creatures and can go off lay if there's a storm or the day is a bit dark.

My three girls lay almost everyday except if I over Flubevet them and the little bantum lays about 4 a week. A really good site for information is the frugal site: down the lane, it has quite a few specialist forums with some very active members that have really helped me when there have been problems.

Good luck with your girls they'll be a delight. :T