Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

tru

Morning all.

Princess Skint A Lot has a big chicken problem, could anyone help her out? I have chickens but I have no idea how to help. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2989106

Fruball

Didn't want to read and run.

Sorry to read your sad post I hope you find out what has happened to your hens and that your remaining hen is ok

tru

Hi Princess, we have a chicken thread HERE. I've posted a link on that thread to here, hopefully someone will be able to help.

valk_scot

Rat, stoat or weasel? They're hungry at the moment and they can burrow, plus get in through amazingly small holes smaller than my thumb. Checked for holes in the floor? It might be worth meshing over your ventilation holes too.

Emsky*

Hope you find out whats happening to your chickens.

Minette23

So you dont think that it's the holes in their necks thats actually killing them? I think it's most likely damage caused by the other hens after her death. We had a chicken drop dead, she had a sort of parasite in her tummy (next door neighbour's a vet so he did an autopsy). So we treated the others with a solution in their water and no more problems. Have you recently treated them for parasites/worms etc?

There are loads of disease poultry can get, have they had any symptoms? Like raspy breathing, diareeha, loss of appetite or anything?

We found one of our pidgeons miss it's head and no blood or feather anywhere, we still don't know what happened, though obviously it must have been a predator. Predators can get through VERY small gaps so block all gaps in the henhouse.

Hope you find a solution to this

Minette

Minette23

Also one more thing, i know that weasels kill chickens by biting their necks to drain their blood, aparently they then drink it so maybe that's why there's no blood anywhere. (please correct me if i'm wrong as this sounds like an urban vampire legend) Also i think a weasel would kill them all in one go rather than one by one like that.

princess_skint_a_lot_2

hi minette

no have never treated them for parasites or worms what do i get? Is it for a specific parasite or is there a general medicine for it, i have a shop that supplies to farmers in our nearest town 6 miles away and they sell all sorts of stuff for chickens, i only got them in september and am a bit of a novice. Ill feel so bad if its something i could have treated simply. Although there were feathers scattered in the house which made me wonder. Oh i dont know im so confused. Could you let me know the name of the stuff that i need to get, ill do anything to save my remaining chicken.

kind regards

deb

ljonski

These people will give good advice , if you register and post.

http://www.downthelane.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=4033876afcde350e3ba1406232fad856

hth

Mojisola

Mumof2 wrote: »

Can I ask your advice please? We've got 4 hybrid chickens, about a year old. 3 of them have got feathers missing (from necks/undercarriage) and 1 has all her feathers. I've now found the reason why - Tikka, the 1 who has all her feathers, has been pecking out the feathers and I think she ate them too. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do?

As it might not be feasible to get a cockerel - although this does sort out a lot of bad behaviour among the hens! - there's a couple of other possibilities.

Try separating Tikka from the other hens for a little while - say a week. She's obviously top of the pecking order - literally as well as figuratively. If you take her out of the group, they will sort themselves out into a new order and when you put her back, it's unlikely that she will go straight back in as No. 1. That will reduce the pecking.

As well as this, it would be worth dosing them all with a tonic because feather pecking can start because the hens are short of minerals.

Sometimes you just get a hen that bullies or is bullied by the rest of the flock. Hens do have personality clashes! In the past, we've taken on a hen who was tormented by the rest of our friend's flock. She settled in well with our girls and the cockerel with no problems.

Added: I missed out another cause - not knowing your set-up, this might apply. Overcrowding and boredom can lead chickens into bad habits like feather-pecking. Have they got enough room and an interesting enough environment to keep them busy?