Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Minor success for us - all four girls had gone to bed by themselves when I went to shut them in last night! :j :j They've not got the hang of the perch and were all just snuggled up against each other at one end of the house - they squarked at me when I shone a light to check they were all there cos it was just one big mass of feathers :rotfl:

How are your elderly ladies this morning Edwink? Any progress on the egg eating CAFCgirl - did you try the mustard? Did you get it into an egg without getting it all over your kitchen?? :eek:

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Minor success for us - all four girls had gone to bed by themselves when I went to shut them in last night! :j :j They've not got the hang of the perch and were all just snuggled up against each other at one end of the house - they squarked at me when I shone a light to check they were all there cos it was just one big mass of feathers :rotfl:

How are your elderly ladies this morning Edwink? Any progress on the egg eating CAFCgirl - did you try the mustard? Did you get it into an egg without getting it all over your kitchen?? :eek:

They are real clever ladies when you think about it Cheery. Only have to show them a few times where to sleep and they get the hang of it. I know what you mean about the squawk as we get that too. When we had 22 hens here the head count was pretty hopeless because it was just a mass of ginger feathers. Once you have accidentally woken them up they start all standing up with one or two giving the odd peck to another as if to say "oh shut up will ya it's only mummy checking we are all in safely. Now if you all would kindly just sit down the head count will be so much quicker, goodnight!!" :rotfl:

Thanks for asking about my girls Cheery. They are both a bit better today and appear to have more energy. I always think it is like very old people that have aches and pains having good and bad days. I've been keeping a real close eye on them to make sure they are ok. I bet they are wondering what all my fuss is about, bless 'em. Will just take it day by day with them now and see if I can sneak in an extra treat or two when the others are out of sight. Mind you chances of that is pretty slim as the others follow me everywhere.


Great photos by the way. Have to say yours look in really good condition and healthy which is lovely to see. I'll have to sort some pics out to add on here. If you are interested my avatar is a pic I took of my Indian Runner duck. We got her when she was 8 weeks old and she is 8 now.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Aw, cheery duck Glad your old folks seem brighter today

i was surprised at the condition mine are in - although they were barn hens rather than cage. Three of them are more scruffy than I think they look in the pics

Pleased to say the run now has two sides, and I've finally finished levelling the ground for the other two - sadly Mr Cheery has gone out for the afternoon else we'd put them up today too. I'm just going to sit with the girls and have a cuppa, and then get started on proper fox proofing - we had loads of rigid metal collapsable rabbit (I think) cages left in the garage by the last owner so I think a skirt of those just under the grass all round the sides should be enough to stop any digging... (Hopefully...)

jac99

Discovered this morning that my little black chicken loves strawberries - I kept some for the hens from tea last night and shared them out this morning. I thought just one each in case they have an undesirable effect! The little black hen tried hers but the others were more cautious. She took her strawberry into a corner and ate it quickly, then came running out and took the others one by one from under the beaks of the other hens as they were still trying them out.

She seems to be getting more confident. I haven't seen so many of her feathers lying around or seen her being picked on so much. I did give a spray of anti-peck spray for a couple of days so not sure if that worked or if they are just naturally finding their places in the group.

Also discovered who one of my layers is - the dominant grey hen! Caught her mid-lay as I went to clean them out, she was not impressed and loudly told me off for disturbing her!

Cheery_Daff

Aw jac, your little black hen sounds lovely I've discovered mine love blackberries :rotfl: Sadly for them so do I :rotfl: I've been taking them handfuls of grass, clover etc every afternoon (they're still in the stable, sigh) and they love it.

Maud is still limping I've had a good look twice now though and can't see anything wrong, and I've given it a bit of a wash both times (she wasn't impressed). She seems to be worst in the mornings, thought she was almost better yesterday afternoon but she was limping again today. Will go back out in a bit and see if she's got better again. Maybe she's just old and a bit stiff first thing :rotfl:

No eggs from my lot this morning! :eek: We had four on the first day, and 2 or 3 every day since, but none today! I did let them out about 7.30, and after I'd given them breakfast and done a bit of poo picking in the house, Mildred went back in, and I could hear her squarking a bit :rotfl: but no egg! Bless her, she did sound like she was trying... :rotfl: Checked again at lunchtime and still nothing - there's often another one or two when I go back so goodness what's going on with them today.

Pleased to report all four sides of the run are up :j :j and fox proofing has commenced :j :j We've spent a good three hours on it today, but now I really MUST get back to work for a while Not much left now. The girls are going to be SO excited when they get out there :j (either that or so resentful that it's windy and cold when the stable was nice and warm and dry :rotfl: )

Pyxis

Well, I just learned something new (again!)

I started wondering why hens keep laying eggs all the time, but other birds don't, so I googled, and discovered that they will lay until they have a clutch, (up to about twelve) and then will sit and brood the clutch, just as other birds do.

By removing the eggs daily, the hens will continue to lay, plus that laying tendency has been selectively bred into them over hundreds of years.

I expect you know all that, but it was a bit of a ping moment for me!



I wonder if the hens ever wonder why they keep laying and laying and never get a clutch?

jac99

Hello Pyxis, fascinating isn't it...the things you didn't know you didn't know until someone else states the obvious. Thanks for that, I didn't even know it would be called a clutch. The rate my hens are laying - I think once every 2-3 of days, they would be waiting a while to get to 12 eggs! Their attention span seems to be so short I think they would give up before that.

jac99

Its funny how they have their own personalities isn't it Cherry Daff. After I give the coop a bit of a spruce up in the afternoons I always give them a handful of herbs to apologise for disturbing them. They go crazy for the mint... which is good because I have loads of it...but aren't so keen on sage I have discovered. Today I included some chives and they were playing tug of war with them in n their eagerness to have the most!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I haven't tried my lot on herbs yet, thanks for the suggestion! My mint isn't very big yet so they're not having that :rotfl: but I've got plenty of oregano - wonder if they'd be interested?! Will try them tomorrow

I think I did know that about chickens and eggs pyxis, but only because I've read so blithering much about chickens in the last couple of weeks :rotfl: :rotfl:

Maud's foot seems loads better this afternoon - but then it seemed quite a lot better yesterday afternoon too and then worse again this morning... Maybe she's just a bit old and creaky in the morning?! I've replaced their ramp (which they were ignoring) with a large stone to use as a half way jumping point for getting in and out in case it's too much of a leap for her and we'll see what that does...

jac99

Apparently Oregano has antibacterial and antibiotic properties, can help combat disease and promotes respiratory health.

I don't know if it is just wishful thinking but there appears to be some thought that different herbs promote chicken health in different ways, similar to humans I suppose. I have been giving them a handful most days and they seem to eat the majority except sage so far.

It also has the additional benefit of making it all smell nice!