Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Lots of porridge here (well, pellets mixed eith hot water and a few oats) but the last few days the girls seem a little bored of it & not as enthusiastic when I first put it down... They still eat it all mind you so I'm not too worried.
Maybe stop giving them this for a while and give them something else because it does sound as if they have got bored of it. Fussy lot eh?

(Don't read if you're eating breakfast!!)
Ok point taken but I am having supper in half an hour will that be ok?

This morning I noticed a bit of red colour in the overnight poo :eek: I did a bit of alarmed googling and found this Poo Chart, which seems to suggest this is perfectly normal intestinal lining (!)
Yes Cheery it is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Thank you so much for posting the useful link below. I am sure it will be of great help to others on here and me:)

Posting a link in case it's useful but DON'T look if you don't have a strong stomach :eek: :rotfl:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=17568.0
I don't know if I'm having a moment of chicken paranoia but I suspect a couple of mine may have a touch of frostbite :eek:
Couple of dark tinges to the very pointy bits of their combs :eek:
I'm afraid this happens in the colder months Cheery and I must admit it always worried me when I first started keeping hens. One way to help with keeping their body heat in is to coat their combs with a layer of Vaseline, just stroke it on and they will enjoy it, mine do anyway. It is a bit like us wearing a hat and retaining body heat.

Mostly noticeable on the girls with large combs although if you stare at the two with smaller combs you start seeing it too. We do everything we can to keep them cosy (including putting up extra boards round the run when it's especially cold or windy) but I've read it may be down to a combination of cold & damp. The house is well ventilated, or at least I THOUGHT it was... But maybe it's not enough??
Most likely down to the changes in outside temperatures if you have everything well ventilated.

I poo pick every day and yesterday got out all the bedding (which still looked perfectly clean & dry after a couple of weeks) and replaced it with new. Everyone seems to be acting normally (well, as normally as hens act :rotfl: ) and they're all eating so I'm not toooo worried but still.
It is your first winter with them so it is only natural to worry, I did exactly the same Cheery. You will get used to how they are and how they act over the different seasons, honest you will.

Am I just being paranoid? Have I been reading too many chicken disease books?!

Yes and Yes :rotfl: No of course not, you obviously worry because you care about their welfare so much and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Aww bless you Cheery what a wonderful and caring hen keeper you have turned out to be. I do love it so much when someone like you puts their heart and soul in to caring for these poor little ex-batts. What a fantastic life you are giving your girls in their retirement years. BIG HUGS x

Sorry about the larger text but thought it would highlight my replies a bit better than just being blue in colour but even though the text is only 1 size larger I didn't expect it to come out so big.

Keep up the good work Cheery :kisses3:

Edwink

ps. Now I have got to find out how to turn this blue colour off and get back to the smaller text :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Aw, thank you edwink, for being so supportive and lovely :kisses3: Hope you get your normal text back soon :rotfl:

I gave them scrambled egg and some seeds for a bit of protein this morning. Not sure how I feel about feeding them scrambled egg I know lots of people do it but it feels a bit... weird? Also I like eating eggs myself :rotfl: (although we did have 14 this morning so I figured we could spare a couple).

Anyway, I'm working at home today so they're out marauding about the place. Hope the plumber doesn't run them over when he turns up :eek: They were all crowding round his feet and trying to get in his van last week :rotfl:

Pyxis

Crumbs!

Now there are plumber-mugging hens! :eek:


Back to ballcocks, I suppose! :rotfl:

edwink

***Monday morning at Cheery's house***



Plumber:- Morning Cheery, where would you like to me start today?

Cheery:- Radiator in the bathroom please Mr Plumber as it is freezing cold in there.

Plumber:- Ok will do


HALF AN HOUR LATER




Plumber:- Help, help get me out of here! Help me!!!!!!

Cheery:- OMG! Right you lot, which one of you tripped my long awaited plumber up???


One of Cheery's hens whistling and running out of the bathroom:- Wasn't me mum, honest!


TWO WEEKS LATER




Plumber:- Morning Cheery, where would you like me to start today?


:rotfl: Sorry just couldn't resist!


Edwink

Cheery_Daff

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Wish I had set the chickens on them today, they were being a right nuisance! (The plumbers, not the chickens!!)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Pyxis

Eggsellent, Edwink!

Cheery, you could call your gang Hell's Avians!

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Wish I had set the chickens on them today, they were being a right nuisance! (The plumbers, not the chickens!!)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I am glad you added the bit in brackets because I was sure it was the hens being a PITA :rotfl:

Pyxis wrote: »

Eggsellent, Edwink!

Cheery, you could call your gang Hell's Avians!

Nice one Pyxis :rotfl:

Didn't highlight my text this time because was beginning to think I was getting addicted to using the larger text and not wearing my reading glasses

And on a more serious note WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY EGGS LAID HERE FOR OVER TWO WEEKS NOW, NONE ABSOLUTLEY ZILCH, NOT ONE. Might have to have a few quiet words with them over the coming days So it is now official *Edwink is Eggless* (Cue Pyxis :rotfl:)

Edwink

Pyxis

edwink wrote: »

I

And on a more serious note WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY EGGS LAID HERE FOR OVER TWO WEEKS NOW, NONE ABSOLUTLEY ZILCH, NOT ONE. Might have to have a few quiet words with them over the coming days So it is now official *Edwink is Eggless* (Cue Pyxis :rotfl:)

Edwink

Don't tempt me! :rotfl:




Mind you, Eggless Edwink has a nice ring to it! :rotfl:

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

Don't tempt me! :rotfl:

Mind you, Eggless Edwink has a nice ring to it! :rotfl:

So Eggless Edwink it is then until we get some more girls sometime next year :rotfl:

Can't sleep either Pyxis????

Edwink

Pyxis

edwink wrote: »

So Eggless Edwink it is then until we get some more girls sometime next year :rotfl:

Can't sleep either Pyxis????

Edwink

My sleep patterns are shot since the clocks went back.
Compounded by having had severe leg pain from a pulled leg muscle for the last week.
I am falling asleep at 6 or 7pm, waking several times, then finally waking between 2.30 and 3.30 am which is a tad too early even for this extreme lark.