Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Pyxis

You should publish a paper on relative quackiness.


Half a quack? I want audio evidence of this malformed quack.


Croak-type quack versus quack-type quack?
Audio evidence needed, please.


Indian Runner slapper duck? Nah! She's just a nag!
Nagquack nagquack nagquack.....
She's probably telling them off for not preening enough!

And as for ducks letting themselves go.........
Well, I can identify with that!
Perhaps what they need is a young, virile, handsome gander..........

Sigh...............

babyblade41

Mt ducks aren't as old.. probably 5.5 years, all Khaki and white Campbells ex battery ducks .

We used to have 40 but now sadly only 12 khaki and 5 white.

The khakis adore the water but whites are less interested . We have a disabled khaki called Dora the explorer as a few years ago she realised she could fly (Can't walk too well she got badly injured in the factory farm) she couldn't land and crashed into our field thankfully no damage done.

She has had wet feather all her life, the oil gland must have been badly damaged so she never goes near. She has a bath in the summer when it's warm but otherwise lives happily although the others don't have much to do with her hence my favourite.
We also have Penny one eye who had to have an eye removed when we first got her as infection was so bad, again from the farm .she always goes into the pools side ways !!!

Pyxis

Do you know, with all these fowl personalities about, someone really should write some stories about them!:T :T


Any budding story-writers out there?


The duck who lost half her quack.

Dora the Explorer! The duck that could fly but couldn't land!
Someone should make her some lightweight undercarriage!

The nagduck.

The bass-boom in-your-face mugger ducks!

The ducks that let themselves go.

edwink

Nice to chat about ducks on the thread for a change. After all it is for both hens and ducks although we know most on here have just hens. I will add to the duck chat later.


Changing the subject, my poor old lady hen passed away in the night. We found her this morning in the nesting box where she has been sleeping lately and spending her nights with our Cockerel next to her. Bless her heart.


Edwink

Pyxis

(((((((((((((Edwink))))))))))))))))


(((((((((((((PoorOldLadyHen))))))))))))))


Nice that the cockerel was next to her all night. :A

Cheery_Daff

Aw, poor old lady hen xxxx glad she passed peacefully in her sleep with her cockerel beside her xxx

babyblade41

edwink wrote: »

Nice to chat about ducks on the thread for a change. After all it is for both hens and ducks although we know most on here have just hens. I will add to the duck chat later.


Changing the subject, my poor old lady hen passed away in the night. We found her this morning in the nesting box where she has been sleeping lately and spending her nights with our Cockerel next to her. Bless her heart.


Edwink

I sometimes feel happy when they pass in their home... I hate when I have to take to the vet to do the deed as nature hasn't hurried up. I think we know when it's near time and when it is and all else has failed I feel a little relief if I find they have passed in a safe place.

So sorry for your loss


My ducks aren't close to me at all, in all this time they are still fearful, the nature of where they come from sometimes I fear .

Dora the explorer does tend to have a sad life as she is different from the others and they tend to keep her at arms length . All I can do is keep her safe make sure she has the first pick of the treats and tell her I love her to bits

edwink

Thank you so much everyone. Your messages today were lovely to read and do help.

No matter how many we lose I always find it tough. Not that I'm the big softie that I am but I just adore these girls so much. It does get easier overtime though so its not as tough when you loose one if I'm being brutally honest. When we gradually started to loose our very first 12 ex batts all those years ago it felt so very tough but now although tough it is in a lighter sort of way. Over time we have almost lost 60 hens now, most ex-battery and just a few we purchased just to add to the mix. And yes I do keep a little count because I know that I can look back on how many I have helped to gain their health back and not be so nervous or frightened so they can flourish. But, most of all I know I have given all of them my time to assist them on their journey to be happy contented retired little rescue hens. They do of course reward me with cuddles, love, lots of eggs plus the odd tantrum from time to time and I wouldn't swap my life with them for anything.

Poor Mr Cockerel was all on his own in the nesting box tonight when we locked them up and I couldn't help feel so sorry that he had lost his sleeping pal today when I looked at him.

As most of you know I was going to bring her indoors today to spend the rest of her last few days with us so she didn't come to any harm or get knocked by the ducks because she stopped mixing with the other 2 hens yesterday. But, I am pleased that she decided to go during the night in her sleep and in her own environment with her feathered friends near her.

I've also had to take a few of mine to the vets to be PTS and although it was a release for them as they were so poorly and couldn't be helped any further I absolutely hated taking them. But when you get to a stage where they can not be helped any further it definitely is a relief that they are at peace.

Thanks again everyone.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Aw edwink, you've done such a lot for those ladies over the years, I can only hope to make even half the difference you've made xxx

Pleased to report our ladies are being a complete menace so clearly back to their old selves :rotfl: had to boot them out the back door first thing yesterday morning as they were creating such a fuss, and one of them was trying to find somewhere to lay an egg under the kitchen table - clearly not a satisfactory arrangement!

So I'm afraid Mr Cheery had to stop fretting about them being outside unsupervised and they have gone back to the usual regime of free ranging when we're here in the day, but they're still sleeping in my study as Mr Cheery hasn't finished renovations yet...

Not ideal, but there's no hurrying up a DIY job round here unfortunately. He's cancelled all plans for tomorrow so I'm hopeful but not holding my breath...

Anyway. Our ladies had been sleeping in the tenporary nest box together but last night when I checked one of them was somewhere else, behind a basket, and tonight apparently one of them was behind the door on the other side of the room.

Have they fallen out?? Do they normally just sleep next to each other for cosiness and have no need for cosiness? Opposite sides of the room seems extreme! But normally they don't have a choice I suppose - maybe they actually just don't like each other very much?! :eek:

New ladies arriving in 5 days so that should distract them a bit (and they'll have their own house back by then anyway, I hope :eek: )

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Anyway. Our ladies had been sleeping in the tenporary nest box together but last night when I checked one of them was somewhere else, behind a basket, and tonight apparently one of them was behind the door on the other side of the room.

Have they fallen out?? Do they normally just sleep next to each other for cosiness and have no need for cosiness? Opposite sides of the room seems extreme! But normally they don't have a choice I suppose - maybe they actually just don't like each other very much?! :eek:

New ladies arriving in 5 days so that should distract them a bit (and they'll have their own house back by then anyway, I hope :eek: )

I agree it does seem a bit extreme especially after what they have both been through. Even if they were hot they would just move over a bit and give each other a bit of space. Maybe they have had a squabble and they are no longer talking to each other atm. Are they sticking together when outside or wandering off on their own? Does seem rather strange because it's a fact that hens don't like being on their own. I suppose they are not actually on their own are they but just on opposite sides of the room.

My hubby locked our girls up one night when we had over 20 of them here. Some of them were squabbling and having a peck at each other so kept on moving about and with ex batts usually being the same colour it was a bit of a task making sure they were all present. Anyway, he decided finally yes the head count was good so closed and locked their hotel for the night but when he went out in the morning to unlock them he was faced with this little hen that came running towards him in their coop that had been wandering around as if she owned the place. Bless her she must have fallen asleep somewhere in the coop and didn't go to bed so was totally missed off the head count chaos of the previous evening. No harm done I suppose but he felt awful about it. Our hens coop chicken wire is cemented 3ft in to the ground all the way around so nothing could have got to her but all the same the poor little thing was on her own all night and since daybreak until the others came out. I'll never forget that.

For their coop, as it is large enough we have made it in to a playground for them so plenty of places to hide in or under because if and when we go away which is normally only for a few days at a time, our hen sitter comes round to get them in and out etc. So we feel they are safer in there as nobody is about then during the day like when we are at home. Although it is lovely we back on to woodland and we know for sure there are foxes up there so have to be really careful.

Looks as though we will be getting the other 2 hens sooner rather than later by the sound of things. The lady is pregnant and wants us to take them in, which we said we would. But, we were trying to hold off getting them while we still had our remaining two very old ladies still. So it looks as though someone is going to have to play referee for a few days, me that is as that's my job here. I don't mind as I do worry when someone asks us to take some hens in that if we don't take them when they want them out of the way they may PTTS if nobody will take them. Just in the process of talking to the lady at the moment through a friend so will update more when I know what is happening.

Hope everyone and their hens are all ok. Lots more eggs will be laid once Spring is in the air and it warms up a bit. I really do miss my lovely tasty eggs and chips supper.

Edwink


ETA. Glad you are getting some new hens Cheery. Just out of interest how many are you going to get?.