Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Crikey edwink what a day you've had! :eek:

Your poor duck how scary for all of you. Sounds like you've done all you can, hope she makes it. Would you generally recommend keeping a poorly hen/duck in the same room as you to reassure them? We've been putting ours in a room on their own as i thought they need quiet but Mr Cheery is convinced they get lonely so pops in to reassure and sing them a song about every ten minutes :rotfl:

What a palaver with your soakaway! :eek: we don't have mains drainage at all - we have a septic tank and i live in dear of something going horribly wrong with it :eek: does mean water bills are only £14 a month though (not metered).

Impressed with your electric bill! Our DD is currently £75 a month and gas another £84 :eek :eek: hearing and hob is gas, oven is electric, plus we've had plug in heaters in some rooms that didn't have radiators. Ridiculous really, although at the minute we're both home all day which partly accounts for high heating - mostly is just set to 14 degrees though so not exactly tropical!

Anyway i shouldn't be awake bit warm under too many blankets i think (no, the heating is NOT on!) and was having a horrid Dan so trying to distract myself. But sneaking in my phone under the covers isn't going to help me go back to sleep

Pleased to report the new ladies found their own way to bed last night! Well, Bessie was in and the others were heading in when i turned up and they got distracted and came back out :rotfl: i just sat in front of the door and one by one they went in again - Bessie came over to me first and i gave her a bit of a stroke then she toddled in with the others.

I'm still not happy with her crop, which last night felt as big as a golf ball, but given that I've only really felt hers, and only really yesterday, I've not much to go on. Did try to have a feel of the other ladies but will proud them all in the morning...

Right, best go back to sleep i suppose!

babyblade41

trying not to hijack your wonderful diaries ..I read them most days .

If the crop is impacted I loosen it it with some olive oil then feed live maggots from the fishing bait shop... maggots do a wonderful job at eating rancid food stuck in the crop

I too have had a poorly ex batt.. egg issues most likely so she has been having a warm bath in the morning with a warm blow dry afterwards.

My hen first aid box usually has some Tylan and metacam in so I'm hoping they do their magic... she was a lot better yesterday afternoon just hope it's not calm before the storm

Cheery_Daff

Hi babyblade :hello: you're not hijacking at all! This is for anyone to chat about hens (and other things) and I just get carried away with my waffling sometimes and hijack myself :rotfl:

Thank you for your tips! I'd heard about olive oil (am I right in thinking you feed it rather than rubbing it on??) but I'd not heard of feeding live maggots before, how interesting. Will investigate...

Sorry to hear your hen is poorly too I tried the hairdryer on Bessie yesterday but she didn't seem impressed hope your poorly one improves today xx

Cheery_Daff

Delighted to report that Bessie's crop felt empty this morning and she was last seen scoffing breakfast with much enthusiasm :j :j

babyblade41

yes and massage the crop at the same time, it loosens all the nasty stuff.. and yes maggots do a great job

Poorly hen is a little brighter today but will carry on with AB's and pain relief for a few more days...they do always cause me worry and love it when they get too old to lay

My old girl has stopped laying and she looks a picture of health .. my disabled duck is a little bit stiff today but it was cold last night and she does feel it and getting old ..sadly the others always remove themselves from her as she's always different..the animal world can be heartless at times but a few more weeks and we will breathe a sigh of relief as the warmer weather starts ...hopefully a nice long summer again will restore her batteries before winter sets in.

I always find the spring is the worst for fatalities.. just started laying again and feeling the effect of winter

Pyxis

I never knew that food was kept in the crop! I learn so much on here!

I've never really thought about what the crop was for.

I suppose it's a bit like hamsters' cheeks? A sort of holding bay? Or does the digestive process start in it?

babyblade41

Pyxis wrote: »

I never knew that food was kept in the crop! I learn so much on here!

I've never really thought about what the crop was for.

I suppose it's a bit like hamsters' cheeks? A sort of holding bay? Or does the digestive process start in it?

It's a chicken tuck box.. very similar to hamsters, it starts the digestion process there, but sometimes if they have gorged it doesn't move on and goes rancid hence live worms... they will eat a lot of the bad stuff and it's very effective .. but I still feel bad for the maggots ..but needs must I suppose

edwink

Wow I didn't know about the maggots. Yuk! but if they do the job then why not. I've never heard of that before. I will have a look in to it, thank you for mentioning it babyblade.

babyblade as cheery says you are not hijacking the thread. Its great when other hen keepers post on here and others too that are interested in what us hen keepers are getting up to. All animal lovers on this thread are most welcome. Do feel free to continue to post if you are able to.

I went down the olive oil route with my little ex batt. When she first came to live with us and I realised she had a compacted crop I use to get her to sit on my lap, I had a dish with olive oil in with just a few pellets in the bottom. So in theory she had to take in the olive oil whilst getting at the pellets as they were soaked in the oil. First her crop was blooming solid, absolutely solid so I started by just stroking her, then rubbing her chest and slowly started touching her crop so she would get used to me doing it. Then every morning she would come running out of their hotel and leap straight on to my lap, bless her she loved the olive oil. That's where she knew where her food would be every morning and again during the day. I'd massage her crop very slowly trying to get the compacted food moving and gradually I noticed that each time she came leaping up on to my lap that her crop was becoming less compact. It was obviously making a difference so I just carried on doing it and it started to move more and more, She loved the olive oil but gradually I added more pellets and less oil but she still loved it. Plus I cuddled her too, it was our special time together. She was so, so skinny and frail and I honestly thought I was going to loose her. Even when it was raining she still came bounding out and on to my lap so I used to cover her over by opening up my coat and letting her sit inside it to keep her dry whilst she was eating. I just had to doing anything that would make her comfortable and had to make sure she ate. One day she came running out as she always did and leapt on to my lap and to this day I will never forget that when I felt her crop it was completely empty. I actually cried because I knew she would be ok then. I still continued with the olive oil and pellets but put very little oil in the dish so she mainly ate the pellets in the end. During this time I also managed to clip her nails as they were so long and some had slightly curled sideways so she actually walked awkwardly until they were all the proper comfortable length for her. I really loved that little hen and became so attached to her. She survived bless her heart and that's all that mattered to me and to her of course. She used to follow me everywhere and had a lovely life with us. No longer here now sadly but that little hen flourished, bless her. She was one of my very first 12 ex-batts so talk about being plunged straight in to the deep end to be faced with something like that. But she survived and became a very special little hen to me as she was a fighter and wanted to live.

Edwink

babyblade41

I'm all ex batty , hens, ducks and turkey's .. I hate it as much as I love it if you get my drift.

My last batch 3 years ago are my last as it was too harrowing ..not a feather just open sores and broken legs .. you'd think you get immune to how bad humans can be but I don't it's grotesque

You ladies are doing a wonderful job and your diaries brighten my day

edwink

Another post from me tonight as the other one became a bit long.

My little drake Twister is ok. thankfully. He was up on his feet this morning and was so much better. He has been outside with the others today and as we were out there too we were able to keep an extra eye on him. Really not sure what happened to him yesterday but when he wouldn't take any water from me I slowly moved his head and beak towards the bowl and he managed to have a drink, then a few more. After that he sat up better and his neck was no longer almost curled under him. Maybe his neck went in to spasm or something. He certainly looked very uncomfortable when we first noticed there was a problem yesterday. He was stretching his neck out and tilting it sideways and was literately walking around in circles, I saw him do that 3 times, so that's when we went out to see what was happening. When we picked him up and brought him indoors he didn't move for at least an hour. I checked his pupils and they were dilating ok so knew he could see properly so knew it was nothing to do with his eyes. By the end of the evening he did seem much brighter though. My guess is a neck spasm but its hard to tell really.

The main thing is he is ok now, so will keep an extra eye on him and hope that it doesn't happen again. We did wonder if one of the other ducks took a swipe at him but he doesn't have any swelling or bruising. Bit of an odd one this.

Will update if anything changes.

Edwink