Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Oh Dizzy, you sounds as much of a softie with your ladies as I am :rotfl: :rotfl: Very glad Elsie isn't phased by an influx of new pals :j I'm giggling at your muddy lady though :rotfl: :rotfl:

Hope your little one pulls through, must be worrying

I do know what you mean about going back to work for a rest :rotfl: We had to leave our ladies for most of a day just a couple of days after we got the new ones and I was worried too, but they didn't seem to be injuring each other with their squabbles so we just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best, and left five food bowls (one for each chicken :rotfl: ). No harm done, and they're pretty harmonious with each other now :j

Snowed again overnight here, although not much, but it's still windy and cold. I've opened the door to the run and went for a walk, and when I got back, all five of them were back in there :rotfl: Clearly it is as cosy and windproof as we intended it to be :j

Did I tell you I found FOUR eggs in the coal shed yesterday :rotfl: I never would have found them if I hadn't shone the torch in there when I heard Maud clucking away and spotted where she was sitting. They were tucked away right in the corner under a load of wood and looked just like pieces of coal to the untrained eye :rotfl: :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums :hello:

How are we all and our beaky pals?

We have another poorly chicken here - Rusty this time. I don't think she's poorly as such - she's eating and drinking and seems ok, but is standing on one leg and limping I've brought her into the house just to get a good look at her, and given her a snack, and aside from just standing on one leg, she seems ok.

I think I'm going to wait til it's a bit darker and the others have gone to bed, and then take her back out and put her straight into the hen house, so she doesn't have to hop in. She can rest it overnight, and then we'll see how she's doing in the morning.

She might have just hopped off something funny this afternoon (she was fine this morning), or maybe something has startled her blowing in the wind and she's landed awkwardly.

Gosh it's difficult and emotional this chicken keeping malarkey, isn't it? :eek:

Everyone else is fine I'm pleased to report, although NOT impressed with this wind and rain, and not venturing far from the run (which itself is largely weather-proof).

Rusty seems a bit bemused - she's not been in the house before, but aside from just looking at me with her head on one side occasionally, she's just having a good preen out of the wind and watching me tap-a-tapping on the keyboard. Poor little thing.

Hope you and your hens and ducks and turkeys are all well

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

We have another poorly chicken here - Rusty this time. I don't think she's poorly as such - she's eating and drinking and seems ok, but is standing on one leg and limping I've brought her into the house just to get a good look at her, and given her a snack, and aside from just standing on one leg, she seems ok.

I think I'm going to wait til it's a bit darker and the others have gone to bed, and then take her back out and put her straight into the hen house, so she doesn't have to hop in. She can rest it overnight, and then we'll see how she's doing in the morning.

She might have just hopped off something funny this afternoon (she was fine this morning), or maybe something has startled her blowing in the wind and she's landed awkwardly.

Cheery, its more than likely that she has jumped off of something and maybe landed a bit awkwardly. These little rescue girls have so much fun exploring being free range hens and can end up climbing up all sorts and then realise it is harder to get down than how they got up there in the first place.

Have look at the bottom of the pads on her feet just in case she has a sore there or has something stuck in her foot maybe. Often when there is a fair amount of wet weather they can get little sores on their feet. Just check her over again and have a look as there maybe something there.

I've had more than one or two over the past that have had a slight limp only for it to disappear in a couple of days and then the hen is back to her normal self and up to all sorts of mischief again.

I always think that hens are the Landrovers of the poultry world and it is normally the ducks that hurt themselves as they are so blooming clumsy but its normally quite different with the hens are they are agile little things.

I hope you find out what the problem is. Always keep some of the purple Betadine that I put a link on here about several posts ago. Its really not expensive at all and last ages and ages. Always good for cuts and grazes and sore little bald patches that other hens might like the look of and start pecking at. Great little medical item to have in their first aid box. I'll pop back on the thread and see if I can find it for you.

Edwink

ETA.... Links for Betadine.... Big difference in price from international sellers but bare in mind that delivery will take longer from international sellers. So if you don't need it now its well worth ordering in case you need it in the future. Great to put a little on any sores/grazes etc. and hens that have any bald patches so the other hens don't peck at any red sore areas. Will temporary dye the skin purple which stops them pecking. The purple colour with wear off over time.

UK seller £4.59 with free postage for 1 bottle x 15ml....Click on link and scroll down a little to see this item.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BETADINE-Antiseptic-Povidone-Iodine-Solution-15ML-UK-SELLER/273023881457?epid=1128274843&hash=item3f917dd0f1:g:GeAAAOSwX3FaAyq-


International seller £4.10 with free postage for 2 x 30ml bottles (bottles twice the size than UK seller) Click on the link and scroll down a little to see this item.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-30-cc-BETADINE-POVIDONE-IODINE-FIRST-AID-SOLUTION-ANTISEPTIC-CUTS-WOUNDS/273597559578?hash=item3fb3af731a:g:~YIAAOSwpDdVdoUS

Dizzy_Ditzy

I've not had any broadband in the last few days so I've struggled a bit to get in here and update.

I've taken half days from work every day this week and gone and sat with the girls until they've gone to bed. Every day has been easier than the last, to the point that we can leave them to their own devices :j we have a sweeping brush that we used for herding the first lot around, which had never touched them but always did the trick. Well, said brush has come into its own this week and today it stayed in the shed

There is still some little pecks here and there and a little bit of chasing but that's getting better every day too

On Tuesday evening the new girls were searching for somewhere to roost and thought it was me :rotfl: firstly, Doris the really shy one, then the lovely Marjorie and suddenly Gladys wanted a go too so at one point I had 3 chickens on my shoulder :rotfl: :rotfl:

It's so lovely having five ladies again and hopefully they'll start laying soon and pay for their keep :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Aw Dizzy, lively to read about how we'll your ladies are selling in and using you as a perch :rotfl: how lovely. How did they manage on their own the other day?

Thanks for your advice about Rusty's foot edwink :j I'm pleased to report that after a good rest overnight it was much better, and now you'd never know she'd had an issue :j thanks to the link to the people spray too, you're so thoughtful

We've still had some rotten weather this week :eek: but at least there have been some bouts of sunshine amiss all the rain, snow and hail today!

All five ladies have been properly hanging out together today :j the old ones have been showing the new ones the dust bathing area, and all five of them have been in the house today too, gah! :rotfl:

Their house has had a clean out and new bedding, and the run has had some old straw from the shed to mop up some of the mud

Apparently the forecast is ok for a few days now thank goodness,!

Pyxis

Just saw his on the Funny, Peculiar thread in the Arms, and thought it might raise a smile......



(Courtesy of Minimad).

Dizzy_Ditzy

New girls are all getting on fantastically

Big bird however is a different story. She's currently in a dog cage on my dining room table and has been since yesterday morning. She's got respitatory problems I went round to them yesterday and she was huddled up next to the new girls and not moving very much at all. We brought her home and listened while she sneezed, coughed and rattled her way through the day she wouldn't eat or drink and more or less slept all day. Her eyes were all gunked up and her nose was all drippy. This morning came and she didn't look any better. He got her to drink some water and it clearly perked her up because I came home from work to a totally different hen! Alert, standing up, eating apple, clucking and pooing :rotfl:

Her eyes are still gunky and her breathing is still rattly but I think she might be coming out of the other side

After everything we've been through in the last week to settle the new girls with her and then this happens :eek:

I did call the emergency vet yesterday but they wanted £150 just to walk through the door :eek: never mind any additional treatment, so that's why we brought her home so we could watch her. At lunchtime today I called a different vet and booked her in with the possibility of not bringing her home. Then I got home this evening and she was brighter :rotfl:

I'm not daft enough to think that she's out of the woods yet. There is still every chance that she'll be headed off to the vet but for the time being, I'm keeping on to the hope that she'll be ok. I need to get some antibiotic treatment for the new girls as a preventative measure so I'll do that tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed for her please :A

Cheery_Daff

Oh crikey Dizzy :eek: poor Big Bird I'm sure you're doing everything you can, well done you. Sounds like she's pulling through, so yes, all fingers and beaks crossed here xxx

Ha pyxis! Yes I'm sure that's what my ladies are thinking! :rotfl:

Ours have had a lovely day - it's not been windy or rainy or snowy for the first time in about a fortnight and they've all been happily wandering around, the new girls getting to know the favoured dust bathing spots, and now when we open the back door FIVE chickens hop straight in and start strutting round like they own the place and demanding treats :rotfl:

Went to put them in the run late afternoon - four were there but where was Maud? Half way down the field having a great time, took forever to cajole the pesky thing all the way back to the run :eek: i was getting rained on too but she just wouldn't listen to my complaints :rotfl:

edwink

Extremely devastating news for us here tonight Extremely devastating so please don't read any further if you don't feel you can. But, after 10 whole years of my girls free ranging, having the best time of their lives and enjoying their well earned retirements a bl**dy fox got to them tonight just before bedtime.


We have lost all our 4 hens, all found dead, that's my two very sweet very old ex-battery hens and the 2 we rly the week before last. Plus my poor beautiful lovely Cockerel has been killed too and one of our large Aylesbury ducks.


Went up as normal to put them to bed and found one of the Aylesbury ducks dead on the ground in the large coop with another barely alive small duck sitting near to her. There were two Cayuga ducks in their hotel cowering in the corner together absolutely traumatised. For some reason the Drake Aylesbury and the Indian Runner we found in the pond (probably to get away from the fox that these 2 ducks were in the pond next to the coop).


So that's all hens and Cockerel gone and one Aylesbury duck. We brought the remaining 5 ducks indoors. One Cayuga has died since bringing them all indoors with us and another is in a bad way and terribly traumatised. The other one is equally traumatised and continues to curl up in a ball unless I'm holding on to him, bless him. The remaining Aylesbury drake is also incredibly traumatised and has two punctured skin injuries that I have bathed carefully and put some iodine on so far, one is a nasty gash but is now thoroughly clean. He was such a brave little man and just sat so very still whilst I was looking after him and his wounds, bless him, needless to say he is traumatised too. How the other tiny Cayuga got away with being killed I'll never know but she certainly got squashed in what must have a been a commotion as she was covered in mud when I found her sitting near the female Aylesbury that had passed away. I've left her to rest for the night indoors with the others and will sponge her down in the morning once she is more settled. Just thought she had seen and heard enough for one night without me fussing too much around her trying to clean her up. I don't hold out much hope for our drake Cayuga in all honesty as he too is extremely traumatised and wont lift his head up at all and has stayed curled up in tight ball like a cat would, very unlike a duck all evening.


The only one that came out unscathed from all this tonight or should I say last night now its the early hours of the morning is our Indian Runner, the duck that likes to have a really long swim every night before bedtime, that swim obviously saved her life last night.. She is indoors with us too as there is no way she was staying outside on her own ever.


Obviously I have wanted to post about this and have tried not been graphic for obvious reasons. Its just leaves me to say that my hubby and I are heartbroken to put it mildly.


We must have alerted the fox of our presence in the garden as none were missing although we believe that as it had just started to get dark we must have disturbed the fox as it was making a get away with one of our hens as we had to look for her as initially couldn't find her in the coop with the others and later we finally found her at the bottom of one of the boundary fences on the ground


Will of course let you know how the remaining girls and boys get on tomorrow, hopefully if I can. But, to say I am breaking my heart is an understatement. These girls and boys have been my world, my absolute world and some of them have been with me for almost 10 years now. I feel so sad for the ones that survived what can only be described as a horrific traumatic attack on them, glad so much they survived but have never in all my time of keeping poultry and my feathered friends, witnessed anyone of them so traumatised, it breaks my heart to see it.


All for now.


Edwink

maddiemay

Edwink I am a lurker who has been loving all the stories of poultry keeping, I am so sad reading your post, cannot imagine how awful you both feel. Best wishes to you and the poor traumatised ducks.
MM