Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Ha, Mildred wouldn't have got far with my scone - I'm far too protective :rotfl:

Rusty got a giant worm all to herself the other day, couldn't quite figure out how to eat it but knew she wanted it and Beaky came over and tried to nab it - Rusty took off round the garden with Beaky in hot pursuit :eek: :rotfl: Poor Rusty is always shoved out of everything so I confess I swiped Beaky out of the way to let Rusty have it all to herself (I did find Beaky a separate worm though...)

Bessie seems a little out of sorts at the minute. Can't quite put my finger on it. Being quite grumpy with poor Rusty, sometimes wandering off on her own (but not always). Will keep an eye on her.

Might just be too many treats. They were being pesky when we tried to put them in the run earlier (at 6pm so around the normal time in terms of daylight) - they wouldn't all go in together, and then when we caught one and put her in, another one came out :rotfl: I ended up putting my yogurt pot of corn on the floor to distract them and then of course when we'd finally shut the door with them in, realised the corn was still in there too :rotfl: went back to tuck them in and of course they've knocked the whole thing over. I'm not picking it up so that can just be their corn rations for the next few days :rotfl:

Bless your little ducks edwink. Maybe they do just feel safer going to bed a bit earlier. I've always been surprised how early ours take themselves to bed sometimes. Hope you're feeling a bit better yourself too xx

edwink

I'm ok Cheery thanks. Just having 30 once to now having 2 after the fox attack is quite unnerving. just wish it wasn't me that found my beautiful Cockerel because he came off the worst out of all of them. I'll never forget finding him laying there it has really disturbed me to be honest. My poor little man just so beaten up and in a right state and obviously dead. I hope I never see anything like that again in all my life.

In 10 years I've had a poorly hen on my lap at our vets that was PTS, I held on to her and cuddled her as I didn't want her to die on her own, that was hard but it was for her benefit so I would do that that again if I had to, but still its not nice. I've sat with elderly hens laying by our stove nice and warm that have died I suppose I just got used to doing that as I didn't want them to be laying on their own, I'd lay on the floor with them until I knew they were gone. I did that many a time but didn't mind as they had someone with them so were not alone.

One of the hens was barely alive the other night and terribly injured so my hubby had to PHTS, but she carried on moving so I didn't want to see her in pain so I had to do it and it was the first time I've ever done that but always said to myself I couldn't do it unless a hen was desperately unwell and she definitely was terribly unwell.

I wanted to write the following because I thought it would help get it out of my system and help me move on from it although it is still early days yet. Don't worry I haven't been too graphic but please don't read any further if you prefer not to know what exactly happened.


It keeps going over and over in my head that it was not only the loss of the nine in total it was the bl**dy carnage up there. I've never seen anything like it in my life before and it has disturbed me mentally. I'm incredibly sensitive especially when it comes to animals. Hubby said it was good that I took control of the situation as he just didn't know what to do first. I just shouted quick boxes, shavings and towels for the injured and bags for the dead ones. Hubby took the injured ones indoors as we found them we wrapped them in towels to keep them warm and hubby carried them down in cardboard boxes and then came back out again to collect the next one etc.. Poor hubby was running all over the place grabbing boxes, putting shavings in the bottom and grabbing a towel for the next one. Once we had collected all up that were in the coop there were 3 missing but we noticed there were 2 in the pond next door which just wouldn't get out so I jumped in the deep end fully clothed to waist deep with my coat and wellingtons on and grabbed the white Aylesbury because I could see he had a side injury so I held on to him in the freezing water until hubby came back with another box and towel then he was taken indoors and then I managed to grab hold of Pingu and had to wait again for a cardboard box and towel for her. Our pond was made with a shallow and deep end so when the ducks became elderly they could get out easier and when I passed Pingu to my hubby in the shallow end he slid in the pond so we were both soaking wet. We then went indoors to sort out who was wounded and treated sores etc. and then got changed in to dry clothes and went back up to the coop to clean it all up, raked all the feathers up and wash all the b***d away and left it looking decent and tidy but knew there was one hen missing so both of us with torches were running frantically around the boundary fences looking for any sign of her and then we found her dead laying at the bottom of one of the fences. So that b***ard fox got away without any of them I pleased to say and we managed to find and count them all. Then we were back indoors trying to get some of the ducks to have something to drink with some poultry tonic in the water and it went on from there all night and loosing 2 of them through the night and another the following day. It was like a day from hell.

I've never had to deal with anything so traumatic in all my life. I live for my girls and these girls were my world, part of my good life here. I know it has effected me quite badly but hubby says to let them all free range for 10 years is always taking a risk really backing on to the woods although 50ft of the top is boxed off from them but he reminded me I have rehomed 61 hens in total and although the fox killed 4 and one was PTS at the vets most have died of old age and had a thoroughly smashing time in their retirement here and him saying that is what I am holding on to right now. I must admit I did rather spoil them and more often than not their hotels were cleaner than my house and I'm not joking because I always gave them my time first and us indoors second. And they were worth it everyone of them.

Edwink


ETA... I've now changed my signature

Cheery_Daff

Aw edwink (((((((((((((())))))))))))))) what a tough time for you, and for Mr Edwink too I can well believe that you spoiled your ladies (and gents). Look after yourself xxx

As suspected, Bessie isn't very well She's seemed a bit unusually grumpy and out of sorts for a couple of days, but nothing specifically *wrong*. This morning she was holding one of her feet REALLY oddly - I spotted her out of the window and we both ran outside, but by the time we got to her she was just walking about as normal again. Picked her up and had a look but couldn't see anything.

This afternoon I was just nipping out and she was just standing quietly by the back door on her own. Came back an hour later and she hadn't moved, and hadn't eaten the corn I'd given her, so I've brought her inside for a bit. Can't see anything wrong at all, crop doesn't seem swollen, can't feel anything else, I've put her in a basket with some water and a bit of yogurt but she's just standing there, literally just where I put her, not even sat down

Might try her with a bath in an hour or so if nothing has changed. It was Bessie who had something similar last time, gave her a bath, kept her inside for the night, and in the morning she'd laid a big jelly egg and was fine. Fingers crossed that's all it is this time

Pyxis

.....he reminded me I have rehomed 61 hens in total and although the fox killed 4 and one was PTS at the vets most have died of old age and had a thoroughly smashing time in their retirement here and him saying that is what I am holding on to right now.

You're right to hang onto that, Edwink. :A :A :A

Cheery_Daff

Pleased to report Bessie seems back to normal this morning after laying a massive jelly egg :j At least I assume it was her, didn't actually have a name on it :rotfl:

Slightly less pleased to report that I didn't clear it out of the house straight away (because it was foggy, and I wanted to leave them shut in the run while I went for a walk, and if I stay in there long enough to clean the house, they all get a bit pesky and try to get out of the door with me, whereas if I leave quickly they're busy being distracted by breakfast). Anyway, I came back from my walk to find both Bessie and Maud tucking into it with relish :eek: Pesky creatures :eek:

Hey ho. Only had one egg yesterday so Mr Cheery has got suspicious that they're laying somewhere else - he's now set up a cosy nest box in the coal shed (where they were laying before until we shifted all the wood out of it) in the hope of tempting them back to somewhere we can find :rotfl:

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

You're right to hang onto that, Edwink. :A :A :A

Thank you Pyxis I do and will carry on hanging on to that.


Maybe I should aim for a total of 100 rescue hens or something. Might think of doing that too.


Its empty here without them.


Edwink

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Pleased to report Bessie seems back to normal this morning after laying a massive jelly egg :j At least I assume it was her, didn't actually have a name on it :rotfl:
Slightly less pleased to report that I didn't clear it out of the house straight away (because it was foggy, and I wanted to leave them shut in the run while I went for a walk, and if I stay in there long enough to clean the house, they all get a bit pesky and try to get out of the door with me, whereas if I leave quickly they're busy being distracted by breakfast). Anyway, I came back from my walk to find both Bessie and Maud tucking into it with relish :eek: Pesky creatures :eek:
Hey ho. Only had one egg yesterday so Mr Cheery has got suspicious that they're laying somewhere else - he's now set up a cosy nest box in the coal shed (where they were laying before until we shifted all the wood out of it) in the hope of tempting them back to somewhere we can find :rotfl:

Glad Bessie is ok. If she is laying soft shells she could be slightly lacking in Calcium. Next time you use any of the eggs bake the shells in the oven for an hour on very low heat and take them out to cool. Then crush them all up and add it to their feed for extra Calcium. I actually use two tea towels and a rolling pin to crush them all up, I just roll the rolling pin back and forth and side ways in all directions and then have a quick peep to see if they are crushed up enough. Should just resemble small pieces. Shake the tea towel over a tray or something and collect all the crushed shell up and keep adding a handful to their feed each day.

There should be the correct amount of Calcium in their pellets but if they are going more for the treats instead they could become deficient in Calcium which they need for egg formation as it goes through their system. Its a lot more complicated than that but that's just about the gist of it any way. Just make sure Bessie eats her pellets before getting to any treats. I've had similar here over the years they will eat their pellets if there isn't anything else but as soon as the treats appear they forget the pellets altogether sneaking little things they are.

Give that a go Cheery, I know they will all get some extra Calcium eating some bits of baked shell but it wont hurt the others to get extra Calcium too.

Also make sure her vent is clean with no mess around her bottom feathers. If it's not just give her a little bottom wash with some warm water to clean the feathers and make sure her vent is clear with no loose feathers stuck near or on it. Once you wet her bottom feathers you will be able to see her vent quite clearly. It should be a nice pink colour with no feathers sticking out of it at all. Just the vent sitting there on its own. It will be obvious when you see it.

Edwink

MysteryMe

As the saying goes- opinions are like vents, everyone has one!

edwink

The vent can get a bit mucky from time to time as this is where the poo comes out from and also where the egg comes out. Sometimes the feathers can get a little sticky with poo on the surrounding feathers and if they do not clean it off it dries and when they poo again that also gets stuck on too. So always worth keeping an eye on their bottoms to make sure it is kept nice and clean. Because this can cause problems with them laying if their bottoms are clogged with mucky feathers.

Inside the vent there are two canals one where the poo comes along and the other where the egg comes along. Both end up coming out of the one vent in the picture above.

Edwink

Pyxis

edwink wrote: »

Edwink

That hen is definitely saying: "Oi! Wot yoo lookin' at?" :rotfl: