Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Pyxis

edwink wrote: »

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

That was interesting because I always assumed that the egg came out of its own external orifice; I didn't realise that it emerges from the equivalent of an anus!

Similarly, during the posts about poorly crops, I had thought that the crop was in the throat, but your diagram showed it is a lot further down.
Also, I sometimes got the crop mixed up with the wattle. :doh:

I'm becoming very knowledgeable about hen anatomy!

I also had a little smile, Edwink, when you suggested giving Bessie 'a little bottom wash'.
If ever any hens are in the earthly equivalent of hen heaven, it's all the hens on this thread. :A :A :A
(Cue tearful eye at the thought of such kind hen-owners).

All the things you people do for your hens, compared with the conditions they were living in before............ you should be VERY proud of yourselves. :T

With such deep caring also comes deep sorrow sometimes, but don't let that put you off giving some other poor hens a chance at a normal henny life.
Respeck.

(Off to get a tissue now).

Cheery_Daff

Aw pyxis :kisses3:

Thanks to you too edwink :kisses3: Pleased to report that Bessie's nether regions are as they should be

In fact everyone seems to be as they should be today :j Marauding around demanding treats, of course. We tried to leave the house earlier and were completely ambushed. Then we tried to come back in with several bags of food shopping and of course they all followed us in and we couldn't do anything about it. Had to go and collect them from various rooms in the house. Pesky things!

Just looking out of the window and most of them are pathering about the garden but Mildred is sat atop a wall sunning herself, one leg stretched out :rotfl: Clearly it's the day for it, as there are two collared doves just sat in the floor in some dust the chickens have raked up. Never seen collared doves just plonked down on the floor before!

Ha - three chickens just wandered over to them and they took flight - Bessie stared upwards as if she was wondering how they got into the tree, then tried a little run and experimental flap herself across the lawn :rotfl: :rotfl:

So lovely to see them in the sunshine :j

Pyxis

Thinking about it, why can't hens fly? I mean I know they can flutter about a bit, but why can't they fly properly like pheasants?

Are their wings clipped to stop them flying away?
Or have they been bred over the centuries to be heavier, and so can't really take off?

Cheery_Daff

I'm not sure even the original jungle fowl ancestors of domestic chickens could fly that much, but they've definitely been bred to fly even less. Some do have their wings clipped (apparently you can do it yourself, and only have to do one so they can't take off over a fence). Not much point here!

Quite glad these lot can't fly - can you imagine the peskiness?! :eek: :rotfl:

MysteryMe

Preferably the wing feathers rather than wings :-)

Yes, you can remove the flight feathers. They do grow back as long as the clipping is done properly.

edwink

Hens can and do fly but not to any real distance as its more of a flutter than a fly really. When I had my hens and was walking up towards them with treats the odd bossy hens would take flight and land at my feet flying over the other in the process. Probably around 3 or 4ft in distance at the most.

When it comes down to a fox trying to get them they will always do their best to fly up and down to stop being caught. Some of you may remember I took in one hen on her own because her 16 friends were all killed by a fox. She got away by flying up a 6ft fence and just perched up there all night until her owners went to open up in the morning and found her sitting up there on her own whilst all the others had been killed. One clever hen she was.

You don't actually clip the poultry's wings at all you actually clip their flight feathers. Its a bit like us cutting our nails, it doesn't hurt us and it doesn't hurt them clipping their feathers. Often as already mentioned owners will just clip one side only as that will stop poultry especially ducks from taking off and flying. It just isn't possible to fly with only one side of flight feathers the proper flying length. Imagine an aeroplane trying to take off and one side of its wing being half the length of the other side, it just wouldn't take off and fly would it?. So that's the general idea of just clipping one side with poultry.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Well all this talk of flying clearly inspired Mildred. She was sat on the wall outside the living room window yesterday (it's a kind of tiered thing, I've seen them flap up from the lower tier which is a couple of feet)

Anyway, the spirit of adventure clearly got into her because she took off and landed right back down on the lawn! Probably a good 6 feet lower, and 6 or 7 feet in distance, it was quite a descent!

Can't say she landed particularly elegantly mind you :rotfl: but we won't tell her that :rotfl: she did look rather surprised with herself :rotfl:

Speaking of adventurous spirits... Rusty gave us a fright yesterday :eek: Went out to put them in the run about 5pm, the other four turned up immediately at the rattle of treats but Rusty was nowhere to be seen.

Of course we have no fences :rotfl: literally none, she could have been anywhere :eek: We tried all their usual haunts (they're creatures of habit) - the compost pile, the windbreak, the chicken dust bath area, the veg beds, the coal shed (goodness knows why they like it in there but they do), the back field, behind the house... Everywhere we've ever seen them go (they don't actually go that far).

Eventually I remembered that I'd once had a similar issue with the dear departed Hermione, who I'd ended up chasing half way across a different field one evening. Out of desperation I headed up there - and spotted Rusty up near the top of the drive :eek: (the drive is at least 200 yards so quite a way). Completely oblivious, wandering and scratching.

She came as soon as she spotted me, bless her, we were so relieved She tried following me off up the drive when I went for a walk this morning too :rotfl: :rotfl:

Pesky blighters :eek:

Oh, and as I said they've been laying in the coal shed (mr cheery has now put a basket in there to stop them just laying randomly on top of the coal :rotfl: ) Yesterday I went to get coal and there was a chicken in there, then when I went back later, there was one broken egg @and another broken one a few yards away nearly in a field :eek: clearly a chicken hasn't managed to roll an egg up the step out of the coal shed - I'm suspecting a rat, and just hoping it's not a stoat :eek:

Pyxis

You'll have to call her Rusty the Roamer!

edwink

Aww my 2 remaining ducks have finely made friends and sit together all the time now. Ebony was always attached to Pingu and those two used to get up to all sorts so we nicknamed them Bonnie and Clyde. They went everywhere together but Ebony is no longer with us. Cathy was pally with Hoppy as they were both a bit slower than the others and they often sat next to each other throughout the day, I think that Cathy used to mother Hoppy a bit too. But, we lost Cathy so its left us with one very timid quite duck who wouldn't say boo to a goose and a very active one that is currently trampling all over my flower beds digging for worms. They are both still going to bed really early after a swim in the pond. Its light for another couple of hours but they still go in to their hotel and snuggle down next to each other so for safety we lock them up then. Seems a shame when there is still a fair bit of daylight left but I'm fine if they choose to do that as they are obviously wary of the dark now and make sure they are in bed really early, bless them.

Have ordered them some meal worms today, they will love them and give them something to do if I scatter them around the lawn for them to pick up. Hoppys walking is a bit better now so it will encourage her more to walk around the lawn with Pingu picking them all up.

Had some positive thoughts today about getting some more hens but want to get the fences done first. Its the trellis fencing that has always bothered me but neighbours that put it up before we moved here. They are selling up so although it's our boundary anyway we have approached them about changing the fencing and they are fine about it which is good. Just waiting for the fencer guy to come back to us with some prices and a design for the permanent coop roof. The coop currently has a chicken wire roof so nothing can get in the coop at night but it will make our lives easier having a permanent roof with guttering and water butts to collect rainwater instead of bringing it from another water butt in another area. Will be useful too using any surplus water from the water butts to top up the pond when it needs topping up as the pond is by the coop.

Once the new non see though fence is up we will use black netting again along the tops just for added height security. We use black as it can't be seen unless you are close up to it.

The good news is we have decided to get 20 ex-batt hens in one go from Little Hen Rescue. We are not sure when the rescue dates are yet but I don't want to check them out until the fencing is almost finished and we are nearly ready to get them.

We are still both very upset with the fox incident and still struggle daily about it but grateful we still have the 2 ducks left but being extra cautious with them.

Cheery I hope also it is a rat that is trying to steal your eggs and not a stoat, although Magpies and Crows will also steal them too. Stoats are meant to be shy of hens so as it is in the daytime that they are being eaten it is quite possible that it isn't a stoat. Although you previously had a problem with a stoat that was during the dark and not in the daylight. We have had problems here in the past with rats taking the eggs, they are a flipping nuisance. The only way we made sure we got to them first was to keep going out every half hour or so and checking all the areas the hens used to lay and getting to them before any rat did. Rats are notorious for stealing eggs by the way. Also remember that hens will eat their own eggs too and when a hen gets the taste for them they will carry on doing it so it could be one of your hens actually eating them so I would keep checking as often as you can and beat them to them. You might even catch a hen eating one as we have done here. The naughty little thing flew out of the nesting box with egg all over her beak and shot out of their hotel and coop and ran off somewhere, she appeared terrified that we caught her in the act.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Hi all :hello:

Glad your ducks are paddling about together edwink, and that you can start to think about rehoming some new ladies :j :j How is the fence coming along? And how are YOU coming along?

All good here. Goodness me the ladies are a nuisance when I'm gardening :rotfl: :rotfl: Today I was trying to move some raspberry bushes - it took me about three hours! :eek: :rotfl: Rusty, bless her, insists on being right next to whatever I'm doing - even when it involves a pickaxe :eek: :eek: How I didn't decapitate her I don't know :eek: :eek: Mr Cheery distracted them for a few minutes, and I moved very gingerly for a long time :eek:

Raspberries were planted at the other end of a field, so I trundled over there with the wheelbarrow and a spade - and Rusty tagging along behind :rotfl:

Dug them up (with her putting her beak in the way of the spade every few seconds) then trundled all the way back with her in hot pursuit :rotfl:

I was trying to spread a bit of cow manure on the space I'd just dug before I planted but honestly, trying to do anything with five chickens is ridiculous :rotfl: At one point I lifted up the space along with a pile of soil AND Rusty about four feet into the air :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Bless their little beaks Wouldn't swap them for the world They'll be cursing us tomorrow as we're out all day so they'll get a little wander in the morning but about 10am we'll have to shut them in the run (we're not back til about midnight). They will NOT be impressed :eek: Although they will have plenty of food and water, and I'm going to shove a small pallet and a pile of compost in there for them as they've been having great fun rootling round in my collapsed compost bin :rotfl:

How are everyone else's hens etc getting along?