Keeping hens and ducks chat. 7 July 2015 at 5:07PM edited 27 April at 11:46PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 3K replies 333.9K views

Cheery_Daff

Thanks edwink The one we've got actually seems to be clear as far as I can tell. The bleeding had stopped yesterday though, but Beaky is VERY quiet today. They're all a bit subdued actually, I think in the heat, but Beaky seems quite out of sorts, just standing in a corner by herself, and then if treats are on offer she does come over, but is just walking about slowly rather than running and being boisterous as she normally is.

Hmm. I'm going to leave her for another hour or two, see if she perks up, and if she's still being listless, might bring her in, give her a bit of a bath and keep her quiet overnight and see if she perks up. We've had to do that a couple of times with Bessie at various points and the next day she's been fine (usually after laying a large jelly egg).

No idea whether the pecking has subdued Beaky, or she's tried to preen and some of the spray has got on her feathers and tastes vile and that's making her out of sorts?

Gosh they're such a worry sometimes!

Cheery_Daff

Hmm. Beaky was just sitting outside the back door with her head tucked under her wing, so I've brought her inside. Tried to give her a bath - it worked with Bessie when she wasn't well - but she didn't seem too impressed at being in the water and perked up, trying to get back out...

Now I've got her in the study with me, nice and quiet. Put her in a basket with some bedding, and a little drink of water and some yogurt, but she just got straight back out again. Doesn't seem to want food or water, and is now just standing on the floor, head hunched in, looking like she feels sorry for herself (but I suppose that might be because I'm holding her captive in the house... )

Not much else I can do really! Going to stick the others in the run in half an hour, but I'm tempted to keep her in here given the recent pecking incident. Might see if she perks up later - if so I'll stick her in the house with the others once it goes dark.

Her crop feels quite full and relatively solid, tried massaging it a bit in the bath (which Bessie let me do, and which I think helped her) but she wasn't having any of it, and kept trying to move away and slipping in the water, so I stopped.

Poor little thing

Karmacat

Is Beaky an ex-battery hen, Cheery? It strikes me that they're left with health problems aplenty after their time in batteries. Makes me more glad than ever that I always stayed with free range organic eggs, even during my own little financial crisis a few years ago.
Here's hoping she's on the mend soon.

Cheery_Daff

She is indeed KC and she never regained all her feathers (although we've only had her 5 months but the others have grown all their feathers back). She's getting there though

She stayed in the study with me just stood quietly in a corner for a bit, then I went to put the others in the run and she didn't follow me so I left the door to the house open so she could get out if she wanted.

Mr Cheery was carrying stuff in and out with a friend though, so he pulled the study door shut so she didn't trip him up. When I opened it again she marched out, most perturbed at being shut in, and followed me up to the run no bother. Checked after about an hour and her and two others were tucked up in bed (already, at 7pm!) Rusty and Mildred still pottering about in the run mind you...

Just off out to shut their little door and fingers crossed a restful night will do them all good...

edwink

Hi Cheery

I'm sorry one of your little girls is not feeling too good. Sometimes if they are getting picked on pretty badly they will wander off on their own almost hide away from the others. But, that may or maybe nothing to do with how she is currently feeling.

Would you be able to get hold of her in the morning and check to see if her crop is totally empty?. After a day of feeding and foraging their crop is always full before bedtime, not actually rock hard as such but quite full. Their little bodies will digest that food during the night and in the morning their crops should be empty and quite soft, almost like it is deflated.

Can you do that Cheery and let me know what the score is with her crop? then we can take it from there.

If she is wanders off on her own tomorrow maybe best to take her indoors and just keep her quiet and just allow her to rest. Like before with some water and a little something to eat. Could try her on a little scrambled egg, normally that would be a treat for them but would be interesting to know if she gobbles that down or not. Don't give her any scrambled egg if her crop is full in the morning Cheery, just leave her quietly with some water and we can take it from there. I'll help you deal with it if her crop is full ok, try not to worry x

Edwink x

edwink

Karmacat wrote: »

Is Beaky an ex-battery hen, Cheery? It strikes me that they're left with health problems aplenty after their time in batteries. Makes me more glad than ever that I always stayed with free range organic eggs, even during my own little financial crisis a few years ago.
Here's hoping she's on the mend soon.

You are right, they are left with health problems. I had one with a serious health problem with my very first 12 ex-batts. I sorted it and got her better but it did take some time, a lot of worrying and a lot of patience with her.

The trouble is these ex-battery hens are not really cared for at all, not in the way they should be and certainly not in a humane way. When I collected my very first 12 hens I was left heartbroken seeing the way some of them were so soon after coming out of those horrible little cages. Some were literately bald, just a few feathers maybe on their tail or a few around their neck and that's it feather wise. Some have Awfully long claws that make their little feet turn inwards which makes walking so difficult for them. I could go on but I won't because it really isn't pleasant.

Well done on the Organic Freerange eggs :j :kisses3: I will happily send you some eggs when I get my new hens, seriously I will. You might be giggling thinking oh my god you can't put eggs in the post but you can and I did. I sent a dozen eggs to a friend in Wales. Guess what?, None of them were cracked, broken or smashed to bits. Seriously each one of the 12 eggs arrived in perfect condition. The fact that it took me 3 hours to wrap them is neither here nor there but at the end of the day Royal Mail certainly took care of that parcel on its 240 mile journey to Wales.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Aw bless you sending eggs in the post edwink :kisses3:

I'll check her crop in the morning, thank you for all your support it was pretty full today but as you say, that's to be expected. Will check her in the morning. Hopefully she's just gobbled down one too many treats and has a bit of indigestion!

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Aw bless you sending eggs in the post edwink :kisses3:

I'll check her crop in the morning, thank you for all your support it was pretty full today but as you say, that's to be expected. Will check her in the morning. Hopefully she's just gobbled down one too many treats and has a bit of indigestion!

If her crop is empty in the morning as it should be, only give her pellets and some green veg stuff but nothing else. You may need to do the same for all the others in case she tries to get to some of their food. Chopped grass (not long grass), cress, cabbage, finely chopped courgette that sort of thing. She may be struggling to digest her food properly as it goes all the way through her digestive system. Treat type foods may have made her system a little sluggish, I say may because it could well not be the problem. Mine had treats all the time so don't blame yourself Cheery for spoiling them if that turns out to be the problem. I certainly spoilt mine each and every day.

Another thing Cheery, have you noticed any weight change with her? Has she lost weight?. Is she getting to the food ok?. If she is being picked on by another hen she may not be getting to the food as she should be. If this is the case she may have eaten way too many in one go once she was able to get some. Is she drinking ok?.

See how she is in the morning, bless her x

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Morning, thanks for all your advice edwink

She hopped out of the house first this morning, and seemed ok but quiet, took herself for a big drink of water. Her crop is still quite full - although not as full as last night - so that may well be the problem.

They're all off roaming round now but there are plenty of pellets out for them, and I just won't give any of them treats today so let's see how she gets on... Probably do them all good to have a day without treats. We are rather free and easy with them

Karmacat

edwink wrote: »

Well done on the Organic Freerange eggs :j :kisses3: I will happily send you some eggs when I get my new hens, seriously I will. You might be giggling thinking oh my god you can't put eggs in the post but you can and I did. I sent a dozen eggs to a friend in Wales. Guess what?, None of them were cracked, broken or smashed to bits. Seriously each one of the 12 eggs arrived in perfect condition. The fact that it took me 3 hours to wrap them is neither here nor there but at the end of the day Royal Mail certainly took care of that parcel on its 240 mile journey to Wales.

Edwink x

As Cheery says, bless you xxx And yes, I was rather thinking what you suggest :rotfl: :kisses3:

What strikes me most of all actually is the detail of taking care of them, the depth of knowledge to enable your birds to have happy and healthy lives. Really something.