Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Pyxis said:

Maybe she’s missing Mildred. Can hens grieve?

I reckon they can, that's certainly what it seems like she's doing. I wish she'd eat something though. She's spent most of today just sitting around and I felt her crop this evening and it was still empty, which means she's hardly eaten anything 😥

Vet is ringing me back in the morning and we'll see if we can do something to at least get her to eat.

This is a bit what her and Mildred were like after the stoat attack killed the other two - they were traumatized for about 3 weeks before they got back to relatively normal. Poor little pals.

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff said:

Pyxis said:

Maybe she’s missing Mildred. Can hens grieve?

I reckon they can, that's certainly what it seems like she's doing. I wish she'd eat something though. She's spent most of today just sitting around and I felt her crop this evening and it was still empty, which means she's hardly eaten anything 😥

Vet is ringing me back in the morning and we'll see if we can do something to at least get her to eat.

This is a bit what her and Mildred were like after the stoat attack killed the other two - they were traumatized for about 3 weeks before they got back to relatively normal. Poor little pals.

Have you got any fairy cake left? 

edwink

She may well be missing Mildred as those two were pretty close and retired at yours together Cheery.  The other 3 obviously go round together so now Mildred is the odd one out at the moment. Maybe that's why she is being rather quiet now.   I do hope she will be ok.  Please let us know.

I don't see why they wouldn't grieve, to be honest, Pyxis.  I had two hens, Scarf and Glove, that always went around together from the day they retired here and I remember Glove being quiet for a week or so when we lost Scarf.  I suppose hens will have friends like us humans do I guess.

Sorry, I always seem to get on here rather late in the evening at the moment or at around silly-o-clock ie, middle of the night.  I'm not a good sleeper at the best of times but right now we have a 55 day old baby girl in the family with Coronavirus which is very worrying. Her mother and father are coping really well with her, thankfully. She is currently on her 3rd week of it and it is not getting any worse so I guess that is a positive right now.  We can't help but worry though can we?. Anyway, I do try to get on here every day if I can. 

Take care all.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Gosh edwink how worrying for you all. Such a tiny little thing. Will be sending good wishes to all your family xxx

Pyxis

Yes, .edwink, very worrying. ☹️

There was a baby on the news yesterday who had had it, and pulled through very well. Just keep holding onto the fact that young lungs cope better with the virus due to them seemingly having fewer ‘docking ports’ for the virussy prongs to latch onto.

One of the rare occasions, illness-wise, where the younger you are, the better! 

Keep your chin up!

I’ve had to abandon my plans to train some garden birds again, as I ran out of live mealworms a few days ago, and can’t get any more. ☹️

Cheery_Daff

I ordered mealworms from the internet last week Pyxis, they arrived the next day! Probably not the cheapest mind but I can check where we got then from if it's useful?

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff said:

I ordered mealworms from the internet last week Pyxis, they arrived the next day! Probably not the cheapest mind but I can check where we got then from if it's useful?

Were they live ones?
I’ve learned from experience that wild birds won’t come to the hand for dried ones, even re-hydrated dried ones, only live ones. 

If yours are live, that would be useful!

Cheery_Daff

Ah, no, they were dried ones Pyxis. 

Will they come for just normal worms out of the garden?? Or is there something special about mealworms? You'll have to start raising them yourself! 

Karmacat

Edwink, so sorry to hear about the little baby in your family with coronavirus - I hope she's soon well again.

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff said:

Ah, no, they were dried ones Pyxis. 

Will they come for just normal worms out of the garden?? Or is there something special about mealworms? You'll have to start raising them yourself! 

I doubt I could find enough ordinary worms! Earthworms are valuable, though, for the soli, etc, so I’d feel guilty! 

Mealworms are specially bred from a weevil that likes to live in grain, so aren’t the same as earthworms, so I don’t feel so guilty! 😬
They breed them by feeding them clean bran, so they don’t have any pathogens or parasites, etc., so are ok to keep in your fridge!



edit......... You have to keep them in the fridge, otherwise they develop into pupae, and then into weevils, which defeats the object! Keeping them cold slows their metabolism right down, so very few become pupae before you’ve fed them to the birds.
They are in nice plastic boxes, though, with air holes, and I reuse those by buying a large bag of mealworms and decanting them into the plastic boxes.