Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Lol you lot 😂

Things aren't looking good for poor old Maud. She's still with us, but didn't really respond to steroids & antibiotics the other day, so it looks like too much of her liver is damaged & they can't do anything else for her 😥 She's spending much of the days inside with us but sleeping in the hen house with the others. We're trying to tempt her to eat, but she's really not that interested. Will get her through to tomorrow and then see. At the minute she's still responding when you offer her food (but not really eating much) but she's spending most of the time dozing or just standing there, it's not much of a life so I don't think she'll be with us for long 😥

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff said:

Lol you lot 😂

Things aren't looking good for poor old Maud. She's still with us, but didn't really respond to steroids & antibiotics the other day, so it looks like too much of her liver is damaged & they can't do anything else for her 😥 She's spending much of the days inside with us but sleeping in the hen house with the others. We're trying to tempt her to eat, but she's really not that interested. Will get her through to tomorrow and then see. At the minute she's still responding when you offer her food (but not really eating much) but she's spending most of the time dozing or just standing there, it's not much of a life so I don't think she'll be with us for long 😥

Aw. Give her a cuggle from me. 

edwink

Aww, bless her that's all you can do really Cheery. Just keep her as comfortable as possible and try to tempt her with anything to eat or drink.  If she won't drink just dunk some cake or something into some water and try and tempt her with that and if she eats it she will be taking in some liquid too.

I hate it when they get old and it is for that reason like you I do everything possible to make their retirement with us as happy and relaxed as possible.  I am always happier if they snooze sitting down because I always think they look more comfortable. Why on earth they snooze standing up I'll never know.  

It is very sad when they come to the end of their lives but you must always remember like I do that you have given them the best life possible from the day they retired with you. That is something you should both be so very proud of. 

Take care

Edwink x

edwink

Aww, Cheery sorry to hear that Maud has really gone downhill today,

Sending you and Mr Cheery a big hug, and one for Maud too.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Thanks edwink. Unsurprisingly Maud didn't make it through the night 😥 I'm glad she drifted away warm & cozy in the hen house, cuddled up with the others xx

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

Thanks edwink. Unsurprisingly Maud didn't make it through the night 😥 I'm glad she drifted away warm & cozy in the hen house, cuddled up with the others xx

Aww, bless her.  I'm glad she drifted away warm and cosy too with her feathered friends.  I always prefer it that way for them as I hate taking them to the vets etc. I much prefer that they decide for themselves if that makes sense, be it old age or extremely poorly as I do not like having to make the decision for them although sometimes it's definitely a must.

Bless you both

Edwink x x

edwink

All going ok here with lots and lots of dustbathing going on I am pleased to say.  But and here is the BUT, I wish they wouldn't poo in their coop dust bath because it is only big enough for 8 of them at any one time.  They obviously want to avoid the soiled areas so it limits the space they have to use.  I am clearing it every time I see any in there now so they get maximum room in there when they are locked up in the coop getting ready to go to bed for the night.  It's not as if they don't have dustbathing areas outside the coop because they have 2 others that are huge compared to the smaller one in their coop.  Shouldn't grumble I guess because at least they are all being used wherever the dust baths are.

Now have a collection of bizarre looking wrinkly freckled eggs which I have taken pics of to put on here.  The only problem I have is I can't get the pics off my phone and on to this new laptop.  It was so easy with my old laptop but in my defense, this new laptop runs on Windows10 whereas my old one was Windows7.  Once I've figured it out I will be able to post them on here.  Hoppy, bless her, has laid a few of her black eggs this year so got pics of those too to post.  I just have to put an afternoon aside and knuckle down and work out what I am doing wrong. Not sure if it is because of the new laptop or the fact that it runs on Windows10 but I am sure I'll sort it eventually.

I hope everyone is staying safe.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Good luck with your tech issues edwink. Would it be easier just to log in on your phone to post the photos? That's how I've usually done it. You don't have to write anything on the phone if that's what's putting you off! 

Glad to hear your ladies are settling in, but sorry they keep pooing in the dust baths! Everything is so dry round here (well, it was until a massive thunderstorm tonight, very dramatic!). They have their normal dust bathing area under the conifers (we haven't made any of these, they've just adopted them), then there's a secondary area near to the house under some trees which is a bit more sheltered when it' windy, they've taken to dust bathing under there too. A couple of them have taken to using a pile of soil I dug up when we laid the path across the lawn and never got round to doing anything with, and this morning I spotted Beaky having a rather narrow dust bath in a drainage trench I dug when there was water cascading down the drive a few months ago 😂

Funny little creatures 💜

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

Good luck with your tech issues edwink. Would it be easier just to log in on your phone to post the photos? That's how I've usually done it. You don't have to write anything on the phone if that's what's putting you off! 

Glad to hear your ladies are settling in, but sorry they keep pooing in the dust baths! Everything is so dry round here (well, it was until a massive thunderstorm tonight, very dramatic!). They have their normal dust bathing area under the conifers (we haven't made any of these, they've just adopted them), then there's a secondary area near to the house under some trees which is a bit more sheltered when it' windy, they've taken to dust bathing under there too. A couple of them have taken to using a pile of soil I dug up when we laid the path across the lawn and never got round to doing anything with, and this morning I spotted Beaky having a rather narrow dust bath in a drainage trench I dug when there was water cascading down the drive a few months ago 😂

Funny little creatures 💜

I could post them via my phone but I don't have much internet data on my phone tariff at all. We have unlimited data on our internet use so I always post them via my laptop. Thanks for the idea though x

The two main areas they use for dust bathing away from their coop are about 10ft square-ish each which they actually made themselves, not the whole 10ft obviously but little craters all around that area.  We decided to make a large frame around both of the areas so the soil stayed in them.  One has an apple tree in it, a wide Laurel type bush, and a huge flowering shrub so it is nice in there for them as it is well shaded from the sun.  The other area next to that has 3 large shrubs so it is semi shaded for them to use for dust bathing.  About once a week I rake them both thoroughly to clear any poo or stones from them to keep them clear.  My very first 12 ex-battery hens started the dust bathing off in those 2 areas many years ago.  They had made little craters all over the place so it was then that we decided to give those areas to them completely and they have been used by the hens ever since. When they are dust bathing and flicking the soil about it more often than not hits the wooden sides and stays in there.  I'll take some pictures so you can see what I am actually talking about lol. 

Yes, you're right they are funny little creatures.

Edwink x

Pyxis

Hello, Edwink, I was wondering where you had got to!

How are you coping with all this?