Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Cheery_Daff said: Tis Mr Cheery who's taken to calling her Monster Beaky 😂 She has deserved it some days! She was always the one of the new ladies who was most up for a fight though 🙄

Yes, I think we will be rehoming some more as soon as BHWT ooen again. Three just doesn't seem like very many somehow... won't get more than 2 or 3 though, we get so close to them I wouldn't want to lose that with a bigger flock (and can you imagine having any more than that running around in the house?! 😮😮😂 ) BHWT aren't open though right now (although I did see another rehoming place is open again, but I don't think round here). We'll see.

Yay more hens for Mr & Mrs Cheery.  I am glad you are thinking of getting some more because both of you are so good with your hens and care for them so well, lucky, lucky hens.  More feathered pals for the others too.

Edwink x

edwink

in_my_wellies said:

Good evening. It's so hard when they get ill isn't it? My poorly one revived for a few weeks but died yesterday evening. She tried so hard. She even produced an egg in the morning - a normal one but with a dark brown 'belt' all the way round the middle. 
So now I have only two very bright and lively hens who I don't think lay any eggs. I've only been getting one most days since Christmas, all similar, and I presume from the hen which died. No chance off getting more just now. Fortunately my daughter's have upped their production this month
I wish mine wouldn't sleep and poo in the nest box. It's a roll away so I propped it up at a steep angle to make it uncomfortable but instead of one hen long ways they now sleep two sideways - the one must slide into the other and squash her but they still do it. But then these are the two that don't lay so they don't understand....
I let them free range in the winter but can't in the summer. Too many plants which might be poisonous. I let them out on the lawn in a 4' square guinea pig run, moving it twice a day rotating round the lawn. They really do enjoy it, rolling round in the grass. I used to put a dust tray in there but they didn't use it much preferring the grass.  

Yes, you are so right it is hard when they get ill, really hard. I am sorry you have lost one of your girls, bless her.  Hens are certainly little fighters that's for sure.  All we can do for them is our very best and give them the care they need when they need it.   Have you had any more eggs yet?  Was it your poorly hen that was laying them?.  

I have had many hens over the years that have given up sleeping on the perches and sneak off to the nesting boxes.  Little devils, they are sometimes. I always had to be quick in the mornings and clean the mess out ready for the girls to lay their eggs that day.  I know what you mean about the poo though because as a rule, they do most of it during the night and it can make a right mess of the nesting box.

I remember unlocking my girls one morning to find 6 of them in one single nesting box.  I am not exaggerating honestly there were six, one at the back, two sitting side by side in front of her and another at the front of them all,  plus 2 more on the top of those hens having tried their best to squeeze in the box with them down a gap somewhere. Odd little creatures they all are.  

Edwink x

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff said:

All fine here, getting used to the new order. Beaky is now top hen (or Monster Beaky, as we've taken to calling her - 

Nah, not monster beaky.....ya wanna see a monster beak?

Check this one out......



From a heron cam.....snapped just now.....that’s a beak and a half, that is!

They have incredibly long necks, too, but they keep them folded up most of the time! 

edwink

Sad news, our little hen died tonight. We put her in the nesting box earlier than bedtime because she has mostly slept all day, even when sitting on my lap several times today she was sleeping, bless her.  We went back up a while ago to lock them all up and to check on her again and found she had gone in her sleep, bless her.  Only with us for just over 7 months but she had a lovely life here and we did everything we could to make her comfortable in her last days. Lovely gentle little hen she was. 

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Oh edwink, I'm so sorry 😓 and I can see you've just lost one of your hens too Wellies, I'm so sorry. You both did all you could for those ladies and they had a marvellous life with you. So sad for you both xxx

Looks like we'll be ringing the vet ourselves tomorrow 😓 Beaky is not quite right, nothing major but her feet are considerably more yellow than those of the other ladies, and round her eyes are yellow too. Might not normally have noticed but this is what happened to Maud so we've been extra vigilent. May be nowt they can do - they did give Maud a couple of jabs but it was too late - maybe we'll have caught it early enough this time? 

Hate the thought that we're doing something wrong 😓😓 but they've all been fine (barring the odd stuck egg) til a couple of months ago, and we've done literally nothing different, not food, bedding, treats, anything. 

Anyway, extra hugs for your beaky ones tonight xxx

Pyxis

So sorry, Edwink. ☹️☹️☹️
She died in her sleep, all comfy, so that’s a blessing. 
Still very sad, though. 😘

And poor Cheery, more worry. Hopefully, as you say, you're catching It early.
I know nowt about hens, other than they cluck and lay eggs, but from what I’ve read on this thread, I doubt it’s anything you’re doing. Apart from maybe her age, you don’t know the full extent of the bad treatment she endured from the minute she hatched, and all that has got to play a part in how long they survive, even given 5* hotel treatment later for evermore.

No comparison whatsoever, but a small illustration..... my second dog was a rescue puppy......the litter she was in was abandoned by travellers before the puppies were weaned, and so it was touch and go whether they would survive, but they did. She was a collie-cross, so expected her to live a long time......my first border collie cross lived to 17.5 years.

However, at age 11, she developed a heart problem, which you’d never have guessed from how manic and lively she had been all her life.
Long story short...I researched this and discovered that if puppies aren’t weaned naturally, ie separated from mum too soon, they can develop heart and other developmental problems later in life.

So you see, a lot of what happens to our rescue pets is beyond our control, because the rot had already set in before they were rescued.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Pyxis, and I'm so sorry about your pup. They do touch our hearts, these little creatures, don't they? 

Rang the vet this morning, waiting for a call back. Had to go find Beaky this afternoon, she wasn't with the others, she was up in the run having a sit down. She often does that, but it seems to be getting earlier and earlier in the day. Anyway, we'll see. Might be nothing they can do anyway but best to check. 

Registered with Fresh Start for Hens yesterday. We're already on the list for BHWT but they've not said when they're opening yet, but FSFH have said they're now taking registrations, so we'll see which we get to first I suppose. FSFH asks for photos of the coop Ours is perfectly good but doesn't exactly look like something out of Country Living magazine

Pyxis

I’m sure in hen terms it’s like having a suite at the Ritz!

Especially as there is room service and entertainment all laid on as well! 

edwink

What a time we hen keepers are going through at the moment       Aww now your little hen is poorly Cheery.  Do pop back on and let us all know how she is. I hope she will be ok x

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Thanks folks. We're back from the vets, Beaky most indignant at having antibiotics and anti inflammatories. Vet said her abdomen feels 'doughy' so it may be egg related - she's had egg issues before. She's obviously not feeling that bad as she proper objected to going in the carrier, and was quite cross when we let her out... so 😂 We'll see over the next few days...