Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear about your old girl Wellies xxx always tough to lose a beaky pal. Sounds like you've got your hands full with 10 new ladies though! Hope they're settling in and getting used to the weather, and that your final older lady isn't too shocked or grumpy about the new arrivals.

All OK on the beakio front here, although did I say we saw the fox again the other day? Late evening, but in roughly the same place, which I'm NOT pleased about. So our chickens are confined to their (safe) run, and only out under heavy supervision. The first time, they scattered in all directions, and I ended up just sitting in a random field with them which was ridiculous, so since then we've tempted them into the (fenced) veg patch so I can do some weeding, and they can do some digging 😂 

Obviously that's not sustainable - I'm going to be planting veg in there soon! We're making plans for a large fenced in area which will be properly fox proof and they'll be spending most of their time in there from now on. Not ideal and I'd far rather they were roaming where they liked, but at the minute it just feels like a matter of time before they get eaten and I'm not sure I can take it. So they can be out while I'm out, and the rest of the time be in (the final area will be bigger than many people's gardens so don't feel too sorry for them! 😂 )

edwink

Oh Cheery, not that blooming fox again!!  How blooming annoying not to mention very worrying now that he has found you.  It's the same here right now as 2 separate neighbours have spotted a fox in their gardens down by their houses, so it doesn't appear to be shy that's for sure.  So like your girls, ours are only out when we are outside with them but with this constant rain, it is pretty hopeless at the moment. I don't like them in because I much prefer like you to see them out and about but what can we do?.

As a rule, we normally welcome the rain at this time of year to fill our rainwater harvesting loo flushing tanks and all of our water butts but I'm not best pleased as we keep getting soaked out there keeping an eye on them.  It is quite comical really because as soon as the heavens open the hens including us rush to their coop as it is now undercover, so all 19 of us stand in there until the rain stops. Sometimes we just give in and lock them in their outside area and go back indoors ourselves and get on with doing something else. 

I do hope you don't have trouble with that fox Cheery, what a nuisance for you and Mr Cheery.

Edwink x

in_my_wellies

My girls are settling in but I'm also wary of Mr Fox, often to be seen in the middle of the day
They've been here 10 days now. For the first two days they laid beautiful brown eggs (8 from 10 each day) The numbers dropped to about 5 a day and are quite pale and a couple with thin shells. I'm assuming this is because they are adjusting to their new life. There is much sorting of pecking order. They had two feeding tubs but today I added another which this teatime seemed to quieten them down a little. Two seem to be 'boss',  the two with most feathers. Then there is one which is definitely smaller with practically no feathers. She seems especially timid and runs from tub too tub, grabs some food and jumps back out of the way. I shall keep an eye on her.

My single old lady is on her own away from the others. She is looking in splendid condition and seems very happy. No one to take a peck at her! I do let her out when I'm around and she wanders to the house and sits with the cat on the door mat (no manners in the poop department!)  I'm not sure whether to leave well alone or introduce 2 or 3 to her. And then which to choose??? Any suggestions - will she be bossed by the bossy ones or horribly in charge of the timid ones? Or do I leave an old lady in peace to roam with the cat?

edwink

in_my_wellies said: My girls are settling in but I'm also wary of Mr Fox, often to be seen in the middle of the day

They've been here 10 days now. For the first two days they laid beautiful brown eggs (8 from 10 each day) The numbers dropped to about 5 a day and are quite pale and a couple with thin shells. I'm assuming this is because they are adjusting to their new life. There is much sorting of pecking order. They had two feeding tubs but today I added another which this teatime seemed to quieten them down a little. Two seem to be 'boss',  the two with most feathers. Then there is one which is definitely smaller with practically no feathers. She seems especially timid and runs from tub too tub, grabs some food and jumps back out of the way. I shall keep an eye on her.
My single old lady is on her own away from the others. She is looking in splendid condition and seems very happy. No one to take a peck at her! I do let her out when I'm around and she wanders to the house and sits with the cat on the door mat (no manners in the poop department!)  I'm not sure whether to leave well alone or introduce 2 or 3 to her. And then which to choose??? Any suggestions - will she be bossed by the bossy ones or horribly in charge of the timid ones? Or do I leave an old lady in peace to roam with the cat?

Hi Wellies

As your old lady seems perfectly happy and also spends time with your cat I wouldn't worry about introducing her to the others especially at this stage.  She would be well outnumbered anyway especially as 2 of your new girls are already establishing themselves as the bosses.  The pecking order is always an issue in one way or another when introducing new girls to older hens and you really do need to play at being a referee for a little while.  We have introduced one single hen to 15 girls we already had with us here and just put her in the middle of them all when they went to bed but she was of a similar age to them and the same breed.  It is often difficult to know what to do for the best but your old lady will definitely be outnumbered by the 10 new ones.  She would probably join in the pecking order and then come to realise that she doesn't stand a chance with your two dominant new hens but may decide to have a go at your bald timid new girl instead of them. 

I wouldn't worry about the condition of your eggs right now because it is normally down to the uncertainty and anxiousness that they have had whilst being rehomed/moved etc., things will settle I'm sure.  When you next have some empty eggshells you could bake them slowly in the oven to dry them out and once cooled you can crush them and add that to their feed.  It will just give them some extra calcium while they are adjusting to their new life with you.  When we brought our very first girls home here 12 years ago now, one of those girls laid an egg in their transport cage on the way home. Our eggs were good for a few days but then that slightly changed for a while but it soon went back to how they were.  

Enjoy your new hens.

Edwink x

edwink

Hi everyone

Sadly lost one of our girls during the night, bless her.  Opened up this morning to get them all out and found her in the nesting box. This little hen was quiet yesterday afternoon as we had noticed her by herself quite a lot and when I went up to her she just stood up and walked off.  I gave her some treats during the afternoon of which she ate only a few but she definitely did eat some so I wasn't overly concerned especially as it had been so warm yesterday and they often slope off on their own to sit somewhere quiet and cool, under a bush or shrub somewhere.  Definitely was the same little hen as I remembered the markings on the tip of her tail feathers when I was up close to her yesterday. She was totally clean, was a good weight and she looked so healthy for a rescue girl. No idea why she went as she looked so healthy yesterday but was just a little quiet. I am so glad she got to experience being out and about free-ranging again after the latest Avian flu lockdown. 

You would think I would be used to this by now but I guess it is the downside to keeping hens and in particular rescue girls.  They can and do often have short lives but the nice lives we give them I hope sort of makes up for it. These rescue girls have been with me since October 2019, so nearly 20 months now. Wow, where does the time go?. When we rescued our very first rescue hens that were years 2 old we were told that as a rule, they would live for around 18mths to 2 years after rescue, so would reach 3.5 to 4 years of age.  These rescue girls were 18mths old when we collected them so they are now just over 3 years old now. bless them.

Hope everyone and their hens are ok.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear about your little hen edwink. Yes it's always sad when they go isn't it? She's had a good life with you xx

We've started worrying about Rusty again, she seems fine in herself, but her breathing is a bit heavy so wondering if her implant is wearing off. Vets are closed tomorrow and Mr Cheery is at the hospital on Tuesday so I might end up taking Wednesday off work to take her 🙄 I've done a little video of her breathing to email to the vet on Tuesday.

Sounds like your new ones are settling in pretty well Wellies. How is your solo hen doing now?

edwink

How is Rusty getting on now Cheery?  and what did your vet say about the little video you emailed over to them?
I do hope she is ok, bless her.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

I didn't get to email my video in the end! Spoke to them on the phone and we're taking her tomorrow afternoon 🙄 Feels a bit ridiculous as she does seem fine in herself, but it's good to check. I just wish there was a closer specialist chicken vet!

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

I didn't get to email my video in the end! Spoke to them on the phone and we're taking her tomorrow afternoon 🙄 Feels a bit ridiculous as she does seem fine in herself, but it's good to check. I just wish there was a closer specialist chicken vet!

 
Hi Cheery

Sorry for the slow reply to your post.  Honestly, I am such a clumsy person because I went to put my laptop on a chair a couple of weeks ago but I completely missed the chair and my newish laptop landed straight on a wooden floor with its lid open.  Now I can't get the screen to come on unless I press the screen outwards at the bottom with both of my thumbs which is no good when I need to type something.  So, for now, Mr Edwink has wedged a little wooden dowel in between the screen and the back of the keyboard which is serving its purpose, sort of, but if I move at all the blooming dowel gradually works loose and then pops out. Hence the reason I haven't been on here much. 

I hope you get on ok at the vets tomorrow Cheery.  I was wondering if it could be down to this sudden very warm weather we have been having but on the other hand, you do know your hens very well and have seen something similar with her before, bless her.  I suppose the only way they will really know if her implant has run out is to take some blood for testing, I guess. 

Please do let us know how you get on when you get the chance.  And in the meantime, I might get a hammer and try to get this wooden dowel to stay in place once and for all.  Because I thump away when I type it has popped out twice whilst typing this post, it's really annoying, to say the least, but totally my fault. 

Take care

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Crikey edwink, what a palaver! Hope you do get it sorted out soon.

We went to the vets, and Rusty has a new implant - and we are £220 lighter 🙄 She also has antibiotics and anti inflammatories, and goodness me, I wish she didn't- I cannot be doing with giving chickens medicine!! 

We asked the vet to do the first lot, and she'd already brought rusty out to the car, so a nurse did it, and it looked stressful and awkward trying to ram the syringe down her neck. Yesterday O dropped it onto biscuit, and she jumped on my knee and ate it. I was hoping for the same today, but no.

Of course she wouldn't eat the biscuit, especially when she figured out I was trying to stop the others from eating it. I tried dipping it in egg, but she wouldn't eat that either. I separated her from the others, tried feeding her by hand, cajoling, and eventually yelling "well go without then you stupid creature and tomorrow I'l wrap you in a towel and shove a syringe down your neck and I don't even care if you drown!" But somehow that didn't work either, and just made Mr Cheery grumpy too (he was grumpy anyway though, and also not helping, so I don't care about that either.

Apparently I'm just meant to sit here on the floor of the run til she's so hungry she'll eat the remaining sloppy mess (she has at least had a couple of mouthfuls of egg now which is better than nowt).

Any advice?! I'm contemplating waiting til she's gone to bed and is all sleepy then shoving it down her beak, although she has two different types of medicine so I'll have to do it twice. 

For goodness sake. What an absolute pain all this is!