Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Hi everyone

Good Gracious it is freezing outside, Brrr!!!  Hope everyone and their hens are ok.

Because we have boot dips in front of the hens run door and Hoppy's door the ground has got rather slippery because of this cold weather. So as the hens are not allowed out I have sprinkled some salt about before those areas resemble small ice rinks.

I have given them extra shavings on the ground to give them more to scratch about in to keep them occupied and hung up some veg to keep them happy. I just wish they wouldn't poop in their dust bath. They have decided it is rather comfy to perch on the framework of it all in a line with their little bottoms hanging over the inside. Hanging over the outside would be fine by me but the inside does not impress me as it does make their bath rather mucky, little horrors they are 😂😂😂

Looks like this weather is in for a while here 🤔🙂 so I'm glad that I have just downgraded my "was" best coat to now wear outside with the hens etc because my previous one got a bit holey and the padding became quite flat from constant outside wearing over the years. I've just treated myself to a (new to me) pristine condition 2nd hand one from a seller on eB*y.  It's an m&s puffa-type jacket which was £30 and I used £7.50 of N*ctar points against the purchase, a bargain @ £22.50, I think. Oh, and it was Freepost too. Very happy 🤗🙂🙂

Keep safe everyone.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that does indeed sound like a bargain, and very cosy! Yes, it's chilly here too, although I am pleased that the water in the chicken run almost never freezes, even when water outside does. It's nicely protected and cosy in there 😊 Only freezes when it's SUPER cold - and not yet this week but I suppose we'll see! 

Giggling at your hens all doing their droppings in their dust bath. What a menace they are! Ours have a bench in front of their window that we originally put there for us to sit on, but they all line up on it when they hear us coming out of the house and look out expectantly - and of course now it's covered in droppings and mud.

What do you use in your dustbath edwink? I dried out some soil in the house and put it in a large plant pot and they loved that, but it's not practical to keep doing that, it took over the floor of my study for a week! 😂 I saw someone on Facebook with hens having a dustbath in the sawdust bedding - it doesn't seem very dust-bath-y to me. Do you use sand? Just huilders sand from the DIY shop or something special?

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:Ooh, that does indeed sound like a bargain, and very cosy! Yes, it's chilly here too, although I am pleased that the water in the chicken run almost never freezes, even when water outside does. It's nicely protected and cosy in there 😊 Only freezes when it's SUPER cold - and not yet this week but I suppose we'll see! 

Giggling at your hens all doing their droppings in their dust bath. What a menace they are! Ours have a bench in front of their window that we originally put there for us to sit on, but they all line up on it when they hear us coming out of the house and look out expectantly - and of course now it's covered in droppings and mud.

What do you use in your dustbath edwink? I dried out some soil in the house and put it in a large plant pot and they loved that, but it's not practical to keep doing that, it took over the floor of my study for a week! 😂 I saw someone on Facebook with hens having a dustbath in the sawdust bedding - it doesn't seem very dust-bath-y to me. Do you use sand? Just huilders sand from the DIY shop or something special?

I'm chuffed to bits with my new "to me" jacket and yes indeed it was a bargain. 

Hens always line up somewhere especially if it gives them a better view of something. nosey whatsits. Better if they are out and about doing that though as it is so much less noticeable in other larger areas, bless them.

With the dust bath, we use soil in it and some builders sand.  It can be a bit wet the builders sand but as the hens are undercover it soon dries out with their body heat.  You can use the childrens play sand which is very dry but it does cost quite a bit more. 
I've always said, jokingly, of course, that if the builders sand turns the hens orange we wouldn't notice anyway because the hens are shades of rust and orange already, bless them. Even if you add wet soil it will dry out in their run once they start playing about with it so really no need to dry it out in your office. Hope that helps.

Not sure if you saw a couple of my latest posts Cheery.  Just updates on the Avian Flu, but, one had a link to a news story about a guy that has actually now got it.  It's very rare for humans to get Avian Flu but it is worth knowing about and being extra cautious when going in to see your hens. 

Edwink x

starnac

Morning. I am laughing at them pooping in their dust bath. Sounds about right for pesky animals not doing as we want them to!  

It's been in minus figures here all weekend. How would you make sure the ladies are warm enough in these temperatures? Is is sad that I am already worrying when we are no where near ready to rehome any yet?

Cheery_Daff

They're fine in the cold mostly - they're wrapped in a little down jacket after all! It's far more important that they don't get too hot in the summer. We do stop big draughts into the run though, as they don't like the wind. Our run is in quite an exposed place though, so very susceptible to a howling gale on the top of a hill. If it's just in an enclosed garden they'll likely be fine 😊

starnac

Cheery_Daff said:

They're fine in the cold mostly - they're wrapped in a little down jacket after all! It's far more important that they don't get too hot in the summer. We do stop big draughts into the run though, as they don't like the wind. Our run is in quite an exposed place though, so very susceptible to a howling gale on the top of a hill. If it's just in an enclosed garden they'll likely be fine 😊

Fab thank you. Yes there'll be a wall on two sides to stop the wind and the part of the garden they will be occupying is slightly lower than the rest of the garden so that'll provide some shelter too.

edwink

starnac said:Morning. I am laughing at them pooping in their dust bath. Sounds about right for pesky animals not doing as we want them to!  

It's been in minus figures here all weekend. How would you make sure the ladies are warm enough in these temperatures? Is is sad that I am already worrying when we are no where near ready to rehome any yet?

🤣🤣🤣 I'm not laughing because I'm the one having to poop scoop every day 🤣🤣🤣  In all seriousness I'm fine with whatever my hooligans get up to and I don't mind one bit. I must get a picture of the dust bath to show on here what I mean about this funny row of droppings.

Like Cheery says hens are mostly fine in the cold because of their warm feathers and they are pretty good at controlling their own body temperature. If it is really really cold outside and they are out and about foraging all over the place I always rub a little vaseline into their combs and wattles to help their bodies retain heat and to stop them from getting frostbite. Their combs are really fleshy and can get pretty cold in weather like we have seen over this past week.  You will no doubt notice this yourself when you finally get some hens and it is not something to be worried about.  You will definitely notice the difference in temperature of their combs in the summer and the winter and you will know when best to rub some vaseline on it for them. 

I haven't had to use vaseline on my girl's combs since I have had these rescue hens because the two winters they have been with me there has been Avian Flu in the UK so they have been in chicken lockdown and are undercover.  I have always found that hens don't mind the vaseline being rubbed in at all, it's catching them that's the problem 😉🤔🤣🤣

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

I've never tried vaseline! But yes, catching them will be the issue...

We just had to catch Bunty, and she did not like it one bit. She's going through quite a heavy moult, and we've disturbed her (unintentionally) twice today in the nest box. This evening she came out, and squatted as if to poo, and there was a blob on her backside, so we had to grab her for a quick look. Seems to be more lash egg than poo - I don't THINK it's a prolapse, I wiped it very gently with tissue and it seemed to move and some came away, but I couldn't wipe it all off as she was flapping so much. They're on the way to bed now so fingers crossed it passes properly or wears off overnight, otherwise we'll have another vet trip on our hands 🙄

edwink

Cheery_Daff said:

I've never tried vaseline! But yes, catching them will be the issue...

We just had to catch Bunty, and she did not like it one bit. She's going through quite a heavy moult, and we've disturbed her (unintentionally) twice today in the nest box. This evening she came out, and squatted as if to poo, and there was a blob on her backside, so we had to grab her for a quick look. Seems to be more lash egg than poo - I don't THINK it's a prolapse, I wiped it very gently with tissue and it seemed to move and some came away, but I couldn't wipe it all off as she was flapping so much. They're on the way to bed now so fingers crossed it passes properly or wears off overnight, otherwise we'll have another vet trip on our hands 🙄

Aww, bless her Cheery I do hope she is ok and it doesn't mean another vet's trip for you. One of our girls laid a Lash egg (is that the right word to use or should it be "passed" a Lash egg?)  It was the whole thing by the look of it and she didn't have any problems afterward, thankfully. Those Lash eggs look absolutely gross, yuk!!

Please, do let us know how she is, bless her.

Edwink x

edwink

Hi all

I've had to separate one of my hens from the others as she had started to be picked on. I suspected something 2 days ago as spotted a couple of small piles of feathers in their run so kept a very close eye on what was happening. Sitting in there yesterday with them I noticed whilst 8 of the hens were all around me one little hen went to one of the feeding troughs and was eating so I carried on fussing with the others to see how long she would continue to eat for.  As soon as she finished she just went and sat down, bless her, obviously keeping away from the one that was bothering her. I went out of the coop and watched from the outside to see what would happen and straight away one of the hens went over and pecked her several times. So I took the little hen out and she is now sharing Hoppies run with her.

This doesn't often happen but it is not nice to see when it does and is easily stopped. Last night we put the little hen back in with all the hens when they were all on the perches getting ready to go to sleep. When I opened up this morning the bigger girls were coming down the steps and the little hen stayed on the perches so I just lifted her off and put her in with Hoppy again. 

Still pretty chilly here today although not as cold as it has been lately. Clean out has been done today of their hotels and droppings cleared up, all water bowls washed out and refilled and fresh disinfectant boot dips have also been done.  Scattered some kibbled corn and mealworms in the hens run to keep them occupied and gave them some fresh Kale which is growing here.  That should keep them occupied for the rest of the day.

Hope everyone and their hens are ok.

Edwink x