Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Dizzy_Imp

Hello all :wave: Thanks for all the messages x

Had a bit of a grizzle when I was woken by the Flood Agency ringing to advise another river warning, but hey-ho, it can't get much worse. Downstairs is wreaked and everything covered in silt and the smell is awful

Poorly hen (it was actually Lellie, the friendliest hen, under all the mud) has made a good recovery and is back with the other girls. Their run is pumped but still very boggy, so we have put tons of straw down which has made quite a difference. Power back on to the hen house and DH has put a red, warming light in there for them. Loss adjuster says 6-12 month renovation for our house due to the level of damage. We are Grade II Listed which makes it more complicated, so we've asked for a static caravan on our land while the repairs are done. What an adventure! And just in time for Christmas too :rotfl: Good job we are made of stern stuff.

edwink

Hi Dizzy

You are fantastic, you really are. Thank you so much for taking the time to post on the thread to let us know how you and the little hen are. So glad you are both ok. Some hens are tough little nuts!!

Where you live sounds wonderful except for the blooming flooding you have at the moment. I must say you are being so positive about it all. Well done you. Think of it this way if they get you a static caravan that would be fab for Christmas. Not the same as your own home I know but you could dress it up nicely and make it your home for the festive season. Knowing you I think you will make the best of it and keep positive. You sound like such a nice person. Sending you a big cyber ((((HUG)))) and a little one for little lellie ((hug)) plus a funny chick to give you a smile. Dancing chick!!

Edwink x

edwink

Hope everyone and their little chooks are ok in this awful weather. It is raining here again and my chooks are soaked again. I have hens tapping on my French doors this morning wanting to come in. I would let them, really I would but 14 of them and a handsome Cockerel would be way too much.


Dizzy hope you are ok and managing in your awful circumstances. Bless you.


Betterdays I do hope you are ok. Wondering where you are because you have stopped posting on the MSE site and on here. I do hope all is ok for you.


This post is 1,000 posts on MSE for me so I thought it would be nice to be on my hen and duck thread for it.


Keep warm everyone.


Edwink x

ali-t

our hens finally got the 'stop egg production' memo. down to 2 eggs a day at the moment.

Better_Days

Hi everyone :hello::hello::hello:

Popping back after a short break from MSE.

Very sorry to hear of your flooding Dizzy. It must be awful. I can't imagine how disruptive and exhausting it must be trying to sort everything out and at least get to the stage where you feel you can find your feet and start to move forward. I do hope your insurance company is a good egg, experiences seem to vary so much, as mine have. (Some in my view are the work of the devil, others have been great - esp M&S Pet insurance when we had to have our much loved dog PTS in the summer after a short (but expensive) illness)

Well on to chuck and duck talk. Next door have got Indian Runners and some hens, we have no ducks but currently 5 ex-bats. 3 of the ex-bats we have had for a few weeks now and they are feathering up nicely. Not as quickly as I would like for Doris so we have been using anti-peck spray on her.

The egg situation is dire. On average we are getting one egg every other day. We had to buy some eggs.:( Oh the difference. Every day I have a poached egg on toast for my elevenses. I adore the lovely fresh eggs from our girls.

The shop bought ones, even free range, just aren't a patch on what I am used to. I suspect they aren't that fresh - you just can't beat from 'feathered knickers to plate' in a day! In the summer we gave our surplus eggs to a neighbour and she raved about them, I think I had taken them a bit for granted until I had to go back to shop bought.

I agree with you that the girls need some shelter in the winter other than just going back in the coop which they don't tend to do until dusk or if they are laying. Mr BD has rigged up some cheap and cheerful tarp off the fence for them and they go under there when it is slinging it down with rain.

The three new girls (Doris, Gracie and Madge) are still pretty nervous, I think it is going to take them quite a bit longer to get as friendly as Jemima and Matilda.

They are all pretty well integrated now and go in the coop together at night. Sometimes Jemima is naughty and stands guard at the pop hole, but gives up in the end.

We've had a fair bit of rain but nothing like the dreadful time some of you have had. We've got wood-chip down in the run and it is great for stopping it turning into a quagmire, and the hens love to scratch around in it too.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, and I hope the flooding isn't getting you down too much Dizzy.

Dizzy_Ditzy

My girls had their first dust bath for about a month the other day :j

They are filthy again :eek: when their run got soaked through we put a sandpit full of compost in there for them in the hope they'd use it, but no, they refused point blank. They waited for me to empty it in the corner they use for bathing :rotfl:

We aren't really affected by too much drop in production, down to 3-4 a day on average from 5 ladies. Today was 5. We have more of a drop in people wanting them :eek:

It's getting hard now to find them greens off the plot or from the garden so I'm having to buy them in shops - last week I got a huge bag of sprouts reduced in morrisons to 20p which I broke up for them and it lasted them for a week they'll get plenty of greens next Friday :j

Dizzy_Ditzy

What treats are your feathered friends going to get for Christmas?

Better_Days

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

What treats are your feathered friends going to get for Christmas?

Mine will sell their little chicken souls for chopped grapes. :D:D A clear favourite. They make this really excited clucking when I put grapes down. Mealworms are another favourite. They love sweetcorn but they get a little of that every day anyway (well apart from tomorrow as we have run out)

Dizzy_Ditzy

Better_Days wrote: »

Mine will sell their little chicken souls for chopped grapes. :D:D A clear favourite. They make this really excited clucking when I put grapes down. Mealworms are another favourite. They love sweetcorn but they get a little of that every day anyway (well apart from tomorrow as we have run out)

We say that grapes are like crack to the girls - they seem to know we've got them before we have even taken them out of the bag :rotfl:

edwink

My girls have all the contents of a roast Christmas dinner except for the meat side of it. Seriously they do. We don't have our Christmas dinner until the evening as there are only 2 of use. But, lunchtime we will put a little tray of potatoes in the oven so they can have roast potatoes, plus spouts, parsnips, carrots and some Yorkshire pudding made especially for them. We chop it all up when it is cooked and mix it up and give it to the hens and ducks warm for their lunch. That is their Christmas day treat. We have do that every year for them. And they love it.


Have a very worn out and old ex batt hen indoors with us today which will probably be her last night. She is quite unwell with a purple comb. Brought her indoors this morning and she has spent most of the day sleeping. Will see how she is in the morning. Sad!!


Edwink