Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

suki1964 wrote: »

And they are getting tamer, have had two eating from my hand and they all come running to the fence minute we step out the door. Now just can't wait for them to start laying

Aww!! So glad they have started to eat out of your hand. They are obviously relaxed now and have leant to trust you!! I knew you would get there with them.


Now they are relaxed and trusting they should start laying. Just a little tip you may need to check in a few corners of the coop to make sure they have not laid somewhere already. We have lovely nesting boxes for our girls but occasionally they find a little nook somewhere in the garden like behind a bush and lay their egg there. Our ducks do that all the time. It is like an Easter egg hunt in our garden at times.


Can't remember how old you said yours were. I know you only got them recently!!


Edwink x

suki1964

edwink wrote: »

Aww!! So glad they have started to eat out of your hand. They are obviously relaxed now and have leant to trust you!! I knew you would get there with them.


Now they are relaxed and trusting they should start laying. Just a little tip you may need to check in a few corners of the coop to make sure they have not laid somewhere already. We have lovely nesting boxes for our girls but occasionally they find a little nook somewhere in the garden like behind a bush and lay their egg there. Our ducks do that all the time. It is like an Easter egg hunt in our garden at times.


Can't remember how old you said yours were. I know you only got them recently!!


Edwink x

Oh they are just three months so I'm not expecting eggs a good while yet although I keep telling them I want an egg in the morning

Queen of cheap, explain to me about a broody hen please?

Dizzy_Ditzy

suki1964 wrote: »

Oh they are just three months so I'm not expecting eggs a good while yet although I keep telling them I want an egg in the morning

Queen of cheap, explain to me about a broody hen please?

I threatened the girls with a disposable BBQ to get them laying - jokingly of course but it worked

A broody hen. A complete pain in the 'arris. Sits in the nest box all day and all night. Gets aggressive if she thinks there is a threat to her eggs. Will come out for about 10 mins a day for food, drink and the biggest, smelliest poo ever. Can last for up to three weeks.

You can "break" a broody by putting her in a dog cage up on bricks will air circulating all around her. You should do this for three whole days and nights at a time. Put food and water in for her.

Some breeds of hen are more prone to broodiness than others

edwink

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

A broody hen. A complete pain in the 'arris. Sits in the nest box all day and all night. Gets aggressive if she thinks there is a threat to her eggs. Will come out for about 10 mins a day for food, drink and the biggest, smelliest poo ever. Can last for up to three weeks.
Some breeds of hen are more prone to broodiness than others

My Speckled hen gets broody every year. She sits in the nesting box for hours and hours and hours. I do get her out during the day. When I do she screams at me for a minute or two then calms down. We have a cuddle and I put her on the path in the garden. She will then run down the garden like a lunatic flapping her feathers. She will stay out for a bit and dust bathe and eats a little before she goes back in again. You need to keep removing the eggs from under her if possible. In this hot weather they will get really hot!! Just make sure she drinks something and at least eats something once a day. We have put a little bowl of food in the nesting box with her and some water with a little vit boost in it.

Hope this is some help!!

Edwink x

Davesnave

I put ours in a separate place where they cannot go indoors, or if it's wet in an old ferret run with no nesting place.

Our most determined broody will go like that for 6 weeks easily.

stepuptothepl8

Our missing hen came back with a big gouge out of her side She's still eating and acting ok though, so we'll see how it goes. The guests have finally apologised, and offered to pay any vets bills. So that's stopped me thinking evil thoughts about them

Dizzy_Ditzy

Red. Mite. :mad: :mad:

We found quite an infestation of red mite today. Under a perch on top of the house that we only put there on Sunday. :mad:

Them being on an allotment is challenging at times to say the least. This is one of those times. Not impossible, but challenging

edwink

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

Red. Mite. :mad: :mad: We found quite an infestation of red mite today. Under a perch on top of the house that we only put there on Sunday. :mad: Them being on an allotment is challenging at times to say the least. This is one of those times. Not impossible, but challenging

Aww what a pain that is for you!!! Not good when that happens. I am sure you know that you will have to deal with that problem ASAP. We had the same problem a couple of years ago. That can be a hens keepers worst nightmare. I do hope that you manage to get rid of it.

For others new to hen keeping you must be aware that this can happen to the cleanest of hen huts. Ours were cleaned regularly and we still got it. We introduced some new hens a couple of weeks before we got it.

If you suspect that you have the dreaded red mite. The best thing to do is to go up to the coop at night with a clean piece of white paper towel. Wipe the underside of their perches with it. If it has blood on it you will know you have the problem.

The red mites stay in the hen huts and feed on the hens blood during the night and then crawl back to where they came from when they are full up. They will do this each and every night. So wiping the underside of their perches with a piece of white kitchen towel will wipe some of them up and as they have been feeding on your hens as I said there will be blood on the paper towel.

This is dangerous for the hens if this problem is not dealt with. The consequences for the hens is another problem you will have to deal with if the red mite problem is not dealt with as soon as possible.

We could not get rid of our problem. We tried and tried but in the end we had to burn out hut and get them another. We used poultry hut disinfectant and all sorts. We treated all the hens before they went in to their new hut. Touch wood we have not had the problem since. We do now dust the hut especially the perching bars and the underside every time we clean them out. Only a light dusting!!!! The upheaval of sorting the red mite problem out has made us fully aware that they are so hard to get rid off once you have them.

My brother has kept hens for around 15 years and he has never treated his hut with any sort of powder. He has never in those 15 years had any problems with red mite either.

Hope this is of some help to others on here.

Edwink x

Dizzy_Ditzy

Thanks Edwink.

We have completely replaced the roof with a plastic one. Sadly it is still on top of the wooden run because we don't want to get rid of the whole thing yet, but if we have to, we will.

I did a lot of reading on this yesterday/last night.

We have scrubbed with jeyes fluid, steamed all the books and crannies, rubbed garlic over everything (who knew chickens liked garlic so much?!) and covered everything in and on the coop with diatom, replaced all the bedding and nest box material and diatommed the girls and their dustbathing spots. There is garlic in their water too.

I'll keep the little b*ggers off them if it's the last thing I do.

If there is any sign of them tonight when we go round to check, I'll cry we have spent all day doing all that

Davesnave

Red mite cannot cope with Creocote. I do the interior of the hen houses with it, blasting it between the boards, but we always have one 'resting' house, which makes it easier to do that sort of intensive treatment.

Apparently, red mite love getting into the roof timber, under the felt. This is why an Onduline roof, or similar, is better.