Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

normandynat wrote: »

arrrrrgh hubby saw a fox in our field but right close to garden yesterday evening
all our girls are fenched it but its not that high so they could jump over
but 3 girls jump out so will have to clip their wings for their sake _ blossom being 1 of them has already survived fox attacks twice

edwink glad youre sisters better

Thank you she is improving a little every day. MRI scan today so will Know more when we get results from that.

Regarding the foxes I would suggest collecting some male urine as quickly as possible. Maybe in a bucket or some sort of container and tip the urine all around the boundary of your hens area. Also get a T shirt/top that a male has worn and hang it somewhere around the hens night time sleeping area. The scent of the male urine and the body odour scent from the males T shirt will put the foxes off of coming to your hens area especially the male fox.

Foxes are very territorial and the male fox will assume that there is another male fox in the that area and would definitely not want to step on another male foxes toes so to speak.

If you are able to collect male urine daily keep tipping it around the hens area. Do this even more if it rains because the scent will start to be washed away if it does. Also change the t shirt from time to time as the scent will reduce on that too.

Regarding clipping the hens feathers without seeing your set up it is difficult to suggest if it is a good idea or not. The reason I say this is we rehomed a single hen because 17 of her feathered friends were killed by the foxes. The reason she got away was that she flew up on to the top of a high fence so survived the attack. If her feathers had been previously clipped she would not of survived that fox attack.

Hope that is some help to you. Please let us know how you are getting on. I know what a worrying time it must be for you.

Take care

Edwink x

oldandhappy

that's good information Edwink an a good reminder to watch out more... we got caught out by Foxes in the Bexhill property we had...was next to a farm and all countryside so loads of wildlife...Hungary wildlife at that...glad your getter better news now edwink.

Better_Days

How's your SIL edwink? Improving I hope.

Well it has been roasting here in the east the last few days. Then yesterday evening we had a mega thunderstorm. It is thankfully cooler now. The hens coped fairly well, there is a tarp up in the run so they always have some shade and they also dig down in the woodchip to the cooler, damp soil.

But it was hot, hot, hot. My neighbour bought them round some chard on Monday which the hens adore. I had to move it into the shade though as it was just to hot for them otherwise. Grapes are OK though as they can be scoffed down quickly Still laying well.

suki1964

Just a quick visit to say

FIVE chicks :j:j:j:j

Mum and babies all doing well :beer:

edwink

Hi everyone

Sorry I have not been about much lately. Sister in Law is now out of ITU and is improving a little. Such a long road ahead for her now as she has memory loss following her fall. Just keeping my fingers and toes crossed that she makes a full recovery. Bless her!!

Girls and boys behaving themselves in the garden. Still have a broody one sitting and sitting and just sitting. Not been home much to move her off of the eggs :mad:.

Getting around 10 to 15 eggs a day at the moment. Their laying has dropped a little with the heat but on the plus side there is a lot of dust bathing going on which is great to see especially for the ex batts. I just love sitting watching them and saying oi you don't forget to wash behind your ears. I do miss the White Star we had that used to let me bury her in dry soil until she was covered completely except for her head. she used to nod off when I was doing that because I think she was so relaxed either that or she could no longer breathe :rotfl: Bless her she was so skittish and she used to run off in every direction when you came near her but when it cam to dust bathing she just relaxed completely.

I think I have managed to keep up with all the news this week.

Take care all. I will post when I am able to but with the hot weather and the hospital visits it is actually wearing me out. Yesterday I came home and went to change and fell a sleep on the bed for two hours I was that exhausted. Luckily hubby wasn't so tired and managed to give the girls and boys their long awaited supper before bed time. Bless them!!! I do love all of my girls and boys and never want to be without a feathered friend to cuddle.

Edwink x

oldandhappy

our Madge is still broody but keep her locked out as much as we can...the others are now laying there eggs in others places...yet to find the first weeks eggs now have one Hen called Cuckoo cooks for short... laying in a barn in a box of sawdust that gets closed up so she waits until we open that one...Henryetta has a new place last 2 days now so at least we know her nest. Chickpea no idea as yet....large garden so lots of hiding places.....Glad to hear your relative is making some progress....it will take ages I guess.
My daughter has arrived in France her holday home is about 40mins from us and she will be over Wednesday with our granddaughter and a friend for the day and overnight stay. So looking forward to seeing her. She has been through hell this past year with the dreaded breast cancer and all that goes with that of course.
BW Dianne

normandynat

latest attack is abit close to home only 2 hours away but in normandy
not going to lie my life in fear though

anyway my birds are sulking big time theres 3 that jump out of inclousure and lay eggs just fine but the 13 that stay in the inclosure arent laaying again

im going to have to put barriers round my vegetable patchs and let them all out

ali-t

Hi everyone, great to read everyone's news and see the flocks developing. We have just come back from holiday and the hens went off to a hen camp site. Wow, that is a business venture that must rake in the money each week. I had never seen anything like it - a large field, lots of different sized eglus and pens and hens and cockerels everywhere.


Unfortunately I think we have come home to a red mite infestation. I saw some red that smeared when I touched it today at the lid of the nesting box and having looked at the signs of red mite - I think we have it which isn't great. Some of the hens are looking a bit threadbare and one has a bald bum which I put down to the stress of going on holiday but on reflection think it is more likely to be red mite.


I have been using powder on the coop but not as much as I should have been obviously. So the plan of attack is to move the hens to the other coop that is currently in the garage. Powerwash the coop a couple of times to dislodge the beasts, get some poultry shield and treat with that and then powder the hens and the coop with diatomaceous earth. I was also looking at net tex total mite kill which I saw recommended online. does anyone have any other possible solutions or advice that I can act on in the meantime until I can get the products delivered? I thought we were being so careful and when the hens went away the coop was emptied and powdered but I read today that they can live 8 months without a host so nearly 3 weeks away on holiday isn't enough for them to die. grrrr.

edwink

normandynat wrote: »

im going to have to put barriers round my vegetable patchs and let them all out

We have put a barrier all around our veg beds in a huge square shape. This stops the hens trying to get in to the green houses to dust bathe and to stop them demolishing our growing veg. In the winter we open it all up for them so they can poop on it as much as they like and eat all the lovely yummy weeds that take over when the veg has all be harvested. It is great at the start of spring when we close it all up again because it is completely weed free ready for planting again. It is one way for them to earn their keep at least

Hope you manage to get something sorted because they will trash the lot otherwise. If they don't eat something they will trample on it instead.

Edwink

edwink

ali-t wrote: »

Unfortunately I think we have come home to a red mite infestation. I saw some red that smeared when I touched it today at the lid of the nesting box and having looked at the signs of red mite - I think we have it which isn't great. Some of the hens are looking a bit threadbare and one has a bald bum which I put down to the stress of going on holiday but on reflection think it is more likely to be red mite.
I have been using powder on the coop but not as much as I should have been obviously. So the plan of attack is to move the hens to the other coop that is currently in the garage. Powerwash the coop a couple of times to dislodge the beasts, get some poultry shield and treat with that and then powder the hens and the coop with diatomaceous earth. I was also looking at net tex total mite kill which I saw recommended online. does anyone have any other possible solutions or advice that I can act on in the meantime until I can get the products delivered? I thought we were being so careful and when the hens went away the coop was emptied and powdered but I read today that they can live 8 months without a host so nearly 3 weeks away on holiday isn't enough for them to die. grrrr.

Hi

I am not sure there is much else you can do because you seem to have everything covered. The blooming Red Mite are an absolute pest they really are. The best thing to do is act on it as quickly as possible. When we were still learning we had the Red Mite and in the end we had to burn their hotel and obviously replace it. They were absolutely everywhere and we just could not get rid of them.

Best way to check to see if you have got the mite under control is to go up to the coop late at night armed with some white kitchen paper and a torch. Rub under one or two of the perches with the paper and check with the torch to see if there is any red blood on the paper. The little critters feed on the hens at night and then go under the perches to sleep ready for their next feeding time when they wake up. If the paper is clean you have hopefully got rid of them. If not it is back to cleaning it all out again and starting from scratch to get rid of them I'm afraid. Very time consuming I know but hopefully you will get there. Just make sure you clean and dust under the perches really thoroughly because that will be mainly where they are.

We powder our hut now once a week with SMITE ORGANIC Diatomaceous Earth powder which we now purchase in a bulk 5kg container through eBay. The little bottles which we used to purchase were over £5 each. Buying the bulk load makes it work out at £1 per one of the containers we used to buy. So in my opinion well worth bulk buying. It cost around £20 with free delivery. The 5kg container we have is equivalent to 20 of the smaller £5 containers we used to buy.

Hope that is some help. Please come back and let us all know how you are getting on.

Edwink