Keeping hens and ducks chat.

normandynat

well the veg patch is fenced off _didnt have enough for the potato patch so chickens are earning their keep digging them up 'hoping they wont eat them) and hopefully they will all start laying again


went to our local market on friday and saw the chickens:ducks for sale but also what looked like young white turkeys_i wonder if i could be brave enough to rear 1 for xmas

edwink

Sister in Law improving in hospital which is great for our family. What a worry it has all been and still is to a certain degree. Still keeping fingers crossed for her.

Hens are laying ok but still have the blooming broody hen. It is not working putting this one in broody jail cos she loves the attention and her own pile of food. Naughty girl she is.:D

Having trouble growing lettuces for them this year because of the weather so they are having cabbage, kale and sprout leaves instead. Only problem is the ducks can eat lettuce a lot easier than cabbage leaves. Mmmm!! Might have to buy some lettuces for them this week. Just remembered they can have the cucumbers that are growing cos they love those. Phew that's saved me some money. :rotfl: Forgot they were growing well. Our Indian Runner duck won't eat anything that's green unless it is cucumber. If I call her with chopped cucumber in my hand she comes running down the path for it. She either smells it or is a very clever girl. :rotfl:

Hope everyone is ok and you are all getting plenty of eggs to eat. I know we are!!

Edwink

normandynat

right a friend who used to be a farmer saw 1 of our chickens and said ooo shes got scaly leg

looking at the others some might have it too _not bad though and look healthy enough so not sure if they have it or not

any ideas how to get rid _home remedies

Happygreen

normandynat wrote: »

right a friend who used to be a farmer saw 1 of our chickens and said ooo shes got scaly leg

looking at the others some might have it too _not bad though and look healthy enough so not sure if they have it or not

any ideas how to get rid _home remedies

Hiya, my cure-all is Diatomaceous Earth, I'd make a paste and rub it into their legs....works on red mite here (I rub it into the cracks in the house and sprinkle it all over the nesting boxes)

No news from my missing ducks. I find myself thinking what (or who??) could have taken them, so sad. I dreamed that one of them tried to get over the garden gate back home
When I was clearing out the bird houses one of the hens acted suspiciously. And there I found a half eaten egg in her nesting box, ggggrrrrrhhhh

ali-t

So far for our suspected red mite outbreak we have changed the coop over to another one, power washed the original coop, dusted the hens with mite powder, and dusted the new coop with different mite powder.


Our go to guy for hens also suggested rubbing the hens legs with oil or Vaseline if the scales looked raised as this would suffocate the mites and stop them irritating the hens legs but the scales all looked closed so we didn't do that.


The poultry shield was delivered tonight so I will clean the coop with that tomorrow and do some more mite dusting to try to kill them off. Fingers crossed it all works.

suki1964

Well my five babies are all doing well. 2 weeks old today and have been free ranging since day three.

Momma hen has been brilliant. Too brilliant as she's lost so much weight I try to feed her up but she just breaks everything up for the babies. So since day two they have been reared on mealworms, corn, chicken, eggs, etc etc etc. They are great wee scavengers and are excellent at nabbing a passing fly

They are moulting like mad already, still wee cuties but coming into the raggedy / leggy stage.

So although I didn't want to hatch chicks I'm kinda glad we did it. We got 5/5. She chucked one out early and four weren't fertile. So it's not been the heart breaking experience I feared.

However the next stage I've got to think about is dispatch if they are Roos..


Other news,we have mites. Not red thankfully so good fun Monday in catching and dusting them all. Egg production is still going well, mostly 9/11. I still have one girl laying softees even though she's on the same diet as the rest and has access to oyster shells and gets plenty of protein


Good news about your SIL Edwink xxxx

oldandhappy

Good to hear all news....mainly want to help out with the scalie....we where told to put oil any oil on there legs as often as you can...it does help be it messy where an apron on something to protect against the splash back...ours had it bad and lost toes...not nice although survived ok but if you an prevent it before it takes hold...
BW Dianne


Madge has just today stopped being broody...takes about three weeks like that is the time they would hatch if they could!!!Weather here hot and dry but still laying ok 3 out of 4 but should be back to 4 now Madge is normal again

edwink

Cheese and roasted veg quiche for supper tonight. Thanks to my feathered friends. You can't beat home laid eggs can you??

Still have our broody hen would you believe. Yes still blooming broody.

How is everyone else and their feathered friends? All keeping ok I hope with lots of healthy eggs being laid.

Edwink x

Dizzy_Imp

Hello to all my fellow feather friends :wave:

Glorious weather here today. I'm glowing rather red after a super afternoon at a countryside fair, where I indulged in home-made mint choc chip ice-cream and watched beef cattle being judged. Very smug that I picked out the winner as I have absolutely no idea about cows :rotfl: She was massive and I mean huge. If it wasn't for her udders, I would've sworn it was a bull. And before you all laugh and say bulls have a dangly appendage, all the cows being shown had what I assume is an "outie" belly button that hangs down sort of in the right area....anyway, I was too embarrassed to ask, to be sure...

I saw some truly delightful chickens that had been entered for the show and one tiny little rooster, no bigger than a kitten stole my heart. He was strutting and crowing for all he was worth and looked just like my Foggy, but in miniature. So, so cute.

Laying in bed now (fan on, to cool the burn) feeling like today was a great day.

I so want some little chickens now...

Better_Days

Hot and windy here yesterday. Fresher today. One of our oldest hens, Matilda is a bit off colour. Didn't fancy any greens yesterday afternoon and reluctant to come out of the coop this morning. Have given her some poultry drops and she was quite feisty, so hopefully she will perk up again. Hens haven't been laying so well when it is hot.

My neighbour ran a stall at a local fete on Saturday with cakes and savouries made with eggs courtesy of the girls. She made nearly £400 for charity Well done hennies.