Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

ali-t wrote: »

All quiet on the chicken front here. We seem to have got the red mites under control and have been rotating coops and powdering profusely. The hens were powdered too and everything seems to be fine now.

We have a 12 week old pup added to the mix now so life has been a bit mayhem with not much peace and quiet to post on MSE. How is everyone else getting on?

Hi Ali-t

Glad you have the Red Mite under control now. What a blooming nuisance they are. We had them several years back so know what it is like. They really are horrid little things and not to mention a real pain to get rid of.

So has your puppy got a name now? Awww bless I do love ickle pups. What breed is he/she? Lots more work now you have a pup too but I am sure you will find the extra work worthwhile. We would love to get another dog and have been considering it for a few years now. Maybe we will get one some day.


Glad your hens broken wing is healing and she is back with the others now. I hate having to separate any of mine cos I feel so sorry for them. But it is for there safety we sometimes have to do it.

Any names for the new hens yet?

Edwink

edwink

Dizzy_Imp wrote: »

Well my girls have gone on strike! At the weekend we moved their enclosure to a fresh spot in the orchard, scrubbed, sprayed and powdered the coops and powdered the chooks, to make sure everything is clean and pest free and we have only had 6 eggs since! Is this usual?

Hi Dizzy

Sorry for the late reply but in answer to your question it is not unusual for them to go on strike after their coop has been moved. It just slightly unsettles them for a bit.

They will soon be back in full swing again, honest. Ours did the same when we replaced our girls hotel. Even though the new one went where the old one was they still went on strike for a week or so.

Hope they settle soon.

Edwink

Better_Days

Sad news. Poor Matilda passed away yesterday.:A She was one of the ex-batts we got in the Summer of 2014. She was a bit off colour, but still eating. We had been giving her poultry drops and she seemed fairly perky. But not to be. At least she had two summers with us with the excitement of daily sweetcorn and spaghetti plus occasional grapes, and the treats my neighbour brings round from her veg plot. Thanks for all the eggs Matilda.

And now Jemima who we got at the same time as Matilda is also not looking 100%. Fingers crossed she recovers.

The other hens are all fine with Hermonie the Araucana continuing to let the whole neighbourhood know after she has laid an egg.

jim-jim

hi there, its been a long time since I have posted on here.
Up date now we have 7 chucks after one died. We have also had a chuck that was 'nearly dead' was told to use net-tex nutri drops, if any thing was going to work this would. My giddy aunt, did it work :j
she has come back from the dead!! would recommend.

Any how I,ve come to ask can I give them some out of date porridge oats? date may 15
if so do chuck it on the ground as a treat, or soak in winter for a warm treat?

many thank x

edwink

jim-jim wrote: »

hi there, its been a long time since I have posted on here.
Up date now we have 7 chucks after one died. We have also had a chuck that was 'nearly dead' was told to use net-tex nutri drops, if any thing was going to work this would. My giddy aunt, did it work :j
she has come back from the dead!! would recommend.

Any how I,ve come to ask can I give them some out of date porridge oats? date may 15
if so do chuck it on the ground as a treat, or soak in winter for a warm treat?

many thank x

Hi Jim-Jim

Welcome back to our friendly hen, duck and geese thread.

I don't see a problem with giving your chooks out of date porridge as long as it has been kept wrap up when stored. You can give it to them loose on the ground as it will keep them busy foraging for it. Also you can give it to them as cooked porridge too but it will be gobbled up in no time and won't keep them busy for very long.

Only thing is with porridge you should not feed it to them in the warmer months as it can warm them up and make them overheat which would be dangerous for them. The cold winter months are ideal for a treat of porridge wet or loose.

I would keep it sealed until the winter and give it to them then if I were you as a few more months wont make much difference to the condition of it as long as it is in a sealed bag.

Hope that is some help.

Edwink

jim-jim

Thanks for the quick reply, yes the bags are still sealed. I'm just sorting the store cupboard out.

The 2 new chucks are babies 16 weeks old and we only got them on sunday, all the others are 16mths. They are not best pleased about them coming and invading their space. If it doesn't settle down I will have to try some spray??

x

edwink

Better_Days wrote: »

Sad news. Poor Matilda passed away yesterday.:A

And now Jemima who we got at the same time as Matilda is also not looking 100%. Fingers crossed she recovers.

Hi Better Days

It is always so sad when we loose one of our girls. It never gets any easier does it? I thought it would over time but it doesn't. How sad for you! Her retirement with you was quite long for an ex batt which was great for her. They do say that retirement for the ex batts is between 18 months and 2 years sadly. My longest retirement girl was with me for just over 2 and a half years, so she did really well. Must of been the regular olive oil I gave her when she first came to live with us because her crop was compacted and she was so underweight at the time. I still miss that little hen, she was like a little pet dog because she followed me everywhere.

How is Jemima now ? Has she picked up at all ? Please let us all know how she is when you are able to.

Take care

Edwink x

Better_Days

Thanks edwink, sadly Jemima didn't make it either. The other 5 hens are all fit and well, and it seems that both Jemima and Matilda had come to the end of their days. They were very friendly hens and I'll miss their little ways. At least they had two summers with us and lots of happy days scratching around just being hens. And their eggs raised money for charity too :AThanks Jemima and Matilda for all the eggs. You were little feathered stars.

Went out this morning to photograph the lovely sunrise and there was an amazing rainbow (but no rain). I'll post a photo later if I can upload it.

suki1964

I think Ive finally managed to get the hang of this photo malarkey so here are the babies 7 weeks old now, one picture at one week old and the other is at 5 weeks

Hmm, i did turn that picture but its still posting sideways

edwink

suki1964 wrote: »

Please can I have the ickle white one??? Oh how cute are they???


Suki it took me ages and ages to be able to post pic on MSE. I finally got the hang of it but each time I think of posting another pic I can't remember how I did it the last time To be honest I just take a stab at it and it usually turns out ok in the end, sort of.

Betterdays so sorry you have lost another hen. Sometimes it happens like that and 2 go to hen heaven within weeks or days of each other. But, as you say they had 2 lovely summers in retirement scratching about and just being hens. Aww bless them!! x

Edwink x