Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Pyxis · 17 November 2018 at 5:42AM

Bowl of spaghetti hen!

Problem with the ballcock?

edwink · 17 November 2018 at 6:48PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Some of those hair dos (hen dos??) are really quite impressive!!
Glad your fella is still mite free edwink :j
We're still getting mostly 4 eggs a day from our four girls :j I do thin they're starting to moult now though - Hermione & Luna are going rather bald, Mildred has lots of little white stick feathers on the back of her neck, and everyone other than Hermione is looking incredibly scruffy in the petticoat department (they were pretty bad before but worse now)
Don't like to see them like this but they still seem pretty happy. They've been experimenting with their wings this week, fluttering inelegantly over obstacles, jumping onto the bench next to me and one of the even ended up flapping half way up the door in a fit of overexubrance this morning while I was fiddling with the catch to let them out of the run :eek:

Don't worry about them moulting Cheery, they will be fine. I know they can and do look awful when they are in full moult and look almost poorly not to mention really, really scruffy. Their little bodies are preparing for the winter by shedding their old feathers and growing new thicker ones for the colder months ahead. Clever little things when you think about it eh?.

Eggs? I have absolutely none, not even a tiny one, last one we got was about 3 weeks ago :eek:. My girls are very old for ex-batts and quite honestly I am amazed they are still here because as a rule they only live for 18 months to 2 years after rescue. So maximum age really would be around 4 years old but my last 3 girls are around 5 years old, possibly. I am wondering if they were a year old when I got them and not 2 which is the norm for battery hens. Anyway they are still going strong but looks as though they have stopped laying now and are having a well earned rest, bless 'em.

On a really good note my little man gave out a C*ck-a-Doodle-Do today for the first time in weeks and his tail is standing tall like a proper proud Cockerels tail should. To say I am chuffed is an understatement because I do worry so much when they are poorly.

Edwink

edwink · 17 November 2018 at 8:25PM

Pyxis wrote: »

Does anyone remember Tribbles, from the first Star Trek series? (I think they may have featured once in Star Trek TNG too)..............

Had to look that one up Pyxis as I never ever watched Star Trek, in fact I rarely watched TV years ago. Now I get the Tribbles bit:rotfl:

Love the hen you describe as "Bowl of Spaghetti hen". No chance of that one ever feeling the cold with that amount of fluffy feathers.

Had to have a giggle at this hen with those little legs sticking out of all those feathers.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSl5mGvoyoia_9MESzAM0iLBzwEgPJCEQsz57LOJaw8flTNfXkhdg

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSl5mGvoyoia_9MESzAM0iLBzwEgPJCEQsz57LOJaw8flTNfXkhdg

Edwink

Cheery_Daff · 20 November 2018 at 11:58AM

Glad to hear your little man is feeling more like his old self again edwink! :j

My girls are indeed scruffy, but being as pesky as usual :rotfl: Let them out yesterday when the plumber was here, and looked out of the window at one point to find four of them milling round his feet while he was trying to get something out of the van :rotfl: Later one of them was by herself, squarking like they do sometimes when they've lost the others, and I walked all over the place looking for the other three, with the lonely one right on my heels, squarking the whole time - only to find them about 5 foot from where she was originally, hiding in the compost heap. Pesky things!

Been reading about giving them a bit of extra protein to help with the moult. I've been sprinkling pumpkin seeds on their porridge :rotfl: and yesterday tried them with a scrambled egg, which they ate but I don't know, it feels a bit weird

And quite frankly I'd rather eat them myself :rotfl:

Trying to make sure they get plenty of foraging time to find grubs etc and hopefully that will be enough...

Pyxis · 20 November 2018 at 4:23PM

I love that word 'squark'!

It so does what it says on the tin!

Squark! Squark! :rotfl:

edwink · 20 November 2018 at 10:04PM

Gave my little man his 3rd and last dose of treatment for his mite problem today. Definitely no mites still which we are so happy about, but will still continue to keep an eye on his skin over the coming months. At the moment he is still covered in the treatment powder as he has not been shaking it off whilst having his leg problem. Although we would prefer him not to have the sore leg, it did stop him running about or shaking the powder off, bless him. Just so pleased the treatment has worked for him and he is getting back to his old self and crowing again.

The mites can cause real serious problems as they feed on the blood and if left untreated will cause Anaemia amongst other problems and can sometimes be fatal. So we are very relieved that our little man is free from them now.

I like the word squark too, much better than cluck or clucking because it doesn't sound anything like a cluck to me anyway. Hubby says the sound they make when laying an egg sounds like ouch to him :rotfl: Sadly for me I am hard of hearing so don't hear the sounds they make properly anyway

.

Talking of eating the eggs yourself rather than giving them to hens, I just wish I had some eggs in the first place :rotfl: We do miss our weekly home produced egg and homemade chips

with a homemade bread chip buttie, now I am showing off

:rotfl:

Edwink

with a wink x

dizzybee · 20 November 2018 at 11:49PM

Not posted in a while but in June i re homed 3 hens from FSH, and it has been both rewarding and upsetting, at first they all got along fine, then they had the pecking order to sort out and my smallest one who was so bold and looked ill when we took her on was picked on, to the point blood been drawn and her not wanting to go in the coop at night, so i placed her in the shed which just off my kitchen in a cat basket and nursed her back to health, she did free roam in the day with the others but had to keep a eye on her, asked my self many time what had i done and never again, now she is a picture of health they all get on well together we get 3 eggs each day, i am of thinking off doing it all again at the next re home in January,
They bring so much joy i have laughed and cried at the things they get up to but i wouldn't be without them know,

Pyxis · 21 November 2018 at 4:07AM

dizzybee wrote: »

Not posted in a while but in June i re homed 3 hens from FSH, and it has been both rewarding and upsetting, at first they all got along fine, then they had the pecking order to sort out and my smallest one who was so bold and looked ill when we took her on was picked on, to the point blood been drawn and her not wanting to go in the coop at night, so i placed her in the shed which just off my kitchen in a cat basket and nursed her back to health, she did free roam in the day with the others but had to keep a eye on her, asked my self many time what had i done and never again, now she is a picture of health they all get on well together we get 3 eggs each day, i am of thinking off doing it all again at the next re home in January,
They bring so much joy i have laughed and cried at the things they get up to but i wouldn't be without them know,

You henny people are all soooooo kind! :A

edwink · 24 November 2018 at 4:14PM

My little man is still mite free, bless him.

Just going to keep checking him until his skin is completely clear of the powder and I can see it more thoroughly. I put so much powder on him to try and get rid of the little blighters he is still walking around with quite a bit on him, which I guess is not a bad thing in case there is the odd one or two that are trying to crawl about.

His leg is getting easier for him to walk on now and he even came down some steps today so that's a good sign, although I was rather nervous watching him at the time. He would not of attempted to do that last week so definite progress has been made. :j

How is everyone and their feathered friends?. All good I hope with lots of treats and porridge being handed out in this rather chilly weather.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff · 25 November 2018 at 9:19AM

Lots of porridge here (well, pellets mixed eith hot water and a few oats) but the last few days the girls seem a little bored of it & not as enthusiastic when I first put it down... They still eat it all mind you so I'm not too worried.

(Don't read if you're eating breakfast!!)

This morning I noticed a bit of red colour in the overnight poo :eek: I did a bit of alarmed googling and found this Poo Chart, which seems to suggest this is perfectly normal intestinal lining (!)

Posting a link in case it's useful but DON'T look if you don't have a strong stomach :eek: :rotfl:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

I don't know if I'm having a moment of chicken paranoia but I suspect a couple of mine may have a touch of frostbite :eek: Couple of dark tinges to the very pointy bits of their combs :eek: Mostly noticeable on the girls with large combs although if you stare at the two with smaller combs you start seeing it too. We do everything we can to keep them cosy (including putting up extra boards round the run when it's especially cold or windy) but I've read it may be down to a combination of cold & damp. The house is well ventilated, or at least I THOUGHT it was... But maybe it's not enough??

I poo pick every day and yesterday got out all the bedding (which still looked perfectly clean & dry after a couple of weeks) and replaced it with new. Everyone seems to be acting normally (well, as normally as hens act :rotfl: ) and they're all eating so I'm not toooo worried but still.

Am I just being paranoid? Have I been reading too many chicken disease books?!

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