Period fluffs - and then there were two!

[tobydog]

Although we had a great Christmas, one of our fluffs (Mel - the Rhode Island Red) sadly came to an expected and all rather quick natural end .

I was off on Christmas Eve and all three girls were happy following me around the garden. On Christmas Day I noticed that something was wrong with Mel but couldn't quite work out what it was. She was slower than usual and didn't rush when I threw them some corn. She kind of moped around. On Boxing Day she didn't come out of the house with the other two first thing, but when she did, she just stood in the garden with her head and wings down. She barely moved 6ft all day. I tried giving her water and small bird food but she wasn't interested. I picked her up to check her over (the fact she let me was a major concern) but nothing was obvious. Come 3pm it started raining so I picked her up and put her in the house, realising that she probably wouldn't be with us in the morning. Unfortunately that was the case when I went out to the house at 7am. She had died where I put her. I could have brought her indoors last night but she was clearly too far gone and it would probably just have string out the inevitable and probably stressed her out more.

As we only had the three, they turned out to be more like pets. We didn't think we would get attached to them. We only got them last September but I know that by the time you see a chicken getting ill, it's often too late to do much. Thankfully the other two are fine so I'm hoping it wasn't anything catching.

We'll think about getting two more in the New Year. That should be interesting and get the feathers flying!

 

[LadyArowana]

That's sad, i don't know anything about chickens to be able to help with any advice as to whether it could have been something catching, let's keep fingers crossed that it wasn't.

 

[DJH]

Chickens do seem to pass away without too much fuss and there's really nothing to be done. We've always had about five or six hens at a time over the last five years in fact we've still got one that's over five years old called Rosemary. She's survived umpteen fox attacks and has had only one eye for the last two years. At one stage the score was 11-0 to the fox and we calculated we were paying about €3 an egg but the foxes are gone now and all is calm in the paddock except for three hens we are babysitting for friends who spend a few months in India during the cold weather here.

It will take a while for things to calm down in the hen house when there are new arrivals until the pecking ( :roll: ) order is sorted.......

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, sorry to read that - sad for you, over Christmas as well. I do understand how you feel, you put so much into them and they become close companions. So easy to beat yourself up, but it has to be accepted that unless you have the right combination of luck & time to spend on perfect hygiene this isn't a particularly long lived pet. Hygiene is very difficult with the weather conditions we've been having - damp, muddy conditions aren't what they like, and when they spend their time in one area it becomes laden with worm eggs and full of bacteria.

If the breastbone was really sticking out and the comb was pale then I suggest either internal or external parasites. In any case, I'd put them on Flubenvet for the week and give the environment a good going over with Poultry Shield, especially at roosting and nesting points. If they're on mud I'd turn it over and sweeten with lime or better still get them on slabs that you hose down. Feeders and drinkers get covered in mud this weather, it's a battle to keep them clean and the feed dry.

I've probably lost around 15 over 3 years but am undeterred! ( mainly to predation - my 23 are now contained by electric poultry netting so the danger is now disease rather than predation. I lost one in November in exactly the circumstances Toby describes, I suspect because he had a heavy hit from red mite and was at the bottom of the pecking order so didn't feed well.

 

[CharlesdeGaulle]

It's sad when they go, and certainly ours have become more like pets than 'producers'. At least yours seems to have gone quickly, which is always a comfort.

My first casualty was due to a dog attack. There was clearly something wrong with her after I'd finally found her, and I kept her in a box overnight and away from the others, but in the morning she was no better and had to be despatched. Horrible job when you've grown close to them. The losses since have been to foxes which seems more acceptable somehow, but it's never easy.

I don't know if they're giving Christmas gifts, but my remaining 4 are laying every day, even the old dame who is unpredictable at best. Bizarre, but long may it last.

As an aside, we found merging flocks took less time than expected. It was brutal whilst it lasted, but was over soon enough.

 

[tobydog]

Although it's been a very wet year, I made big improvements to their run this year. I covered the 3m x 2m enclosed run, including the house, with clear corrugated perspex that will (eventually) run off into a water butt. This kept the run moist at worst and only a bit squidgy where we walk in. They are out all day in the garden which drains well so they never hang around on boggy ground. I agree though that the damp and mild environment is a breeding ground for allsorts.

I'll give their house a thorough clean tomorrow. They get cleaned out once a week and I work on the basis of a 100m layer of rough sawdust covered in straw. Each week I remove and replace the top 25-30mm and any damp patches and rebuild. Every 6 weeks or so they get a total clean. It's quick and easy and their poo dries out.

No sign of red mite even under the perches so I reckon it was something intestinal. She was a bit boney and her comb was small and a reddy purple colour. Not big and bright red like the other two. She was never short of food and was pretty greedy but I recall now about a week ago when she came out of the house in the morning and walked straight passed the food and water. She, along with the other two, was normally crazy for it first thing. I planned to use Flubenvet but, because they are free range, it would mean penning them in for 7 days so they only drink the water in the run. Usually it's ponds, puddles, etc. I'll have a go but they won't be happy :roll: .

 

[JoceAndChris]

Lost another yesterday, grrr. I was in and out of the garden so thought I'd let one group free range for a bit. Took a delivery of wood, just finished bringing it in and heard a great commotion - rushed out and saw a large fox killing a Light Sussex. :x I got quite close to the fox before he finally dropped it, he must have really wanted it, but she'd had a swift end so there was nothing to be done except round the others up and tell them they can't free range any more. this never happens when they're behind their electric poultry netting, but their enclosure is so poached I can't bear to see them in it. I'll have to get another section of fencing and make it bigger, they've currently got 25 sq m and it isn't really enough for 12 birds.

Yours sound very spoiled tobydog, good idea to cover the run over if it can be managed. But I wouldn't use straw as the hollow stems form ideal breeding ground for various parasites, I use just the dust extracted wood shavings on the floor and a bit of hay in nesting boxes.

Flubenvet goes in the feed - it's a scoop of powder. To make sure they're eating it you could mix it through a weighed amount of porridge, water, cat food ( beef) and chopped apple. It has to be fed over seven days so I often make a few large batches of this mix in advance as the powder just seems to fly off the dry feed and not stick.

You might also want to give them a spray of Ivermectin once a month, 2 squirts under each wing. You can get this online and it's good for various parasite control. It does sound like your hen was hit hard by worms to me.

As for red mite, no offence but I never believe that it isn't there when people say they haven't seen it. This is because I didn't think I had it for about 18 months but it was there all along, I just couldn't see them as they hide so deeply in the cracks and are so minute. If you have a huge infestation then you see them more easily but that's unlikely to happen with just 2 or 3 birds.

Anyway you gave your hen a lovely life and that's the main thing.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh - and just on the introduction of new birds. If you can, I'd get two more so they'll be friends. Introducing one can be problematic, they're happier to come as a little flock. I put my new girls in a wire bunny run in the daytime, so the others can see but not touch! They'll be very curious. Then at night pop them on the perches and in the morning you'll have one flock, maybe the odd peck here and there, but it will be fine. It will be better if you can get more of the same kind as they are less ready to accept a new breed, I've found. Exciting!

 

[tobydog]

Thanks for the advice Joce and sorry to hear about your fox encounter. If we were in the middle of a hard cold winter then you could understand why the fox might want to take such a risk but with you in the garden, in broad daylight, that's worrying. I would expect that in towns and cities but not where you live.

Well, I stripped the chicken house of everthing on Saturday, I inspected every nook and cranny, where the perches slot in, and where the base tray slips in. Not a red mite in sight or sign of one. I've even checked at night before and still nothing. I should just count my self lucky rather than be complacent. I understand they don't like a deep base of sawdust covering the floor / boxes which is the system I use. Might be something to do with it.

We will wait until the spring to get two more. On Sunday morning our neighbours four got into our garden. They have over 2 acres and the birds still found a small hole in the fence. Ours have one third and are happy with that. Having said this, our two promptly saw them off and sent them packing. It was like watching one man and his dog as they rounded them up and 'forced' them back through the whole. Entertaining to watch.

Here's to a better and drier 2013. Happy New Year.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sounds like your girls don't want to share! My new girls did this to blackbirds and pheasants when they first arrived, they've given up now as I think they realise they'll just wear themselves out!

Keep up the excellent regime as you are and you shouldn't have problems. You won't see red mite now though as it's dormant in winter months, but I sincerely hope you don't ever get it as once there are even two red mites in the house the population can be thousands within a very short period - their multiplying powers are terrifying. I've never found them in the sawdust, always either on the birds or crawling along perches at night, and when a knife is inserted into crevices, it comes out covered in the bugs.

When you get your new girls it's a really good idea to spray Frontline or Ivermectin under the wings and keep them isolated for 24 hours just so you don't bring red mite or scaley leg mite or anything else into the house. Better still buy them from somewhere that does this for you. And this will sound over the top but I'd also leave your wellies in the car after collecting the new birds and give them a scrub before walking in the garden in them. Also be aware that your new ladies should be point of lay or laying as mixing ages can make new youngsters very vulnerable to the things the older ones are immune to - especially cocci.

The foxes here have grown too big and bold, they need to go off to the taxidermist! I am very annoyed about the whole thing as my birds have gone from having a lovely free ranging lifestyle to being confined. They aren't happy and don't lay any eggs at all, so I have to buy my eggs from the supermarket at the moment!

You have a lovely new year too, and a 2013 with even more enjoyable chickeneering.

 

[DJH]

I'm not sure that hens lay every day through the year. I think the red ones lay for about 260 days of the year?? We are baby sitting three while their owners are off to foreign clime for a couple of months and the are keeping their distance fro ours at the moment.

Our hen Rosemary with only one eye goes broody for months (?) at a time and comes out just for a drink and some food and the others climb on top of her and lay alongside her.When she does surface she has a bare backside for a while but it soon grows back and she doesn't seem to care. She stays as grumpy as ever. :lol:

 

[philpjuk100]

A great new year to be a chicken! had their feathers blown inside out and got soaked yesterday,turned in early wet with their heads hanging low,this morning the wind has stopped,the sun is shining,they are strutting around the garden,heads held high,eggs done! 2013 the year of the chicken!! and a happy new year to all forum members from all at "wheelwrights" and the chucks!

 

[LadyArowana]

2013 the year of the chicken!! and a happy new year to all forum members from all at "wheelwrights" and the chucks!

Very sorry to disappoint but it will be the Year of the Snake ! Not chicken year for a while.

 

[philpjuk100]

Have no snakes (or elephants!) so it will have to be our "year of the chicken" or cat! or should that be pussy wusseys?

 

[fluffytail10]

Little Hen Rescue in Norfolk are having a rehoming day on January the 19th if you want more hens. We have ordered 4. Now just to think of some more names - they have to match their leg ring colour so I'm thinking bluebell, rose and... not sure about yellow and green.

 

[LadyArowana]

.. not sure about yellow and green.

Green in Japanese is Midori, which can be used as a girls name.

 

[Penners]

Frankly, it seems that anything can be used as a girl's name, these days. If Storm, Jayden, Taylor... (etc. ad nauseam) are deemed acceptable, then I can't see any harm in Midori.

France, Denmark and several other countries have the right idea. If you go to the registrar with some outlandish idea of a name for your baby, they'll make the decision for you, based on an acceptable list of names.

Registrar: "Bonjour, Monsieur et Madame Dubois, what would you lahk to name your lurvley leetle baby?"

Parent: "Bonjour, monsieur. We weesh to name 'im, Clinton Beebop Asterix Dubois."

Registrar: "D'accord. Jean-Paul eet shall be. Au revoir, chers parents."

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Daffodil and Emerald?
Urine and Bile?

 

[Penners]

Drumstick and Wishbone?

 

[fluffytail10]

mmm yes we've already had nugget and twizzler and emerald. The problem with ex battery hens is that most of them only last a couple of years, so we've used most of the more popular chicken names. Maybe it should be something totally different - spade, fork, trowel and rake? or more topical for me - mould, damp, woodworm and condy (short for condensation)?

Which reminds me... A builder came to do our roof and said we should remove our concrete render and replace it with...yes, can you guess? more concrete. Though he said that this is special new concrete. You cover all the walls in an aluminium frame, and then put the concrete on top so there is a 1cm gap between the wall and the concrete. This makes it totally breathable apparently. I've said I'll think about it :roll: