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Thank you Beantree. I've brought her in and given her some scrambled egg with a little olive oil which she has scoffed. She's drinking and has had some pellets. Her poo is fine no blood but not very much of it. I think I'll keep her in tonight and give her little massages. She's very up and down so I think a night resting may help. Thanks for your advice.

She doesn't sound too poorly. For the crop I'd simply lightly massage it because there may be a small solid lump of undigested food in there which is rotten? When they know their system isn't right they will eat grass to clear it out; unfortunately that can just make things worse because it can sit in the crop and block it. Not eating pellets can be because they have been bullied off the feeder previously as well. The solution there is to provide another feeder and drinker. I would avoid yoghurt and if the crop is too hard to massage give her a few drops of water until it softens (not too quickly because she could choke). What are her poos like? It won't be coccidiosis unless her poos are bloody. Don't try anything else at the moment.

Hi - one of my girls (Miley) has been under the weather for a good couple of weeks now and I'm at a loss as to what it could be. She is eating and drinking but doesn't scratch around much like the others and will go off and stand by herself. The others aren't bullying her but she seems to be selective with what she eats. She seems to want grass or greens more than pellets. I let them in the garden a couple of days ago and she was back to her old self - scratching around and eating. I've checked her over and her crop does look as though it doesn't empty as quickly as the other girls so I'm not sure if she has an impact or pendulous crop. I've tried giving her kefir yoghurt (which she loves) but have stopped that for a few days as seen that lactose isn't good for them. I've tried treating her for coccidiosis but am reluctant to try any other treatments at the moment as don't want to upset her system anymore. I've also checked her vent and doesn't feel egg-bound. Any suggestions as to what else I can possibly do will be most welcomed. Thank you!

You will find the chick crumb just drops to the bottom, so they don't eat it anyway. I'd just throw it away or bury it in the compost heap. Worth checking if your rearers has significantly more protein than layers, because if not it's not worth doing. However, here we do add rearers to the layers pellets in very small quantities (1 or 2%). The reason is that rearers here (growers they are called) contains probiotics and the layers doesn't. This then keeps their digestive systems in good order and they get the maximum benefit from what they eat, rather than it just passing through partially digested. You can see the poos are less 'grainy' and cecal poos increase (digestive enzymes stored in the cecal ducts which are periodically emptied; brown paste) It also contains more vitamins and minerals. BUT we have had problems with a pair of Marans who decided the rearers tasted better and discarded all the layers pellets onto the floor, simply by picking the individual pellets up and tasting them. The danger of feeding it once or twice a week is they might just stop eating the layers at all? Possibly a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so making a change is potentially far more trouble than it's worth; chickens can be very picky. That's a lot of hens to be sharing one feeder. Are you sure all the youngsters are eating properly?

Hi I have five two-year-old hens and four nine month old hens. They share a rodent-proof feeder that contains layers pellets. I bought a bag of growers pellets and wondered if it is okay to supplement their diet with growers pellets say once or twice a week? Or to mix layers and growers together? I did research before but everybody says different things and now the hens have been through a moult (which is why I gave them extra protein) I wanted to check again. I also have a bag of chick crumb and wondered if I could give them some of that sometimes too. Any advice would be happily recieved. I don't want to do harm by trying to to right! I don't feed my hens kitchen scraps but I do hang up cabbages or dandelions often for them.

Thank you, I'll try that ☺️

Thanks Alison, it's a persistent little *****!

Can only suggest the usual: Remove food & water overnight which you are already doing Block up any holes as soon as they appear, some people suggest wire wool plus weldmesh / hardware cloth Remove other food sources outside the run wherever possible Remove / tidy up hiding places and especially near the run Raised hen houses help so they cannot make their home underneath & nip out for a snack whenever they feel like one 🤣 Borrow a terrier / mouser Basically you need to make it more trouble than it’s worth to the little perishers! ps not sure if the sonic repellers work or if they upset the chooks who have quite acute hearing

Nice too see you are back!

Most of the photos used to be hosted on your personal Photobucket account (the forum wasn’t able to host pictures until it was upgraded). If you log onto Photobucket they should be there!

Hi, have rat burrowing into my chicken run. I remove food and water every night, but the little perisher is still burrowing every couple of days. How can I stop this ( without traps or poison please

👍

A long, long, time ago 🤔 about 2007. I was a member here in good standing. I've posted pictures here and while I'm cruising down memory lane, I'd like to view them if possible. Especially the larger pic of what is my avatar for this group. Can anybody direct me and help a brother out 😘

Found the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-help-protect-poultry-industry-from-bird-flu

Hello all, Hope all is well. Now that DEFRA have made registration mandatory (from October '24) for anyone who keeps birds (chickens, budgies etc.) for any reason, does anyone know what form I am meant to be using? Is it just the voluntary one? Cheers, Andy

Here I am popping up on 18/2024.. thank for all the well wishes, I miss you all 😍

Looking for any extension for a walk in I have a 2x3 and looking to give the girls a bit more room leeds area

Why do you think the gaps are too small? I'd be concerned they'd fall into the droppings tray and get stuck if you remove every other roosting bar We've used the roosting bars for 15+ years and never had an issue with them

Give Omlet a ring, they may have spares for sale that aren't listed on the website

I have found a second-hand Cube Mk1 on ebay, but the dropping trays are missing. Would someone who owns a Cube Mk1 be able to measure the trays and let me know the dimensions please? I'm sure there must be a suitable substitute that I can find. Thank you.

I’ll do that; I had seen from other posts that this is a possibility. Thank you.

It is possible she has been stung, so I'd say do nothing at the moment and see how she is tomorrow.

Sorry, that should be ‘I have a chicken…’. She’s still here!

Hi, hoping for advice. I had a chicken who is 10+ years old. Today the red skin on one side of her face is puffy, which means that her eye is half-closed. I don’t think the problem is the eye itself - no pus/discharge. Her eyesight is already poor, though, and with this she’s finding it hard to spot and distance things accurately. From the other side she looks completely normal, she’s moving normally and once she’d worked it out she tucked steadily into some grain that I gave her. Difficult to gauge how unwell she is, as at her age she spends a lot of time sitting around dozing anyway (though she can still run for treats); there’s no visible distress. I don’t want to put her through a lot of interference, as of all my chickens she’s the one who most dislikes being handled, but don’t know what’s best for her right now. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Yeah i have considered that. I won’t be selling the coop on so not worried about resale value. thanks