Neighbour making formal noise complaint.

[Cinnamon]

Two of my hybrid girls are really out of sorts.

Pansy (Rhode Star) & Lily (White Star) are both not laying apart from the odd softie, are quiet & just not right. Lilys amazing huge comb has also drooped.

They spend a lot of time dozing & both feel a bit thin,but they are skinny hens anyhow.

They are both feeding & drinking as normal & their poos look fine with no sign of worms.

 

Now,they are both coming up to 2 years old.Is this just the natural way of things & they are coming to their end or should I be more concerned?

 

They have all been recently wormed & loused & all my other hens are fighting fit.

 

None of my other hybrids have lived past 2....is this a normal life span?

[Tina C]

Sorry Sarah no advice - but I am having the same sort of thoughts as you so I will be interested in replies.

 

My ex-batts and the omlet girls are all a similar age (just over 2) and I am only get one egg a day from the four of them. Like you we have been getting softies (and no shells) too, although they all seem happy enough.

 

Have wormed them and am dosing them up with limestone flour and poultry spice.

 

Having recently lost one ex-batt girl I am now wondering if they are all 'worn out' .

[chucknette]

I have recently lost my old girl and she was coming up for four years old.

She was a gingernut from Omlet.

She started to lay softies and then completely stopped laying about 18 months ago.

She became increasingly slow pottering around the garden, going to bed early and getting up late.

Towards the end her comb shrunk to about the size of when I first got her at 16 wks then she seemed to get a bit of a cold.

The last evening she had her treats went to bed early and didnt get up again so I know she was happy as she was doing her every day things.

They do become increasingly slow towards the end and I think they look old around the eyes.

Hope this is of some help.

 

Nette

[Laura & CTB]

Hi Sarah

 

I'm sorry to hear about your girls - no advice I'm afraid except maybe try boosting them up a bit with poultry spice, poultry tonic etc.

 

Both my hybrids will be two years old next month and are both laying every day still.

 

Hope they pick up soon for you Sarah.

[SueChick]

Sorry to hear you are having some problems. I thought the chicks did last about 4/5 years but maybe that is just the ones from Omlet, I don't know.

 

As they are only laying softies I would consider the lack of calcium thing that could be making them ill. I tell everyone this as we nearly lost one of ours to this recently. I didn't know low calcium could make them so ill but she was so poorly she nearly died. Are you giving them limestone flour? If you aren't I would recommend it highly - I use one teaspoon per 2 chicks per day mixed up in their mash in the afternoon as well as poultry spice, oyster shell or their own shells baked and crushed up.

 

I am still constantly amazed how wonderfully well and plump my Miss Pepperpot is now (she did lose loads of weight when she was ill). She looks fat and glossy and beautiful again.

 

Hope you have better time of it still.

[Cinnamon]

Re the Limestone flour- yes, I have been giving it to them for at least 2 months now.

 

I think I may try worming them again, & take it from there.

 

Funnliy all my Hybrids have been Meadowsweet hens I none have lived over 2 years old

[Egluntyne]

Funnliy all my Hybrids have been Meadowsweet hens I none have lived over 2 years old

That is interesting......and worrying.

 

Of my 8 big girls, 4 are 2 yrs old almost and the other 4 are almost 4 years old and are still laying and in reasonable health. I don't want to tempt fate here!

 

Three of them recently were off colour, listless and moping, not eating much and not laying. They also developed black lesions on their combs and wattles.

 

The vet said they had fowl pox. No treatment...its just a virus.

 

They are picking up now.

 

Maybe yours are brewing the same thing.

[ubereglu]

Cinnamon, have you told the breeder about your past meadowsweet hybrids never getting much older that 2 years?

 

I think Starlet maybe verging on the same thing as your two are, which is worrying. She's now three years old and I think she's just coming to the end of her laying life as she laid loads of eggs up until a couple of weeks ago when she started to slow down. Either that or there's something else wrong.