My eco solution to rat problems

[stoobie]

We picked up four rescue chickens yesterday and three of them are settling in fine (with lots of attitude - I am being pecked any time I go near them!) and have had a couple of eggs already.

 

However, one is not doing so well - she has just been sat down since she got here, I had to pick her up and put her in the coop last night and then again this morning. She is eating the food I put in front of her and drinking but she just wont get up. I dont know if it is anything to do with the fact that the lady I got her from cut her claw a bit too much and it bled. She put some of that powder on it, and so have I, so she is being left alone by the others.

 

Also her vent is - erm - quivering a lot, or undulating . Does she have an egg coming (can they get stuck?) Her bum is bald so I can see what looks like her clenching and unclenching.

 

Any ideas??

 

Thanks in advance

[Egluntyne]

Their vents do pulsate, that is quite normal , and nothing to worry about as a rule.

 

Maybe her foot is hurting. I'd give her a few days to get over the stress of the move, and the injury.

 

Why not give her some Bach's Rescue Remedy? Many of us have used it on the hens with good effect.

 

As long as she is eating and in particular, drinking, that is the main thing.

[Guest]

Battery hens are not used to standing on firm ground. I believe they are kept in mesh cages. I read an aritcle about them and it said that sometimes they cannot stand or walk around when the first arrive, but that they learn within a few days.

[Egluntyne]

Mine were certainly very weak in the muscle dept when they first came, and couldn't manage even shallow steps in the garden.

 

After a month they were different again.

 

Maybe your girl is just weaker than the others.

[stoobie]

I thought that - Im not sure wether she was standing or not in the shed when we got her, there was a few in there

 

Glad to hear her twitching vent is nothing to worry about! I will give her a few more days to see if she recovers and then take her to the vets I think.

 

Someone suggested she might be agrophobic so I might leave her in the coop for a bit see if she gets braver

[chickenlass]

One of my latest exbatts was very quite when I got her home...she just sat in a corner and didn't come out at all. After about 3 days though she was with the others and pecking and exploring just as they had been right from the start. I wonder if perhaps it is all just a bit of a shock to the system for some of them and they take a little longer to relax.

[stoobie]

Our garden is quite noisy as well - 2 toddlers, two cats and a labrador so I can imagine it is all a bit overwhelming for her. One of the others has already put one of the cats in their place and is repeatedly warning the dog off. He will learn

[TESSANN]

i wouldn't worry too much yet, one of my rescue chickens took 4 days to come out the house and weeks before she was happy in the garden. It is quite normal for an ex battery to appear to be withdrawn for a start.

 

Well done you on giving the girls a chance

 

Best wishes

Rosemary

[mayflower]

I think the advice you have been given is good. This is the first time your hens will have had to make any decisions in their lives, and just like humans who have been institutionalised, it is traumatic. Decisons like, waking up when it's dawn, eating when you want to, having to walk towards the food and drink, able to scratch around, walking away to be on their own for a while. It is totally different from what they have been used to. My little Lucy who had no feathers at all and was covered in sores, took to her new life with gusto and she still has that lovely lust for life. However, My Suki, looked as if she was having an emotional breakdown and it took her weeks before she became part of the flock. Alice, who was the bully is still a bit 'strange'. She is defiantley happy but, it's obvious she has been damaged by the cage experience. Your hen will eventually be alright. She is just exhausted from all these new experiences.

[stoobie]

Things are a bit worse and a bit better today

 

The other three have been pecking her and she has a bleeding sore on her back from it all - I have removed her from the coop and put her in a cat box for now with some water and some food - keeping it out of the sun. I will clean her up a bit later when she is a bit more relaxed.

 

The good news is, she made a bit of an effort to get away from me when I took her from the coop - she had previously just sat there looking scared.

 

I hope she gets better

[dancing cloud]

One of my ex-batts, Daisy, barely moved for the first 2 days. I was really concerned about her, as the others were getting out and about and she was just lying there - much relief when I saw her drinking for the first time.

 

After 2 days, Daisy came out into the yard, took over immediately as boss hen and has never looked back . She has always viewed me as "mummy-hen" and wants her corn fed by hand, whilst the others scurry round after the scattered corn. She no longer pecks at the others if they annnoy her, one look is enough, and she loves me to bits, coming over in the garden just for a stroke and attention.

 

Give your hen a little time and a lot of TLC and I'm sure she'll be fine.