My eco solution to rat problems

[craftyhunnypie]

Audrey is my only original Omlet chook left. We've had her over 2 years - she arrived June 17th 2006. So she is probably about 2 and a half in age & quite old looking. She stopped laying a good while back now, but we've been enjoying her entertaining antics.

Over the past week, her comb has started flopping and becoming purple in places & black on one tip.

Yesterday, she was sort of squat & struggling to walk on her legs. We had to lift her into the cube nesting box last night to bed.

This morning, she'd got up & onto the roosting bars, but stayed at the top of the ladder. She later came down it, but sort of stumbled, then lay down in the cube. She's drank loads & ate her pellets. But she seems to have more or less gone off her legs.

She is now inside in a box of straw. She's drinking & has ate sweetcorn off a saucer - but she is breathing very heavily & her eyes keep closing. It's a big effort for her to breathe. We are just making her as comfortable as possible until the worst happens.

Omlet chooks are very very special, but I do wonder if they are very highly bred. Has anyone got an Omlet chook over 3 years of age? I know they are hybrids, but I know of people with hybrids that are 6 years of age.

My poor little Audrey (Gingernut).

Emma.x

[AnnieP]

Aw, sorry to hear about Audrey. Lets hope she has a peaceful end.

[Stevie]

This might just be her time im afraid.I think chooks are as individual as every other animal with regards to age of death like us humans.All our pets have had a good life,been looked after very well and rewarded us with their presence,but they all have a time to go.

[craftyhunnypie]

She is still with us, drinking & eating off her saucer...a mixture of sweetcorn and lettuce. She has done a few water like poos in the box, so we've cleaned her up a lot & placed kitchen roll under her back end in the box, on top of the straw. She is exhausted!

I some how don't think she will make the night - but you never know.

I know it's always upsetting, but she is one of my very first chooks & that bit more special!

 

Emma.x

[Angels4]

Awwwww. Bless Audrey.

[Karen & co.]

Bless her

 

Do you think she may have sterile peritonitis? One of my original girls Dobbie is waddling about and when she sits down her body moves up and down when she breaths but she can fight her corner for treats and is eating and drinking as normal, just slow and lethargic

 

Fingers crossed Audrey picks up for you.

 

Karen x

[Egluntyne]

Poor girl. Sorry to hear that she is not well.

[Cate in NZ]

I'm so sorry to hear that Audrey isn't well . I think that the hybrid hens, such as the Omlet Gingernuts & Pepperpots tend not to have particularly long lives because all the egg laying kind of exhausts them . But they have great lives as spoilt pet hens, and I'm positive that Audrey has had a wonderful life with you .

[craftyhunnypie]

She's made it through the night & we have put her & her box in the back porch, so she canhave some fresh air & see her friends (visiting her in hospital). She's been up on her feet as best she can & ate some food. We are just giving her the best we can.

 

Emma.x

[Joojoo]

It sounds like you are doing your best for her Emma

[craftyhunnypie]

Audrey has been taken to my sisters tonight, as we are away over the weekend & I wanted her to have special care. So she is now in the turkey shed, in a ring - lots of room & really being pampered. She was ever so good in the pet carrier & really cheeky when placed in the ring - like there is nothing wrong with her apart from being off her legs - sort of broody acting. Bless her - she was eating her greens & pecking her pellets & mixed corn as well as a corn cob. Just not like a poorly chook at all. So my question is..can they go broody, even in retirement from egg laying? It must be about 5 months since she retired from laying. My sister said how red her comb was. It's gone floppy,but red - not pink / pale.

Perhaps she wants to be a mummy - you never know with these chooks - they are very good at conning us & also covering up their illnesses.

I hope she is ok.

 

Emma.x

[Gallina]

My Pepperpot died of old age at about two-and-a-half.

 

Like yours, she stopped laying around the time of her second birthday, and towards the end she couldn't walk. Luckily I had my spare eglu to keep her in. It was very difficult knowing what to do while she was obviously fading away, but she died in a few days, which was a relief.

 

I hope it's not the end for your hen, but I am afraid it could be. Hybrids are bred to lay furiously and unnaturally for two years. They can go on laying for longer, but it must be impossible for commercial breeders to tell which hens will go on flourishing in a third year and which will go downhill. There are people who have hybrids older than three, of course, and some of them are still laying.

 

I am gradually replacing my hybrids with pure-breeds which should live longer, but there is no guarantee.