Chicken bald back

[blackgold]

oh gross.... I havent seen them but they do disppear in the undergrowth for quite a while.... i always leave at least one dog with them to make sure Mr Fox doesnt turn up. To think i planned to use my omlet netting to keep them in one place on the lawn but gave up when the dogs kept knocking it down...... Now the chooks can go where they want so they do..lol

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Hi Sue,

 

I've just caught up with this thread, and it sounds like you are having a great time with your new girls, they all look so happy in their new home . I too use my 3 labs as chook guards for part of the day - they don't like being out in the cold so much though & I end up with all 6 of them in the back porch, with the dogs skirting the chooks in case any odd pecks are thrown in their directions !

 

I have 3 ex-batts coming on 24th January, I hope they all get on well together..

 

Sha x

[blackgold]

My hens are fed a variety of foods ad lib. When I get home from work at 330pm they are let out to free range until it is dark…. I like to wrap up warm and sit on the bench and watch them with a nice cup of tea to unwind after a busy day at work.. Normally they will go to the area where their eglu is going to be when the ground defrosts and scratch to their hearts content. I make a worm porridge with sweetcorn in and put in down for them to fill up with before bed. Usually they eat that and then have a mooch around. Tonight they wouldn’t leave me alone.. they still crouch if I go to pet them on their backs but will let me stroke the sides of their necks. Where do other people pet their chickens? I didn’t have the treatpot with me as there is not many mealworms left in it and I might need it if I have to put them away in a hurry… I know my husband has been giving them illicit handfuls because it was half full on Sunday lol….he was the anti chicken one before we got them lol Do chickens beg?

[Happy chickens!]

Not sure if you call it begging, more demanding, charging over when I appear, looking hopefully at whether there's some more grub on the way and stalking off in a huff if there's not! They'll gently peck on my fingers if I try to fool them by offering just the normal pellets from my hand; not so daft.

[blackgold]

I got some reduced lychees today. They were really soft and sweet so i thought i would try the girls with them...... They were a bit hesitant at first but they must have a sweet beak/tooth because they were like mad things and tried to peck my fingers off to get them. Even Bam Bam who is a faverolle and ususally laid back was in the front of the queue....... They are so funny.

[dancing cloud]

Glad to hear you're still having fun

 

Begging? Oh yes! My little monsters are very good at the "want" face. They also leave a lookout at the top end of the garden to let them know when I open the door - one chirrup and they all come legging it from wherever they've been to see what I've got for them. You can imagine the grumbles of disappointment when it's a basket of wet washing

 

I've not tried them with lychees, but they do now assume anything given with fingers is going to be good - their absolute faith in their human is always heart-warming

 

Happy New Year to you and yours

[blackgold]

We have a routine now. i come home from work and let all the dogs out for a wee. My OH leaves for work at 130pm and he free runs the dogs in the morning so they are only locked up for 2 hours before i come home at 330pm I put most of the dogs back in and prepare some warm mash with a garnish of mealworms for the girls,. By the time i have walked around the corner there is a queue of excited hens making churrip noises. iI open the pen and let them out. I have the bowl with the mash on the bench in the porch and i go and sit down. They used to go and mooch but now they are all around me and jump up to sit beside me and of course get any treats i have hidden.. I put the mash bowl on the floor and they will eat some but now i am much more interesting and they will let me stroke the side of their necks and wings. At the weekend they are free ranged in the back garden which involves walking through the utility room, this does not phase them at all. During the week they make do with the dog yard but now they will come running when I say come on girls, and the nights are slowly getting shorter I may start letting them out there in the week when I get home. Before they wouldnt come and I was frightened i wouldnt be able to catch them before it was pitch dark... When I got them i didnt realize that 6 weeks down the line they would be so tame and much fun.....

[mostin]

It's so amazing isn't it, how different they become. i haven't got any ex-batts yet (on my to do list) but when I got my dolly she was the most terrified hen I've ever seen. I never thought she'd be friendly. Yesteray i nearly stood on her because she shoves inbetwen my legs to get in to the treat hut before me she's so cheeky now . It's lovely the way they trust us, and especially your girls after everything thats happened to them

[fowlbird]

I'm not sure what the maximum capacity is, but I've read on here about peoples girls eating mice and frogs whole

that really makes me feel squeamish - I'm ok with most things my girls do but the whole frog and rodent thing

[blackgold]

I have put some more pics on my collietalk spaces from today. for the first time they jumped onto my lap voluntarily. they stayed out until it was dark and as i put the run lights on they didnt want to go in. They do love to dig in their digging patch and afterwards they all have a dustbath in the wood shavings in the kennel. Bam Bam needs a bib cos her beard is always filthy.... So are all their feet after going in the garden.

[blackgold]

I have just bought an eglu 2nd hand but in excellent condition. It is going to be my girls back garden home. When the weather warms up they will live in it and I will have an eglu for a spare and in the kennel winter housing. I can also give the other one a good clean and airing. But then again I could just use it for an introductory home for more exbatts……..If I put the runs face to face with the little door ways and an eglu at each end, they would have loads of space and two homes to choose from……My mind is working overtime with ideas…. My friend and I are planning to have hen parties , she only lives over the road so it will be easy to take an eglu plus some girls over to hers. Roll on warmer weather.

[blackgold]

My girls were out free all day today in fact they actually put themselves to bed by walking through the utility room and back into the dog yard and into their run. They have never done that before...... Think they were rather tired...... When they had gone into the eglu I shut the kennel door and as always I sweep up any poos in the run. They were all black..... Normally it is grey. Is this normal? Also should I have left the doors open longer to let them go in if they wanted too? I shut the run door to stop the dogs going in and stealing their food. Do they need a rest in the day. I made sure they had all laid their eggs before I shut the run door. We had 3 eggs this morning and as we had 4 yesterday I wasn’t expecting anymore. I always open the egg port and give them a stroke before I lock them in and there was another egg, still warm..... Will they become ill if they hold their eggs in? I am setting up another eglu in the back garden so will they use that or will they always want to lay in their original one?

[Groovychook]

Don't know about the black poo, hopefully someone with more experience will be along soon...

 

When I let my girls out to free range in the afternoon, I always leave the run door open so that they can come & go as they please. They're always popping in and out for a drink & a snack- I think they'd soon get very stressed if they couldn't get access to the run...

[blackgold]

I think poo colour depends on what they have eaten, they had a fresh green cabbage today and the poo was all dark green.........

[blackgold]

I had a day off work yesterday, waiting for a workman that didn’t come but that is another story. I let the girls have a weekend type freerange and noticed that this morning the poo was black and green again. I gave them spinach last night so that explains the green and they must eat earth to make the black. It is only the overnight and first thing in the morning deposits that are this colour. Hope "Ooops, word censored!"ody is eating.... Anyway I pick them up quite a lot these days and only Jimina struggles and tries to flap her wings.I like to have a good look to make sure there are no nasties and no wounds etc. I noticed that they now are quite muscled at the top of their legs and under the wing area. Maybe they are doing weight training when I wasn’t looking... The keels though are still prominent though but don’t look so bad as they have nice new feathers covering the areas now. I wonder how much they weigh? Not for any horrible reasons but I monitor my dogs health with their weights so a record of the chooks weights might be useful I wish I had thought of it when I first got them. Anybody else weigh their girls?

[blackgold]

The lawn is drying up so I let the dogs and chooks out together today….. Gromit seems a lot better today and when he laid down in the middle of the lawn, Daisy thought he wanted a friend so stayed with him while the others mooched elsewhere. They do tend to keep together except when one finds something really good and then legs it to stop the others sharing. They were doing the jumping into the wind game again, might have to trim wings soon, if they get up into the bushes then they could theoretically clear the fence. It is five foot high at its lowest and 8 feet at the bottom. We have lots of bushes and climbing plants though but the chooks haven’t bothered doing any climbing up yet. The flappy game is played in the middle of the lawn. I was thinking of putting some roost bars in their new dog walk in run, would broom poles do? I am going to do some fruit tree pruning soon so may use some of those. They like to jump up onto the bench and the table . I have put some new pics on my collie talk spaces link.

[Cyber Chook]

Sue, it was heart-rending and heart-warming to see your photos, and I agree, they're very lucky to have come to you, and will have a lovely old time very soon when it starts warming up. They'll have settled in by then, and be much more ready to go out and potter to their hearts' contents, won't they.

 

Re the cold days and nights, and their poor shabby overcoats, I'm no expert but have read on here that feeding them warm porridge oats just before bedtime helps get their body temperature up ready for the night.

 

Best of luck with them. It's amazing how much better and brighter they look in such a short time. It sounds like a very rewarding thing to be doing

 

Caroline

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Sue, I've just read your collietalk, that poem........

 

Your girls are all looking lovely, well done you, maybe I'll try to integrate my 3 "bomb-proofs" as my DD calls the first batch of chooks with the 4 batties sooner than I had intended so they learn chook-behaviour soon.

 

They've taken over half an hour to come out of the eglu now, I'll have to evict them if they don't come out soon, so they get some food & water after their first proper night!!

Now the light is getting better I've got my camera out, will post some piccies later.

 

Sha x

[blackgold]

Hi Sha, have a look under their feet. Mine had lumps of concrete like poo under their pads and thats why they didnt walk. If you trawl through my collie talk blogs back to November22, thats the day i got mine and I have written a pictorial diary of them . Lots of different observations of their adapting to the real world... I think my problems were sorted when i got my Bam Bam the Faverolle cos she is a normal chook. love Sue xx

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Hi Sue, thanks for that thought, they actually came out shortly after I posted this morning & as far as I know have stayed out most of the day. I was thinking that their legs & feet look quite clean earlier, until they ploughed through the water they'd split then the mash.. They've eaten well & I think I saw each one drinking - hard to tell when they all look so similar!!

We've had an egg each, although one was trampled in the run, one was laid near the door & she barely broke her stride to pass it, one was in the eglu in the thick straw and the other whole one was laid in almost the same place as the trampled one & I had to open up the eglu & use a mop to pull it into a position where I could retrieve it, I'm sure it must have looked hysterical! DS was sat at the gate in the run saying "don't trample it, don't break it, come on girls come here, oh no she's sat on it....!"

As my girls have warm plain mash porridge for breakfast and sultana & corn mash porridge for tea I gave the ex-batts a small bowl of the former at lunchtime and the latter at teatime to see what they thought - there wasn't much left and there also wasn't much strewn across the run, so they must have eaten it As it's been snowing mini ice balls this afternoon I felt they should be given the opportunity asap. I've put a grub on the side of the run with a dry mash & a few pellets & they've been seen dipping into that too. Water's in a super glug over the door & glug on the side.

On the whole I think we've had a pretty good day; foods been going in & poo & eggs have been coming out, they haven't been too stroppy with one another - yet! They put themselves to bed again, a little later than the healthy girls, but that's fine.And I don't think DS & I will get red mite any time soon as we wore the huge cloud of the powder the batties shook off after I sprinkled it all over them this morning - result !

I've taken some piccies & am in the process of downloading them, so will start a post up in a while.

I'll continue to follow your blog as inspiration! Good on you wanting to help at a rescue too

 

Sha x

[blackgold]

Hi, i see from your signature that you are getting a cube. i have 2 eglus but am hankering after a cube........Need to keep one eglu probably the mark 2 lilac one for demos at our hen party. That is if it ever gets put on the omlet courses page......Still no reply from matt or johannes. love Sue xxx

[blackgold]

Daisy was asleep in the nest box when I got home. She didn’t come out when I let the others into the garden. There were 3 eggs in the nest box so I removed them and cleaned up the pen. Daisy came out and had a drink of water. She then very slowly went through the dog yard, and into the garden where the others were mooching. She seemed ok then. About an hour later I made up their evening warm mash with sweetcorn and dried mealworms, their absolute favourite. I went into the garden and called them, everybody except for Daisy came like flying dervils. She was sat by the side of the pond looking uncomfortable. I put the others away and picked Daisy up. She is now in a skykennel in the kitchen but doesn’t seem to be showing any interest in food. I put citricidal into the water and she is drinking. Her poos are small but formed and watery. I gave her some yoghurt by beak, she wasn’t too keen but ate it in the end. She picked at some spinach. Her vent is clean and I cant feel any eggs . She has a choice of foods in the cage but isn’t interested and her crop is definitely empty. Any other ideas would be gratefully received.. Thanks a lot Sue xxx

[poachedegg]

Hope Daisy is ok - perhaps you may get some answers in the chicken clinic?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

No ideas Sue, sorry, just wanted to send her and you a {{hug}}, it's horrid seeing one of your littlies poorly. Is she brewing a softie maybe do you think? Whatever the problem, she'll be warm & as comfy as you can make her. Thinking of you both,

 

Sha x

[mostin]

I would keep her in and warm over night, then you can monitor exactly how much she is drinking and eating. Check her crop in the morning, is it properly empty? It may be impacted or sour crop.

 

I hope she feels better soon.