Eglu Cube, auto door, walk in run for sale South West London

[Debby Tutton]

Help, I need advice.

 

I have 4 hens who have a paddock (electricified) about 12m x 15m and an Eglu cube. They are all about 18 months old and all eat and drink well and seem, in themselves happy.

 

Unfortunately over the winter a feather plucking problem became apparent. We acted quickly and spreayed the bald areas (bottoms and undercarriages) with a suitable spray and this helped. Unfortunately as soon as we stopped the spraying it started again. This has happed almost constantly since the winter. We believe that one of the hens is bullying the others as only one hen is "feather complete". We have never seen any of the bullying nor found a lot of feathers.

 

Also recently we have started getting marble sized eggs with no yolk. The internet seems to point to stress being a major factor.

 

Also we frequently have to manage with only 1 or 2 eggs per day which seems odd for 4 hens.

 

We are considering removing 2 of the hens (we can give them to a friend who has a farm) and getting 2 more with the bully being one of the ones removed. The reason we considered 2 as we are concerned about introducing 1 new hen into an established family.

 

Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully received.

[fluffy chick]

There will always be a top bird and chickens appear to be natural bullies. I guess you've checked for mites/ lice that could cause the feather loss. I personally would try and keep the chickens. if you are sure one chicken is to blame you could try removing her from the flock for a few days so she drops in the pecking order. Before this though I would try a bumper bit, some people have had success with these.

[Debby Tutton]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions;

 

We will start the separation process tomorrow - do you think she should be separated 24 hours per day or just during the day ?

[Plum]

Could be they are laying soft or shelless eggs that break while being laid and others will eat the soiled feathers

[Debby Tutton]

Yes, this is a possibility. I know we have had some soft shells as they have fallen through the perches.

 

We sprinkle a mug of shell in the paddock every other day though and have a bowl of shell for them to peck at always available (which does go down).

 

Not sure what else I can do to solve this problem.

 

This is all very upsetting, I can't believe we are having so many problems. I think the world of my girls and thort I was doing all the right things for them.

[fluffy chick]

It is hard to watch animals suffering, I'm not sure they think about it like we do though. I'm sure you're doing everything you can.

 

Can you spend some time watching them to try and figure what is happening?

 

Are your birds young? Sometimes it takes a while for the egg laying to settle into a pattern. If they lay too often the shells don't have time to form

 

If you do separate the top chook (day and night) you could see if there is any improvement to the feather loss.

[Debby Tutton]

They're about 18 months old - from hatch that is not lay (is their birthday the lay date or hatch date - or both ?)

 

They were laying great until the winter when the feather issue started.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on quick, temporary accomodation for her ? I have a large dog training cage which may work okay ? Never done this before.

[fluffy chick]

Yes you could convert that easy enough. As long as it is weather and fox proof. I would put cardboard inside a bin bag or something if the sides aren't solid, to make 'walls'. Could you put your electric fence into a figure of 8 shape to section her off from the others but so she can still see them?

 

I have used a rabbit hutch in the past and let them fr during the day. I put some 2by2 wood in for a perch and a cardboard box for a egg box. I had 3 in it for a fortnight happily enough.