Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[gongladosh]

Got three ex-batts today: the Bee Gee hens - Barry, Maurice and Robin!

 

Maurice and Barry in good nick, I took a 'poorly' in Robin. I have some spare Baytril for Robin but the poor thing is gasping (fluid on lungs?)

 

She's a 50/50 for surviving the weekend but I'll give it my best shot - here's hoping!

 

Photos to follow

 

Oh, and I picked them up on my birthday!

Edited August 19, 2012 by Guest

[Donna C]

Fantastic, I love batts . Let us know how they get on and lots of pics

[LottyJ1]

Good luck - fingers crossed its just stress and she gets better.

[counturchickens]

Good luck with robin x

[gongladosh]

Pleasingly, so far Robin's holding her own. I gave her 50/50 odds on last night but a bit of Baytril I had in the fridge and a night of relaxing seems to have done her the world of good. She's even trying to go for the top hen job in her new flock! Gasping seems to have stopped and her tail is now up.

 

We'll have a look tomorrow and see if she needs to go to the vet, but I suspect she'll be OK.

 

Poor Maurice has a limp now though - it's defs not peritonitis fortunately. It may be a sore foot (she has long nails also) so I'll have the vet take a look tomorrow.

 

Here are the lucky girls:

 

IMG_3209 by gongladosh, on Flickr

 

When at the rescue, I opted to take one poorly (I'm a sucker for things like that), one that we were given, and one hen jumped over the fence to get to us - I can't refuse a volunteer, so she was one of the three!

 

I'm amazed by how quickly they're adapting to their new lives - scratching, dustbathing, pecking, flapping - it must be heaven for them. Watching them perform arabesques and dustbathing has been brilliant. I did tell them on the way back from the rescue that 'today is the first day of your lives'...

 

Barry's first ever dustbath:

IMG_3199 by gongladosh, on Flickr

 

As we've got one of them on Baytril, as they're all laying and I don't know who's laying what, I'm having to chuck 3 eggs a day!

[LottyJ1]

They are looking fab - love ex-batts xxx

[gongladosh]

They're very friendly! Next stop is to get them to go to the eglu for bed- they've already sussed the nesting box!

[dancing cloud]

Aaww! They're gorgeous! and very lucky little girls. Fingers crossed they are all soon healthy as well as happy

 

When I went to collect my first batch, 4 became 6 on the day (chicken maths struck early ). I was asked if I wanted to choose and was happy to take them as they came (couldn't possibly have picked from all those little faces). As soon as the first carrier was placed on the floor, one little baldy ran straight into it and stayed there - I'd been chosen . Easy to identify because she was so naked, I called her Joy and she definitely lived up to her name.

 

Ex-batts, we love 'em !

[Luvachicken]

I hope they continue to do well.

I love how you have named them after the BeeGees

[scubababe]

Awwww. They are great. My ex-batts follow me around like mother hen. I even had a preen from one of them to night

 

When they're free-ranging if one of my other girls start they all come dashing and hide behind my legs

 

Lurve 'em

 

Well done on giving them a home

[gongladosh]

I went to the vet with Maurice! She's possibly got a mild arthritis-related condition as a by-product of mycoplasma, so she's on antibiotics. This is the likely easy fix.

 

...also in the wars is little Houdini who's got fluid on the lungs (for the second time in 4 weeks) - [uPDATE: anti-inflams have helped with this a lot - she's now back on antibiotics too.]

 

Finally after getting back from the vet I noticed Barnaby is waddling and seems to have a large belly when examined- hope it's a soft egg, not egg yolk peritonitis! [uPDATE: think she layed a soft egg last night - still has a large belly but she's acting normally again]

[gongladosh]

pleasingly all hens, old and new are fine.

 

It's amazing to see how confident the new girls are becoming after only 3 days.

Last night they managed to suss out where their home is for the first time!

[mollyripkim]

What a lovely thing to do on your birthday, the girls look lovely, hope they continue to do well.

[dancing cloud]

Knowing they have a bed and finding their own way to it are some of those lovely milestones to them becoming "proper" chooks

 

Have they found their first worm yet?

[gongladosh]

Not yet - I've got them quarantined for 2 weeks and in about 6-8 more weeks I'll try free ranging them with the other girls. I just want to build them up a little first.

 

They can't wait to get them out - they're eating like horses and if I open the door to add food/water they try to shove me out of the way to get out!

 

I've already seen the start of the scowling matches between the new hens and our current head girl...