All posts in category Hen Diaries

Shock!

White feathers all around the new hen garden … and a headless chicken dead on the back bank … we’ve had a visiting fox It’s a first for us, and altogether a bit of a shock, even if it had to happen sooner or later. And once a fox has found chickens, it comes back …

So today we’ll be thinking and planning how to a) protect the hens while b) still allowing the main Hen Garden and Run to lie fallow for some time yet. There’s no way of securing them where they are … but I’m really reluctant to move them back across the garden. Man wee is a good deterrent, so DH will do his duty, but there must be more we can do?

And of all our hens, the fox took Verity, the last of the Virtues – the biggest and strongest of all the girls.

Lesson learned – the hard way.

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by LB on January 16, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, The Virtues (Dec 2009)

Posted by LB on January 16, 2013

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/shock/

Week 2 – the Barn Girls

It’s been a week since posting (sorry – toooo busy!) … and the new girls continue to settle in, steadily but slowly.

They’ve learned to stay out of the rain. They haven’t learned to come for corn. They’ve learned to eat any eggs that are broken or soft … but they’re not sure about cabbage leaves or dandelions. There’s little sign of any new feathers, but every sign that they’ll be numbers 1-4 in the pecking order when we try and integrate them!

So they’re not yet ready to mingle … but the plan is to give them access to the Hen Garden for a short while each day … on their own. Then at least they’ll be used to the territory and know where the boundaries, food, drink and hiding places are when finally we take down the fence (again, for a short time each day at first).

But I’m not yet convinced they’ll be happy all together in time for us to go away … just under four weeks now.

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by LB on July 16, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Behaviour, Hen Diaries, The Barn girls (July 2012)

Posted by LB on July 16, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/week-2-the-barn-girls/

Day 7 – Molly

Molly continues to trickle from her vent … after asking Terry on HenCam for some advice, I’ve just dosed her up with natural yoghut, olive oil and Epsom Salts (I hope in the right sort of proportions) using a syringe. I think more of it went down me than in the hen, but I have more mixture made up so will try again tomorrow – perhaps isolating her with some suitably doctored mash! I also sprayed her behind with the only anti-fungal I had to hand, Lamsil!

Vent Gleet is a fungal infection … we’ve had a mild case before. But I’d hoped her bath with Epsom salts would have settled it before now.

The Barn Girls have been with us a week now … and they’re getting used to the idea of grass and space and room to move, some faster than others. Dotty is my darling, while it’s still a case of persuading Lotty and Polly that actually, I’m top hen in this brood! Molly, after being handled so often, doesn’t love me much just now, but she’ll come round 🙂

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by LB on July 10, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, Hen Health

Posted by LB on July 10, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/day-7-molly/

Day 5 – The Barn Girls

Food is clearly the way to defuse tension between the two broods …

We continue to feed mash alongside their feeders, and sprinkle it liberally around the gap in the barrier … in this pic there’s also a peck block hanging on a string, though that didn’t last long and I doubt the Barn Girls had any! They have a peck block of their own on the far side, but it’s not been touched. They are currently a little suspicious of new things: I’ve tried them with grapes, peas and shredded cabbage so far – they try them but prefer to fill up on mash … they are still undernourished and it will take a while for them to gain some weight and therefore have the luxury of enjoying treats.

I won’t begin to integrate them until they’ve adapted to their new diet … I need to start hand feeding them some corn so they are happy to come to me, and then I can call them in whenever I need to. I think Dotty might well take some from my hand, she’s always around my feet when I’m with them, and already knows I usually bring good things to eat, even if she doesn’t yet recognise them.

Molly is joining in and apparently feeding well, and appears active, but her droppings are still very loose. So we’ll continue to keep an eye on her. The pecking among the Barn Girls seems to be settling down … although Dotty can’t wait to get out of the Eglu run in the mornings … there’s just enough grass available to them that she can avoid the others, and providing there’s food behind the Eglu as well as in the run and along the fence, she can feed. After the deluge (there’s more in the forecast) today is sunny and so far, dry. So all the girls have been sunbathing …

… the Light Sussex taking advantage of the dry woodchip under the shelter to dust bathe. I’m not sure the Barn Girls yet know how to take a dust bath … not that their ground is dry enough anywhere as yet for them to dig one. But they’re clearly enjoying the heat, and if the rain held off for a few days, they’d soon dig a dust bath of their own.

Oscar is fascinated by the hens … he often follows me into the Hen Garden, and knows to flatten himself down low if a hen comes by, so as not to appear a threat. The established brood tend to ignore him now. But he’s tried his luck on the Barn Girls … just gently poking a paw through the netting – only to have it well pecked before both he and the hen leapt away in surprise :rolleyes:

So he’s keeping a little more distance for now … but he’s still watching!

3 Barn Girl eggs today … I suspect Molly is the non-layer, but of course I don’t know for sure.

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by LB on July 8, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in All Things Feline, Hen Diaries, Hen Pictures, The Barn girls (July 2012)

Posted by LB on July 8, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/day-5-the-barn-girls/

Day 4 – The Barn Girls

Last night, the heavens opened … and we are once more wading through mud in the Hen Garden and Run.

The Barn Girls feeder was rather damp, so I used the feed to make up another mash. I’ve had to use part of the roll up path that was acting as a barrier, so there is now a gap of about 3 feet through which both broods can see each other. I put quite a bit of the mash along the gap …

Dotty (bottom Barn Girl) and Verity (top hen) size each other up …

… but decide they are more interested in the food than a fight

Molly found a bowl of mash and tucked right in … so I assume she’s feeling rather better today? 🙂 With the additional space outside the Eglu, and mash dotted around, Dotty also had plenty of opportunity. Later, I threw some peas around the gap … watching the main brood eat with enthusiasm seemed to signal to the Barn Girls they were worth a try, too!

So it seems as if food is the answer … but the Barn Girls are still getting very wet when it rains. I wonder how long it will take them to realise they can get under cover? Perhaps when they have a few more feathers.

2 Barn Girl eggs again today … I would guess Molly isn’t laying, but I don’t know who is!

Lotty looking a little damp

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by LB on July 7, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, Hen Pictures, The Barn girls (July 2012)

Posted by LB on July 7, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/day-4-the-barn-girls/

Day 3 – The Barn Girls

We’ve had a regular two eggs a day from the new girls, but of course, we’ve no way of knowing who has laid and who hasn’t. One thing has become clear, however. With no tail feathers giving any coverage of their rear ends, it’s been easy to see who has problems … so today, Molly had a bath.

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This morning we found her withdrawn and messy, hiding in the nest box area. If disturbed, she moved around well enough, but would quickly and quietly make her way back again to the nest box. She settled easily enough into the water, but continued to trickle from her vent even while being dried with the hairdryer … so for now she’s settled in a cat carrier, with food and water. I’ll try and put her back with the others later – once I know she’s eaten something, perhaps? If we keep her away too long, she’ll be bullied when she’s put back … she already has a slight mark on her comb where she’s been pecked. I’ll put some vaseline on both her and Dotty when I have a moment.

In the meanwhile, the other three look well, are out and about, eyeing up the competition over the barrier …

How to give a hen a bath

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by LB on July 6, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, Hen Health, Hen Pictures

Posted by LB on July 6, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/day-3-the-barn-girls/

Day 1 – The Barn Girls

I went out in the dark last night to check on the new girls … we had wondered if the Eglu Go was going to be large enough for the four of them, but we needn’t have worried as all four were piled up on top of each other in the nest box area :doh:

But that doesn’t mean they’re friends. These girls were barn hens, which means there were thousands of them in one open space, all fighting for access to food and water. These girls know how to fight! Dotty (green leg ring) is the smallest and the most timid – at least around the other hens. She was quite content to wander up close to us, but scuttles out of the way as soon as any other hen comes close. She was the only one out and about when I went out to them this morning. The other girls were most reluctant to leave the coop area … and in fact, all three of them were still hunched up in the nest space.

I gently threw in some bird seed (not corn) and Lotty (blue leg ring) came out to investigate. She ate a little from the feeder, but didn’t really seem to like it, so I’ve put some galley pots around with mash in them, too. I’ve not seen any of them use the drinker as yet, either, but they are pecking at the wet grass.

Eventually, all but Polly (yellow leg ring) came out, though Lotty and Molly (red leg ring) obviously can’t share the same space without some aggression. Dotty seems to want out of the Eglu run, but I think they need another day to properly register where the food and shelter is. They they’ll have access to the grass area … meanwhile the main brood are living in the mud They have a couple of pallets down, and the shelter … but really it’s miserable for them. We will need to remove the top layer and replace it with good woodchip just as soon as the weather is a little dryer.

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Two eggs today … and Molly is in the nest box. We’ll not sell these eggs for a while … for one thing, I’ve dosed them with Frontline, and secondly, they simply won’t be as nice as our garden eggs until the girls have had proper food and been eating grass for a good few days.

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by LB on July 4, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Behaviour, Hen Diaries, Hen Pictures, The Barn girls (July 2012)

Posted by LB on July 4, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/day-1-the-barn-girls/

Now we are six …

… because our dearest hen Bridget is gone. I was out in the garden and noticed a sudden kerfuffle amongst the girls who were all gathered round Bridget and I thought perhaps she was ill, but by the time I reached her, she was already gone She was well over four years old, one of our first hens, rescued from a battery farm, so she lasted well.

I realise, looking back at old photographs, that she was never a hen ‘with character’ … there are few pictures of her unlike the others, so she was a quiet hen who caused no trouble, but as the last remaining ex-batt she simply slipped into the role of chief hen when the others passed on and she did it well. There were few disputes, and even when she was old (by hen standards), she had little difficulty maintaining order and her own position.

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I’ll miss her … although I’m concerned about how easily the new pecking order will be established, since she’s been top hen for some time.

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by LB on April 28, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, Hen Health, The Aunties (Sept 2009)

Posted by LB on April 28, 2012

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/now-we-are-six/

Getting Anxious

The Chooklets have been escaping … their exit has been plugged, but not before they dared approach the Hen Garden – the resulting hubbub has left me more than a little anxious about integrating them! They are currently 16 weeks, so in theory I could begin the introductions any time now, but we have chicken sitters for the first two weeks in August, and I don’t want to leave them having to police turf warfare. So it will be another five weeks before we even begin.

I plan before then to re-site the Eglu in the Hen Garden, which means moving out the Ark (we have only kept it this long in case Charity decided to brood again … signs are that she is still laying although moulting). I might put it on Freecycle, with an offer to leave it intact for someone to see how to put it back together again. Or perhaps we’ll just take it apart and let them have the fun of trying to work it out for themselves?

Anyway, once the Eglu is in place, the Chooklets will at least be within view and at times using the same ground. Then we’ll start with just an hour a day with plenty of corn to distract them … but we will need to watch them closely, on hand with a water spray to break up any fisticuffs that break out. Hmm – whose job will that be, do you suppose? Rain or shine, probably …

In the meanwhile, I noticed today that Sugar Chooklet’s comb is starting to grow* … so they could start to lay while we’re away – and I shall miss it 😦 I read somewhere that another indication is the colour of their legs (as they start to use the biliruben for eggs rather than having it in their general circulation) but no change there, and in any case Honey Chooklet has always had pale legs, that’s why we named her.

I must remember that when we come home from holiday they will simply be like any other POL hen … and this will be the third time we’ve made introductions … but just at the moment I am anticipating trouble. It’s my own fault – I only ever meant to have four!

*Not sure you can tell from these …

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by LB on July 12, 2010 • Permalink

Posted in Hen Diaries, The Chooklets (May 2010)

Posted by LB on July 12, 2010

https://henkeeper2.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/getting-anxious/

First Outing

Day 4 – 3 eggs from the Virtues

I’d planned to keep the Virtues in for a week before letting them free range for a while in the garden … but first thing this morning, all three made it out of the greenhouse before the run was in place, and all three headed straight for the run anyway! By mid-afternoon, they were all together at the end of the run, watching the Aunties free ranging, and clearly wanting to join them. So I put the Aunties in their run and let the Virtues out …