One of my hens (she will be four March 5th) is molting and she hardly gets off the roost. The other hen is the same age and she is not molting. The roo died not long ago, do think she is mourning? Is this normal?
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Dont know whats wrong
- Thread starter sammy56
- Start date
As there's quite a bit here I will briefly respond to as much as I can.
Enola - schedule, I think I'll do something like you're doing. I must say though, all my chickens inc the roo are all usually quite happy, so is pretty evident when 1 starts acting out of the ordinary, there's now 11 hens and the roo so I'm aware of different characteristics.
Checking them, I usually bath them in some plastic bins with warm water to try and remove some parasite (it's impossible to get them completely free of all external paras. 1 or 2 love being in the warm water it's quite funny really. Selfishly I always do 1 chicken in particular 1st, so she's in completely clean water - she is the only chicken I really consider to be a pet (might post a topic about her, just a story and what she gets up to), then another, then the roo. Roo is vital once the hens die off for reproduction. (I say die off as their ages are unknown)
But otherwise, I get a feel of their weights, the roo is back breaking as is a hen I've nicknamed "the grandmother". I don't check every single one, but before bath time I do random checks on various birds in the various hotspots; neck, thigh, under wing, back.
We even put our ash from the fireplace up on the floor in the upper chicken hut (only used during day - it's where they chill) for dusting themselves.
Erm, on the day I bath them I muck out - that night I'll powder them with anti parasite stuff and the floor is sprinkled with another powder.
Jrose - autopsy, I appreciate it would be educational on various level and may reveal the cause of death - but I just don't think I could do that. Perhaps in time. Having come from a busy town in the uk to rural country living in France, I've had to toughen up a bit having to deal with certain things, and being somewhat ruthless in some ways, I just don't think I'm ready to start butchering a chicken, not that I'd even know what I'm looking for or what I was doing!
The useless French animal suppliers do stock an immune booster, so will try some of that each time I muck out.
I think from reading that I'll wear my mask all the time I muck out, if it's quite wet in there I don't bother as there's less "dust" in the air, unlike in the summer when it's drier and more "dust" is airborne.
The food they get is a mix of 2 parts wheat, 2 parts broken corn, 1 part barley, 1 part avoine and 1 part triticale.
I would love to feed them sunflower seeds but a 20/25kg bag is quite expensive.
They do plenty of foraging during the day so should be ok insect wise.
Sunshine? Haha, it's peeing it down right now. But then weathers been miserable for the last few weeks. Spring is here though, so weather should be taking a turn for the better soon.
Clean living space - I try, empty it, power wash, mop, mop with washing up liquid, flame the entire interior to kill any parasites, disinfect, sawdust the floor, hay, powder. Couldn't be cleaner, I do allow it to get to a point where it needs to be done, but if I didn't, I'd be mucking out every 2 weeks, I top up with sawdust to try and lengthen it out. Otherwise it's too expensive. It's all well n good wanting it to be perfect, but it gets expensive, but I try my best.
Violet - maybe, some people would probably think it's daft a chicken mourning her roo, but they're smarter than people think, so is quite possible, if elephants mourn, why can't a hen?
As I was incinerating, a yellow liquid starting spraying out, which turned a yellow/white on the metal grill, there was later a brown liquid, perhaps bile? Or maybe an egg fermented? Nothing tried to get out of her from what I could see.
It's upsetting that a lesson is learnt at the cost of a life.
Enola - schedule, I think I'll do something like you're doing. I must say though, all my chickens inc the roo are all usually quite happy, so is pretty evident when 1 starts acting out of the ordinary, there's now 11 hens and the roo so I'm aware of different characteristics.
Checking them, I usually bath them in some plastic bins with warm water to try and remove some parasite (it's impossible to get them completely free of all external paras. 1 or 2 love being in the warm water it's quite funny really. Selfishly I always do 1 chicken in particular 1st, so she's in completely clean water - she is the only chicken I really consider to be a pet (might post a topic about her, just a story and what she gets up to), then another, then the roo. Roo is vital once the hens die off for reproduction. (I say die off as their ages are unknown)
But otherwise, I get a feel of their weights, the roo is back breaking as is a hen I've nicknamed "the grandmother". I don't check every single one, but before bath time I do random checks on various birds in the various hotspots; neck, thigh, under wing, back.
We even put our ash from the fireplace up on the floor in the upper chicken hut (only used during day - it's where they chill) for dusting themselves.
Erm, on the day I bath them I muck out - that night I'll powder them with anti parasite stuff and the floor is sprinkled with another powder.
Jrose - autopsy, I appreciate it would be educational on various level and may reveal the cause of death - but I just don't think I could do that. Perhaps in time. Having come from a busy town in the uk to rural country living in France, I've had to toughen up a bit having to deal with certain things, and being somewhat ruthless in some ways, I just don't think I'm ready to start butchering a chicken, not that I'd even know what I'm looking for or what I was doing!
The useless French animal suppliers do stock an immune booster, so will try some of that each time I muck out.
I think from reading that I'll wear my mask all the time I muck out, if it's quite wet in there I don't bother as there's less "dust" in the air, unlike in the summer when it's drier and more "dust" is airborne.
The food they get is a mix of 2 parts wheat, 2 parts broken corn, 1 part barley, 1 part avoine and 1 part triticale.
I would love to feed them sunflower seeds but a 20/25kg bag is quite expensive.
They do plenty of foraging during the day so should be ok insect wise.
Sunshine? Haha, it's peeing it down right now. But then weathers been miserable for the last few weeks. Spring is here though, so weather should be taking a turn for the better soon.
Clean living space - I try, empty it, power wash, mop, mop with washing up liquid, flame the entire interior to kill any parasites, disinfect, sawdust the floor, hay, powder. Couldn't be cleaner, I do allow it to get to a point where it needs to be done, but if I didn't, I'd be mucking out every 2 weeks, I top up with sawdust to try and lengthen it out. Otherwise it's too expensive. It's all well n good wanting it to be perfect, but it gets expensive, but I try my best.
Violet - maybe, some people would probably think it's daft a chicken mourning her roo, but they're smarter than people think, so is quite possible, if elephants mourn, why can't a hen?
As I was incinerating, a yellow liquid starting spraying out, which turned a yellow/white on the metal grill, there was later a brown liquid, perhaps bile? Or maybe an egg fermented? Nothing tried to get out of her from what I could see.
It's upsetting that a lesson is learnt at the cost of a life.
- Jun 6, 2013
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I had to butcher a MEAN roo a few years ago. The girls LOVED him. He was *awesome* to the girls, a fabulous rooster, but he had bloodlust for us humans. When I "made him disappear", my girls went through a depression. My top hen, and his favorite, was VERY depressed. They would ALWAYS roost together snuggled up. She moped around the coop for probably a month. Very little activity or food interest. I felt so bad. All animal express and feel emotions to varying degrees.
Is this the only symptom? One hen doesn't want to get off the roost and she's molting?
- Jun 6, 2013
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Sounds perfectly clean to me
This time of year I only muck once a month or less and do a deep-litter bedding method in the coop instead. This method encourages a natural bacterial environment that parasites can't thrive in. Research it if you like. Nature has an answer for everything.The downside to using a chemical powder repellent is that you're dusting your birds with a carcinogenic toxic pesticide. It will knock their immune systems out a bit, making them even more susceptible to dis-ease or infestation. People who dust as protocol are typically trapped in a cycle of needing to dust to manage the mites and lice.
There are times it's needed- One learning experience I had with mites was almost losing a girl before I realized I even had a mite problem. I'd never bothered inspecting them before. She almost died she was so ridden with them, I felt horrible. I had to dust her to kill them, plain and simple. She spent a weak indoors with special treatment and today she is 5-6 years old, right as rain and laying daily! She is a cross-beak and can't preen well, which I think lent to her getting a severe infestation.
The major issue with cleanliness comes form too many birds in too small a space. Here in the US, many people keep backyard chickens 'per industry standard'. i.e. 20+ hens in a 10x10 run (or even 4+ hens in a 3x5 run) that never get to roam or forage. They end up trodding their own feces all day. Standards also entail feeding pre-made food form the store, usually medicated, which results in poor immune systems in the birds ('grain byproduct meal' and 'salvage' don't sell me as healthy or natural, sorry). Antibiotics in the feed destroy good bacteria in the body, resulting in an unhealthy bird. The antibiotics fight bacteria (both good and bad), but also suppress the immune system making your birds dependent on the meds. It's kind of the perfect storm for chicken woes. You're ahead of the curve on this one by the sounds of it!
My birds virtually feed themselves 6 months out of the year. As long as the grass is green and the trees are fruiting my birds have a diverse and natural diet. But feeding food as minimally processed as possible is the second best thing. Whole (or milled) grains plus seeds high in protein and fat. The more well-rounded your birds' diet, the smaller, more uniform, and less-smelly their feces will be. Sunflower seeds or flax seeds would be a great addition to your feed, but if yo'r'e really not having health issues, feather or laying issues, etc, then keep on keeping on! I've found occasionally spiking their meals with vinegar, fish or flax oil, garlic, mixed herbs, or cream puts some umph into their eggs, combs and feathers. I never do the same thing twice and keep it random and as-needed. Supplements are only supposed to be utilized when there is a need. When the need is filled and you get the desired result, go back to the norm.
Did the burning hen have the smell of egg? Or a sulfuric smell? That yellow liquid could have been stomach bile, fat, or a number of fluids from the body. It's hard to say without a picture (not that I would want one!). If she smelled of egg it was likely internal laying.
Butchering can be hard to do but is a good skill to learn. I couldn't eat the first chicken I butchered. Have gotten better about it though. I intentionally didn't interact or bond with my cockerels last year because I knew I'd have to do it. It made it easier that they didn't trust me. Can't kill a chicken that trusts me, sorry!
She hardly gets off the roost to eat or drink, I only see her off once and a while and when I give them cracked corn. And she is not the top hen she actually used to fight with him and she's at the bottom of the pecking order. I think the other one isn't on the roost because about a year ago something happend to her leg so she walks funny now and can't keep her balance on the roost very good. But she isn't molting. She actually has very good feathers.
Do you think she might be molting from depression? Or maybe because their birthday is soon....?
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- Jun 6, 2013
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Doesn't sound like depression then. What's the temp and weather like? If the hens are cold/miserable they don't like coming outside, and molting would aggravate severe weather effects. Molts can be tough sometimes, adding extra proteins to the diet can help speed things up. If this went on for any more than 2 or 3 days I'd worry, I wouldn't think it's molting related. A hard or untimely molt can also be a sign that there's internal stresses in the bird. Mites, lice, worms, internal laying, or other internal issues or parasite issues would be my suspicion.
It is cold and they want to be out side but I don't let them out because it's too cold and I can't watch them to let them in when they're ready because I'm at school. I do let them out on weekends tho
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