Recent content by HollyWoozle

We have used wood chips to cover the mud for the first time this year and it has really helped a lot. We are using hard wood chips specifically aimed at poultry keepers, I think you have to avoid bark chips as they carry mould spores which can be harmful.

We have a hen who only hopped for 3 weeks, then limped badly for quite some time. We’re now something like 7 months on and she still has a noticeable limp, I think whatever injury she had sustained just healed that way and it she lives a full and normal life. We did however keep her separate...

Any update on this, @Blueberrygrey?

I don't have anything useful to add but just wanted to say that these topics are very good for us to see over here in England. People get in such a panic when it gets a bit chilly that their chickens will all freeze and in the meantime yours are strolling about in -34C :eek: Sounds like you...

I wonder what the cause can be? I think I’d try to remove it too :fl it does look like pus but presumably there is something there to have caused it.

I said in a chicken FB group that I’d rather cull a rooster than make him wear a no-crow collar and as we say over here, that went down like a lead balloon :lol:

We had a cuckoo marans rooster and he went on to have various issues, becoming a bit mean to the hens, although I really liked him in his youth and was sorry to see him go (he was culled in the end). We have 6 homebred hens by him though and they are bulletproof! We didn’t mean to breed but the...

Just saw this next post - a good point! I expect they'll ignore my email too. :p

Thanks for your input, this is helpful! I hadn't even considered that about blind chickens. I think it's a shame that people don't recognise the various effects (and benefits) of sunlight upon our feathered friends. Thank you. I am really interested to hear that you are supplementing vitamins...

Someone in a group just told me that they think hens aren't at all affected by sunlight anyway, since they have feathers... :barnie

Thanks both for your thoughts. I think the majority of people here are not offering any extra vitamins at this time and I am just wondering about the long-term impact really. I assume DEFRA would think to mention it if it was a major concern, since they decide on the confinement, but I think...

Ooh, I'm going to look them up!

Just a musing really... here in the UK we are on 'flockdown' as many of you know. Since mid-December all captive poultry have had to be kept inside, or at least in a run which is totally sealed off from wild birds (including a roof to stop droppings from wild birds getting in). I really feel...

I think I must have a doppelganger! :lol: Your Maggie is a beauty and she looks so much better! I'm sorry for your losses along the way, but it sounds like you have worked so far to give these little ladies a chance. I appreciate that a lot. Hah, good on you! It's great that you were bold...

Wow, what a beginning! Do you have some photos of your flock now?