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Wow thanks everyone for your comprehensive replies. I will let the ideas soak in.... and in the meantime keep putting down poison and start closing the door at night!

I'm interested (and a bit confused) about the hardware cloth idea and how to apply it in my situation... my wooden hen house is within an area that is surrounded by chicken wire, 6 feet high and dug into the ground to keep out the foxes and badgers. I leave the bottom door (1 ft off the ground...

OK thanks everyone. It looks like the rats have started eating the poison I've put down too (out of reach of the hens) so they are definitely around. Horrid thinking of them going in the house and hassling the hens. What do you spray the coop with to get rid of rats?

Nearly every day I find a freshly laid egg that has been broken with its contents dripping out into the nesting box. I am wondering if the rats are getting in and eating them or if this one of my hens pecking the eggs. Can anyone tell from the photo? And have you any advice about how to stop...

Thank you - that's really helpful. I think that is what I will do in the morning after aclimatising my daughter to the idea. :(

I am wondering if she has lice as it looks like it around the feathers that are left in her vent area - most of them have come off. Can lice infestation result in this kind of symptoms? And if so how do I get rid of them?

One of my hens has a swollen and protruding vent area with what looks like a poo sticking out of it and a constantly leaking white dribble. She hasn't laid for months and months but had been very healthy and happy till today when I saw her like this and she is now not eating either. Does anyone...

Thank you everybody for your advice. I will tackle it tomorrow armed with all my new info! Thanks! :yesss:

One of my girls has dried faeces on her backside just beneath her vent that must be from a loose poo that dried on her and somehow got stuck and hasn't come off. It's been like this for a little while now and hasn't got any better and now I am concerned that she may end up with flies laying eggs...

Thanks for your info Morrigan. Great help. Chicks being picked up tomorrow and I have worked out she will have been sitting for 14 days by then so fingers crossed!

Fantastic. Thanks both of you for your responses. Great! I'll be picking them up on Wednesday! Exciting! x

Hi there, I have a broody hen who has been sitting well for 10 days on a rubber egg and I know someone who is having a hatching on Tuesday. Can I give her day old chicks when she has been only sitting for 2 weeks or does she need to have sat the whole 3 weeks and should I therefore get her some...

Thank you. I reckon I'm going to take her to the vet!

OK so I stuck my finger (lubed up with a glove on) inside her vent and couldn't feel an egg. I am not sure I did it right - I couldn't get it in very far (about 1 inch) - I gently persisted in a few different directions (straight in and slightly up towards her back rather than down) and couldn't...

Brilliant. Thank you. I don't think she did so I will check all that out and hopefully it will sort her. Thanks so much for your help. x

Hi, please help if you have any advise - I have a Black Rock hybrid 2 year old hen who has started to look really sorry for herself today. She was sitting in the corner of the coop on her own for a while then when I let her out to free range I noticed she was looking very bald around the bottom...

Good news - after putting them under her again last night then showing them the food she was offering in the morning by nudging their heads towards what she was scratching in the morning she has now accepted them! Hooray! Happy families! She seemed to forget overnight that she hadn't liked them...

I have just had the same problem with my hen! She definitely was picking on the 2 dark ones out of the 6 chicks she had! She hatched 2 herself that were yellow and light brown then I added 2 more yellow and light brown which she accepted and 2 that were dark brown and black and she pecked them...

Hi all, I am new to this forum malarky. Great to have the opportunity to talk all things chicken with other enthusiasts! I have a problem that I am hoping some of you may be able to help with. I have a hen who sat on 8 eggs but only managed to hatch 2 of them (yellow and pale brown) so I decided...