A complete beginner with three lovely ex-batts!

[lovelyelm]

Hello everyone!

I'm so glad I was recommended to join here! Yesterday I picked up my very first three ladies from the BHW. We have bought an Eglu Go Up with a two meter run to house them. The three ladies onlky had a couple of hours in the run last night before bed time. I gave them food (mash) and some corn which 2 liked. They were very funny with the water trough - dunking their heads in and drinking. Was lovely to watch. There is a larger more diminent one (called Bertha) who is picking on the smalles, least feathered one (Una). She pecks at her comb a bit and sometimes at her feathers. I know this is the 'pecking' order but it is hard to watch. The third (Moja) is quite happy and bright.

The Eglu has a ladder up to the coop which they obviously had no clue what to do with so I picked them up and popped them in last night. Ot went quiet vey quickly.

This morning I opened the door and Moja immediately shoved her head out, had a look about and went down the ladder! The big girl, Bertha, was pecking at the plastic floor (?) and little Una was crouched at the back with her eyes closed. After 20 mins of trying tocoax them out I had to pick them up and take them out of the egly and pop them in the run. Hopefully they will get the hang of the ladder eventually!

I put a few feeders out in case there is bullying and when I left Una was looking sad and standing with her eyes closed :-( Bertha was having her first ever scratch in the grass and Moja was eating!

I am now at work and won't see them until this evening. I know the run is safe but I'm worried Una will be bullied.

Also, I know I have to put mite powder on them and I have no idea how to do this! On youtube everyone seems to lift the chickens by theur feet which seems really brutal and I don't want to frighten them. Any tips on how I can do this? I'm not great at carrying them yet either, a wing always seems to pop out! I do have a husband who can helo if it needs two sets of hands!

Also, should I put vaseline on their legs and combs?

Any tips to get me through these forst few days would be so much appreciated!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Congrats on your new girls That's so nice of you to take this girls in and give them a new home. All sounds good to me and quite normal for ex bat birds. Things are just so different for them now they have a wonderful home with you. They will take a few days to settle in and get used to their new surroundings. I'm sure after a few days of you putting them up to bed they will soon get the hang of where home is for the night.

As for your mite powder 2 sets of hands may be best for you at first until your ladies are used to being handled. I find if one person holds the bird and the other gets the powder on that is the best way. Make sure you get under the wings and around the vent area with powder. Unless you are treating them fro scaly leg mite or to stop frostbite on the comb there is no need to put Vaseline on. I've never had to treat scaly leg mite but have applied some Vaseline to my Amber hens comb during very cold weather just incase of frostbite. Last winter she got a very slight case of it but the Vaseline worked well after that.

Enjoy your new girls and BYC

 

[drumstick diva]

Is Una rather shy and fearful, or is she not feeling well? You mention she has her eyes closed . Does she eat, drink and poop well? Does she interact at all with her 2 friends or does she keep her eyes closed and hide? Is she the youngest of the trio?

 

[SquishyPandas]

Hello!!

I'm really glad you decided to get chickens! And I'm especially glad you decided to rescue battery hens, rather than just buying fancy breeds! I have a mixture of battery hens and hens from breeders, and I always find that battery hens (once you get to know them) are the sweetest and most charming and adventurous!

You're right to not worry too much about Bertha picking on Una, this will blow over eventually. You should only really worry and interfere if it gets really bad and she draws blood, but this doesn't usually happen. Although the eyes closed thing is a little worrying. If that continues it might be worth looking in to.

I definitely would not lift your hens by the feet right now as they are probably still a bit fragile and nervous. For now you could just get your husband to hold them still whilst you poof some powder under each wing, and in the vent area. I usually do it this way anyway as it's a lot less stressful for them.

You only really need to put Vaseline on their legs if you notice that the scales are looking raised or swollen, as this means they have a form of mite called Scaly Mite that lives under the scales of their legs. The Vaseline will smother and suffocate the mites. One of my hens has this at the moment unfortunately so I am regularly washing and Vaseline-ing her legs and have ordered some Scaly Lotion from Omlet.

You only need to put Vaseline on their combs if it gets really cold as this helps to prevent frost bite! Alternatively you could put some Vaseline on Una's comb, as it will make it harder for Bertha to get a grip?

I really hope you enjoy chicken keeping! As long as you are always gentle and friendly with your hens, they will soon be following you around the garden and feeding from your hands - it's sooo cute!!
Also the names you chose are really cute!!

 

[CrazyChickLady7]

Of any of them begin to develop dry combs, then coconut oil is great to help moisturize them. It also helps with circulation, so their combs will be much brighter and red.

 

[lizro]

Hi - I am in the UK too and I got 8 hens through BHWT on July 5 - so I am just a few weeks ahead of you. I have been on a massive learning curve and am now feeling more confident - I did a half day intro to keeping hens before I agreed to have the hens and was shown how to pick them up and various tips about diet, poo and what what to look out for. I booked that through the Omlet website - it was only £15 and Annette who was the tutor, was fab - she had about 300 hens - all sorts - very very interesting.
I think you should watch the sleepy hen as one of ours was sleepy from the beginning and died the next day - she just didn't cope with the shock of rehoming but I was very occupied with the other hens bullying one particular hen and didn't notice the sleepy hen - altho I don't think there was much I could have done. Then another hen died last Saturday - very suddenly - she had been sleepy late afternoon but was bright and busy the rest of the day - so I don't know why she died - I couldn't find any obvious problems. The hens from the battery farms are short lived I know. But to be honest she had a great 3-4 weeks free ranging, and wasn't turned into dog food. The bullying settled when I let the hens out to free range altho there is defo one who is the bottom of the order. She is the one I've used as my avatar - Maggie. She lays a big egg every day but has many feathers missing and is very pale - I'm trying to feed her up a bit
I had to worm mine as I found some worms in the poo - I got the stuff from the vet - and there were lots of worms that came out!! I am quite paranoid about picking up the poo - I do it twice a day and we have some compost bins to put it in so there is no smell.But I disposed of the poo from the first 2 weeks in case there were any eggs in it.
I also put some powder on the hens - you should put a disposable mask on because I managed to feel quite wheezy after just doing 3 of them. I have now switched to a spray I got from Pets at Home which I think is more effective and not as horrible as the diamatious powder.
I also discovered one has bumblefoot !
I got an Eglu cube and run on ebay - still cost an arm and a leg but really happy with it. But they only go in it at night as they free range.
The backyard chickens web site is very helpful, but a lot of the stuff they can get in the US is not available here - I spent ages trying to work out which wormer and which product for lice and mites. In the end I went for Panacur which the vet dispensed for me, and Johnsons Insecticidal Spray extra for small animals for the lice - it contains Permethrin.
Do let me know how you are getting on - it's great to find a fellow ex-batt rehomer!