Bullying, Bathing, Runts, and Handling Hens

[Farmer Viola]

Quick note..
I think Squinter may have sight problems. I don't think she's blind, but when she pecks for things (worms in my hand, corn on the ground) she misses the food item with her beak. I think she can see it, but not exactly where it is. Maybe one eye is blind? I'm not sure..

I can't believe people steal your chickens, Chook! You should post photos, I would love to see your breeds All the traits you listed are so interesting, saving all of this info for later..

Quote: WOW!! That is the craziest stuff I have ever heard of! When the females do that, is it because of a lack of males? The claw wings seems like evolution in action! Now I MUST see photos!


Quote: In my house, we refer to chickens as dinosaurs.. heh. I truly feel that they are ancient creatures when they look me in the eye.


Quote: Can you give more detail on this, or maybe photos? I have looked closely at the scales on their legs when I hold them. Am I looking for a direction the scales are pointing? Or are you saying to cull bow-legged chicks?

Runty has deformed legs for sure. I would like to inspect her to see if I can see what you're talking about. Her legs are very short and she waddles when she runs/walks (it's really cute and endearing), almost splaying her legs out to the sides (wide) as if she didn't have a knee joint (think forrest gump with leg braces running). If we don't keep the grass mowed, she almost can't get through it! I know not to breed the runt though.

 

[Dook]

O__O.. woaaahh.. females with spurs and crow? I have heard of hermaphrodite chickens... but not so far as crowing and mating X"D just the small spurs and body shape and size of a male! My other half thinks our eldest chicken is a bit like that because she has a MASSIVE comb.. bigger than our rooster! It even flops over from the size =P but she was a GREAT egg layer, every day non stop until she was 2 1/2... but hasn't layed since.
(side note.. anyone know of how to get hens to lay again? our eldest ones stopped laying the same time.. but both different ages... And I'm told they should still be laying! One is 3 the other 3 1/2. Also our young ones have been due to lay for a month now.. but still nothing.

)

The wing spurs make me think of Plovers... evil swooping birds around here. They have wing spurs that look very painful. I haven't got hit by one yet.. but they sure swoop close to almost get you!

I agree with Farmer Viola... PHOTOS PLEASE!! ^___^

My second eldest hen, Flomp peckS very hard at the ground and misses her target alot too.. she even has to peck along the edge of the water bowl until she reaches the water for a drink. We tested her out with sight tests.. she has vision both sides.. but probly not the best I guess? You can tell if they are blind on one side because you'd be able to sneak up on one side with out them noticing until your close enough to hear.. my other half's mother has a rooster that lost an eye in a roo-battle =P easy to catch after that!

 

[chooks4life]

As soon as my flock and I are residing in the same location it is my intent to get the necessary documentation including the claws and wing spurs. Watch this space! Or maybe I'll start a different thread so it doesn't hijack yours.

I will be uploading photos as soon as I can get some. I'd hoped to find more info here about wing claws etc but it doesn't seem they're common, though my best guess is that they come from old heritage genetics and some people have them but don't notice. I'm keen to document my attempts to create my own breed though I know it'll take years, a lifetime, likely. I'm going to do some research on jungle fowl as I'm fairly sure they must have these claws/spurs. Where else could it come from? On that note... I do wonder sometimes if people have crossed chickens with another related species at some point of their history. I think, but aren't sure, that hoatzins and chickens are in the same family anyway.

Quote: That to me sounds like neurological damage. Gross motor coordination skills not fully functional. I had something similar with some of my hatchery-bred layers, and blamed eyesight initially too, though they'd always had perfect sight; but I had a turkey with damaged eyesight who fed better than them, and they showed other signs of neurological damage too. Interestingly this occurred to them after two years of age, the usual age layers are culled after, so I think the breeder is breeding self-destructing birds unknowingly, as it appears to be inherited.

Quote: Poultry theft is often in the newspapers these days, that's how common it's getting. It's not the hatcheries and big breeders getting targeted usually, it's the backyard breeders and school breeding projects, as these smaller groups tend to have beautiful, well tended, expensive purebreds in relatively unprotected cages. Why pay for a rare breed purebred when you can arrive with boltcutters and steal them, eh? So far my very best hen, some less good hens, my very best rooster and some less good roosters have all been stolen, in different towns to boot. Still missing that hen, she was something else.

Quote: No, though having males around can calm them. In the course of an argument they tend to adopt a rooster like pose, I've noticed. The more posturing the better, it seems, as when they have a problem with another chook and don't resort to ritual body language, they're not giving fair warning and are usually more aggressive, intending harm rather than having words.

Quote: Same here. The kids used to call them 'little T-Rex's' because of their behaviour, lol. It's apt.

Quote: I will try to find photos of someone else's chooks with bad and correct scales for comparison, but I don't yet have any of mine. I already weeded that trait out anyway though I'm sure I'll see some throwbacks in future. I can tell you from photos of yours if you post. Basically the scaling should go straight down the shin onto the biggest, middle toe. If the scaling comes from the inside or outside of the shin and wraps around onto the big toe or another toe that's the fault marker. A good photo from straight-on to the chook is best to tell. I'll see what I can find to illustrate and link you if I find any good pics.

Quote: Purebred and hybrid layers are often those who grow proper spurs and mate with other hens and crow; for some reason the high egg production seems linked to high male hormone levels. I've heard of a few other people here that have spurred crowing laying hens. These traits have been largely in black layer breeds and at least one of those grey and white layer breeds. Hard to ID them properly. It's possible that the breeders have developed lines accidentally that experiences a burst of testosterone during puberty. I'm not a fan of purebred or hybrid layers, though. They start off disadvantaged by breed and unnatural rearing and tend to be quite weak and rarely live a good long life no matter what you do. They are saddening, to me anyway, like any animal that's been bred into an overproductive form for a commercial environment that has not enough value on the animal's quality of life. Anyway, we've all got some of them. I'm not judging anyone at all, really, though. Breeders make well intentioned mistakes, it's inevitable. Regarding keeping layers laying or restarting stopped layers, a fairly natural diet is best, and a pinch of granulated/powdered kelp per bird per day will also do the trick.


Quote: They do seem to manage to stab many people and dogs every breeding season. But their babies are so cute...

Quote: Again, this sounds like neurological damage. Not the eyesight. My older Isabrowns showed the rest of the damage by becoming lame, unsteady, it was a generalized and severe nerve damage event. Once back up on their feet they also couldn't aim straight, hit the ground hard when pecking, couldn't drink properly, and didn't make it to another year. The almost completely blind turkey though managed with water and food. The first peck was always an overshot but not too hard, and with the second she'd always get it right and feed or drink normally. This reinforces my idea that it's brain damage rather than sight problems. If they could correct for bad sight they would; but they can't correct for their nerves not working properly.

Quote: I will asap, I've been kicking myself for years now for being so tardy with photographic journalism of my animals. Why write down stuff I could have photographed... I just never expected it to be so eventful! Chickens, everyone told me, are stupid, boring, and stinky. Germy too. lol!

 

[Dook]

Thanks for all your answers! they are very helpful! =) (and YES baby plovers are so adorable! <3) I will have to try out the kelp trick for laying too! What I have been doing is adding extra shell grit with their pellets and i mix in some scratch mix too..(for some reason the old chickens wont eat pellets on their own.. but they will if mixed with scratch) They also free range in the yard everyday.

Before they stopped laying.. they were laying thin and very SOFT even shell-less eggs sometimes. This led to breakage which them led to the oldest eating them all the time. This is why I started the grit upage. But they just stopped completely! They are a mixed unknown breed from my other half's mothers place.

Look forward to photos! =D

 

[chooks4life]

I've been searching the web for some good info on chicken wing claws and it's certainly not unheard of but I haven't yet found any decent photos. While trying to find some that showed more than a little spike I came across old threads on this site; apparently people here have also had clawed chickens. But they were old threads and the photos no longer worked.

There's a bunch of scientific theories on why chickens have clawed wings, but still no good photos. I'm relieved it's not just me that has weird chooks. I'll still get photos asap. Right now I live a long way away from them and don't go visiting them as I'm trying to resolve my issues concerning transport and having a place to live where they can also live. I have had them here before but the council didn't like that.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I have some questions about how you would go about adding either fertilized eggs or a roo into the mix with an existing flock.

If I choose to get a rooster, is it best to get a young rooster and raise it around the adult hens? What would happen if I picked up an "adult" (6mo or more) rooster and added it to adult hens - chaos? If I raise one, at what age does he become fertile?

If I were to get hatching eggs, could I reasonably sneak them under a hen to hatch? Or is that only possible when she happens to go broody? If I hatch them indoors, can I immediately put the chicks out with the ladies to be "mothered," or will that not work if the hens don't intentionally lay on the eggs to hatch them? Do they only go broody in "old age" or is it a more common occurrence?

My hens aren't laying yet (18 weeks! Soon!) but we're talking further into the future and I just want to understand how it all works.


I think I will most likely get through their first summer laying, then near the end of the year, maybe get some fertile eggs to add new females and hopefully a male. Then I could begin and culling and controlled breeding with the 5 breeds I already have! I'm already cruising the Buy/Sell/Trade: Chicken Hatching Eggs forum... lol

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: You may be able to obtain a broody who is a proven mother if you ask around, likewise a good rooster who is not violent to children or humans or other poultry. It might be best to start with a young cockerel so in the few months it takes him to mature, he can become a happy and accepted member of the flock and the hens can have time to explore the concept of dual genders living together, lol.... Best wishes with your flock whatever your choice is.

 

[Messipaw]

I usually trim the Poop butt feathers

 

[Farmer Viola]

Chooks, thank you for the awesome reply as always

I think I will go the egg route, and possibly incubate them myself. No, I'm not going sit on them myself, with a light silly!

Unless I happen to have one go broody at the same time (I'm thinking this December). I hope by hand-raising them indoors they'll be more comfortable with humans overall. The only sad part is that I'm starting another generation of "motherless," hens not raised by their mothers. I'll probably buy 10ish eggs and hope for males and females, possibly even 2 cockrels so I could choose one with the proper personality like you're saying. Then the next generation will be naturally bred and raised by their mothers.

The next big question is what breeds! All my birds are dual-purpose meat and egg chickens (except the Americana) so I'd like to stick with that. I like speckeled sussex and red sex links... I REALLY love the chickens with feathered feet! How cool would it be to breed that into all my breeds!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Nap Time in Chicken Town

that's Penny perching on the trailer lol



Just about 19 weeks here:

Look at Runty's dress! I swear, she hasn't grown at all, her feathers are outgrowing her! That's Tails the black australorp up in front, aka Ethel, and her black friend Lucy


The barreds have been tentatively renamed Betta & Wilma, soo creative I know They're getting quite large/fluffy, but their combs/wattles are pretty small still. I'm kind of watching this to see who will lay first! My bet is on Ethel, then Cersi, then Penny... I noticed that Lightning (RIR) is getting yellow legs, but Penny's comb/wattle seems to be further along.. it's a race to the first egg ladies! Go go go!

I still need a name for Beardface/americana.. something unisex but kinda masculine.. Danny? Charlie?