- Mar 19, 2012
- 5
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Hi all
I have had two hens from about 6 months old for about 3 1/2 yrs , just last week it became apparent( all too late I might add) that one of them either had an abdominal tumor, or more likely ,had been internal laying, she became extremely sick and we had no choice but to put her to sleep at the vets, a most stressfull time for the wife and I as we love or girls dearly. The poor little one left behind seems to be missing her mate terribly and appears to be fretting.In the hope it might soften the blow, we have got her a new little 13 week old hen to keep her company. (we didn't figure on a new one this soon but she seems so out of sorts)
Speckles "the lonely one" has, as we might have expected,not taken kindly to the new intruder.
We have sectioned of the chook house to allow them half each in the hope that they may get used to each other, but we are not sure about how long it might take. We are also concerned she may just stress herself to death , or that she might be in same rotten boat the other poor little thing was in ,maybe in early stages of internal laying. But her general health seems fine.
The questions I have for you are:
1/ Are we doing the right thing introducing a new friend, or should we remove the other hen?
2/ Do chickens fret or pine for a lost mate,and could this make her appear unwell?
Another observation,(and this has nothing to do with fretting,) on the first night the newbie came home we waited until it was dark to put in the henhouse. Speckles has not laid any eggs for some weeks seemed unable to settle with the new one and took to roosting at the opposite end of the enclosure, we noted that she was breathing very laboured and her wings where drooping,suddenly a thud on the ground,an egg had dropped out of her. The egg appeared normal,but when it was opened it had a normal yolk but there was a piece what looked like tissue in a tubular kind of shape( sorry very difficult the describe as I've never seen anything like it before) about 1.5 cm or so coloured brownish green. Next morning my wife was nursing her and she laid what I would describe as a very thin shelled or membranous egg on her lap. a few days later I was ckecking her in the nest box and dicovered what looked to be egg white in the saw dust underneath her.These recent egg events are causing us some concern.
I am not sure what all this means, but I do remember that the hen we just lost was laying a few soft to semi soft eggs a few months ago. These may be signs of an internal layer for all I know.
The two girls I've had for the 3 1/2 yrs are both commercial layer breeds( Rhode island and specks is an Isa Brown) and it might be they are suseptable to this problem.
Hope someone can shed some light on one or more these issues for us any help will be appreciated
Tony(Rhoady)
I have had two hens from about 6 months old for about 3 1/2 yrs , just last week it became apparent( all too late I might add) that one of them either had an abdominal tumor, or more likely ,had been internal laying, she became extremely sick and we had no choice but to put her to sleep at the vets, a most stressfull time for the wife and I as we love or girls dearly. The poor little one left behind seems to be missing her mate terribly and appears to be fretting.In the hope it might soften the blow, we have got her a new little 13 week old hen to keep her company. (we didn't figure on a new one this soon but she seems so out of sorts)
Speckles "the lonely one" has, as we might have expected,not taken kindly to the new intruder.
We have sectioned of the chook house to allow them half each in the hope that they may get used to each other, but we are not sure about how long it might take. We are also concerned she may just stress herself to death , or that she might be in same rotten boat the other poor little thing was in ,maybe in early stages of internal laying. But her general health seems fine.
The questions I have for you are:
1/ Are we doing the right thing introducing a new friend, or should we remove the other hen?
2/ Do chickens fret or pine for a lost mate,and could this make her appear unwell?
Another observation,(and this has nothing to do with fretting,) on the first night the newbie came home we waited until it was dark to put in the henhouse. Speckles has not laid any eggs for some weeks seemed unable to settle with the new one and took to roosting at the opposite end of the enclosure, we noted that she was breathing very laboured and her wings where drooping,suddenly a thud on the ground,an egg had dropped out of her. The egg appeared normal,but when it was opened it had a normal yolk but there was a piece what looked like tissue in a tubular kind of shape( sorry very difficult the describe as I've never seen anything like it before) about 1.5 cm or so coloured brownish green. Next morning my wife was nursing her and she laid what I would describe as a very thin shelled or membranous egg on her lap. a few days later I was ckecking her in the nest box and dicovered what looked to be egg white in the saw dust underneath her.These recent egg events are causing us some concern.
I am not sure what all this means, but I do remember that the hen we just lost was laying a few soft to semi soft eggs a few months ago. These may be signs of an internal layer for all I know.
The two girls I've had for the 3 1/2 yrs are both commercial layer breeds( Rhode island and specks is an Isa Brown) and it might be they are suseptable to this problem.
Hope someone can shed some light on one or more these issues for us any help will be appreciated
Tony(Rhoady)
