- Sep 16, 2013
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Well since this is my introduction I should say, my name is Amy and I have been experiencing keeping hens for about 1 and a half years, so far it has been difficult however it is great and I would recommend it to any one.
I remember about a month before my birthday I went to purchase my first hens, I was soo excited I was bugging my parents all through the holidays about it. My first hens were two silkies (one partridge coloured and one white) they were 7 weeks old and they costed £7 each, I picked the smallest little White fluff ball there was, I loved my silkies however the first months were hard work. I was forever worrying about wether the two ladies I had purchased were actually roosters, thankfully they were hens and laying well (sexing is very difficult with silkies). The next challenge I faced was broodiness I went through it with both hens (another thing with silkies. It was a nightmare and it took forever. I was starting to think that as a novice I had picked such a difficult breed, I had but I was proud of my beautiful hens.
Earlier this year I lost my partridge hen, she passed whilst I was on holiday, I never got to say good bye, I was sad but I couldn't leave me little White fluff ball on her own. So I went and got myself a black rock hen, however things didn't run too smoothly. Because I was stupid and did not check for disease symptoms I did beefed ask the breeder if there was disease he said not. The hen had conjunctivitis and if she was left with no treatment she wouldn't have lived more than a few more weeks. We treated her (if you have a hen with these problems please message me to know how I treated her), she is now restored to pretty much full health.
Even then after I'd battled disease, broodiness and death, I had my second silkie hen die it was a sad event, and it happened last night!!! I remember going down to say good bye as I knew it wouldnt be long, she hardly had the strength to breathe let alone move and it was like this for about a week. And now I am going to get two battery hens to join my beautiful black hen.
This outlines my whole experience as a chicken keeper, my mom asked me if I would actually like another hen, granted what I had been through. My answer was of course, even though it was tough and sad when they died, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel, I loved every second of keeping hens, and I will always want to keep hens. This outlines my experience of keeping hens, i would still regard myself as a novice but i am not as naive as i was a year ago. It has been a rough year for me, has anyone else lost any hens, believe me I can sympathise.
Edited by staff
I remember about a month before my birthday I went to purchase my first hens, I was soo excited I was bugging my parents all through the holidays about it. My first hens were two silkies (one partridge coloured and one white) they were 7 weeks old and they costed £7 each, I picked the smallest little White fluff ball there was, I loved my silkies however the first months were hard work. I was forever worrying about wether the two ladies I had purchased were actually roosters, thankfully they were hens and laying well (sexing is very difficult with silkies). The next challenge I faced was broodiness I went through it with both hens (another thing with silkies. It was a nightmare and it took forever. I was starting to think that as a novice I had picked such a difficult breed, I had but I was proud of my beautiful hens.
Earlier this year I lost my partridge hen, she passed whilst I was on holiday, I never got to say good bye, I was sad but I couldn't leave me little White fluff ball on her own. So I went and got myself a black rock hen, however things didn't run too smoothly. Because I was stupid and did not check for disease symptoms I did beefed ask the breeder if there was disease he said not. The hen had conjunctivitis and if she was left with no treatment she wouldn't have lived more than a few more weeks. We treated her (if you have a hen with these problems please message me to know how I treated her), she is now restored to pretty much full health.
Even then after I'd battled disease, broodiness and death, I had my second silkie hen die it was a sad event, and it happened last night!!! I remember going down to say good bye as I knew it wouldnt be long, she hardly had the strength to breathe let alone move and it was like this for about a week. And now I am going to get two battery hens to join my beautiful black hen.
This outlines my whole experience as a chicken keeper, my mom asked me if I would actually like another hen, granted what I had been through. My answer was of course, even though it was tough and sad when they died, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel, I loved every second of keeping hens, and I will always want to keep hens. This outlines my experience of keeping hens, i would still regard myself as a novice but i am not as naive as i was a year ago. It has been a rough year for me, has anyone else lost any hens, believe me I can sympathise.
Edited by staff
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