Mamalana
Chirping
- Mar 17, 2023
- 67
- 181
- 96
Hi y'all.
We bought a property that came with 34 chickens, all but 5 or 6 are laying hens. The coops are stinky and dirty. The laying boxes have been closed off and need to be cleaned. I don't know why the previous owner sealed off the boxes and has an upside down Tupperware bin with an entrance cut into is as the laying spot in both coops. There are just over 15 birds on each coop.
One of the laying hens died yesterday and I am not sure if what. She had a dirty backside. Black liquidy poop dried to her feathers and she had been separating herself from the flock. She was eating and moving around, albiet slowerbthan the rest. She was also still laying, as I found an egg in the spot she was hanging out in.
The previous owner left chunks of meat and bones in the coop and dead animals around that the chickens were eating. We also found buckets of corn, so I assume he was feeding that to them. They were all very hungry, so I bought pelleted layer feed and have been feeding it to them. All the birds not only came running up to my car when I pulled up, but the followed me every where until I fed them.
I have a very young flock all born this spring with the exeption of 4 grown hens that we brought from Minnesota to Tennessee. I am planning on keeping them separated for at least 2 weeks from the flocks on the new property. I want to make sure the flocks that came with the land are healthy before introducing the young ones in.
Aside from stabalizing them with healthy nutrition, adding electrolytes, cleaning the coops, adding diatemacious earth, and assessing the new birds, is there anything else I should do? There are 2 coops and the dead hen came from the one closest to the water source. The water source is a pipe that goes to a 55 gallon bucket that overflows onto the ground and runs down towards the creek.
I know its hard to know exactly why the hen died and I will need to gather more information. We haven't moved onsite yet and a neighbor is taking care of the chickens now (she has very little experience with them).
I am wondering what would be best to do with this situation and what info would be needed to get more clarity.
Thank you so much.
We bought a property that came with 34 chickens, all but 5 or 6 are laying hens. The coops are stinky and dirty. The laying boxes have been closed off and need to be cleaned. I don't know why the previous owner sealed off the boxes and has an upside down Tupperware bin with an entrance cut into is as the laying spot in both coops. There are just over 15 birds on each coop.
One of the laying hens died yesterday and I am not sure if what. She had a dirty backside. Black liquidy poop dried to her feathers and she had been separating herself from the flock. She was eating and moving around, albiet slowerbthan the rest. She was also still laying, as I found an egg in the spot she was hanging out in.
The previous owner left chunks of meat and bones in the coop and dead animals around that the chickens were eating. We also found buckets of corn, so I assume he was feeding that to them. They were all very hungry, so I bought pelleted layer feed and have been feeding it to them. All the birds not only came running up to my car when I pulled up, but the followed me every where until I fed them.
I have a very young flock all born this spring with the exeption of 4 grown hens that we brought from Minnesota to Tennessee. I am planning on keeping them separated for at least 2 weeks from the flocks on the new property. I want to make sure the flocks that came with the land are healthy before introducing the young ones in.
Aside from stabalizing them with healthy nutrition, adding electrolytes, cleaning the coops, adding diatemacious earth, and assessing the new birds, is there anything else I should do? There are 2 coops and the dead hen came from the one closest to the water source. The water source is a pipe that goes to a 55 gallon bucket that overflows onto the ground and runs down towards the creek.
I know its hard to know exactly why the hen died and I will need to gather more information. We haven't moved onsite yet and a neighbor is taking care of the chickens now (she has very little experience with them).
I am wondering what would be best to do with this situation and what info would be needed to get more clarity.
Thank you so much.