MJ's little flock

[LozzyR]

Pepper is in broody jail.
She has been getting angrier and flatter. When I locked her out of the coop she was pacing up and down the ramp.

She is in a large dog crate with food, water and a branch to perch on. It is under a tree and is 3/4 covered with a tarp for shelter from wind and rain. Have I forgotten anything?



....apart from a tin mug for her to rattle against the bars that is...

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She’s probably out of broody jail by now (I am so behind!) but when Charlie is broody, I prop the crate up on bricks so the air can circulate underneath.

 

[LozzyR]

Mary said "I'm ready for my close up." who am I to deny such a diva?

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That green sheen is beautiful!

 

[Ribh]

Thinking of you this morning.

 

[MaryJanet]

Thanks for all your kind words. She did several good poops in the box overnight. Another half hour and we'll be off. Poor Peggy. She's only 1. At least she knows what cheese tastes like. She loves cheese, it was the only ingredient that really got her enthused about eating her enzymes. That's more than most chickens can say. I'll give her a tiny piece of cheese before we get going.

 

[LozzyR]

But that's two hens out of five at my house. Is that a high incidence?

Sandy was an ISA Brown, yes? That’s always going to push the numbers up. Two out of my four ISAs died from reproductive issues, one I’m speculating died from a virus and one is still alive.

 

[LozzyR]

I think it's from trying to breed in higher egg production. Typically production egg layers only are kept for two years and are processed before they run into these types of issues. But this is just my guess.

That sounds about right, in my experience. Where I got my four ISAs; they slaughtered them at 18 months old so you could rescue them at that age for $5.00 each. They’ve been shut down now, I wonder why.

 

[LozzyR]

But Peggy doesn't have high production genes. I wonder if she sustained an injury somehow.

Reproductive issues can happen in any bird, it’s just that the high production breeds are much more susceptible. I am madly trying to catch up so I know the full story and can support you and Peggy today.

 

[MaryJanet]

Reproductive issues can happen in any bird, it’s just that the high production breeds are much more susceptible. I am madly trying to catch up so I know the full story and can support you and Peggy today.

Thank you Lozzy. She's going for an operation that she might not come home from. It depends on what Mark the vet discovers once he's opened her up.

 

[rjohns39]

MJ you know we're rooting for her

 

[LozzyR]

2 in 5 seems hig

My thoughts run more toward concern for the well-being of any hen who comes to live here. If an environmental factor plays even a small part in these problems, I want to address it and perhaps injuries are something to consider. 2 out of 5 seems high to me, but if those 2 reproductive problems are traceable to genetics, then I've simply been unlucky twice and lucky three times.

I lost four hens in 2 1/2 years, I felt like the worst chook-mum ever.