Newbie Needing Help

[sneal79]

Hi! My name is Stephanie and I am new to raising chickens. They are all free range chickens. I have several questions/concerns that I hope I can get some answers/advice for. For starters, I have 7 hens and a rooster. Let me introduce them to you Pennie, Goldie, Red, Nugget, Esther, Lucy Lou, MawMaw, and our rooster, Pawpaw. Recently, we had a hen die. Her name was Hennie. She wasn't old so we are unsure what happened to her. We noticed she had not been acting like herself about 3-4 days prior to her death. She was just sitting around, not really going with the other chickens. We are wondering what could have caused her to do die so suddenly. The day before she died, we dusted all of our hens and rooster with Seven 5% dust. The other chickens are doing just fine.
Next...what can chickens eat? Or what can they NOT eat? I want to keep my chickens happy so they will produce eggs. What is some of their favorite things they would consider a treat? I've heard they love milk?
Since my chickens are free range, they love laying their eggs in the woods behind my house. Well, the problem with this is...I have to go on an egg hunt every day if I want their eggs. Usually, I don't find the eggs, because of the thick tree, weed growth in the woods. My chickens will lay their eggs in a group, so that isnt all that bad...when I find one, I will find them all What can I do to get my chickens to lay in their nesting boxes in the coop? I thought, well, if they are persistant about laying their eggs in the woods, I will see if putting a wooden egg in the weeds will get them to lay their eggs with the wooden egg, so it will be easy for me to find them. Not certain how that is going..I just started this hair brain idea this morning.

Now, last, but far from least important is my favorite hen...Mawmaw. She is a Barred Rock. She came to us with her friend, who we named Red. Red is not a Barred Rock. I am unsure of Mawmaw's age, mainly because I do not know how to tell a chickens age. When we first brought Mawmaw home, we thought she was dying. She just layed around and did not move. But, I picked her up and moved her away from the porch of our coop and she sort of came to life. However, our other chickens would run over to her, and peck her really hard on the back of her head, where she was bald. I ran the chickens away from her, but I could tell it hurt her pretty bad, because she would let out a loud cluck and run to hide in a honeysuckle bush. Why do our other chickens peck her? We have had Mawmaw for about a month now, and have discovered that she is either completely blind or has very poor eye sight...she can not judge her distance and is pecking the air, when she thinks she is pecking the ground. I have kept Mawmaw away from all of the other chickens with her very own sleeping quarters...in my garage (she has a lovely pen with lots of food, water and a perch). During the day, she has her own pen outdoors, away from my other chickens...with her food, water and shelter of course. Daily, when I get home from work, I will get Mawmaw out of her pen and let her walk free in the yard. I am by her side the whole time. She is very spoiled now, and loves being near us. She will use our feet as a perch, and rubs our legs with her head. Mawmaw's feathers are starting to grow back on her head, but the other chickens still peck her when she is out and about. Is there anything I can do to help Mawmaw? I have no idea if what I am doing, with just making her as comfortable as possible and giving her all of the love I can is making her happy. She has never laid an egg since we have owned her. I am not concerned about that at all.

Any advice, suggestions, or answers to the above or anything else in general will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all

 

[Happy Chooks]

For the chickens laying in the woods, you should lock them up in their coop for about a week (maybe a bit longer) so they will know where "home" is and lay there. Keeping them locked up will force them to lay where you want them to. Then when they get the idea, try letting them out and see what happens. Do they roost in the coop or the woods?

As for Mawmaw, I'd continue to keep her separated. Chickens will peck/kill a weak or sick chicken, and since your girl cannot see well, it's not a good idea to keep her in with them. She may be unknowingly encroaching on other hens "space" and gets a correction from them, but since she can't see, she doesn't know what she's doing wrong - so it gets worse. Once one chicken gangs up on a hen, the others will join in to help.

 

[sneal79]

Thank you for the ideas My chickens sleep in their coop at night. We lock them up as soon as they go inside around 7:30/8:00pm and then we let them out before leaving for work the next day. So, what you are suggesting is keeping all of my hens locked in their coop, day and night for about a week or so? Please do not misunderstand that question as hesitation, I just want to make sure I completely understand what your suggesting

As for my little Mawmaw, I want to keep her out of harms way for as long as I can. So, she will continue to sleep comfortably in my temperature controlled garage at night, and then go to her seperate palace during the day!

My husband and I bought some dried meal worms and crushed oyster shell today, so hopefully, that will help with the shell-less egg I found recently

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yes, leave them locked up in the coop (assuming it's not too hot in there) with food and water. If they are sleeping in there, then you just have to change the laying behavior, hopefully only a few days. Once one girl starts laying in the nest boxes, the others will follow. Hopefully this continues when you let them back out.

 

[sumi]

I agree with Happy Chooks. As for the food...
Mine gets cracked corn as their basic food and free range in a pasture planted with lucerne and grass, which they also eat. As treats they sometimes get cooked rice, leftover porridge, cooked pasta, bread (not too much white bread!), spinach (which they love), apples, grapes, potato peels (boil it first)... I can't think what else! Basically chickens can eat lots of things, but be careful when you feed them left overs. Salt is very bad for chickens. I found tiny amounts don't hurt them, like the bit I put in our rice when I cook it, but try to avoid it if you can.
Mealworms and bugs like grasshoppers and crickets are good too. For a calcium boost you can give them yoghurt or milk, fresh or sour. Or grated cheese, if you really want to spoil them!

 

[sneal79]

Thank you Happy Chooks and Sumi Unfortunately, it is around 80 degrees right now, and it is just past noon. So, I don't think I can lock them up today. I will keep my eye on the weather to see if we are in store for a cool down or rain all day. If so, we will keep them locked up then! I am very grateful for all the feeding (treats and calcium) tips you gave me! I want to spoil my ladies (and Pawpaw), so this will give me a good start!

But, can I ask another question? Mawmaw. As I said before, I think she is blind. Well, I know she is having trouble seeing or judging her distance. When she drinks, she almost sticks her entire head in the water dish, and she will peck just close enough to miss her food. She has been this way for a month. I have researched Marek's, and it does not appear this is what she has. However, I read that blindness in chickens could be temporary. Is there anything I can do to help her regain her sight? Sounds silly I know...but she is my girl and I want her happy Both of her pupils are almost completely dialated. There is a small yellow ring around a large black pupil. At the bottom of one of her eyes, it looks like maybe she was pecked and the bottom lid was torn. There was a small bump too. Right in the middle of this same eye, there is a small speck of white cloudyness(sp??). The other eye..no tears, but a small bit of cloudyness. Could this be an illness or just old age blindness? How can I tell the approximate age of chicken?

I have read a lot of threads on this website, and I love it. The website has helped me very much adjust to raising chickens! I appreciate all of the assistance. Thanks!

 

[LR Gamefarm]

she might have pecked at another chickens back and ate some of the seven dust causing her to get sick because of poisoning also a good way to kill parasites on chickens is sand or dirt from your yard just sprinkle it on their backs and the mites will leave

 

[sneal79]

L and L Ranch, thank you for this advice on the dusting. I was unaware that I could use just plain ol' dirt. However, when it comes to Mawmaw, my blind girl, she was blind, or hard of seeing when we brought her home...prior to any dusting. But, I will definitely keep your advice in mind next time I need to dust them Thank you again!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hard to say, but it sounds like her blindness is from age. (combined with the fact that she is no longer laying)

 

[sneal79]

Is there a round-about age a chicken will stop laying?