Ode to Old Hens... Pictures of the Seniors in Our Flock

[speckledhen]

"Her thunker is just fine" had me in stitches!!

Oh, yeah, she is brutal with that weapon. If you are picking her up and any of them walk by, she'll reach out and grab that one by the head feathers. She takes advantage of every situation to let them know she is still large and in charge, though technically, I feel that Gypsy is really head hen because Amanda cannot walk. Gypsy it no immune to Amanda's merciless reminders, that's for sure!

 

[speckledhen]

Who says old hens never lay? These were given to us today. The one on the left is from almost 8 yr old Delaware, Georgie,and the one on the right is our 5th from almost 10 yr old BR, Amanda, this month! If it wasn't for my oldest hens, I'd be getting no eggs right now, or almost none. Two other eggs this week came from my 6 yr old Maretta and 7 yr old Alice. I have a 35 wk old BR pullet who still hasn't started up, three 26 week old BR pullets and five 24 week old Brahmas still yet to begin laying. If they'd start, we'd have eggs. So, hail to the Old Gals!

 

[itspebbl]

Wow! I just find it so amazing that Amanda lays so much for being unable to walk and 10 yrs old!!

 

[speckledhen]

Wow! I just find it so amazing that Amanda lays so much for being unable to walk and 10 yrs old!!

Me, too! She lays in infrequent spurts, certainly, but when she does, she pops out eggs for a few weeks, then she'll rest for months. It's crazy that she lays at all, though. Even in grieving the loss of her friends and her handicap, plus colder weather on top of all that, she is still trucking along with determination. She's quite a gal.

 

[speckledhen]

A few days ago, we lost our Rita, a 6 1/2 yr old red BLRW x Ameraucana hen, not technically in the Old Hens group but still, not a spring chicken anymore. She had lost copious amounts of weight in her latest hard molt, had a sluggish crop (which we fixed) but she never gained back her weight nor began laying again. She had been one of my very best layers over the years, too. We just found her gone one morning. Such a great hen she was. At least she didn't have a long period of illness and suffering, but it was very unexpected to find her that way.


Crippled Amanda, almost 10 years old, laid her 2nd egg this month today. She laid 5 eggs in November. You go, girl!

 

[Stiggy]

Speckledhen I am sorry to hear of the passing of your beloved birds, although I have not been on here a while and thus had a few pages of posts to catch up on, I can tell you that reading of them left me with tears running down my cheeks.

Its never easy to loose them, especially when they are so loved and special, and even more so if its well before their time.

I realise the last post on this thread from me was from early 2015, about my beloved Brucester and Millie, well since then I have lost many more than I had expected.

Of the 3 daughters of Brucester that I kept I have one left, one had a stroke followed by internal organ failure, and the other my crossed beak girl Chickadee who became a house chicken after getting a massive facial abscess that grew down her neck (I managed to fix it) she was the sweetest girl, and despite her issues with a severe cross beak she fought on. I was never going to keep her because I know cross beak can be genetic, and I really didn't need any more special needs birds, however she was just so sweet, friendly and loving I couldn't part with her. when she was outside with the rest of the flock she did well, until the abscess, but even before she became a house chicken she would come inside through any open door or window and if there wasn't one she would tap on the door and then scream to let you know what she wanted. due to the abscess I had to get her special food, a very high protein and carb cat food, it was $48 per bag at 3kg. she loved her soaked cat food. unfortunately and strangely she broke her back, she fell off one of the cages onto the floor. Although we hoped for a recovery and even the vets thought it was possible with pain meds etc, but her body shut down a few days after at 18 months of age. She was comforted in her last days by myself and her room mate Roomy.

After Chickadee passed Roomy got a new cage mate, You see chickadee would only allow Roomy to share her cage inside or get anywhere near her outside, any one else and chick would beat them up and scream until they were removed. I tried to introduce Cruella earlier on but Chick beat the crap out of her. Roomy was attacked by a hedgehog and lost all the skin on her neck, she also had a chronic lung issue . Her and Cruella got on well, both were silkies and both had their issues. Unfortunately Roomy passed away last month, she was 13 months old. In the end her lungs gave up, and now amount of antibiotics could help.

Cruella is doing well, she is completely blind in one eye and majoritively blind in the other, how she lost her eyesight I am unsure, but it became obvious a few weeks after she went outside that there was something up. Even more obvious when she ran straight into the wall multiple times. However once she became a house chicken she thrived, even with her blindness. She has 2 room mates currently, Sadie who has lung issues (white silkie) and keeps getting vent gleet and the equalivant /canker in her wind pipe. And Darla (black silkie) who is one of my 2 oldest hens, blind in one eye with a beak deformity due to a sinus/eye infection as a youngster, and mentally retarded.

Darla is one of 2 of my original hens, she is 5 years old going on 6, and special needs. she is also perpetually broody/raising babies. She has also battled lung issues and pneumonia (because she sticks her entire head in the water container to drink and ends up inhaling it). Given the various issues I never expected her to live this long. Over here silkies just don't have a very long lifespan for whatever reason, so my retirement age ended up at 4/5 years. Cherry is the other, at 5 going on 6 she still lives with the rest of them and holds her own, she is still laying 3-5 eggs per week, I suspect she will outlive most of the others.


This was my Chickadee, after she passed I scraped the money together to have her cremated. I wish I had been able to do the same for Evie (my first house chicken, a sweet wee white silkie who had epilepsy or a seizure disorder) and for Roomy.


This is Cruella, she effectively runs the household. She will scream at you until you do what she wants or let her out (especially if you are late with food). On cold or wet days I diaper her and let her roam the floor, occasionally she still looks for Roomy who used to wander around with her.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey Stiggy, haven't seen you around lately. My almost 9 yr old Blue Orp has lost the sight in one eye and has bad eyesight in the other, too, like your Cruella. She is still an ornery old gal.

Darla is like my friend's hen, dunking her head in the water, then she honks. They can be so goofy.

Sorry for your losses. Over the many years, chickens come and go. It's sad, but sadder to never have known them. The younger ones have a way to go before they are revered as much as my older ones, but some get into your heart so fast, you don't see it coming.

 

[Stiggy]

Yes I got carried away with stuff in the real world, and I see a lot of the byc stuff on the fb page. My time has been taken up with normal life stuff, health issues and ducks. I started with 3 rescue mallards in Sept last year, now I have about 30-40 ducks of various breeds, and they like the chickens take up most of my time with their antics.

Cruella has the silkie ability to scream, it sounds like she's being murdered, I've never seen another breed able to scream like this. She lets you know when she wants something, wants out/in etc. I often say she runs my household as a dictator like toddler. However I love her just the same, and wish she could be as easily placated as Darla.

Darla has mental issues and isn't quite all there, she has a habit of sitting in her water dish (if she can get into it) and also in her food, even if it's wet mash. However she is my best broody and her record is 7 x in a year, 2 x I let her sit, the others I gave her day olds. Unlike Cruella Darla only screams when there's something wrong or she's hungry, give her some cheese or something sh likes and she shuts up. Cru tips her food out and then screams about it . I have a video of her doing it somewhere.

Do you find that your older girls need easier to reach feed/water stations and winter time proofing?

My big house is 4.9x4.5m with a concrete pad on one side (it never got completely finished since dad likes to start and not finish things) and dirt on the other, I have some pallets down in winter as well, but the non concrete half has fiberglass roofing and 2 sides, it lets the light in and the heat in to keep it mild. Our winters rarely get down past -6-10degrees and snow is a rarity however rain and flooding are the biggest threat. With plenty of bedding and food my chooks do fine, however except for the 2 none are particularly old.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes I got carried away with stuff in the real world, and I see a lot of the byc stuff on the fb page. My time has been taken up with normal life stuff, health issues and ducks. I started with 3 rescue mallards in Sept last year, now I have about 30-40 ducks of various breeds, and they like the chickens take up most of my time with their antics.

Cruella has the silkie ability to scream, it sounds like she's being murdered, I've never seen another breed able to scream like this. She lets you know when she wants something, wants out/in etc. I often say she runs my household as a dictator like toddler. However I love her just the same, and wish she could be as easily placated as Darla.

Darla has mental issues and isn't quite all there, she has a habit of sitting in her water dish (if she can get into it) and also in her food, even if it's wet mash. However she is my best broody and her record is 7 x in a year, 2 x I let her sit, the others I gave her day olds. Unlike Cruella Darla only screams when there's something wrong or she's hungry, give her some cheese or something sh likes and she shuts up. Cru tips her food out and then screams about it . I have a video of her doing it somewhere.

Do you find that your older girls need easier to reach feed/water stations and winter time proofing?

My big house is 4.9x4.5m with a concrete pad on one side (it never got completely finished since dad likes to start and not finish things) and dirt on the other, I have some pallets down in winter as well, but the non concrete half has fiberglass roofing and 2 sides, it lets the light in and the heat in to keep it mild. Our winters rarely get down past -6-10degrees and snow is a rarity however rain and flooding are the biggest threat. With plenty of bedding and food my chooks do fine, however except for the 2 none are particularly old.

My Amanda, who cannot stand up fully, one leg completely useless due to advanced arthritis, has one of those 2 sided dog bowls for her food and water, which has to be cleaned out ten times a day because Tiny, my almost blind, terrorist chicken thinks she is a duck and loves to play in Amanda's water. And the old gals have a 250W heat lamp, mainly Amanda since she is prone all the time. But, that's pretty much the extent of it. All my birds are in one 20x24 barn, except the Belgian D'anvers, who were in there until I had to divide up one of the larger pens for Apollo, my BR cockerel, when his sire decided he should die. So, back went the 7 little D'Anvers to their former coop.

 

[Stiggy]

Have you considered a heat pad? Either a low watt one or one of the horticultural style ones? I had Darla on a reptile one over winter because she went broody and lost half her body weight from trying to incubate an egg. And with Darla there is no chance of breaking her broodiness. So until I had chicks hatching (I gave her one Orpington chick) and for the first 2 weeks after because it was so cold here.

I find the d cup drinkers and the bell water containers work well. Because Darla is currently living inside due to her lung issue from the water, she has a d cup drinker because that's what Cruella finds easiest (and it's bright red) .