Ribh's D'Coopage

[Shadrach]

Is that what they need to lay..? Mine lay all winter.. on about 11 to 11 and half hours of daylight .. quite a few of mine weren’t laying this winter because of molting.. but most are back laying now..

Well, it's an interesting question.
Some you can read say it's the number of daylight hours; more daylight hours, more likely the hen will lay. This it seems is the basis for people adding light to their coops to maintain/increase production. If it was as simple as this then there shouldn't be any hens laying when the days are at their shortest.
My friend in Finland gets very short days but his hens still lay eggs.
Here, the local keepers will tell you it's not the daylight hours but from what I can translate, it's the quality or intensity of the light.
The truth seems to be that nobody is really quite sure how it works despite all the studies.
Science believes it understands the basic mechanism but....
Btw, one thing science and peoples observations have proven is that moulting is not directly connected to egg laying.
It's a bit like the statisticians who can prove that blue flashing lights cause accidents. The blue flashing lights and the accidents are coincidental but not dependent.

 

[Ribh]

@Ribh I am so, so sorry for your loss. A big virtual hug. Go hug a cat or a chicken for comfort. I found this group amazingly supportive when I lost Scary recently. Tuppence sounds like a wonderful hen and I know you gave her the best care possible.

Thanks, RoyalChick. She was a special little hen. Quite a flighty breed so I had to work hard to earn her trust when she began having issues.

I have 2 cats, one of whom likes to sleep curled in my arms all winter but abandons me in summer. Too hot ~ except for the first night after Tuppence. He crawled in my arms & insisted I scratch him under the chin for ages while he purred up a storm. It was very comforting.

 

[Ribh]

She does look pretty and not too hot at this point. I think the barred rocks are very cute as well. I always thought I would get some but since your broody issues I think I might just look at pictures of yours now.

Someone who knows a lot more about hens than I do might like to put me right but I blame our heat on having such Broody BRs. They are a wonderful bird! And you have a much more temperate climate. They are also winter layers...
Soda & Hepzibah are from my very first buy when I got back into chickens so over 2 now & they are very consistent layers, very easy to manage, pretty hardy & for their size not huge eaters. The Favorelles are pigs! I would recommend them, even with their broodiness. Also, mine lay tinted eggs!

 

[Shadrach]

They seem to be doing ok.
I'm not getting eggs though.
Could be the heat.
Could be the upset over flock dynamics.
Could be the water.​

View attachment 2001294

Lottie on the stump Tuppence liked to perch on for feeding. She's looking good. My Barred Rocks have hit 2 but still laying well when not broody.​

It is really difficult to tell how a flock mates death effects the flock ime. The death of a tribes rooster here produces some obvious repercussions as does the death of the most senior hen.
I've posted about this elsewhere at the time of the event.
The blond hen is was called Blue Spot. After the death of her life partner Harold, Blue Spot held the tribe together. All the others in the picture are her children. Blue Spot was here when I arrived some ten years ago now. It seems likely she was already two years old before she came here to live. She had been in my life for a bit over nine years and I had watched her hatch all her family over the years.
She became ill earlier this year; a reproductive problem. First a shell less egg, then just a mess. She stopped eating enough and started to lose weight. Next came an impacted crop which I managed to clear. I ended up tube feeding her for a few days. Eventually it was obvious that I was trying to keep her alive for my benefit rather than hers and I killed her a few days after this picture was taken.
Throughout her illness her sons and daughters and granddaughters would not leave her side. Here the advice would probably have been to separate her and pump her full of drugs. I did give her Metacam in the last few days. For a couple of weeks I would take her off her perch and bring her into the house at night to get food down her and to be honest, give her a cuddle. 9 years is a long friendship and it took a few years for her to trust me enough not to run or fight. I left her with her tribe right up to the night I killed her.

Her tribe fell to pieces after her death. Her boys have never been that great and taking charge....a problem with dominant mothers perhaps. The hens wandered about without escort, the boys sulked under their usual bush and I was lucky to only lose one chick while they slowly got a grip. It took a couple of months.
Blue Spot dying

And with her family as usual.

 

[Ribh]

It is really difficult to tell how a flock mates death effects the flock ime. The death of a tribes rooster here produces some obvious repercussions as does the death of the most senior hen.
I've posted about this elsewhere at the time of the event.
The blond hen is was called Blue Spot. After the death of her life partner Harold, Blue Spot held the tribe together. All the others in the picture are her children. Blue Spot was here when I arrived some ten years ago now. It seems likely she was already two years old before she came here to live. She had been in my life for a bit over nine years and I had watched her hatch all her family over the years.
She became ill earlier this year; a reproductive problem. First a shell less egg, then just a mess. She stopped eating enough and started to lose weight. Next came an impacted crop which I managed to clear. I ended up tube feeding her for a few days. Eventually it was obvious that I was trying to keep her alive for my benefit rather than hers and I killed her a few days after this picture was taken.
Throughout her illness her sons and daughters and granddaughters would not leave her side. Here the advice would probably have been to separate her and pump her full of drugs. I did give her Metacam in the last few days. For a couple of weeks I would take her off her perch and bring her into the house at night to get food down her and to be honest, give her a cuddle. 9 years is a long friendship and it took a few years for her to trust me enough not to run or fight. I left her with her tribe right up to the night I killed her.

Her tribe fell to pieces after her death. Her boys have never been that great and taking charge....a problem with dominant mothers perhaps. The hens wandered about without escort, the boys sulked under their usual bush and I was lucky to only lose one chick while they slowly got a grip. It took a couple of months.
Blue Spot dying
View attachment 2001509 And with her family as usual.
View attachment 2001510

The shift in flock dynamics can be incredibly subtle I think. Tuppence was my bottom hen ~ but she was Lottie's running companion & Ha'penny's sister & part of my 2nd buy. No~one was upset when I took her into the house. She always came back & the girls would move in to clean her beak for her. As she hasn't come back they are quieter & more subdued than usual.

Mostly the flock seems to have rallied round Lottie who always roosted with Tuppence. The first night the favorelles had her between them & covered her with their wings. This is pretty weird as Suyin has always been very jealous of the extra attention Lottie gets for being so tiny. Another night it was Lavender, who often roosted on her other side. Only one evening did I find her roosting alone & I think she was late & then couldn't see a space. I put her up with Ha'penny who often roosted with her & Tuppence. I try to be aware of who really doesn't get along so as to avoid drama.

I need to pay attention as I had planned another buy for the beginning of March [sorry, Shad, the only way I can get my birds ] & that will upset the apple cart again. My lead hen isn't full on ~ but then most of my girls belong to gentler breeds. They're all a bit leery of me just now.

 

[Shadrach]

The shift in flock dynamics can be incredibly subtle I think. Tuppence was my bottom hen ~ but she was Lottie's running companion & Ha'penny's sister & part of my 2nd buy. No~one was upset when I took her into the house. She always came back & the girls would move in to clean her beak for her. As she hasn't come back they are quieter & more subdued than usual.

Mostly the flock seems to have rallied round Lottie who always roosted with Tuppence. The first night the favorelles had her between them & covered her with their wings. This is pretty weird as Suyin has always been very jealous of the extra attention Lottie gets for being so tiny. Another night it was Lavender, who often roosted on her other side. Only one evening did I find her roosting alone & I think she was late & then couldn't see a space. I put her up with Ha'penny who often roosted with her & Tuppence. I try to be aware of who really doesn't get along so as to avoid drama.

I need to pay attention as I had planned another buy for the beginning of March [sorry, Shad, the only way I can get my birds ] & that will upset the apple cart again. My lead hen isn't full on ~ but then most of my girls belong to gentler breeds. They're all a bit leery of me just now.

Introducing a single hen can be a bit of a mission I am led to believe.

 

[Ribh]

I don't know. I've never done singles & don't intend to. I plan on @ least 4 ~ mostly Campines. I love these birds!

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks, RoyalChick. She was a special little hen. Quite a flighty breed so I had to work hard to earn her trust when she began having issues.

I have 2 cats, one of whom likes to sleep curled in my arms all winter but abandons me in summer. Too hot ~ except for the first night after Tuppence. He crawled in my arms & insisted I scratch him under the chin for ages while he purred up a storm. It was very comforting.

Apparently the frequency of a cat's purr is one that promotes healing. I have 4 cats and their purrs are definitely soothing for any ailments - physical and psychological. Got to love them!

 

[RoyalChick]

The shift in flock dynamics can be incredibly subtle I think. Tuppence was my bottom hen ~ but she was Lottie's running companion & Ha'penny's sister & part of my 2nd buy. No~one was upset when I took her into the house. She always came back & the girls would move in to clean her beak for her. As she hasn't come back they are quieter & more subdued than usual.

Mostly the flock seems to have rallied round Lottie who always roosted with Tuppence. The first night the favorelles had her between them & covered her with their wings. This is pretty weird as Suyin has always been very jealous of the extra attention Lottie gets for being so tiny. Another night it was Lavender, who often roosted on her other side. Only one evening did I find her roosting alone & I think she was late & then couldn't see a space. I put her up with Ha'penny who often roosted with her & Tuppence. I try to be aware of who really doesn't get along so as to avoid drama.

I need to pay attention as I had planned another buy for the beginning of March [sorry, Shad, the only way I can get my birds ] & that will upset the apple cart again. My lead hen isn't full on ~ but then most of my girls belong to gentler breeds. They're all a bit leery of me just now.

So interesting. Scary was definitely bottom ranking hen (even though she was the biggest - sort of a big goofy gentle hen). Initially I thought the others were unaffected by her being taken with just 10 mins of being rattled by the fox and I thought 'so much for the sisterhood!'. But now I notice that there are some small changes in who sleeps where and there is more fussing at night before they settle. So maybe it made more of a difference than I realized. I do find this aspect of chicken caring fascinating (the social dynamics between my 4 cats is also pretty complicated).

 

[Ribh]

So interesting. Scary was definitely bottom ranking hen (even though she was the biggest - sort of a big goofy gentle hen). Initially I thought the others were unaffected by her being taken with just 10 mins of being rattled by the fox and I thought 'so much for the sisterhood!'. But now I notice that there are some small changes in who sleeps where and there is more fussing at night before they settle. So maybe it made more of a difference than I realized. I do find this aspect of chicken caring fascinating (the social dynamics between my 4 cats is also pretty complicated).

I agree. The social aspects of flock dynamics fascinates me. It is quite complex, especially in a mixed flock. I have bonded brothers (RagdollX) cats & theirs is also a very complex relationship. How I fit into that is also complicated. Both birds & cats display jealousy- especially if anything in the keeping arrangements changes. Ha'penny, for instance, is one I handfeed. No-one else is allowed that privilege. It is her prerogative, just like being in my lap is Lottie's. Suyin would like special privileges & keeps trying but she is a pushy hen well able to fend for herself.