Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

I'm glad she's acting well but it must be worrisome Ribh

It is a little concerning...but she is such a happy, busy little chookie it doesn't seem to be bothering her.

I think your run looks lovely and mulchy Ribh. I was going to ask if you rake in there regularly and how often you add mulch.

This is sort of embarrassing given our present fire crisis but here in Queensland they tend to totally raze building blocks leaving absolutely nothing! It's horrible ~ & on our block everything was baking & sooo hot in summer, so we let the block rejuvenate once we'd built. The result is @ least a dozen huge gums around the house [our gutters are impossible to keep clear] & a huge amount of leaf litter. Every time I rake the paths [yes, rake, not sweep!] I toss the leaf litter in the run for the girls. They love it! The run itself is on a small slope @ the top of the hill & they have almost leveled it up raking the mulch downhill! I toss their coop litter in there too & they break it down & mix it in. I just have to be a tad cautious with that as natives don't like chicken poop!

Glad you are getting rain Ribh!
so envious...

I feel truly blessed. The rain is such a relief! Everywhere needs it & we could do with a lot more ~ slow, steady, mizzling rain.

 

[Ribh]

Very exciting! I hope it helps and you get enough rain but not too much.

Thanks, Bob. Summer is our storm season. Normally we would have had a heap of rain by now.

 

[Grammy60]

Good morning everyone any plans for today?

 

[Ribh]

I have never seen that before. Wow.

Me neither!

So nice to peek in on your flock. They are beautiful and that was peaceful. Thanks for letting us in.

I love having a nice peaceful flock. Suyin tends to be a bit of a bully but any time she gets too out of hand Luna, her sister, takes her on & literally sits on her head!

I hope it helps and you get enough rain but not too much.

Thanks, Bob. Me too.

 

[Ribh]

Good evening everyone

Waving. Hope you are enjoying your time off, Sue.

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks, Bob! Her eggs are freakish but thankfully she's not laying all that often.

The frustrating thing is I don't think that there is much you can do about it.
If the other hens lay properly formed eggs then it's reasonable to assume that their diet is about right.
It is possible for a hen not to get enough commercial feed; I have two hens here I have to make sure eat properly. The others will block them fron the food until they are done and of course, being free range, the groups move away to other areas. The last to feed is then left with a choice, keep eating, or follow the tribe. Follow the tribe is the right move and most do.
Even with commercial feed in crumble form it is possible for a hen to pick out particular bits and not get the dusty stuff which tend to contain the bulk of the calcium. Giving a wet mash can help with this.
Feeding a very small amount of calcium direct may be worth a try. I'll do the math later if you are interested in this using human calcium supplements because they are easy to get.

 

[Ribh]

The frustrating thing is I don't think that there is much you can do about it.
If the other hens lay properly formed eggs then it's reasonable to assume that their diet is about right.
It is possible for a hen not to get enough commercial feed; I have two hens here I have to make sure eat properly. The others will block them fron the food until they are done and of course, being free range, the groups move away to other areas. The last to feed is then left with a choice, keep eating, or follow the tribe. Follow the tribe is the right move and most do.
Even with commercial feed in crumble form it is possible for a hen to pick out particular bits and not get the dusty stuff which tend to contain the bulk of the calcium. Giving a wet mash can help with this.
Feeding a very small amount of calcium direct may be worth a try. I'll do the math later if you are interested in this using human calcium supplements because they are easy to get.

Thanks, Shad! I know she gets enough to eat because she is one of the 3 I hand feed just because the bigger girls do push them off the feed. She's not a picky eater either. Tuppence is & picks out the things she likes. I am considering what I need to do about that. For a wet mash do I just add water to their normal feed? I do have an oily supplement I add when they're molting to aid feather regrowth that I have occasionally been adding since the feather picking. Thank goodness the cats aren't this much work!

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks, Shad! I know she gets enough to eat because she is one of the 3 I hand feed just because the bigger girls do push them off the feed. She's not a picky eater either. Tuppence is & picks out the things she likes. I am considering what I need to do about that. For a wet mash do I just add water to their normal feed? I do have an oily supplement I add when they're molting to aid feather regrowth that I have occasionally been adding since the feather picking. Thank goodness the cats aren't this much work!

Extra calcium is never a bad idea but I am not convinced that is the issue. This seems to me more like a hen that is starting to lay and needs to hit her rhythm. You have probably relayed all of this as we have gone along but I am wondering about the following 2 things.

• Was she not laying before this due to molting or something?
• How old is she? She could also be coming to the end of her laying time. Eggs can get weird then as well.

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks, Shad! I know she gets enough to eat because she is one of the 3 I hand feed just because the bigger girls do push them off the feed. She's not a picky eater either. Tuppence is & picks out the things she likes. I am considering what I need to do about that. For a wet mash do I just add water to their normal feed? I do have an oily supplement I add when they're molting to aid feather regrowth that I have occasionally been adding since the feather picking. Thank goodness the cats aren't this much work!

I thought you had probably been aware of the possible problems but I thought I would mention just in case.
I add enough water to make a paste of the consistency that if you tilt the container it doesn't slump, or run.
For you now, very cold water would be good. For me now, I add warm water when the nights have been cold.
A couple of points.
Their poop changes, more uric acid (the white stuff) and early morning runny/clearish poop is what I see here. The watery poop was a bit concerning at first.
Their cecal poop changes as well. Here it tends to be a few shades lighter brown.
They don't drink as much water.
Here they've tended to eat more mash than they did dried pellets so your feed bill may go up. Not a lot, but it's noticable.

 

[Shadrach]

Extra calcium is never a bad idea but I am not convinced that is the issue. This seems to me more like a hen that is starting to lay and needs to hit her rhythm. You have probably relayed all of this as we have gone along but I am wondering about the following 2 things.

• Was she not laying before this due to molting or something?
• How old is she? She could also be coming to the end of her laying time. Eggs can get weird then as well.

You're probably right. I don't know the age of the hen.