Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ribh]

It's been hard to get her to eat anything, she's taking liquids okay. Sharach warned me of this with rescue hens but I still feel I've failed her. I haven't been here too read any of the good advice because I have been with her from morning till she decided too go too bed.

Catching the sun with Tina
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One trick you might want to try is adding the liquid from canned fish [I use tuna or salmon in springwater] to the regular feed to soften it. Mine can't resist anything fishy. One of my cats is on a special diet & I save the tins for the chookies to clean out. Not even the smell is left when they are done.

 

[Marie2020]

Sardines should be good - high protein and some fat - just what the Merck Veterinary Manual suggested to avoid fatty liver.

That's definitely her breakfast tomorrow with watered pellets they will all have some. The support those two girls have given her today they deserve it. Princess has caused a bit of upset but she's just being her clumsy self, it's not meanness today. Poor princess

 

[Marie2020]

@everyone

Thanks for your support I really appreciate this right now.

 

[Marie2020]

One more question should I mix the sardines with fermented I have started today? Or just wet pellets

 

[Shadrach]

That's pretty good. When I was looking the largest I found would house 10 standard hens ~ & I wouldn't put 10 standards in it. Could you sit it on besser blocks? You might call them cinder blocks... but they are heavy cement blocks & wouldn't necessarily have to be cemented in place. You could run a lorry strap over the top & secure it to a couple of blocks ~ bit like using stones to hold thatch down.

I have done this in the past but with concrete test billets.

 

[MaryJanet]

I will tomorrow. But yogurt fruit and porridge was today's menu I'm afraid. She had a tiny bit of watered pellets with this. if its sardines she's eats but I don't want too make her liver fatty on top of everything else that's going wrong

I agree. Fatty liver is a chicken killer. That's why I always, always nag you to feed the hens proper chicken food.

 

[Ribh]

I have done this in the past but with concrete test billets.

Ok, so I wasn't being particularly daft. I'm really happy that this looks like going forward.

 

[Marie2020]

I agree. Fatty liver is a chicken killer. That's why I always, always nag you to feed the hens proper chicken food.

Oh god, it's soooooo hard making the right decisions. Getting her to eat is a huge problem

 

[Shadrach]

I think it makes a lot of sense for all the reasons you and @MaryJanet state.
In the beginning of this thread quite a few people asked if they could help with funds and you said it wasn't needed at the time. If money becomes a decisive question for getting a new coop I would be glad to contribute and I think maybe others would too. In case it's something you would consider there are a number of platforms for crowdfunding that allow one to collect money in relatively secure ways.

That's very kind of you but it is something I won't consider.
The fact is the allotment and the chickens are good for me and helping to pay for better chicken accomodation is a worthwhile thing to do. Honestly, they're worth every penny.

 

[Shadrach]

This is a nice one for my girl's but the downside is it only has one perch
https://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/s...-hen-house-with-large-sliding-superfront-door

Did you look at the coop make Perris mentioned?
It's a problem with every prefab coop I've looked at; there is always something not quite right.