- Mar 30, 2011
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Well, after trying hard not to worry so much about my 2 hens (I'm new to raising
chickens and had raised my two lovely Barred Rocks from tiny chicks and didn't
want to be a worrywart/cyberchondriac all the time about them), against my
better judgment I went on vacation to the Oregon Coast at the urging of a friend
who wanted me there.
My chickens had been so happy and seemingly healthy all this hot long summer
prior to my departure.
I worked hard in the days before I left on vacation to assure the chickens had
plenty of fresh food and water, grit and oystershell, and I gave the neighbors
several watermelons so they could give the chickens plenty of rinds while I was
away to keep them well hydrated.
The neighbor said the very day I left, he found Merry Easter dead in the shade
at 5 p.m. She was only 1 year 5 months old. He said she had been okay earlier
in the day.
Needless to say, I feel awful about having gone on vacation. Had I stayed home,
I would have been there to observe her in the heat. It was 98 F that day. She
was out free-ranging. Her sister survived.
My dead girl is the one who went broody in early June and hid under the house 5
days, until we built the run and broke her of her broodiness. Now I wonder
whether had we let her stay broody on those unfertilized eggs, she might have
lost enough weight to survive the hot summer?
She had pecked out several of her breast feathers, and I had assumed it was to
feather her nest with, due to broodiness, but now I'm wondering whether breast
feather picking could have been an indication of fatty liver disease?
Remember how I wondered whether my hens were too fat? No one responded to the
pictures I posted in regards to that question, so I still wonder, though folks
in other chicken groups thought they looked fine, size-wise. So I don't know.
I did try to lessen the amount of food they had access to, until one laid a
funny egg that I thought might have been a sign of not getting enough
calcium/protein, so then I went back to free choice food but never any scratch
or starchy food. There was no repeat of the egg laying problem.
An expert had told me it was probably a freak thing, where the egg had been
overly large and gotten stuck inside for just a bit too long until it fell out,
but he said if there was no repeat of the problem it wasn't anything to worry
about.
I fed them some blueberries in the early summer, just a few, but then I worried
about pesticides on the blueberry skins and fed only watermelon and a small
amount of yogurt occasionally as a treat. I put a bit of apple cider vinegar in
their water.
When they were cooped up in the run while Easter was getting over being broody
in June, their combs developed odd black spots and I really worried, but after I
started letting them out to free-range again, their combs cleared up and they
were the picture of health and happinewss.
I just know I'm heartsick and feel like a failure as a pet mother, again.
When I got home today from my vacation (my neighbor hadn't told me Merry Easter
died on August 25, so I found out today), Esther Mary was acting strange, and I
assumed she was grieving the loss of her sister, but then I saw that the
neighbor had left several of her unfertilized eggs under her to encourage her to
go broody (I did not ask him to do this.)
My neighbor thinks we should let her hatch some eggs so she will have a
companion chicken or 2 for the winter. She loved her sister so much. But I'm
not sure it's a good idea. He's having fertilized eggs from a white chicken
(Esther is a Barred Rock) and some bantam eggs sent here for Esther to hatch.
I'm not sure mixing breeds like this would be a good idea?
I have to wonder whether it's too late in the season to try to hatch chicks?
Couldn't they freeze or get very sick if we have an early cold spell and they
aren't inside our house?
Also, I'm not sure it's good for Esther to sit on a nest so long and not get as
much exercise, especially if it was fatty liver disease/a heart attack that took
her sister. On the other hand, she might lose weight sitting on the eggs, and
that might be a good thing.
What do you all think? I'm heading back to Easter's grave now to put some
pretty flowers on it. Our neighbor kindly buried beautiful Merry Easter in the
cemetery with my late kitten, who died in February.
Thanks for your help,
Clare
chickens and had raised my two lovely Barred Rocks from tiny chicks and didn't
want to be a worrywart/cyberchondriac all the time about them), against my
better judgment I went on vacation to the Oregon Coast at the urging of a friend
who wanted me there.
My chickens had been so happy and seemingly healthy all this hot long summer
prior to my departure.
I worked hard in the days before I left on vacation to assure the chickens had
plenty of fresh food and water, grit and oystershell, and I gave the neighbors
several watermelons so they could give the chickens plenty of rinds while I was
away to keep them well hydrated.
The neighbor said the very day I left, he found Merry Easter dead in the shade
at 5 p.m. She was only 1 year 5 months old. He said she had been okay earlier
in the day.
Needless to say, I feel awful about having gone on vacation. Had I stayed home,
I would have been there to observe her in the heat. It was 98 F that day. She
was out free-ranging. Her sister survived.
My dead girl is the one who went broody in early June and hid under the house 5
days, until we built the run and broke her of her broodiness. Now I wonder
whether had we let her stay broody on those unfertilized eggs, she might have
lost enough weight to survive the hot summer?
She had pecked out several of her breast feathers, and I had assumed it was to
feather her nest with, due to broodiness, but now I'm wondering whether breast
feather picking could have been an indication of fatty liver disease?
Remember how I wondered whether my hens were too fat? No one responded to the
pictures I posted in regards to that question, so I still wonder, though folks
in other chicken groups thought they looked fine, size-wise. So I don't know.
I did try to lessen the amount of food they had access to, until one laid a
funny egg that I thought might have been a sign of not getting enough
calcium/protein, so then I went back to free choice food but never any scratch
or starchy food. There was no repeat of the egg laying problem.
An expert had told me it was probably a freak thing, where the egg had been
overly large and gotten stuck inside for just a bit too long until it fell out,
but he said if there was no repeat of the problem it wasn't anything to worry
about.
I fed them some blueberries in the early summer, just a few, but then I worried
about pesticides on the blueberry skins and fed only watermelon and a small
amount of yogurt occasionally as a treat. I put a bit of apple cider vinegar in
their water.
When they were cooped up in the run while Easter was getting over being broody
in June, their combs developed odd black spots and I really worried, but after I
started letting them out to free-range again, their combs cleared up and they
were the picture of health and happinewss.
I just know I'm heartsick and feel like a failure as a pet mother, again.
When I got home today from my vacation (my neighbor hadn't told me Merry Easter
died on August 25, so I found out today), Esther Mary was acting strange, and I
assumed she was grieving the loss of her sister, but then I saw that the
neighbor had left several of her unfertilized eggs under her to encourage her to
go broody (I did not ask him to do this.)
My neighbor thinks we should let her hatch some eggs so she will have a
companion chicken or 2 for the winter. She loved her sister so much. But I'm
not sure it's a good idea. He's having fertilized eggs from a white chicken
(Esther is a Barred Rock) and some bantam eggs sent here for Esther to hatch.
I'm not sure mixing breeds like this would be a good idea?
I have to wonder whether it's too late in the season to try to hatch chicks?
Couldn't they freeze or get very sick if we have an early cold spell and they
aren't inside our house?
Also, I'm not sure it's good for Esther to sit on a nest so long and not get as
much exercise, especially if it was fatty liver disease/a heart attack that took
her sister. On the other hand, she might lose weight sitting on the eggs, and
that might be a good thing.
What do you all think? I'm heading back to Easter's grave now to put some
pretty flowers on it. Our neighbor kindly buried beautiful Merry Easter in the
cemetery with my late kitten, who died in February.
Thanks for your help,
Clare
