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[timon]

Oh no what a shame your daughter was so scared I'm not surprised with how loud some of them are nowadays!
.

I'm going to sit in the car with her next year: warm, not rainy and hopefully a little more controlled. She likes the colours and shapes when the bangs and screamers aren't so loud.

Has anyone trained rescue hens to sleep on a perch? I've been putting them on the perch every night for at least a week now, but they still don't look any more likely to do it themselves.

 

[scifisam]

My rescue hens sleep in the nesting boxes! It doesn't seem to harm them (poo on feathers or anything).

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

I've looked at the omlet netting but it's really expensive because the smallest they do is much bigger than I need.

Yes it is a bit pricey The other half treated me or should I say he was thinking more about his flowers and protecting them! You could make some panels with chicken wire? I have some i use for round the brooding shed but I painted them pink to brighten them up. Only down side is they are pretty low and they can escape easy once they learn to use their wings ~

Oh no what a shame your daughter was so scared I'm not surprised with how loud some of them are nowadays!
.

I'm going to sit in the car with her next year: warm, not rainy and hopefully a little more controlled. She likes the colours and shapes when the bangs and screamers aren't so loud.

Has anyone trained rescue hens to sleep on a perch? I've been putting them on the perch every night for at least a week now, but they still don't look any more likely to do it themselves.

Sounds like a plan with your daughter

Time and perseverance with them I'm afraid. You could block the nesting boxes off just before they head off to bed? If they can't get in they can't sleep in them.

 

[rebrascora]

@Yorkshire Coop

Hi Kim

So very pleased to hear Harry is continuing to improve and his blood results are looking more normal. Hope it is something as simple as worms causing the problem and the Pramox resolves it. It's probably the best all round wormer on the market so worth the money once a year in my opinion.

My wonderful blacksmith has been out this morning first thing and put MeMe's shoe back on. I was in two minds yesterday as to whether it was fully drained but the poultice dressing came off this morning clean and dry at last, so she is now ready to go into work again. Hoping to get her out later this morning but she's going to be full of it!!

No hangover for me at the weekend as I was driving. Like you, I'm now getting too old and wise to risk being ill with drink, although I'm happy to down a rum and coke or two in the comfort of my own home on occasion.

Still haven't started the processing but tonight or perhaps tomorrow morning if the weather is going to be naff, might be a good time. I have a couple of large boxes I can put them in over night, so I'll have them ready for in the morning, otherwise I would never catch them. Will probably only do 2 or 3 at a time as the others still have a bit of growing to do. Not looking forward to it but the hens are getting stressed and everything will be so much calmer once they are gone, as you know.

Think that is all my news. Coffee time is over so it time to head back out.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[rebrascora]

@timon

Yes moulting and subsequent reduction in egg production is an annual event and unfortunately the time they take off from egg production will usually increase as they get older. You are lucky to still be getting eggs at all. Out of all my hens... in excess of 30, I'm only getting two or 3 if I'm lucky a day. Red sex links are pretty stoic about moulting and mostly lay through it although not as many, but many other birds stop altogether and some don't start again until the spring. What you have to understand is that there are only so many eggs inside each chicken from the start and either they will be laid almost every day over a 2-4 year period and then become barren or they will take time out for moulting, brooding etc but continue to lay for more years. That is not a hard and fast rule of course, as all hens are individuals and some hens will start life with fewer eggs in their system than others, but sex links can burn themselves out earlier or be more prone to problems with their reproductive tract as a result of the lack of down time and also the size of eggs they lay. Usually after each annual cycle, the eggs will become larger the following season, which can be a benefit of keeping older hens but it also brings with it risks of egg binding and prolapse.
Good to hear they are feathering in now. Are the sunburnt areas re-growing feathers too?

As regards your girls roosting, you need to make the roosts more inviting and the nest boxes less so or not available. Can you post a photo of your coop set up so that we can perhaps suggest modifications that might help. Having the roost bars above the height of the nest boxes is important and having small nest boxes with curtains that can only accommodate one hen at a time may help or blocking the nest boxes altogether and making a small portable covered one that you can place in a corner for them to use for laying if they need to before you open the main nest boxes in the morning. It will also help if the girls learn to roost themselves rather than being lifted on each night. Perhaps hang a treat above the roost bars so that they have to get up onto them to access the treat. If you do that late on an afternoon they may then stay up there for the night. It's just about getting them into a new habit and to do that you need to give them an incentive. Also. make sure the roost is not draughty.

I can sympathise with your daughter. I don't mind fireworks but I really don't see why they have to be so loud. Each year it seems they get bigger and louder and as Yorkshire Coop said, you can now feel them when you are sitting in your own home and it really is not necessary, aside from all the animals that it distresses. Surely there is enough war going on in the world without simulating it in our own back gardens. The problem is that most people need something with more impact each year or they feel disappointed. I wonder where it will end! Perhaps I'm just becoming an old fart!

Good luck with retraining your girls and finding a good compromise for your daughter next year.

Regards

Barbara

 

[Rudies Roost]

Oh..........@Yorkshirecoop Just bought another young Cream Legbar. Ooops, just popped in for some leeks, apples, cabbage, cucumber and jam and just sneaked a chuck in the basket!! My o/h is good....or maybe he just enjoys the quiet life!

@timon My daughter used to be the same with the fireworks, I just took her year on year and now she is a tenacious 12 year old who watches them with her mates without so much as a backwsrds glance towards us. She'll grow out of the fear in time...don't worry.

@rebrascora How did the processing go? I admire you greatly, I can't do it. We've only needed to do a quick despatch once, a young roo with a broken neck earlier this year. I managed to talk my other half in to doing it but even he had tears as he was doing it. Best of luck with the task.

Sash xx

 

[rebrascora]

@Rudies Roost

Sasha you bad girl you! How can you pop out for groceries and come back with a live chicken???? And a cream legbar at that! Well done that woman!

Yes I processed the 2 big light sussex x guys today. I find the killing part really hard emotionally but I didn't cry this time, so must be getting tougher. It has taken me half the day to process them but they are now sitting in a brine bath for 2-3 days and then they will hit the slow cooker. It's a bit disheartening to start with a bird that appears huge and end up with a carcass that would only just feed a family of four, having spent a couple of hours rendering it edible, but at least I'm not wasting them. It would be nice to do a couple of proper meat birds sometime rather than just excess cockerels to see the difference it really makes, but these lot need sorting and I couldn't justify buying in meat birds to raise when I have so many birds in my flock that need culling. I'm going to try to do 2 a week. Hopefully I will get quicker and more proficient at it. My late mother would have been proud of me as she was one of the first women to go to agricultural college where she studied poultry and then kept her own flock for both meat and eggs. Unfortunately they got wiped out by a fox when I was just a baby and she never restocked. I like to think she was looking over my shoulder today though and keeping me right!

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Rudies Roost]

@Rudies Roost


Sasha you bad girl you! How can you pop out for groceries and come back with a live chicken???? And a cream legbar at that! Well done that woman!

Yes I processed the 2 big light sussex x guys today. I find the killing part really hard emotionally but I didn't cry this time, so must be getting tougher. It has taken me half the day to process them but they are now sitting in a brine bath for 2-3 days and then they will hit the slow cooker. It's a bit disheartening to start with a bird that appears huge and end up with a carcass that would only just feed a family of four, having spent a couple of hours rendering it edible, but at least I'm not wasting them. It would be nice to do a couple of proper meat birds sometime rather than just excess cockerels to see the difference it really makes, but these lot need sorting and I couldn't justify buying in meat birds to raise when I have so many birds in my flock that need culling. I'm going to try to do 2 a week. Hopefully I will get quicker and more proficient at it. My late mother would have been proud of me as she was one of the first women to go to agricultural college where she studied poultry and then kept her own flock for both meat and eggs. Unfortunately they got wiped out by a fox when I was just a baby and she never restocked. I like to think she was looking over my shoulder today though and keeping me right! 

Best wishes

Barbara   

I know...I'm too naughty. We've lost so many this year for one reason or another and with o/h's blessing, I thought I'd treat myself. So that's 3 all in all, blue egg layers (if they get through Winter ok) to look forward to next year.

I think your Mother was looking down on you, you are so brave and how nice to get the freezer stocked too. I have an Indian Game bird (also known as Cornish, I believe) that has an enormous breast...that breed would be super for meat. Not the prettiest of birds I admit (sort of cute in an ugly way!!) but decent layer, a fantastic broody (this year anyway) and friendly too. Mine won't be adorning my dinner plate but maybe a suggestion for you.

Good luck with the rest of the boys,

Sash xx

 

[rebrascora]

@Rudies Roost

Thanks for the suggestion Sasha. I introduced the light sussex to the flock to provide a bit of bulk to the cockerels and they have matured bigger and faster than the other crosses but maybe I need to source a couple of Indian game hens to see the difference that makes. Heaven knows I don't need any more broody hens though!! It's funny how sometimes ugly can be attractive though so I know what you mean.
I've only have one cream legbar left and she's got a bit of a pendulous crop at the moment which I'm concerned about but she will not be caught or handled for me to assess it properly. I do have several other blue/green egg layers that are legbar crosses but they are all moulting so I haven't seen a coloured egg in a while. My new Marans pullets are laying bonny dark eggs on an almost daily basis though and I'm getting a light tan one from a leghorn cross, but that's pretty much it. The pekins have even stopped laying now! I guess it's a chicken diet in the winter and an egg diet in the summer!!

 

[Rudies Roost]

@Rudies Roost


Thanks for the suggestion Sasha. I introduced the light sussex to the flock to provide a bit of bulk to the cockerels and they have matured bigger and faster than the other crosses but maybe I need to source a couple of Indian game hens to see the difference that makes. Heaven knows I don't need any more broody hens though!! It's funny how sometimes ugly can be attractive though so I know what you mean.
I've only have one cream legbar left and she's got a bit of a pendulous crop at the moment which I'm concerned about but she will not be caught or handled for me to assess it properly. I do have several other blue/green egg layers that are legbar crosses but they are all moulting so I haven't seen a coloured egg in a while. My new Marans pullets are laying bonny dark eggs on an almost daily basis though and I'm getting a light tan one from a leghorn cross, but that's pretty much it. The pekins have even stopped laying now! I guess it's a chicken diet in the winter and an egg diet in the summer!!

So here's my lovely brute earlier this year!! She kindly raised a Silkie and a Thuringian for me:

You cant really see her size but she's so wide in the body, we have to use 2 hands to grab her and then hold into your body as she is so very strong too.

I also have a green egg layer (Legbar hybrid), she's nearly finished her moult but I won't old out much hope for her eggs till the Spring and my original Legbar passed at the beginning of the Summer. Unfortunately, my Splash Marans hen died a few weeks back (darn Mareks) so I've lost my lovely dark brown eggs, my Welsummer lays a nice deep reddy brown but not as spectacular as the Marans....guess that's another breed I can hopefully replace next year (quite fancy a Wheaten Marans or Copper Blue but they have proved tricky for me to acquire thus far). Amongst a few others, my Leghorn suddenly died too, she was my banker for eggs all Winter but no more Really looking forward to the "rainbow egg basket" again next season, I too have about 4/7 cream or brown eggs a day currently, off a Sussex, a Bluebell, some red sexlinks and strangely my older Silkies are still laying too. The ducks are still going strong but they don't seem to sell as well round here...don't like duck eggs myself, I find them too rich. Ok in a cake but generally not for me.

Right...I'm off to do dinner just now...love that the birds are already tucked in bed...it's great to be able to settle on the sofa after tea rather than do the rounds!