What makes for a healthy beautiful hen?

[Vegun]

In my line of work I get to see quite a few back yard coops.

Almost always they are homes for listless, dull, hen pecked, sorry looking birds.

I'm placing the blame on dirty conditions (mounds of poop) dirty water, crowded conditions, boring monotonous diet, lack of exercise and stimulation and perhaps no love.


My girls are given the run of the large yard every day for a few hours, get fresh daily fruit and veggies along with scratch and pullet chow, clean fresh water, lots of bugs and yard plants to eat and have 160 square feet to share amongst the seven of them.

and lots of love and attention.

They are gorgeous animals. Every visitor comments about their appearance.






Or am I just seeing old birds and they all look like hell after a few years...

 

[Rich386]

In my line of work I get to see quite a few back yard coops.

Almost always they are homes for listless, dull, hen pecked, sorry looking birds.

I'm placing the blame on dirty conditions (mounds of poop) dirty water, crowded conditions, boring monotonous diet, lack of exercise and stimulation and perhaps no love.


My girls are given the run of the large yard every day for a few hours, get fresh daily fruit and veggies along with scratch and pullet chow, clean fresh water, lots of bugs and yard plants to eat and have 160 square feet to share amongst the seven of them.

and lots of love and attention.

They are gorgeous animals. Every visitor comments about their appearance.






Or am I just seeing old birds and they all look like hell after a few years...

I agree 100% about the filth in lots of coops but I have often said. Kittens turn into cats puppies turn into dogs and in this case chicks turn into chickens. Some get pets and after the novelty wears off they just do the minimum necessary to keep them.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I agree, most folks don't dedicate enough time to cleaning up after their chickens. My oldest hen lived to be 9, and she looked great for an old girl, but I'm on top of keeping things clean.
I keep Silkies now, so they're kept in an enclosed run for the most part, but they get our kitchen scraps, good quality pellets, fresh clean water, mealworm and cricket treats and free range when I have time to watch them. They're fluffy and shiny and follow me around like puppies. They just seem generally happy.
The worst coop I ever saw was when I first got into chickens. I had responded to an ad on Craigslist and went to look. The entire floor of their coop was manure. That was the bedding basically. They had hens sitting on eggs in that (and wondering why their eggs never hatched). And the worst? They were letting their young daughter run around barefoot and play with the birds in that. That coop is the reason I keep mine so clean.

So yep, I think alot of times it just boils down to plain laziness on the owners part :/