A Quick Update on my Girls

cuwiar

cuwiar

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Hello, I just thought I'd post and let you all now how things are going with our current posse of ladies!

Very sadly the last of our original three died on Saturday night. She's the girl in my profile picture and she was an absolute star. Our best layer and a lovely character. It was a hectic weekend and I don't really think it's sunk in that she's not with us now. I keep expecting her to pop up from somewhere. It was crop problems that got her, the same as the other two originals. I'm not sure if it's down to something I'm doing wrong but it seemed a very quick downward spiral for Mehefin. She was hunched and had sour crop so I withheld food for 24 hours. Her crop still hadn't gone down completely after that so I only let her have raw egg and natural yoghurt the next day to try and keep her strength up but she just went downhill quickly and got very weak to the point where she wouldn't even eat meal worms. She had oregano in her water and garlic but she just went to sleep and didn't make the night.

We still have four girls left. Two Partridge - Freckle & Speckle, and two Bluebelles - Glas ac Gloch.

We haven't had the chance to spend as much quality time with these four so they are a little more hand shy. One of the partridge, Freckle, is lovely and very friendly but the other one squawks and pegs it if you even look in her direction, she goes broody as quick as the weather changes and she's a bit mean to the others so, not my favourite so far!! Haha! The bluebells have potential to be very friendly but we need to commit more time to bond with them. Overall they are all doing well. We want to take a couple of the newbies from the school (see other post) but the logistics of it are tricky!
 
Hi, Cuwiar, good to hear how you are getting on. Sorry about Mehefin, they do leave a hole, don't they? But at least she went quickly and peacefully and spared you the hard decision. When my scatty Marigold passes on, I shall feel the same.
Bluebelles are very pretty birds, aren't they? I've heard others say they can tend to be shy and less forthcoming than some breeds.
 
Sorry to hear about Mehefin Cuwiar. We lost Victoria earlier in the year with very similar symptoms. Sour crop which wouldn't empty. The reason is slow digestive transit caused by an obstruction somewhere for whatever reason. In Victoria's case it was either advanced cankers or a tumour -she was over 6. Her digestion had always been iffy. She had an impacted gizzard caused by damson stones -being an Orpington she pigged them whole. That took a month to clear. Then she became addicted to grit which resulted in a pendulous crop. So sour crop was often an issue. But this time her digestion became more constricted over time and she just wasted away. Now Verity her daughter has started. Sour crop caused by a cherry stone and grass impaction which won't clear properly yet. But early days -we've only been treating her for 2 weeks and there are signs of improvement. First time we noticed the problem was when she stopped laying and I picked her up to realise she weighed almost nothing.
 
It is really quite sad and there weren't really many signs. I've never noticed her have an impacted crop and she had still been laying. I think she was still quite young too which makes it sadder, they all have been!

One of the bluebelles is more forthcoming that the other and will squat so at least I get the chance to have a stroke and reassure her that we are nice. That one is Cloch, the other, Glas, scarpers if you get too close but will happily come over to investigate what you are up to, there is definitely potential to get some new little friends there.

Incidentally, one of the Partridge has only developed one wattle, she has a phase not long ago where she was laying fairy, fart eggs every day for quite some time but has even out now and we get lovely white eggs from both of them.

One of the Bluebelles is a regular double yolker which is great but also a little sad as it means she will run out more quickly!

How are things with the rest of your flock Chris and Marigold?

I'll try and get some pics on here of the new girls :)
 
The flock is very happy now we have moved to where they can see sun Cuwiar. The TNN youngsters cornered a grass snake earlier in the week with a view to eating it. I managed to lure them away though. We lost Merlin, our Blue Laced Wyandotte cock. After Bumble, his favourite hen, died he lost interest in life completely. He spent weeks looking around for her and waiting for her to come out of the coop. He just wasted away for no apparent reason. His French replacement called Zebedee is a funny little chap who arrived with no tail feathers because the mice ate them -big problem here. He sits in a tree and waits for sparrows then jumps down on them. He's caught at least one which the hens ate. Our last original Orpington died in her 8th year having never been ill before she developed a heart condition. Bottom is still with us in the kitchen next door. He got a new lease of life when we arrived, having recovered fully from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Verity is still pooing just small amounts of rubbish and gets tired quickly. We are keeping her hydrated and fed, but may have to flush out her crop again if the contents go sour. That action started the clearance of the system -probably due to the struggling about. We haven't given up on her yet. She is brought out of the enclosure in the morning and wanders, supervised, around the lawn looking for grubs, which she really enjoys.
 
Wow! There is a lot going on Chris, as ever!

Merlin's tale is very sad, it sound like he died from a broken heart :(

It's funny you mention eating sparrows because plenty get in with our girls run but they are never bothered with them. If it was a mouse on the other hand, they would chuck it around and break every bone in it's poor body but not necessarily eat it. Or, at least, Mehefin would have any way!

I'm glad to hear Bottom still has his rightful place!

It's beautifully sunny here at the moment but I'm still pretty envious of you living somewhere where it's a bit more guaranteed!

I'll try and pop on the forum more frequently, rather than just when I have a problem!
 
Sooooo pleased to hear Bottom is still with you Chris, we miss the tales of his antics :)
 
Bottom is tapping at my leg as I type BabyBantam -he wants a cuddle. He likes this house because it is all on one level with few internal doors and he can stand at the exterior doors and look outside. (Even better of us is it being fully tiled- makes cleaning easy). Outside slightly sloping ground with loads of sunshine -sometimes too much for him in fact. We have to keep him in afternoons because it is just "too hot for an old Bot". His favourite occupation at the moment is wandering along a section of wild plum hedgerow 'pigging out'.
 
Marigold and Nutmeg are still going strong at 3 and a half, along with a couple of hybrids a year younger, though they're all getting on a bit and the eggshells are getting thinner, so I shall have to think about getting a couple more POLs before the autumn to keep us in eggs this winter. I shall try to get Columbian Blacktails as my little Ginger still hasn't stopped laying or paused for a moult for two years, since she started in October 2012, and is the smallest hen who lays the biggest eggs. Marigold and Nutmeg both grow enormous long thick spurs, like cockerels, though they're not crowing and both laying quite well. Is this common in purebreds? M. Is Buff Sussex and N. Is CLB, the hybrids never seen to grow them. Yesterday I had a hens' beauty parlour day and cut all their nails which had got very long, plus a chunk off the spurs. I notice that the central nail always seems to get very long in all of them, as if they don't use this for scratching as much as the outer ones. Strange.
 
Hi Marigold, it's great to hear Marigold and Nutmeg are still doing well! I've no idea about spur growth to be honest, none of ours seem to have them. I agree with the small hens/big egg scenario though, some of our smaller hens definitely lay the largest, sometimes you can hear the poor thing squeaking as she lays! :(

One of our Partridge is moulting at the minute but she's handling it very well and is still very lively and has a good appetite, at least she will get it out of the way before winter.

Great to hear all is well in The Poultry Forum land :)
 
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