I'm getting ready!!

[LadyA]

I've spent the whole afternoon cleaning out, scrubbing, disinfecting and putting a coat of wood preserver on the outside of the main henhouse! I'm exhausted! Why oh why did I not at least clean out the old bedding when the last batch of hens went over a year ago? I suppose at the time, I wasn't exactly in a great place, emotionally, and haven't been able to motivate myself to do any more than what absolutely needs to be done as regards outside work. But suddenly, I'm ready to start again, and get more hens. So the huge job of cleaning etc. is done, and the house is ready for its new residents! I need to get some stuff to put on the floor of the run over the paving slabs, get some feed and then get the hens. Very excited!

 

[NicolsT]

What are you after this time LadyA? A mixed bag like before, or a particular breed. How many? Do you have a good source locally?
I remember Pighalet with some fondness!!
Well done for getting the work done.....there's a good feeling about a task completed isn't there?

 

[LadyA]

I'll probably go for just laying hybrids again, but not sure whether I'll just get brown girls or get a mix. Although, a friend of mine breeds Light Sussex, and he'll have pullets ready in a few weeks, and I'm tempted. Actually, I think that from now, I'm going to adopt an "all in/all out" policy, and have a change of birds every eighteen months or so. For that, the Light Sussex would make more sense, as we could eat them! But I guess we could at least make soup from the hybrids!

Ah yes. Pigahlet-my-Pigahlet! with her chronic sinus problem! Yes, I have missed her, thundering up the pen, twice the size of the others!

 

[RichmondHens]

How exciting for you. Glad you feel ready to have hens again.

 

[dinosaw]

Always exciting getting new birds in. Tough (but nice) choice for you, so much more meat on the Sussex but then again a lot less eggs from them. Sounds like they will be lucky birds whoever gets picked.

 

[Marigold]

And they do go broody....
Not sure why you feel you want to have a total sweep every 18 months, though - my 5 girls range in age from 18 months to 6.5 years, are all healthy, and are all still laying 3-6 eggs a week, including the oldest Cream Legbar, far more than we can possibly eat.
Would you really want to eat them, LadyA? Wouldn't they be a bit tough at 18 months, anyway?

 

[rick]

Knowing the problems that my brown hybrids had I think they would be best if you did have a strict 18 month policy. They are such great characters and lay big brown eggs flat out but run serious risks after 2 years.

 

[Minorcafan]

You may end up with such great characters that you will not want to cull any

 

[rick]

You may end up with such great characters that you will not want to cull any

I certainly couldn't but in one way or another all 3 of mine racked up veterinary interventions beyond reason before the age of 3. Maybe 18 months of free ranging, eating cabbage and quality pellets, scratching around and living in a close bonded group of nest mates with no introductions isn't so bad. They do seem to live the chicken equivalent of a 'rock and roll' lifestyle!

But sill, those factory sisters were a bit special.

 

[bigyetiman]

Good for you LadyA, looking forward to hearing what you get. The only down side to good layers is the fact they develop problems, so your idea of culling isn't a bad idea. Unless you get attached to one or two.
We have a couple of old timers still but we have room to keep them and they are characters. For those of you from PP we still have the Bluebell who acts like Darth Vader, you can almost hear the music as she thunders along beating up anything in her path, there is a squirrel still in therapy! Izzie who can get into trouble/dirty in her sleep is still running around happily to both 5 years old

 

[LadyA]

Before now, I've always let my hens live out their "natural" lives, but as I've always kept laying hybrids (except the aforementioned pigahlet, who was a cuckoo maran, who, after a few months stopped laying and started crowing, and had a chronic sinus problem, which didn't normally affect her, apart from an occasional honk!). And yes, I have always got attached to them, but! In all the years I've had hens, only ONE hen has ever just died by herself! i.e., without having to be culled because she was ill. She died of a heart attack at 2 1/2. Several have developed peritonitis, one (something I only ever came across once, thankfully), the first time she laid an egg, she lost the use of both legs for 24 hours. Totally paralysed. I had put her in a box, meaning to cull her in the evening, but once she laid the egg, she started to recover, although she was left with a limp! She lived to be 4 1/2, but every time she came back into lay, she lost the use of one leg again, and each time, it got worse and took longer for her to recover. Finally, she just didn't recover. I gave her a week, and she still couldn't put that leg under her. Very weird. She was also (although a laying hybrid) an inveterate broody! I've never raised chicks, and never had a cockerel, but that madam was turfed out of the nest box every hour, and I could have had a revolving door fitted to the sinbin! And one girl, after about six months, never laid an egg that had a fully formed shell on it. That was so terribly hard on her, that she had to go. She was from the only batch of hens I ever got from a breeder (rather than a commercial supplier), and they all went down with respiratory problems within an hour of getting them home! They recovered with treatment, but only one of them really went on to thrive, and she lived to 5 1/2.
So, I think (hope!) that keeping them 18months/2 years will avoid a lot of the illnesses, and my son in law will do the culling for me now. At that age, you certainly wouldn't roast them, but they would be good for making chicken stock. And, if they are healthy when you despatch them, at least you can eat them, whereas as it was, when I kept them for years, and they were then ill, you couldn't, and besides, by then, I was so attached to them, it would have been like eating the cat! :shock: And at least I will know that during their time here, those hennies will have had the best life a hen could possibly have, with more space than they could ever need! I'm getting six. The secure run would easily hold 20. The outside pen that the run opens into is 70 x 44ft.

 

[dinosaw]

Your experiences are similar to mine Lady A, so I think your idea is quite good one. I've kept quite a few brown commercial hybrids and as I said in a post a few years ago it is like they have a kill switch at two and a half years, never had one live through three laying seasons, peritonitis is a huge problem. It's a shame as they are normally lovely friendly birds with great personalities. I find a good way to roast older birds is to either stuff the cavity with an orange as they steam from the inside or pot roast and then brown off under the grill. Having said all that I once stewed a two and a half year old cock for four hours and he was still tough as old boots.

 

[Marigold]

Of course, if you want maximum eggs, then a brown commercial hybrid is the kind to get. But personally, I've come to prefer a mixture of non-broody hybrids, from breeds which usually lay well for several years, but will take a rest in the winter after their first year in lay, and so are less inclined to literally bust a gut by overdoing things. That way, I get an attractive-looking mix of plumage and sizes in the run, and a differently-coloured egg from each bird, which not only looks pretty but enables me to know who is laying and who is not. I also get a spread of ages in the run, with the two youngest ones carrying the load during their first winter, and the others contributing throughout the rest of their productive lifetimes. If they're all the same age, you get a glut of eggs in the first 2 years, which is OK if that's what you want, but at some cost to the birds themselves, as well as shortening their lives unnecessarily. ATM, I have 5 girls, - whatever would I do with 35 eggs a week? As it is, I'm getting 21+ a week, from birds 1-6 years old, and giving half of them away to the neighbours!

I'm not as soppy about my birds as some people are - there's nothing wrong with being soppy about them, and I do like and value them as individuals, but I don't cuddle mine, and I'm not greatly devastated when they die. I think of them as a family of productive pets who liven up the garden. My policy is to seek out a good breeder of healthy pullets, (it's crucial to get healthy stock from the start) and every couple of years, get two POLs who have no respiratory or other health issues, and give them good living conditions, sensible plain food, a clean spacious run and coop, and care for as long as they remain healthy. This can be well on into old age; even if they've stopped laying, they can enjoy their retirement. I don't give them any supplements, e.g. ACV, but I worm them regularly with flubenvet and treat any minor health problems such as infestations, minor wounds etc. Once they go down with something potentially terminal or infectious, e.g. prolapse, peritonitis, bronchitis, that's it, their time is up. Definitely no antibiotics, and no expensive vet treatments, though I do take them along to be PTS. I'm too much of a wimp to do it myself, (O.K, yes, soppy really, I suppose) and I think they deserve a peaceful ending after giving me hundreds of eggs and much entertainment over several years.
All this is just my personal approach - I do realise that there are lots of 'right ways' to keep chickens, depending on circumstances and what you need from them, and what you feel able to give in return.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Totally with you there, Marigold. Cannot abide animal neglect or cruelty but have no problem with a quick end when the end comes.
My own faux Dominiques are phenomenal layers, very pretty (barred plumage) and give me sex able chicks by the leg shading method.
Always thought that LF Silver Laced Wyandottes are really beautiful and never owned a hen of this breed. Can anyone tell us about their laying performance?

 

[LadyA]

I'm keeping an eye on my friend who breeds the Light Sussex. Maybe next time, I'll go with those, and see how we go. In theory, Marigold, I prefer your method. But having always introduced new hens to an older, established flock, I have to say it ain't my favourite thing in the world to do! 07 I'm lucky in that I have two houses and two adjacent runs, separated by about a foot so the groups can see each other and screech their heads off, but I've never found it to help with the battling it out, and I just HATE it! What I've generally done then to introduce them, is to, one at a time over a few nights, take the older girls and put them in the new girls house, so that they are the ones who end up in a strange house and a strange flock and a "new" run for a day or so, and when I have them all introduced, then I put the whole lot back in the main house. It's a right pain though, especially last time, as I got six new girls, and still had four of the old ones left! Within a month or two, the old ones were down to 1, who had always been bottom of the pecking order but now she rose to top, and she was brilliant! Firm, but not a bully.

 

[Minorcafan]

Totally with you there, Marigold. Cannot abide animal neglect or cruelty but have no problem with a quick end when the end comes.
My own faux Dominiques are phenomenal layers, very pretty (barred plumage) and give me sex able chicks by the leg shading method.
Always thought that LF Silver Laced Wyandottes are really beautiful and never owned a hen of this breed. Can anyone tell us about their laying performance?

They are not bad layers but have a tendancy to go broody. I have white slightly speckeldy hen, 6 years old who is half minorca, half SLW who still lays and has been an excellent mother. Just waiting for her to go broody this year as eggs await her

 

[LadyA]

Totally with you there, Marigold. Cannot abide animal neglect or cruelty but have no problem with a quick end when the end comes.
My own faux Dominiques are phenomenal layers, very pretty (barred plumage) and give me sex able chicks by the leg shading method.
Always thought that LF Silver Laced Wyandottes are really beautiful and never owned a hen of this breed. Can anyone tell us about their laying performance?

They are not bad layers but have a tendancy to go broody. I have white slightly speckeldy hen, 6 years old who is half minorca, half SLW who still lays and has been an excellent mother. Just waiting for her to go broody this year as eggs await her

Don't let her hear you, for goodness sake! She'll decide you're just using her, and won't bother going broody!

Five little brown girls settling in nicely in their house. They've managed to spill their water enough so I'm going to have to change the bedding later already, they knocked over the feed container (I have a Grandpa's treadle feeder in the run, but obviously, that won't fit in the house!). Luckily, I had only put a small amount of feed in the container, and refilled it a few times yesterday. I'll let them out into the run later today. They've never been outside a barn, and one of them spent most of yesterday at the window of the house looking out! I had forgotten about having to teach them to roost! :roll: I hope they all get the hang of that quickly. I could only reach four of them last night. Last one hid in the furthest corner, and I can't stretch that far, without climbing into the house, which would have caused chaos!

 

[bigyetiman]

Great you have some new girls, look forward to updates.

 

[LadyA]

Five eggs this morning! But after their stress and fright yesterday, being caught, put in a box and transported home in the car and put in a strange environment, I'm not expecting any for the next couple of days at least. They seem to be fine - all out pottering and exploring the run by late afternoon. Quite wary of the feeder, which I have locked open. When I opened the pop-hole, one had no hesitation - she was out, and down the ramp with no hesitation! She's either very brave & confident or very stupid! The second one out, came out through the entrance, and then stood at the top of the ramp looking all around and shouting her head off for ages! The other three stayed in the house, peeping out the door every now and then, listening to the two that were out, but not daring to go themselves!

Now let's see if they are clever enough to get themselves back up the ramp again. It's been raining, and the ramp has gotten slippery. I had meant to get some rubber strips to nail to it, to give them some traction, but forgot. A job for this week!

 

[LadyA]

A week on, and new girls all settled in and laying well. The first day that I let them out of the house, only one found her way back in that night! I'd say the others either were too nervous (it had been raining, and the ramp was quite slippery, and it's quite a slope as the house is 3ft off the ground) or they just left it that minute too long to go to bed and it got too dark. I found the four of them huddled up behind the feeder. The run is fully secure, so they would have been fine, but start as we mean to go on! So I put them to bed. It took four nights of lifting them onto the perch before they all learned what to do! One got it straight away, but it took four nights before the others did! They just wanted to huddle in a bunch on the floor right inside the door! Gradually, though they got it. I think the problem was that all of them want to be right inside the door! And one hen is clever enough to take herself to bed first, and get the prized spot on the perch, above the door! So there's a bit of shuffling and ruffled feathers when the others go in.

They haven't been out on grass yet, as I'm training them to use the treadle feeder, and I don't want to have that locked open with the run door also open, so they won't go out until they are comfortable using it by stepping on the treadle to open it themselves. Also, having nothing else to eat but pellets means they get used to the feeder much quicker. Today, it's locked half open for the first time, and they are very wary of it. Hopefully, another week or ten days, and I can leave it closed, and then let them out in the pen for a while.