Long time...

[Cab]

Hi all, haven't been around for a while (too much to do!) but thought I'd check in to say hi.

Lost a couple of girls from my flock recently - Jane, my shoutiest chicken, a bluebell who came back from infection last year, came down with a similar malaise this year. Seemed to be something that hit her when she might be expected to go broody. I couldn't put her through that again, so I took the hard decision to euthanise. Sad, but there you go.

Then on Sunday our white leghorn unexpectedly just dropped dead. No symptoms, she'd laid an egg that day (as she did every day!), was wandering around with the others, went back in to the house and we found her dead. No outward or, on investigation, inward signs - and everyone else in the flock is fine! Complete mystery.

So we're down to four. A goldline (Mary) who's just slowing down having laid since the start of last summer, our rhode rock Matilda who's the same age as Mary and is going steady enough producing five or so eggs a week, our ancient speckled Bess who's still the boss (and a better alpha hen you could not hope for) still managing four or so eggs per week (miraculous at her age), and then theres Edie the cream legbar, giving us green eggs most days (having come on to lay on Christmas day).

Considering another two next weekend, providing the four I have continue showing no symptoms of anything wrong. Maybe a lilac sussex and a snowball or an amber from Jessies Hens in Cambridge (lovely folk who care a lot for their hens). But I don't know - exploring options and about to dust off the spare hen house and run this weekend.

Hope all here are keeping well!

Cab.

 

[Marigold]

Hi Cab, good to hear from you, and I'm glad all is going well. I expect your leghorn had a heart attack, that's quite common in hens. A good way to go, really. It will be nice for you to get some new ones, all the same. People like you and me, who can only keep 4-6 hens and can manage to resist the desire to cram a few more in, only get the chance rather rarely, I find. And there's always the problem about when to call time on the older ones, to make room for new blood.
I've just today come back with two new little girls, 13 weeks old, a Chalk Hill Blue and a Chalk Hill Chestnut Ranger, who should provide blue and brown eggs if I can get them into lay before the autumn shutdown. I really wanted a Columbian Blacktail, but wasn't able to get to Chalk Hill Poultry until a few days after the latest batch were ready, and someone had come along and bought the lot in the meantime. But the little growers are very pretty and are already feeding and having a lovely dustbath. I've sectioned off the end of the run for them, though the older girls don't seem to be taking any notice of them really. In the past I've had older girls who have made an enormous fuss when new ones appear through the mesh and try to attack them. Let's hope they go on co-existing for the weeks the little ones are eating growers pellets. They will bring me up to six,and I shall let the numbers drop back to four before taking on any more, through natural wastage I hope, but they are all so damn healthy, they just won't pop their clogs to order! I got a discount when I told him abouts my previous hens from him, and said how I kept recommending Chalk Hill on poultry forums, plus they cost less being growers rather than POLs,plus we were able to just divert a couple of miles from our route back from Dorset after a weekend away, thus saving a lot of fuel on a special two-hour round trip, so the total bill was very satisfactory!