Hen Brothel in my Garden

Last week was a bit of a worry. Periodically, I spend nights away from home. When my daughter lived with me, this was not a problem. Generally, it is not a problem. 24 hours isn't really long enough for the hens to get broody over the eggs not being removed, and they have a nice 2m WIR to walk around in.

For indoor use really, so I hang it well under cover

However last week, the temperature was set to drop to well below freezing. I had glug water bowls frozen solid so I was in a panic as I had to spend the next night and following day away from home, so wouldn't be around to put fresh water out. My neighbour was away as well so I couldn't ask him. I fretted but fortunately the temperatures rose.

Looks like a chicken brothel at night

I was voicing my concerns to a pal, Penny. She suggested an infra-red lamp as a solution. She had one that she no longer needed - she had used it when she kept her cats in an outhouse overnight while she was having an extension built, which was too cold. Now she had extended the house so the cat could sleep indoors and she offered to lend me her lamp.

She said it was a poultry lamp. As the photo shows, it is a big thing with a cage protecting the bowl. I put it on to test it out. During the daytime it is hardly noticeable, but at night it bathes the end of the garden in an eerie red glow.

However, the most important thing is it does stop their water freezing. I have tested it out overnight when all the other glugs have frozen solid, yet the two in the WIR near the lamp remain nice and liquid.

My worries are over. It is not the perfect solution since the wire runs over the ground, but I only need to use it occasionally so I'm happy with that. It's better than thirsty chickens.

Patchwork Quilted Cube Cover

Jogging bottoms gave up their life to save an eglu cube cover

Well, the weather finally warmed up enough for me to think about repairing the quilted eglu cover.

First I had to try it out inside next to the radiator. It didn't smell.....all that much :)

Next I needed to find some fabric to patch it with. This was much more difficult. I haven't done any sewing in earnest, as in making things, for quite a long time so I have no scraps. I ended up cutting a square out of the leg of some old jogging bottoms that I had used for painting white gloss work (and were therefore liberally bespattered with gloss paint).

I surprised myself by remembering actually how to sew and making what I think is a fairly good job of it

As you can see, there are still little mice chew holes on the green edging, and the fabric is cotton rather than the slightly water-repellent cube cover fabric. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with my efforts. Now at least I don't need to worry about the silver stuffing dropping out and flying all over the garden in the wind.

Preparing for the Snow and pesky mice

For the past two days, the Met office have been forecasting snow. It is shown at its worst over Ireland and the North and West of England, but certainly it was shown as coming as far as the south east.

So I assembled the cube, added a half-meter extension (I have a meter extension, but one of the side panels seems to be missing) and then went into the garage to pull out the quilted cube cover. As I did so what looked like silver tinsel scattered to the floor. It appears that mice have had a go at it and chewed a hole to try to extract the sliver filling to make nests.

I had previously realised I had mice in the ground floor of my garage when I went to top up my bird feeders and noticed that the metal lid was not on. I ALWAYS leave it closed, in case of mice. When I opened it I saw that the peanut bag had been shredded. Some muscular mice must live in my garage.

Hopefully they have good appetites because after the damage to my eglu cover, I've put down the rat poison.

I can repair the cover by sewing on a small patch. However in the short term I've just stuck some sticky plastic over the hole, rather badly. It needs repairing soon, but I wanted to get it all ready for this snow.....this photo was taken this morning in bright sunshine. Snow may well be around the corner, but it doesn't look like it.


Still, it is good to be all prepared so I can get my chooks all snug and safe should we get bad weather. My two bantam silkies, Velvet and Lulu, are not waterproof and my bantam frizzle as well as the silkies all have feathery legs which get very bedraggled in the wet or snow.

RIP Amber

Sadly, after an initial improvement, Amber's condition worsened. Sunday morning saw her just sitting on the nest box. I had to go out that day, so I moved Maud to an adjacent run - for a while she was the only chicken in the large 10 chicken eglu cube! I wondered about dosing Amber up with metacam, but I didn't really want to disturb her as she was quite peaceful. When I returned, she had died in the same position so I think she was just drifting off.

These two photos were taken earlier this year, when she was her usual friendly, hale and hearty self. I'm sure her decline derived from that very first virus which I noted on 3rd January. Amazing how fast they go downhill.

Peritonitis

After my last post, Amber's condition deteriorated. Her abdomen became distended and hard and she was standing around with her legs apart looking hunched. Also her comb was looking bluish so I booked an appointment with the vet last night.

The vet removed 1ltr of fluid from Amber's abdomen. He said it was starting to impede her breathing (which was why her comb was showing a bluish tinge - something I wasn't aware of). She was immediately more perky! He said there was more there but he didn't want to risk removing too much.

He thought it was most likely peritonitis, although it could be tumour or cardiac but difficult to tell without running expensive tests. He prescribed baytril twice daily and metacam once daily. I dosed her with both upon arriving home in the evening and by the next morning she looked so much better. I have to treat her for 10 days. So far so good. The vet said that her body should absorb any further liquid as she recovered. Once treated with Baytril I've been told that her eggs are no longer suitable for human consumption.The vet did say I could use tylan since I already had a stock, but when I specifically asked which was better to treat peritonitis if that was indeed what she had, he said Baytril. I'd rather have a healthy hen and throw away the eggs than risk using a less suitable antibiotic so I went with that. Also, I had treated her with Tylan in November for her suspected Myco, so I wasn't sure it would be good to go again with the same anti-biotic.

I do hope this clears it up completely. Chicken keeping is a journey of discovery. I find the Omlet forums very good and helpful for sharing experiences and advice - and the advice I got very rapidly when I described Amber's symptoms was to take her to the vet as she possibly had peritonitis. It can also get expensive but if you do decide to keep animals of any sort, it is really important to care for them properly, whatever that costs.

Wormed ready for winter

This weekend I made a start on winter preparations, moving the pink and green eglus onto the patio. It is still relatively mild (7C to 10C) so I'm not to worried, but I'd like to have them ready to move into before the cold really hits. I had to completely wash the pink eglu as it had been in the WIR with the bantams and got really, REALLY dusty.

I have one run out ready to attach to one eglu. I will set up the other eglu as well, but I'm debating about moving the eglu cube onto the patio. Having 5 bantams in one eglu with a 2M run seems a little tight, whereas having the two medium hybrids, Amber and Maud, in an eglu with a 2M tunnel would work, and then having the 2 bantam wyandottes, Buffy and Vera, together with the tiny bantam silkies, Lulu and Velvet and the event tinier bantam frizzle, Lyra together in the larger cube seems rather nicer. The cube does wheel around very easily so I may do this all next weekend.

I started worming them today - 7 days worth of Flubenvet. I mixed 12g in with 4Kg of feed and followed advice I'd seen on one of the forums. I mixed the first cupful of feed with a small amount of olive oil to ensure that the flubenvet powder would stick. I then mixed handfuls of dry pellets with the oily ones. The oiliness (and flubenvet) spread evenly throughout. Once I'd mixed up about 1kg of this mixture, I reversed the process, mixing the flubenvet pellets in with the untreated ones until I had 4kg of fully mixed worming pellets.

I also read on the Omlet forums that working chooks can improve their condition. Mine are looking a little pale (apart from the two black skinned ones). Amber has recently had some mycoplasma infection which I successfully treated with tylan. She is no longer snuffling or having clicky breathing, but she does look under the weather and they all have pale combs.

I think some chicken spice and maybe a bit of tonic in the water may be in order.

Amber, Clicky Breathing and mucus around the eyes

Crouched down watching & chatting to my hens just before shutting them up tonight, I spotted Amber's (amber star) cheeks were going concave each time she breathed in, and bulging out when she breathed out. There was a slight click between breaths, and occasionally, a few bubbles would appear in the inner corner of one or other eye.

I would suspect some sort of cold virus, but her nostrils are completely clear - no discharge or snot and she seems otherwise absolutely fine.

I have had hens for 8 years, and have had snotty chickens that have recovered after a few days. I've never noticed this cheek movement and bubbly eyes before.

I have some Tylan so I'm going to give amber a 7 day course.