Flubenvet - Worming again

Just a quick note to say that I've wormed the 6 hens for a week starting Monday 16th August.

Beautiful little flock

The improvement in the appearance of my ex-batts has been amazing. Margot looks like a normal hen - she was always the most feathered. Flora is looking OK, but she seems to have a very bald neck and top of head. I remember Patsy looking like that when she moulted - I find it hard to believe that Flora should be moulting so soon, but as she seems otherwise well I shall just watch and see. Utterly butterly has grown an entire new set of fluffy feathers all over her bottom and even her stumpy tail feathers are beginning to regrow. her wings still look a little skeletal, but I'm pretty pleased with them all.

Here is the Photo Album that details their recovery.

Amber is a bit of a worry. She seems to have dirty bottom feathers and one of the hens is laying softies - my suspicion is that it is Amber. I've been giving her doses of limestone flour and I chicken-spice them up periodically but nothing seems to change. She seems very well in herself so I shall give her bottom a wash in warm soapy water today and not only take a close look, but see if that will do the trick. I've been reading the chicken clinic forum on the omlet website - and people often suggest that this could be a sign of worms. However I wormed them all quite recently with flubenvet. Still, if I see no improvement in a couple of weeks, another worming probably won't do them any harm.

Worming Time

I've been using Vermex - but I've read that it isn't 100% certain. Now that the newbies are fit and well, I've just started a 7 day treatment of flubenvet, bought from my vets. I made up 12kg of feed. This is enough to fill all three grub containers and the feed bucket. I estimate that this should last 6 chickens 7 days. Making a note of this for reference.

New Feathers

After last weekend's traumas cleaning out the eglus, I gave them a quick empty mid-week and then pottered around giving them a really thorough clean this weekend. The roosting bars needed only a quick wipe down, little and often is, I think, the answer. The sun was shining so I took a few pics of the newly feathered ex-batts.

In the first pic, they're enjoying (and wearing) a pasta treat.

In the second pic, the feather regrowth is really evident.

Nobody looks after my chickens like I do

The seemed fit and well, and the newbies are showing lovely new feathers, but the eglus are horribly full of Poo. Dave said he'd cleaned them once whilst I was away, and I'm sure that's true. Trouble is, I arrived back last Sunday with a terrible cold. Slept all morning and went to bed early. Back to work next day to prepare for the trip to Barcelona and then off on Tuesday. So, I had no time to clean them out. I just cleaned them today and it took ages. Usually the plastic bars need a quick wipe down, but the mud was caked on. I think that they didn't get wiped at all during my absence. The poo trays were pretty grotty as well, but at least they're lined with newspaper. The real nasty was the nest box. I usually clean out the shredded paper ever 2 or 3 days. This paper was a solid mass, like glue. True, we had run out of shredded paper, but long straw would have done nicely.

Ah well, Nepal was good fun. Saw lots of chickens in lovely condition, as well as all the sights. Maybe I need to leave a timetable for cleaning the chickens.

Ex-Batts Photo Album

It's now been just over 2 months since I collected 3 sad, bare little hens from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. I'm pleased to say that their feathers are growing very nicely and they've integrated well with my existing flock of 3. It's lovely to see them pottering around the garden and getting under my feet. Here is the photographic story of their progress

Ex-batt Photo Album

Sharing the WIR

I really want to be sure that the newbies had enough room during the day. Dave is worried about bullying, but they're my hens and having spent alot of time with them, watching them from the window as I work, I think it should be OK so I've moved them in together. This gives me time to check that no bullying is going on and that all hens have equal access to food before I go to Nepal. I think this should be OK because I have 3 eglu glug containers of water, 3 grub containers of food and an extra water dispenser in the traditional style.