[turnip]

Hi,
 yes I'm using poultry drink in their water too and am sure it has helped encourage eating and drinking if only as its a fab pink colour!!  girls will be girls!

Ruby is eating much more today and seems much more alert so maybe a lot of it was just that she needed more time.    Am now leaving off the bio yoghurt after some very stinky poo though!   

Rosie is doing fab Jenny seemed quite happy with her in the eglu over night and only a few disagreements during the day today.  Had to bring her in at teatime though as it started raining and she didnt seek shelter and is still very bald! 

Hope your little one is ok soon CattinJ,  Ruby is in the garden in a temporary chicken wire run during the day so she can see the others and be seen and sleeps in the conservatory where she prefers perching in the bookcase to the carboard box bed provided.
Also just a thought, Ruby spent a lot of time with her eyes closed which was apparently from the ammonia at the battery farm stinging her eyes, I did wonder if she was blind at one point as she found the water bowl by stepping in it rather than looking for it but now as she seems to be feeling a bit better she seems to be looking around more so maybe is not blind but just  had sore eyes so preferred to have them closed.


best wishes and lots of love to all the girls we're all worrying about! I wouldnt be without them for a second! xxx turnip

[CattinJ]

Hello,
just wondered how your girls are getting on?  Our news is that the one I was worried about (Snuggles) seems to have perked up a lot with apple cider vinegar, poultry spice and some free ranging when we are in the garden with her. The others do pick on her a lot so we are keeping an eye on the situation and have have taken the bully out of the coop at night recently.  I have resorted to a spray gun to squirt the others when their pecking seems more than just normal behaviour.... did anyone else get VERY stressed and chicken obsessed when they first got their new arrivals?

[Flowerpower136]

Yes, I think it's quite normal.  Worrying about all sorts of imaginery illnesses, when really apart from feathers and a bit of readjustment, I think they are all fit as fleas.  Though one is sneezing a bit....... ........Worry, Worry, Worry....... ..........can chickens get swine flu........only kidding.........or am I?

[turnip]

Hi everyone,

 just an update,  our sleepy one Ruby is much better and has put on 400g in the 2 weeks we've had her. What a clever girl!!

She is out free ranging with Jenny (the original one) and Rosie the other ex batt all day now. Tonight is her first night in the eglu with them though as they were picking on her too much before and she never retaliates.
I was a bit worried as now she is eating for england Rosie seems more threatened by her especially early mornings but I think that having her sleeping in the conservatory was making it worse so have decided to bite the bullet and put them all in together at night as I think this helped Rosie settle in with Jenny more quickly.

One more stupid question , I read that the girls get riled up by the colour red and just realised that when they are most aggressive to each other early morning is when I'm out in the garden with them in my red dressing gown hanging out washing from my red laundry basket!  am I making things worse or am I just being a basket  case? ?   

love from turnip.xxx

[Flowerpower136]

I've heard that too.  I was told that was why I should have those red bottomed feeders/drinkers because they would institinctively peck at it.  They've now been replaced with sturdier green bottom feeders/drinkers, and hens are just as attracted to them!

I've recently given up on our wooden internal nesting boxes - awful for cleaning and drying, and put in 3 storage containers, generally used in garages for storing parts.  They are red, and no probs so far, war hasn't broken out, and the eggs are all intact.  So, I wouldnt worry too much..........perhpas keep away from bulls first thing ?

[karlooben]

hi there i am glad your girl is picking up  theres nothing worse then a sick ex batt as all u want to do is give them a good home and then it goes wrong .

p.s flowerpot i read that u are using storage containers are they the tpyes that u can get in the stacker units for kids toys or kitchen storage items , the thin plastic ones if they are please be carefull as i used them for nest boxes an 1 tipped up over 2 girls trapped under neath it for quite a few hours the poor girls were dripping with sweat an looked bad when i noticed what had happened .

[Flowerpower136]

p.s flowerpot i read that u are using storage containers are they the tpyes that u can get in the stacker units for kids toys or kitchen storage items , the thin plastic ones if they are please be carefull as i used them for nest boxes an 1 tipped up over 2 girls trapped under neath it for quite a few hours the poor girls were dripping with sweat an looked bad when i noticed what had happened .

These are strong plastic for use in garages or engineering workshops, they'd don't stack but designed to hook on to a rack system.  They have a slightly lower front edge for easy access to the spares/parts that they were designed to house.  I do take your point, and have been watching carefully, but the girls have taken well to them, and haven't yet managed to tip them up, despite being able to upend any other container I've introduced them to so far .

I got them from an Engineering type supplier.  OH spotted them when he was buying some techy type thing or other....  Compared to the wooden internal boxes that we'd made, these are a dream to clean and get dry.  And as a couple of my girls are still sleeping in them (Tut!) this is quite important!

[joyfull]

Sounds like they are Lin-bins which are sturdy - never thought of using them, so might borrow this idea, thanks 

[karlooben]

thats good then as i would never recommend anyone to use those stacker boxes theyare dangerous .