[cachehunny]

Hi everyone.  
i got my chickens on saturday.  5 in total.  i have treated them for mite as one had feathers missing and a chicken breeder friend of mine checked them for me at the same time she showed me how to clip their wings.   She said they had mites so i've powdered them a couple of days ago.  
My query is this,  they have a house that we made and it's sheltered from the heavy rain and wind we are having at the moment,  i have opened the door to the house and they are at the moment rosey around the run, i'm just checking that it's alright for me to let them out on days like today,  as they don't seem to keen to wonder too far from the house, is this normal.  
jacqueline
as promised here is a photo of some of my girls sunbathing yesterday. 
i've called them Doris, Marge, Thelma, Louise and the 5th one the kiddies have called Mary clucky

[ANHBUC]

Hi Jacqueline and welcome to the site.  Your hens look well feathered so they should be fine.  They have shelter so they will decide when they are wet enough and then spend time preening themselves.  Mine sometimes look like drowned rats as they love scratting about for tasty morsels in the rain.      Once under cover a shake of their feathers and they are back to looking like chickens again.

[splash101]

Hi,

it might be that they are still settling in if you only got them on Saturday.

i've had different chickens over the years and prior to the ones i have now, none of them ever took shelter even in really heavy downpours (they all looked like drowned rats)

the ones i have now (i got these beginning of November last year) will take shelter when it hails or in very heavy downpours.
Of all the places that they could shelter, they have decided they want to go into my mini plastic greenhouse (its empty so i dont mind)
They only stay in there for short periods though.

As long as there is an area for them to shelter, its upto them if they use it.

They are free ranging all day at the moment until OH builds walk in run with roof.

[compostqueen]

They love rain and will spend hours in it. I used to like them to be dry before they went to bed though and so they had a covered run and I always had a straw bale shelter which I moved about where they could huddle together.  In the covered run I would spread out Aubiose or Hemcore bedding which dried their feet nicely so the coop didn't wet or muddy when they went to bed

They don't mind being wet but they don't really like to be cold and wet

[cachehunny]

oh that's ok, thankyou for your help.   i'm just suffering from shock at the moment as one of my chooks has a lump on the side of her face , i think she has pecked on something sharp , so i've just phoned the vet and was kind of shocked at the price of a consultation for a wee chook.  £18 and that's before any medication is prescribed.  i'm also a bit annoyed at the fact that they would not allow me to have her seen and medication prescribed and then pay on friday as that's when i get my money, i've managed to scrape together £23 and told them this , now i'm just hopeing that it's not too much for the medicine.   i can't believe that they were going to make me leave her till friday, by then it could've been too late.  

[Prod]

My vet charges £15 for a small animal consultation but we are in a very rural area and it is mainly a 'farm' vet although they do vaccinate my cat & dog.  I told them I keep chickens and cant afford the fee every time I need antibiotics (plus the 40 mile round trip) but I dont want the chickens to suffer. I describe the symptoms over the phone and if I need  antibiotics they just charge me £4 for 3 injections  which I can pick up on a saturday when I am in town.

[joyfull]

I have quite a few hens that sleep all year round in the trees and hedges. In the depths of winter they appear in the mornings with a frost all over their feathers. If they have large combs then in winter I will vaseline them but not all the time as they can be very difficult to grab hold of, but luckily most of mine have small combs  . They sleep outside in the pouring rain too so your hens will be fine.
As for vets fees then the consultation for a chicken is no shorter than that of a dog so the fee they are charging you is pretty normal. Unless you are very experienced with diagnosing your hens problems then they should be taken to a vet for swabs and other tests to be taken. This is no different to treating your pet dog or cat. Most vets will not treat and then agree for a payment at a later date unless the animal is booked in for a second appointment the following week or so - after all you cant go into a supermarket and ask to pay for your goods in a few days time. Sorry if I come across as harsh saying all this but they are a business and running a business myself I can see where they are coming from.

[cachehunny]

thankyou all for your advice and comments. 
Louise was put to sleep this morning as the vet said this was probably the best thing for her as it looks like she had had this for quite a while and obviously not been taken to the vet .  i'm really angry with myself for not noticing this sooner, but the vet said that even with anitbiotics there was a chance that because the infection was so bad , she may not make it .   I did not want her to suffer .  It was horrible, while we were at the vets the vet pulled out an awful lot of puss from louises mouth the poor thing must have been in agony. 
i am now going to get them insured like i have done with my dog and two cats.  and have decided that i'm going to be making sure that i put money aside each week for the chooks just like i do for the other pets. 
i'm really going to miss her and although i only had her for a couple of days there was already a bond , today has certainly been a very harsh learning curve for me. 

[joyfull]

so sorry, often when a chicken is ill it will hide any illness for a long time because often the other hens will kill them. So you probably wouldn't have noticed anything  .
I am not aware of any insurance for chickens though so if you do find any then please do share as I'm sure others may be interested.

[cachehunny]

so sorry, often when a chicken is ill it will hide any illness for a long time because often the other hens will kill them. So you probably wouldn't have noticed anything  .
I am not aware of any insurance for chickens though so if you do find any then please do share as I'm sure others may be interested.

hi joyfull.  that's exactly what the vet said, and would probably explain why maryclucky kept picking on her. 
i will certainly let you know what my findings are with regards to insuring my girls. 
take care
jacqueline

[ANHBUC]

   So sorry.

Maybe your chicken breeder friend could go with you to check the hens over if you buy any more to save you the worry and distress of getting an unhealthy hen.  Hope that you have better luck with your other girls.  

[cachehunny]

 So sorry.

Maybe your chicken breeder friend could go with you to check the hens over if you buy any more to save you the worry and distress of getting an unhealthy hen.  Hope that you have better luck with your other girls.  

Thankyou ANHBUC however i'm not thinking of getting anymore , i just wanted to get these girls away from the life they were in and the immenant trip to the slaughter house.  i've just emailed a company called LMR regarding chicken insurance i will let you all know the outcome as they are emailing me back. 
jacqueline

[jhub]

Regarding the comments about vets fees.
My vet charges £45 for a consult for my dog but at least the insurance company covers 90% of that fee. However the local  poultry vet charges £70 for a consult and while I agree that business costs need to be met  I fail to understand the disparity in these fees. I would welcome insurance policies for back yard chickens.
Jane