I’ve had six hens for about one month, two Rhode/rocks, two Columbian Blacktails and two French Marans. They seem to have been doing very well up to now and I am getting two or three eggs each day. They are usually waiting impatiently for their afternoon mixed seed treat and go mad for it when I broadcast it. However for the past couple of days I have been a bit concerned about one of the Blacktails. She definitely seems to be off her food and when I walk up behind her she squats down as if wanting to be picked up and is very docile if I do. This afternoon when I fed them she was nowhere to be seen and I found her roosted in the hen house. She came out but showed very little interest in the seeds and went back inside after a few minutes. She has a bit of a messy bum, so could worms be the problem?
They crouch down like that when a male bird approaches and will sometimes do that when you go to pick them up too.
It could be worms, a good starting point is to treat them with Flubenvet but there are many other possibilities so I would keep a close eye on her and if she doesn’t improve, take her to the vet.
Good luck John.
Thank you for your good advice. I’m treating them with Flubenvet this week. The Blacktail seems to have recovered her composure and is back to rude health but one of the Marans is looking peaky now. She is usually the one at the bottom of the pecking order. Both Marans tend to get some aggro from the Rhodies. The stronger one is a fine bird with a statuesque bearing who gives back as good as she gets but the peaky one tends to cower, often alone, in a separate part of the run. One of the hens, I don’t know which, has produced two very large eggs with double yolks in the past week. For such young hens, I imagine that this could be difficult and possibly painful. Is there any particular reason for this and are some breeds prone to it more than others?
Double yolks are technically a ‘fault’ and normally only occur in high producing hybrids when they are young, often at the beginning of the laying cycle. As they mature they should go back to laying single yolk eggs.
Recently had one of our hens attacked by the others, to the point where they had cornered her and pecked her rear end until her insides were coming out. very distressing for the hen and us. I did put her out of her misery (bravely). why did they do this? we have only had the hens for two weeks, purchased from a free range farm where 6000 hens kept in a huge barn with free access to outside. all hens were in good condition. we had kept them in a small enclosure to start with, to get them used to their new home, we have today enlarged their outside enclosure and this seems to have calmed them down. was it something to do with the pecking order, we have two hens who seem very dominant. or did we keep them to closely confined?
Hens are attracted to the colour red. If a hen has a prolapse, part of her oviduct hangs out and this attracts others that will peck at it. It can be nasty.
High egg production hens are more likely to have a prolapse than pure breeds.
Thanks for that, nice to know that it was just natural behaviour. They do all seem to have settled in really well, and we are averaging around 10 – 12 eggs a day now. We sell them in our village and they are most appreciated. We love watching the chickens chasing the grasshoppers, too funny, they go wild for them. Like your site very much, lots of useful information, thank you.
hi need your advice ,what do you think about giving my girls probiotic , and could give me the name a one
I’m sorry I haven’t tried this before.
You could try Beryl’s friendly bacteria from Chickenvet maybe?
one of my sablepoots hss got a bit of a sneeze any ideas cheers
Sorry, the symptoms are too general, she may have a cold, or it could be something more sinister.
I’ve had six hens for about one month, two Rhode/rocks, two Columbian Blacktails and two French Marans. They seem to have been doing very well up to now and I am getting two or three eggs each day. They are usually waiting impatiently for their afternoon mixed seed treat and go mad for it when I broadcast it. However for the past couple of days I have been a bit concerned about one of the Blacktails. She definitely seems to be off her food and when I walk up behind her she squats down as if wanting to be picked up and is very docile if I do. This afternoon when I fed them she was nowhere to be seen and I found her roosted in the hen house. She came out but showed very little interest in the seeds and went back inside after a few minutes. She has a bit of a messy bum, so could worms be the problem?
They crouch down like that when a male bird approaches and will sometimes do that when you go to pick them up too.
It could be worms, a good starting point is to treat them with Flubenvet but there are many other possibilities so I would keep a close eye on her and if she doesn’t improve, take her to the vet.
Good luck John.
Thank you for your good advice. I’m treating them with Flubenvet this week. The Blacktail seems to have recovered her composure and is back to rude health but one of the Marans is looking peaky now. She is usually the one at the bottom of the pecking order. Both Marans tend to get some aggro from the Rhodies. The stronger one is a fine bird with a statuesque bearing who gives back as good as she gets but the peaky one tends to cower, often alone, in a separate part of the run. One of the hens, I don’t know which, has produced two very large eggs with double yolks in the past week. For such young hens, I imagine that this could be difficult and possibly painful. Is there any particular reason for this and are some breeds prone to it more than others?
Double yolks are technically a ‘fault’ and normally only occur in high producing hybrids when they are young, often at the beginning of the laying cycle. As they mature they should go back to laying single yolk eggs.
Recently had one of our hens attacked by the others, to the point where they had cornered her and pecked her rear end until her insides were coming out. very distressing for the hen and us. I did put her out of her misery (bravely). why did they do this? we have only had the hens for two weeks, purchased from a free range farm where 6000 hens kept in a huge barn with free access to outside. all hens were in good condition. we had kept them in a small enclosure to start with, to get them used to their new home, we have today enlarged their outside enclosure and this seems to have calmed them down. was it something to do with the pecking order, we have two hens who seem very dominant. or did we keep them to closely confined?
Hens are attracted to the colour red. If a hen has a prolapse, part of her oviduct hangs out and this attracts others that will peck at it. It can be nasty.
High egg production hens are more likely to have a prolapse than pure breeds.
Thanks for that, nice to know that it was just natural behaviour. They do all seem to have settled in really well, and we are averaging around 10 – 12 eggs a day now. We sell them in our village and they are most appreciated. We love watching the chickens chasing the grasshoppers, too funny, they go wild for them. Like your site very much, lots of useful information, thank you.
hi need your advice ,what do you think about giving my girls probiotic , and could give me the name a one
I’m sorry I haven’t tried this before.
You could try Beryl’s friendly bacteria from Chickenvet maybe?
one of my sablepoots hss got a bit of a sneeze any ideas cheers
Sorry, the symptoms are too general, she may have a cold, or it could be something more sinister.