Hi can you help I have 5 hens just over a year old, I had 3 more 5 weeks ago and they are 21 weeks old, a ranger, black tail and a coral the coral was pecked by her eye a few weeks ago and bled bad, I put purple spray on and it got better, but yesterday, the older one picked on her again and she bled really bad, more spray, 2 hours later they did it agin and she bled bad, it’s by her eye which is swollen and closed, a vet wanted £99 just to see her, she has opened her today but it seems sore, and they are still pecking at her, I have put some ani peck spray on her, but don’t seem to work, is there anything I can do, she is such a lovely girl. The one that most pecked her used to be the lower hen, but they all peck her.
It’s a sad thing to watch and unfortunately, chickens will sometimes be very cruel.
More space is the first thing so that she can get away more easily. She must be getting pecked in a corner as they won’t usually stand there and let it happen, they will move away on other visual cues. Modern chicken houses and runs are all well and good but are hopeless when there are problems like this.
The other thing that might help is to keep her separate until she has completely recovered and there is no sign of injury near the eye. Chickens will usually peck at blood and go for the comb area. If there is an existing injury, she will be disadvantaged. When re-introducing her, I would take out the hen that is top of the pecking order so she can sort out the differences with the other hens first.
If all else fails I would rehome her, maybe try a different hen. It is not fair to her if there is not the space for her to exist in relative normality.
My run is 18ft by 18ft a large house which can take 12 hens but I only have 8, I have 2 feeders 2 drinkers,things for them to jump up on,the worse time seems to be when they are feeding, and other times they are all right, may be when she is a little older things will be better.thanks.
Hi, I have 3 hens, a Black Rock, Barred Rock and Light Sussex which I bought at point of lay in August last year. For the last couple of months we have noticed the occasional soft shelled egg but recently this has increased along with one very small misshapen egg with a hard shell and some shelless altogether. I’m pretty sure it’s the Barred Rock. She also has a “mucky bum” and I’ve noticed some diahorrea last week. In all other respects she seems fine, eating drinking, scratching round the garden, not “unwell”. I wormed them with Flubenvet about a month ago and they have monthly Verm- X and ACV. From What I’ve read I guess she might have Infective Bronchitis, but she has no respiratory symptoms. The other two are fine. Should I isolate her maybe? I realise that euthanasia might be the only sensible choice.
There can be a number of reasons for diarrhoea and soft shelled eggs. I don’t go into detail on this site since it is supposed to be a beginners guide to keeping chickens but have a look at e poultrykeeper site:
Two of my chickens have dirty bottoms they otherwise appear healthy behaving normally, eating and drinking well what can I wash them with?
Warm water and baby shampoo is fine to use. Fill a sink or bowl and stand the chicken in it. They normally enjoy it.
Check they are wormed with Flubenvet and check under the vent for lice eggs (stuck on at the base of feather shafts). Diet can also cause a runny bottom.
Hi, we have a white star who’s just over 2 years old. My husband noticed that she wasn’t eating & seemed subdued and that when she bent her head to try & eat a bit of sweetcorn she was leaking fluid from her mouth. We did a bit of research & thought it might be sour crop, the hens are normally kept in a largish enclosure in the garden which is now mainly soil/shrub/woodchip but we do let them out into garden fairly often & thought she may have eaten long grass. My husband tried holding her with her head down to drain the fluid from her crop & she did seem a bit better though initially she was wheezing a bit. We’ve tried to give her natural yoghurt & have put ACV in the water but she’s resisting attempts to feed her & is sounding generally wheezy now. We have some Tylenol powder left from the vet & wondered if we should try dosing her with antibiotics? Any suggestions on what we could do or what we need to look out for would be welcome. I also noticed this morning that there was some greenish, thin looking poo in the hen house & am assuming that’s from her as the other 4 hens all seem fine & perky.
The symptoms are too general and I’m afraid I can’t really make any suggestions from this.
I would separate her from the others for a start and if she doesn’t perk up soon, take her to a poultry vet. Respiratory problems are quite common in chickens but that could simply be secondary infection that has struck her because of an underlying problem.
Hi my Sussex has gone broody, 4. Days staying in coop pushing eggs under her, grunting when I take them away, I have put her in a smaller fun in the main run, the floor is dirt and concreat she has food and water how long should I keep her in there and should I put her back at night, thanks
I assume you are trying to break her broodiness. I use a dog crate on a concrete floor in my garage where it is cool. They get food and water but no nesting material. In 3 or 3 days they tend to break out of it, which although it sounds harsh is kinder in the long run than letting them sit for weeks to get run down.
Sorry it’s me again,I have just brought a dog crate to put my broody sussex in, it’s 24’x 18 x 20 inch is this bigger enough, also should I put her back into the coop at night or leave her in crate a few days.
Hello Helen (also noticed on the Keeping Chickens Google+ group!)
Sounds fine. Although it seems cruel, as long as she has food and water, (she is only there for a few days) she should eventually stop her broodiness.
In my opinion, although some disagree, it’s cruel to be kind – 40 or so days sat on a nest getting run down or 4 days in a cage to stop her broodiness…. then she can go back to being a chicken (and laying!)
Sorry about this this is the 4th day my chicken has been in the the crate and no sign she is stopping being broody, I let her out just befor they go to roost at night she runs into coop, is this where I am going wrong, I have the cage in the run with the others, should she be somewhere else, I don’t have a garage
Good news my sussex has stopped being broody I hope at last,she has been in the run with the others scratching about and not going into coop, glad I kept her in the cage, I felt bad about doing it as she kept on screeching , but it seems to have worked, thanks lot for the advice.
Hi can you help I have 5 hens just over a year old, I had 3 more 5 weeks ago and they are 21 weeks old, a ranger, black tail and a coral the coral was pecked by her eye a few weeks ago and bled bad, I put purple spray on and it got better, but yesterday, the older one picked on her again and she bled really bad, more spray, 2 hours later they did it agin and she bled bad, it’s by her eye which is swollen and closed, a vet wanted £99 just to see her, she has opened her today but it seems sore, and they are still pecking at her, I have put some ani peck spray on her, but don’t seem to work, is there anything I can do, she is such a lovely girl. The one that most pecked her used to be the lower hen, but they all peck her.
It’s a sad thing to watch and unfortunately, chickens will sometimes be very cruel.
More space is the first thing so that she can get away more easily. She must be getting pecked in a corner as they won’t usually stand there and let it happen, they will move away on other visual cues. Modern chicken houses and runs are all well and good but are hopeless when there are problems like this.
The other thing that might help is to keep her separate until she has completely recovered and there is no sign of injury near the eye. Chickens will usually peck at blood and go for the comb area. If there is an existing injury, she will be disadvantaged. When re-introducing her, I would take out the hen that is top of the pecking order so she can sort out the differences with the other hens first.
If all else fails I would rehome her, maybe try a different hen. It is not fair to her if there is not the space for her to exist in relative normality.
My run is 18ft by 18ft a large house which can take 12 hens but I only have 8, I have 2 feeders 2 drinkers,things for them to jump up on,the worse time seems to be when they are feeding, and other times they are all right, may be when she is a little older things will be better.thanks.
Hi, I have 3 hens, a Black Rock, Barred Rock and Light Sussex which I bought at point of lay in August last year. For the last couple of months we have noticed the occasional soft shelled egg but recently this has increased along with one very small misshapen egg with a hard shell and some shelless altogether. I’m pretty sure it’s the Barred Rock. She also has a “mucky bum” and I’ve noticed some diahorrea last week. In all other respects she seems fine, eating drinking, scratching round the garden, not “unwell”. I wormed them with Flubenvet about a month ago and they have monthly Verm- X and ACV. From What I’ve read I guess she might have Infective Bronchitis, but she has no respiratory symptoms. The other two are fine. Should I isolate her maybe? I realise that euthanasia might be the only sensible choice.
There can be a number of reasons for diarrhoea and soft shelled eggs. I don’t go into detail on this site since it is supposed to be a beginners guide to keeping chickens but have a look at e poultrykeeper site:
http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/the-chickenvet-talks-about-diarrhoea-in-backyard-poultry
And
http://poultrykeeper.com/egg-problems/soft-thin-or-missing-egg-shells
Two of my chickens have dirty bottoms they otherwise appear healthy behaving normally, eating and drinking well what can I wash them with?
Warm water and baby shampoo is fine to use. Fill a sink or bowl and stand the chicken in it. They normally enjoy it.
Check they are wormed with Flubenvet and check under the vent for lice eggs (stuck on at the base of feather shafts). Diet can also cause a runny bottom.
Hi, we have a white star who’s just over 2 years old. My husband noticed that she wasn’t eating & seemed subdued and that when she bent her head to try & eat a bit of sweetcorn she was leaking fluid from her mouth. We did a bit of research & thought it might be sour crop, the hens are normally kept in a largish enclosure in the garden which is now mainly soil/shrub/woodchip but we do let them out into garden fairly often & thought she may have eaten long grass. My husband tried holding her with her head down to drain the fluid from her crop & she did seem a bit better though initially she was wheezing a bit. We’ve tried to give her natural yoghurt & have put ACV in the water but she’s resisting attempts to feed her & is sounding generally wheezy now. We have some Tylenol powder left from the vet & wondered if we should try dosing her with antibiotics? Any suggestions on what we could do or what we need to look out for would be welcome. I also noticed this morning that there was some greenish, thin looking poo in the hen house & am assuming that’s from her as the other 4 hens all seem fine & perky.
The symptoms are too general and I’m afraid I can’t really make any suggestions from this.
I would separate her from the others for a start and if she doesn’t perk up soon, take her to a poultry vet. Respiratory problems are quite common in chickens but that could simply be secondary infection that has struck her because of an underlying problem.
Hi my Sussex has gone broody, 4. Days staying in coop pushing eggs under her, grunting when I take them away, I have put her in a smaller fun in the main run, the floor is dirt and concreat she has food and water how long should I keep her in there and should I put her back at night, thanks
I assume you are trying to break her broodiness. I use a dog crate on a concrete floor in my garage where it is cool. They get food and water but no nesting material. In 3 or 3 days they tend to break out of it, which although it sounds harsh is kinder in the long run than letting them sit for weeks to get run down.
Sorry it’s me again,I have just brought a dog crate to put my broody sussex in, it’s 24’x 18 x 20 inch is this bigger enough, also should I put her back into the coop at night or leave her in crate a few days.
Hello Helen (also noticed on the Keeping Chickens Google+ group!)
Sounds fine. Although it seems cruel, as long as she has food and water, (she is only there for a few days) she should eventually stop her broodiness.
In my opinion, although some disagree, it’s cruel to be kind – 40 or so days sat on a nest getting run down or 4 days in a cage to stop her broodiness…. then she can go back to being a chicken (and laying!)
Sorry about this this is the 4th day my chicken has been in the the crate and no sign she is stopping being broody, I let her out just befor they go to roost at night she runs into coop, is this where I am going wrong, I have the cage in the run with the others, should she be somewhere else, I don’t have a garage
Good news my sussex has stopped being broody I hope at last,she has been in the run with the others scratching about and not going into coop, glad I kept her in the cage, I felt bad about doing it as she kept on screeching , but it seems to have worked, thanks lot for the advice.