Monday 16 December 2013

15 Oven Ready Birds

Not many feathers between my new batch of ex-caged birds. I was a little shocked when I picked them up as they seem to have even less feathers than normal, some have none except on their wings and heads. The hen house they came out of must be really warm as they don't look like they've been pecked out.
 This lack of feathers has given me another problem. I was planning to have them go straight into the field with just a normal chicken coop, but I think the change in temperature might just be too much for them due to their lack of protection from the elements.
I had to come up with another solution.
The greenhouse, some cardboard boxes and lots of straw. Just for a few days, with access to outside for a bit of pecking and scratching.
In a few weeks they'll look great and become happy birds (that lay me lots of eggs). In the mean time they need a bit of care to bring them up to health.
And as for the three I've got left from last years batch (after dog and fox attacks), I was going to kill them to make way for the new ones but they're still laying really well, have no idea that they're meant to stay in their pen and love wandering about the whole smallholding. I think they can stay.

6 comments:

  1. You do right.......any rain on those birds and you'll have them all needing baytril
    Ps I would keep me in another week

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    Replies
    1. How would keeping you in another week help Big Don Kev's chickens?

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  2. Ps never kill your old hens
    The alpha females will teach the newbees

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  3. Maybe some sort of stress threw them all into a molt. I've heard that even changing their type of feed abruptly can do it.

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  4. Mine haven't laid a single egg for months. One of them recently looked like yours, but is now back to fully-fledged; it didn't take long.

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  5. Aww bless them. They look so scraggly. I tried to re home some caged hens but the local ones weren't clearing any out so ended up buying some pullets. Bet your hens will look beautiful in a few months time
    Miss Tulip x
    The Thrifty Magpies Nest

    ReplyDelete

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