AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

that would be weird for them to have a roo around because they wouldn't know what to do

Ahh yes.....but he does

they really do need a strong roo because being an all female shed they become dominant and flock a young roo into submission.

Quick question,
is it okay to mix some pullet grower in with their layer pellets?

Yer prolly won't hurt to give them a bit of extra protein if ya feel they are lacking. Their dropping will change a bit but dont worry about it

I've been known to even give skinny birds the occasional handful of dry catfood to boof them up a bit

it would do them good Peter.

I also feed a bit of kitten food if they are looking abit poorly.
Kitten food is higher in protein.

Hi everyone!

I have been hassling the farm that was going to let me have some caged hens in Feb (I couldn't be there on the day they were "cleaning out the shed") and they are moving more hens out this coming Saturday. Great news for the 10 I can rescue, but not such good news for the other couple of thousand that I can't.

I missed out last time because we were in Sydney, and we were planning to go to Sydney this weekend also as my husband has a conference/business get-together, however I am now making the two-and-a-quarter hour drive to pick up some hens instead (probably with our little 4yo Eliza who will be happy, and our 3yo Declan, who will not).

I was lucky enough to find great homes for the last lot (thanks Peter! ) so I'll get a few extras this time around and hopefully find them some nice places to live also.

I have to do a quick swap around so that I have a spare pen by the weekend - the peacock yard's not finished so the hens can't have the dog pen that the peacocks are in, and I have rabbits in the other dog pen because they were digging a warren in the bottom of the aviary. Looks like I have to get busy and put netting all over the aviary floor so I can put the rabbits back and free up a temporary pen for the new girls!

I guess I'll have to keep them pretty warm, though. I imagine chicken sheds are reasonably warm compared to outside temps with all of those bodies crammed together and lights on most of the time. Would that be right? The nights are pretty cold here at the moment so I might need to protect them for a while.

I'll update with photos when they arrive home!

Deb

Thanks me!?!?

Thank you! for getting me some and doing this great deed!!!
are you going to keep a couple for yourself this time?

cant wait for pics of the lucky girls

Ferret food is better still for protien content. It's much like a cat biscuit.

Well, I now have some more hens. Yesterday I drove two and a half hours (and two and a half hours back!) to pick up 20 hens (and they threw in an extra for free!).

I got them home and dipped them in Maldison straight out of their boxes before putting them in their pen as I didn't want to put parasites in a yard I know is clean.

Within minutes one poor girl was trying to have a dirtbath, although it ended up being a mudbath as she was still wet from her bath!

They are in reasonably good condition, with the exception of the fact that they are all have naked necks from feeding through the bars of their cages. All are missing tail feathers, with some a bit bare in other areas as well. They did seem to be holding their feet up off the ground a bit when moving around - not sure whether their feet/legs were sore or they were just unsure of the stuff they were walking on.

I noticed with these girls straight away that they are very intent on pecking each other - quite severely, like they are actually trying to eat the feathers. They didn't seem very interested in the feed I put out, probably because it wasn't shoved straight under their beaks.

When I checked them at bedtime most of them had arranged themselves in the shed, however one poor girl was still out in the yard all by herself. I put her in the shed next to two others in the dark so hopefully she stayed there.

This morning they were all out enjoying some sunshine and a few were pecking at the food (and also each other!). I put a couple of piles of nice lucerne hay out there to hopefully distract them and give them something else to peck at. They have plenty of room to get away from each other, but are bunched together out of habit.

There were two big brown eggs in the shed this morning, and another hen was laying in a corner.

So far I have a home for 10 with one lady, and a friend of my husband is taking 2 or 3 (or 4) so I'll try to rehome a few more and definitely keep some myself this time!

Deb