Consolidated Kansas

[ChooksChick]

I am having a problem with my spring broody, Copper. She abandoned her babies when they were only a few weeks old (maybe 3 or 4), and now she is running them out of the coop at night when they try to go in to go to bed. She attacks them and pecks at them. After a week of holding her while they got settled, last night I just lost patience and put her in the outside run of the Hen Hoop when she attacked them. The current broody and her 3 are in the coop part at night.

Today she is bullying the newer (3 week old) babies. Their mother is a passive little Blue Copper Marans, and she is afraid of Copper.

If she wasn't such a good layer (she is Marans/BO and lays gorgeous dark brown eggs with a pink cast - 4 to 5 a week) I would rehome her in a heartbeat. I know I could find a place for her with a different flock.

She is pretty low on the pecking order, and the other hens are pretty much put out with her, too.

I am planning to relocate her at night to the hoop run for the time being, but that isn't a long term solution. She wasn't at all like this before the hatch, it seems to have unhinged her a little. Anybody got any suggestions for teaching her not to pick/peck on younger chicks? As usual when there are issues, I'm going to my daughter's in a week and a half, and poor DH will be left holding the bag.

Hiya!

I would guess that what is happening is that she's trying to re-establish her position in the coop at night so she doesn't fall to the bottom of the pecking order. It's not uncommon for lower birds to really forcefully tell the other in-comers that the new ones are lower than her (and don't you forget it! Bop!) just to hold her own. As her chicks grow up they might move up the ladder past her, and she's concerned.

I had a similar situation and what I did was rearrange and increase roost space. When you move the roost configuration or place more roosts at the same height as your existing roosts, you will make it different for the birds and less territorial.

Move the furniture and it will change the situation a lot!!

DH just called me from the chicken coop that there is a sick chicken. Her comb is pale and she is unable to raise her neck. It was stuck somewhat straight out in front of her and droops from time to time. Because of this, she is unable to drink water (you know how chicken drink water by tilting their heads up and back to swallow). I immediately gave her 2 Vit. E capsules and some water via a syringe. Then I brought her into the house in the dog cage. Her stool looks normal (not runny at all). Does anyone know what could be wrong with her? Other than giving her vitamin E, what else can I give her to help her recover?

Thanks. I'm really worried about her.

I'm so sorry! go get some baby parrot formula so you can make a paste and get her to eat and drink- you may be able to pull her through whatever the cause is...

The worst thing about ill birds is they quit eating and drinking, and that baby parrot food mixed to a slurry is all they need. If they get really bad, you can use a 'Kid feeding tube' and syringe from one of the livestock supply places, placed EVER SO CAREFULLY down the crop and you can pump 20-30 ccs of slurry in 2x daily to pull them through. It is very intimidating the first time you do it, but it becomes easy. I'm very glad to have that skill!!

Maybe I should make a youtube video of it so folks can learn how to do it. Everyone with a bird should know how!!

 

[milomac]

Tweety had a similar situation last year, but discovered a hawk had attacked hen and her neck was broken. Just going out on a limb but if it came on that quickly you may check between shoulder blades for puncture wound, in my case it was sparrow hawk not large enough to carry her off. On another note went to Mulvane swap this morning and purchased a pair of babydoll silkys. I lost my rooster last month and was seriously looking for white rooster, luckily that search is over

 

[cailynne]

lol..I also went to the Mulvane Swap Meet and was able to pick up a pair of white silkies and a partridge hen..Ithink I did good this morning.

 

[sharol]

I have had shell less eggs before, and thin or soft shelled eggs, but this is my first eggless shell. My 4 year old EE was having a hard time laying a couple of days ago, and after she left the coop, this is what I found:

 

[chicken danz]

I am having a problem with my spring broody, Copper. She abandoned her babies when they were only a few weeks old (maybe 3 or 4), and now she is running them out of the coop at night when they try to go in to go to bed. She attacks them and pecks at them. After a week of holding her while they got settled, last night I just lost patience and put her in the outside run of the Hen Hoop when she attacked them. The current broody and her 3 are in the coop part at night.

Today she is bullying the newer (3 week old) babies. Their mother is a passive little Blue Copper Marans, and she is afraid of Copper.

If she wasn't such a good layer (she is Marans/BO and lays gorgeous dark brown eggs with a pink cast - 4 to 5 a week) I would rehome her in a heartbeat. I know I could find a place for her with a different flock.

She is pretty low on the pecking order, and the other hens are pretty much put out with her, too.

I am planning to relocate her at night to the hoop run for the time being, but that isn't a long term solution. She wasn't at all like this before the hatch, it seems to have unhinged her a little. Anybody got any suggestions for teaching her not to pick/peck on younger chicks? As usual when there are issues, I'm going to my daughter's in a week and a half, and poor DH will be left holding the bag.

I was going to suggest moving her out to a lone pen for a week or so, and then putting her back in to put her on the low end of the pecking order. At any rate it all has to do with pecking order. I guess you can take whatever action you choose. Chooks idea about another roost would probably work but if you are like me there isn't always a place to add an additional roost.

DH just called me from the chicken coop that there is a sick chicken. Her comb is pale and she is unable to raise her neck. It was stuck somewhat straight out in front of her and droops from time to time. Because of this, she is unable to drink water (you know how chicken drink water by tilting their heads up and back to swallow). I immediately gave her 2 Vit. E capsules and some water via a syringe. Then I brought her into the house in the dog cage. Her stool looks normal (not runny at all). Does anyone know what could be wrong with her? Other than giving her vitamin E, what else can I give her to help her recover?

Thanks. I'm really worried about her.

Sounds to me like a broken neck. If you can keep water and nutrition going she might pull through. I had an araucana hen recently break her neck. She kept eating and drinking though but couldn't or wouldn't try to get up on a roost. She quit laying for weeks. Yesterday I noticed the swelling is down some and she finally laid another egg so I guess she managed to heel. I think she probably jumped and broke her neck on the top of the coop. They are a bit hyper.
Tweety you might give her some St. John's wort in her water. It will help with any pain she is feeling.

I have had shell less eggs before, and thin or soft shelled eggs, but this is my first eggless shell. My 4 year old EE was having a hard time laying a couple of days ago, and after she left the coop, this is what I found:

Wow! I've never seen anything like that before. That's insane.
Yesterday had to be right up there in the worst 25 all time worst days of my life. To top off loosing my hen and my goose I found a couple dead Mandarin babies in the pond. It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on. One of the hens was grabbing the babies by the head, shaking them and throwing them. She managed to kill four babies before I got the situation remedied. I am guessing she was the last hen on a nest and her eggs didn't hatch or her babies died. So some weird thing made her turn aggressive. I only had one hen left nesting the day before and they were all out yesterday and no extra babies were there. So that has to be my conclusion. I was going to remove her but decided the more reasonable thing was to just take the remaining babies and raise them until they were old enough to fend for themselves. This was an awful year for the Mandarins. I only had one group of three and then another group of 7 babies out of 5 hens. The rest didn't hatch any. They had eggs that rotted. I guess I need to clean out the remaining houses for the season now . So now I am down to only 6 babies and I hope I can raise those without any more losses. When you only get one chance a year it's pretty sad to have those results.
Before that I had moved all the chicks I had in the house out to the old garage and put them in a stock tank. I did that because I noticed some chicks sneezing. Where the heck did that come from? They've only been inside and not exposed to anything at all. I am adament about washing my hands before I handle them. I did find some mold in the very bottom of the rubbermaid bins,e ven though I just changed shavings 3-4 days ago. So I am hoping that was the culprit and I caught it before anyone actually gets sick. I put them on tylan just to be sure. So I thought I had no chicks in the house except my pheasant chicks which I just don't have any other place to put until they get some size. But then the ducks got moved in. I have eggs in the hatcher but no hatches yet. I guess that means more chicks in here!! I did hatch my one and only fertile Araucana egg that the girl with the broken neck laid before she was injured. I have it in with my little peachick so that is more chicks in here.
Will I ever have a house back??

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Hiya!

I would guess that what is happening is that she's trying to re-establish her position in the coop at night so she doesn't fall to the bottom of the pecking order. It's not uncommon for lower birds to really forcefully tell the other in-comers that the new ones are lower than her (and don't you forget it! Bop!) just to hold her own. As her chicks grow up they might move up the ladder past her, and she's concerned.

I had a similar situation and what I did was rearrange and increase roost space. When you move the roost configuration or place more roosts at the same height as your existing roosts, you will make it different for the birds and less territorial.

Move the furniture and it will change the situation a lot!!


I'm so sorry! go get some baby parrot formula so you can make a paste and get her to eat and drink- you may be able to pull her through whatever the cause is...

The worst thing about ill birds is they quit eating and drinking, and that baby parrot food mixed to a slurry is all they need. If they get really bad, you can use a 'Kid feeding tube' and syringe from one of the livestock supply places, placed EVER SO CAREFULLY down the crop and you can pump 20-30 ccs of slurry in 2x daily to pull them through. It is very intimidating the first time you do it, but it becomes easy. I'm very glad to have that skill!!

Maybe I should make a youtube video of it so folks can learn how to do it. Everyone with a bird should know how!!

I may need to go get some parrot formula after work today. She managed to survive last night so I gave her some water (with sav-a-chick) through the syringe. She is still eating well and put up a fight with me giving her water so hope she will pull through. .

Tweety had a similar situation last year, but discovered a hawk had attacked hen and her neck was broken. Just going out on a limb but if it came on that quickly you may check between shoulder blades for puncture wound, in my case it was sparrow hawk not large enough to carry her off. On another note went to Mulvane swap this morning and purchased a pair of babydoll silkys. I lost my rooster last month and was seriously looking for white rooster, luckily that search is over

I checked her top to tail very carefully and no puncture wounds found. It is never easy to have a sick bird and I hope she pulls through. I've to google babydoll silkie to see what they look like and they look cute!

lol..I also went to the Mulvane Swap Meet and was able to pick up a pair of white silkies and a partridge hen..Ithink I did good this morning.

Good buy you got there.

I have had shell less eggs before, and thin or soft shelled eggs, but this is my first eggless shell. My 4 year old EE was having a hard time laying a couple of days ago, and after she left the coop, this is what I found:

Sharol, never seen anything like that before. Looks like crumbled up soft leather. How weird!

I was going to suggest moving her out to a lone pen for a week or so, and then putting her back in to put her on the low end of the pecking order. At any rate it all has to do with pecking order. I guess you can take whatever action you choose. Chooks idea about another roost would probably work but if you are like me there isn't always a place to add an additional roost.
Sounds to me like a broken neck. If you can keep water and nutrition going she might pull through. I had an araucana hen recently break her neck. She kept eating and drinking though but couldn't or wouldn't try to get up on a roost. She quit laying for weeks. Yesterday I noticed the swelling is down some and she finally laid another egg so I guess she managed to heel. I think she probably jumped and broke her neck on the top of the coop. They are a bit hyper.
Tweety you might give her some St. John's wort in her water. It will help with any pain she is feeling.
Wow! I've never seen anything like that before. That's insane.
Yesterday had to be right up there in the worst 25 all time worst days of my life. To top off loosing my hen and my goose I found a couple dead Mandarin babies in the pond. It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on. One of the hens was grabbing the babies by the head, shaking them and throwing them. She managed to kill four babies before I got the situation remedied. I am guessing she was the last hen on a nest and her eggs didn't hatch or her babies died. So some weird thing made her turn aggressive. I only had one hen left nesting the day before and they were all out yesterday and no extra babies were there. So that has to be my conclusion. I was going to remove her but decided the more reasonable thing was to just take the remaining babies and raise them until they were old enough to fend for themselves. This was an awful year for the Mandarins. I only had one group of three and then another group of 7 babies out of 5 hens. The rest didn't hatch any. They had eggs that rotted. I guess I need to clean out the remaining houses for the season now . So now I am down to only 6 babies and I hope I can raise those without any more losses. When you only get one chance a year it's pretty sad to have those results.
Before that I had moved all the chicks I had in the house out to the old garage and put them in a stock tank. I did that because I noticed some chicks sneezing. Where the heck did that come from? They've only been inside and not exposed to anything at all. I am adament about washing my hands before I handle them. I did find some mold in the very bottom of the rubbermaid bins,e ven though I just changed shavings 3-4 days ago. So I am hoping that was the culprit and I caught it before anyone actually gets sick. I put them on tylan just to be sure. So I thought I had no chicks in the house except my pheasant chicks which I just don't have any other place to put until they get some size. But then the ducks got moved in. I have eggs in the hatcher but no hatches yet. I guess that means more chicks in here!! I did hatch my one and only fertile Araucana egg that the girl with the broken neck laid before she was injured. I have it in with my little peachick so that is more chicks in here.
Will I ever have a house back??

Since I'll be out getting some parrot's formula, I will go pick up a bottle of St John's Wart as well. She survived the night and fought me when I gave her water and Vit. E this morning so I take it that's a good sign. She is still eating as well. It does sound like a broken neck. Even DH made that comment last night. I hope she will recover and be able to drink on her own again.

That's just awful that the hen flung and drowned the mandarin babies! Maybe the grieving is just too much for her to handle so she became aggressive! Guess you will continue to have more chicks in the house for a while longer yet.

I do like having animals in the house until I can't stand the stench any longer and by then, I'm ready for them to move out on their own. Kinda like how some people say they can't wait to kick their teenagers out of their house.

 

[Trish44]

I'm sorry for all of the losses. I lost a few chicks during the night myself. I need to get a few bigger chicks moved outside & clean brooders again so I can move a few more chicks to the other brooder. They don't do well if they're too crowded. I have had chicks in the house for the last year. I'm looking forward to getting them all outside before too long after I quit hatching for the year. My goal is to be done by the end of June. It was supposed to be May but I have some chicks I have to hatch for a friend so that moves it up a month.

We went to the River Festival last night for awhile so we didn't get back till late. I guess my chickens all got themselves in the coop OK, we shut the run door when we got home. Thank goodness we have the GPs to watch over things when I can't get back to shut the door till later. I integrated about 6 new pullets into the main coop & a young BCM cockerel & they have learned pretty fast where to go in at night so I've been pleased about that. I have another group who will be going in there later when they get big enough. I took down my old roosts on the north side of the coop that were too high anyway & put up two longer ones that span the whole length of the coop so that added quite a bit of roost space. I hope eventually the new ones will go in there to roost, right now they're hanging out in the run at night along with the two SLW hens I moved in there.

I'm going to try to get some lamb pics today since they're getting more comfortable here & post them later tweety. They really have settled in pretty quickly here. If it wasn't for my one ornery goat it all would be peaceful, but she is kind of a spoiled brat. Yesterday afternoon I was watching them all & Penny went over & was trying to butt the little ram. I was yelling at her & Patches saw that I was getting really mad so she went over & shoved Penny away like knock it off. It just cracked me up. Patches is the more reasonable of the two goats. Penny was the bottle baby so she is just like a spoiled kid.

 

[JosieChick]

Then I had sold some eggs on ebay and the buyer filed a case against me because they had no hatches. The eggs wouldn't even be due by this time. I am so done with people in general. This spring has brought out the worst of the worst for me. I do wonderful dealing with people I know or who I am familiar with but I'm finding strangers are often people wanting to use and get something for nothing.
Times like these make me wonder what on earth I am doing. Maybe I should just stick with a handful of birds and call it good. I work too hard for things to go this poorly.
Okay I am off my pity party for now. I do know I am done selling eggs on Ebay. This has been an awful experience and I didn't make any money at all. It would have been more economical to sell them as eating eggs.

Oh NO!!! I am so sorry, I know she was a special little baby. They are such a hazard to themselves sometimes.

Well she passed just a little while ago. I am so upset at this point. I wonder why I let myself get attached to these birds. It's just crazy.
I offered a refund for the eggs on ebay and chocked it up to lesson learned. Never again. I have never left bad feedback for eggs that didn't hatch although 90% of what I have bought have been total duds. If I ever buy eggs again I might change my strategy.
On a bright note I just hatched a purple pied peacock baby. Hope it does okay. Since my luck has been really lousy lately I think I'll just hope for the best.

You could try pinless peepers? So she can't see them to beat them up? She probably doesn't like that they are getting bigger and potentially threatening to her.

I am having a problem with my spring broody, Copper. She abandoned her babies when they were only a few weeks old (maybe 3 or 4), and now she is running them out of the coop at night when they try to go in to go to bed. She attacks them and pecks at them. After a week of holding her while they got settled, last night I just lost patience and put her in the outside run of the Hen Hoop when she attacked them. The current broody and her 3 are in the coop part at night.

Today she is bullying the newer (3 week old) babies. Their mother is a passive little Blue Copper Marans, and she is afraid of Copper.

If she wasn't such a good layer (she is Marans/BO and lays gorgeous dark brown eggs with a pink cast - 4 to 5 a week) I would rehome her in a heartbeat. I know I could find a place for her with a different flock.

She is pretty low on the pecking order, and the other hens are pretty much put out with her, too.

I am planning to relocate her at night to the hoop run for the time being, but that isn't a long term solution. She wasn't at all like this before the hatch, it seems to have unhinged her a little. Anybody got any suggestions for teaching her not to pick/peck on younger chicks? As usual when there are issues, I'm going to my daughter's in a week and a half, and poor DH will be left holding the bag.

WEIRD!!!!

I have had shell less eggs before, and thin or soft shelled eggs, but this is my first eggless shell. My 4 year old EE was having a hard time laying a couple of days ago, and after she left the coop, this is what I found:

I am DYING over your frizzled mille chicks, I want them so badly but I can't take any birds right now!!! Waaahhhhhh!!!! I was thinking the same thing to myself when we got home late from dinner the other night and it was dark, thank heavens the dogs are out here to keep an eye on things if the gate is open late...

I'm sorry for all of the losses. I lost a few chicks during the night myself. I need to get a few bigger chicks moved outside & clean brooders again so I can move a few more chicks to the other brooder. They don't do well if they're too crowded. I have had chicks in the house for the last year. I'm looking forward to getting them all outside before too long after I quit hatching for the year. My goal is to be done by the end of June. It was supposed to be May but I have some chicks I have to hatch for a friend so that moves it up a month.

We went to the River Festival last night for awhile so we didn't get back till late. I guess my chickens all got themselves in the coop OK, we shut the run door when we got home. Thank goodness we have the GPs to watch over things when I can't get back to shut the door till later. I integrated about 6 new pullets into the main coop & a young BCM cockerel & they have learned pretty fast where to go in at night so I've been pleased about that. I have another group who will be going in there later when they get big enough. I took down my old roosts on the north side of the coop that were too high anyway & put up two longer ones that span the whole length of the coop so that added quite a bit of roost space. I hope eventually the new ones will go in there to roost, right now they're hanging out in the run at night along with the two SLW hens I moved in there.

Well lots of packing and selling stuff going on here. We are making good headway now and I feel a little better. Dandy is getting neutered tomorrow so big day for him! I need to go clean my car out while peanut is napping!

 

[Trish44]

josie good luck on your packing, it has to be hard after just moving not that long ago & now doing it again. We're going to miss you, I hope you will stop back in after you get settled & visit once in awhile even though you won't be in KS any more.

 

[ChooksChick]

Indeed, good luck with the move, Josie!

Word came down the pike that you may need to rehome a Big Black Orp dude. If so, I will still be doing birds for some time and I have some Chocolate Orp hens who would love a new fellow.

On the move part of it, I have sworn I would never do it again, but after 15 years in one house, I am starting to feel like I may manage it after the kids are gone without much issue.


Danz, I'm so sorry you are having pure crud right now- too much sadness and merde thrown at you! Big hugs, girl. It's tons of those kinds of days that are making me tuck it in for now. It's just too much sometimes.

I have sold my Purple Pea Pair. They will be moving to Baton Rouge in a month. What did Ursula (the hen) think of that idea? She went broody.

That won't stop it, girlfriend! You may not have time to finish the hatch!!