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...should accidentally fall!

Yes, the chickens have been at it again. I've just been out to check the livestock, opened the henhouse door and one of the ISA Brown girls looked up, went "awwwwk" and fell off the perch - dead as a doornail.

The hen was the third one in three years to pull that trick (another hen went in much the same way, while a cockerel jumped down from the perch, swaggered over to the door and then karked it). She was one of our older hens - a whisker under three years - and had obviously decided it was time to go.

She was mite and bug free, not egg bound (some of the older birds are laying monster eggs now), in good health, wormed three weeks ago and a good weight. All the hen laying hens were running around happily in the nettles and weeds this afternoon before being brought in at 6pm.

And then, it's time to die! Chickens...

At least it was a quick and painless death. And she did it in front of you so no rotting hen in the house overnight.

This worries me because my three older girls are over 3 now. I'll be sad when it happens. I hope they go like that though.

Would be nice, though, if they could let you know a few days in advance that they are planning to kick the bucket - then you could still "rescue" them for the pot!

Some definition of rescue Ina! puts the phrase 'RAC recue truck' in a different light!

Kind thougths
Deb

Was it not just fright as seeing you hehe

3 years is pretty good going for an ISA. Only really bred to last a tad over 75 weeks!

Thurston Garden wrote:Was it not just fright as seeing you hehe

If that was the case, it would have happened three years ago!!

Millymollymandy wrote:This worries me because my three older girls are over 3 now. I'll be sad when it happens. I hope they go like that though.

Fairly robust breeds that aren't too inbred or overoptimised for egg/meat production should live for five to 10 years if in good health. Exceptional chickens have been known to live up to 12 years or more.

But commercial laying hybrids have the shortest life spans. They've been bred to lay big eggs every day and as eggs get bigger with age, the hens wear out fast.

Almost all our surviving older girls (five out of the original eight now) lay huge double yolkers three or four times a week now. I keep an eye on them to ensure they don't get egg bound or injured due to overstraining themselves - in which case I'd have to cull them - but they're still doing well.

I thought of this thread yesterday morning when we found one of our moorhens dead on the steps leading to the garage, at the front of the house. The pond is out the back.

We've watched the trials and tribulations of this pair for nearly 3 years now, all the nests they've built and those that have been destroyed by coypu, herons, pond levels rising and falling and the babies they've managed to raise.

We are very sad because its mate is calling for it, so we've put the body by the pond in the hope that the surviving moorhen sees it.

No baby moorhens this summer.

Stonehead wrote:...should accidentally fall!

Yes, the chickens have been at it again. I've just been out to check the livestock, opened the henhouse door and one of the ISA Brown girls looked up, went "awwwwk" and fell off the perch - dead as a doornail.

The hen was the third one in three years to pull that trick (another hen went in much the same way, while a cockerel jumped down from the perch, swaggered over to the door and then karked it). She was one of our older hens - a whisker under three years - and had obviously decided it was time to go.

She was mite and bug free, not egg bound (some of the older birds are laying monster eggs now), in good health, wormed three weeks ago and a good weight. All the hen laying hens were running around happily in the nettles and weeds this afternoon before being brought in at 6pm.

And then, it's time to die! Chickens...

It may have been simple shock. When I go into the henhouses people think I'm nuts when I knock and say "it's only me girls".
That way they know that the door is about to open. Have you checked the house for redmites? How high is the perch and is it square?

fenwoman wrote: It may have been simple shock. When I go into the henhouses people think I'm nuts when I knock and say "it's only me girls".
That way they know that the door is about to open. Have you checked the house for redmites? How high is the perch and is it square?

I always let them know I'm coming in with footsteps on the steps (the house is a couple of feet off the ground with ramps leading out into the main pen), lots of rattling of the bolts and a bit of friendly chat.

No mites (and yes, they are regularly checked and treated if needed), perches are 40cm off the floor with ramps (they were lower but then the hens would try to fly up into the rafters and not make it), and the perches are 5cm wide timber with the edges planed and the top surface lightly roughed up with a wire brush.

As I said, the hen that died was in good condition and simply decided to drop dead. The only "problem" with her was that she was one of the ones laying monster eggs, so she probably just wore out.

You been economising on the shower water again





Just to add Stonehead is not really a smelly minger, well not when I have seen him any way!

baldowrie wrote:Just to add Stonehead is not really a smelly minger, well not when I have seen him any way!

No need to be polite - the locals all know I'm a minger anyway!

I find it best to be polite to people I visit, otherwise they put stuff in your cuppa