Chickens do tend to die a lot...

[Stonehead]

I read this...

Chickens are great, the eggs are out of the world, they taste nice, but they do tend die a lot.

...and just had to start a new thread.

We had four young Scots Grey hens that went into the big pen with the other birds. All went well in terms of the introduction, a bit of pecking but no outright bullying and after a few days I decided it was okay to relax.

But I reckoned without the Fatalistic Chicken.

She was the biggest, darkest and prettiest of the four, and a potential one to breed from.

But after four days in the big pen, it was clear the other hens had had a word with her. You know, "Look love, what are you bouncing around for, big smile on your face, as if you're somebody. All you're going to do is lay bloody big eggs every day for a year or two and when they dry up, thwomp! You're chicken curry. So, cut your cackling and get on with it".

The result? A severe case of chicken depression - hunched down onto her legs, head bent and, if a chicken can have a look, a look of bleakness and despair at her lot.

She wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink and had no apparent physical problems.

No, the Fatalistic Chicken had decided life wasn't worth living and wished herself to death within 24 hours.

The Squabbly Madams are, of course, well pleased with themselves - "sorted 'er out, didn't we", while the Fatalistic Chicken's sisters were just grateful to find the food went a lot further.

We had a cockerel do something similar last year. In his case, he was affronted when we removed three of "his" hens (still had seven) and put them in with another cockerel. He threw a big sulk and the next morning did the stumble of death out the chicken house door - very melodramatic and very effective.

Ah, chickens, you've just go to love 'em!

[bwaymark]

Hiya Stonehead,

Nice to hear from you again, mate! Hope all is well.

As long as we are swapping dead chicken stories... I had a lovely Maran cockerel that someone gave me. He was a about a year and a bit when I got him and he guess he didn't like people much because he kept attacking them. He attacked my landlady, who has a sense of humour about. He attacked me once... and once (he jumped on my leg and tried to peck, I shook my leg vigorously enough that he went flying and I don't think he like that one bit!). Unfortunately he attacked my three years, not once, not twice, but three times and by the third time that was it, and I wrung his neck, decapitated him, and stuck upside in the sink to drain the blood and put off plucking him (I hate plucking!).

Anyway, over dinner my then three year said:
"Dad, is that the cockerel?"
"Yes it is dear." I said, preparing myself for an explanation and a big long talk about how things die etc
"The cockerel that attacked me?" she says.
"Yes, its the cockerel that attacked you."

Suddenly she gets enthusiastic and looks and me and says:

"Tickle the cat scratched me!"

So much for installing a profound love of nature :-)

[PurpleDragon]

So funny :) Poor cat!

We just last week gave our girls a cockerel and what a difference in their demeanour. I'm amazed. I didn't realise what a difference it would make to them.

[Stonehead]

...but I think I've saved one.

I had a pullet get ill very quickly a couple of days ago. She did the usual chicken in distress thing, head down, tail down, wings drooping, standing around looking mournful.

There was nothing too obvious wrong with her other than hard black poo with white chalky streaks that left white chalkiness on her bum feathers.

I separated her from the rest of the flock and after a couple of hours observation, it was clear she was going down fast but equally she didn't have much in the way of useful symptoms.

So I decided to assume that she'd probably eaten something that disagreed with her, dosed her with epsom salts dissolved in water twice in the space of six hours and then gave her clean water with chicken vitamins added. I also gave her a mash of chick feed and watered down, warm milk.

She started picking up after 24 hours and is back on form today. I'll leave her in the isolation house for another day or two and leave her on her special diet while she's in there, but hopefully she'll stay well.


On the downside, we lost a chick yesterday. It had been fine, but over the space of a few hours its feathers became very oily and straggly and it started staggering. Then, dead. It was three days old, the other chicks in with it are fine and the symptoms don't match anything I know of.

[ina]

And I thought it was just lambs that get born determined to die! Found one dead in the shed this morning. No idea what was wrong with it (apart from it being dead, obviously ).