Dead Chicken

[joggerjayne]

Mums was just on the phone.

She lost one of her chickens today. It didn't turn up at bed time.

It might be somewhere around the garden, but they always go to bed at dusk.

It sounds like she became fox food, or maybe some nasty cat got her.

=0(

[joggerjayne]

Hey, Doc ... x

I've been enjoying the eggs from Mums's latest little foible.

I was a bit put off to read that chickens only have one butt ...

... and the eggs come out of the same hole as the poop.

That's a bit weird.

Did you have a lot of hens, Doc?

[Teddy_boy]

Was there an old guy in a white suit , with white hair , a goatee beard and glasses , anywhere near her chickens ?

http://avapennington....lonel-sanders_kfc.jpg

[beejay1124]

dont panic JJ-its easy to tell the difference-the eggs tend to make tastier omelettes than the poop

[Barmaid]

Unlikely to be a cat JJ - most cats will steer clear (my cats and the neighbourhood cats stay well clear of my girls). Could be a fox, but you would normally see a shed load of feathers and foxy would probably have had a go at the others too.

Sometimes, they are just plain stoopid. One of mine disappeared one night - she was hiding behind the wheelie bins. Its possible also that she wandered a bit far. Although the instinct is to get back to the roost at night, they will just roost where they feel safe.

I take it their wings have been clipped?

[askyourgran]

Hi doc. So when someone is venting they are not really overbreathing..... right? I didn't know that chickens only had one-butt-hole vent either jj. I've never kept hens, besides we get the odd fox around here. Poor chick isn't there a chance it might be under a hedge somewhere?

[joggerjayne]

Yes, apparently they've had one wing clipped (so they fly round in circles? LOL).

I suppose she might be somewhere down the bottom of the garden.

I might buy Mums a new chicken tomorrow.

I wonder where you buy chickens? The current ones, she was given them by a friend.

[joggerjayne]

Yes, AYG ...

I'd always thought they pooped from their bum, and laid eggs from their front bum ...

(the "usual" arrangement!)

But (ha ha) it turns out that the two passages meet inside their body, and everything comes out of the one hole. The "vent" ... as Doc says!

Bit gross, really.

[RATTER15]

So learning about the birds and the bees could be rather confusing for little ones, just having one hole called a vent!!

[Barmaid]

Yes, you only clip one wing.

I would get mums to have a good look round tomorrow. If it is a fox, I'm sorry to say, he'll be back for the others so extra vigilance necessary. Get Dad to pee round the edges of the plot where foxy is likely to enter (seriously).

Introducing a new chicken to an existing flock can be really difficult. Particularly at this time of year when they will be spending more time in the hen house. You are at risk of the new chook being pecked by the existing ones. The "pecking order" can be quite important. Probably best to do this in late spring. You will probably not get point of lay chickens at this time of year anyway because they go off lay soon.

Best thing you can do is buy mum some fertislised eggs and place them under one of her girls (or hatch in a hired incubator). Mother hen will bring the chicks on, you keep what you want (and they are perfectly integrated with the others as having been brought up from chicks) and flog the rest.

[joggerjayne]

Barmaid ...

I should mention that Mums's entire flock of chickens consisted of two birds.

Well ... possibly one, now.

Trim ... "stoopid" sounds about right.

[Barmaid]

Aha! Chooks are better in threes. You might get away with adding two chooks to one bird.

What breed are they?

[joggerjayne]

One is a Light Sussex (yay).

The other is (or "was") a Rhode Island Red.

Apparently.

[joggerjayne]

I feel a bit geeky, for having known the breed of the chickens.

[beejay1124]

barmaid-fertilised eggs ok-but the chicken will have to be broody to hatch them out-even then the chicks will have a fair few roosters amongst them(not the best layers JJ)-rescue hens from battery cages are as good as any-give them a good life