Winter

Winter

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

A Chicken Post


Its been a long, long time since I have done a chicken post. I always mean to write one but then something else comes up. I wanted to show you something I got early in the summer that has been a life saver for my chickens.

I was loosing about a chicken a week. I was getting pretty discouraged. I had gone through every chicken book I have and looked online. My chickens had these symptoms. They just stop eating and just stand and drink and then they starve to death and die. Over and over again. I had thirty hens and now I am down to seventeen. I was reading one day and there was this little sentence that talked about how chickens need Lacto Bacillus. I didn't even know if they had a product like that, I had spent so much time at Tractor Supply looking at stuff for chickens but I had never seen anything like that. Ron happened to be going that day and he found locked up in one of the cases. I don't even remember ever seeing it either.

I had a hen who was going to be the next one to die. I thought a day or two at the most. She was my first young hen to exhibit these signs. You just mix it in the water and that's it. 1/3 of a teaspoon to a gallon of water.

I did it and my sick hen just stood and drank and drank. She was so sick I didn't expect her to get better because that is one of the signs of the sickness they just drink and drink.
About a hour later I went on the check her. She was eating like she had been starving, she just stood and ate and ate. I watched her a bit. I came back in because she even looked brighter in her eyes.

That evening when I went back out to put them to bed. She looked like a new chicken. She had lost that pain in her face and the next morning she was eating again and all of the other chickens had not been their ole happy selves, they were drinking too and today, almost September, I haven't lost a single hen in two months.


She has always been a quiet hen. Now she is my shadow. Where ever I am I will look around and she will be standing there watching me. She never sang much but now she sings quietly all of the time. One day, I was out watching my chickens. Ron came out to see what I was doing. He asked me how my hens were now. I was telling him how much healthier they were now. I said, " See that hen right there, you can't believe how pale she was and now she has color  in her face and look how happy she is." Then it dawned on me as he looked around with sort of a blank look on his face, that they all look the same to him, but he was trying to be a good sport about it. Of course, I had to laugh and say, " Oh I am sorry."  Point out the one to him that was not a pale face anymore.

I love that wherever I am they will be with me quietly scratching in the dirt or pretending they aren't watching me. I love when I am working in the garden or the flowerbeds they all lay down and sleep. When it gets a bit cooler and I take my sewing outside and sit, they all come close and want to chatter or take dust baths.


Last night though, when I went out to check on them I couldn't see a single hen in the yard. I could hear a hen in the hen house screaming. I knew something was up and Ron said, " Oh my gosh, will you look at that hawk!!!" Sure enough a Red Tail hawk was perched on the door of my chicken coop. I suppose reading recipes out loud. I ran and yelled and he gracefully flew up into the tree above my chicken coop, I am sure laughing all of the way. My poor, poor hens were so afraid. They were as far under the nest boxes against the wall as they could get. I talked and talked to them to get them calmed down.

Miss Broody


You know what that means right? September is here. The hawks are returning to their winter hunting ground. Which also means, no more chickens alone in the yard unless I am out there. Poor girls. We have ten thousand doves around and that hawk always wants chicken.

I can talk about chickens all day. I know that since I like to keep around thirty, next year will have to be a new chick year. That is a very nice thought to think about chicks being in my future.
Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

The ruler of the hen house
“Self-pity is the hens' besetting sin," remarked Mr. Payton. "Foolish fowl. How they came to achieve anything as perfect as the egg I do not know! I cannot fathom.”
― Elizabeth Enright, Gone-Away Lake


14 comments:

Kessie said...

I love chicken posts! I'm so glad you saved their lives from that hawk. He was totally reading them recipes.

Debbie said...

i was so happy to see a chicken post today. i would love to have chickens and fresh eggs every day. and now i look forward to seeing little chicks, they are the cutest!!!

the hawks are beautiful but create havoc around here as well. i know it's the circle of life but it sure is hard when it's happening to me/you!!!

Unknown said...

Yay, I'm so glad you found a cure!! That's amazing. So I wonder, would feeding them yogurt help too?

Pom Pom said...

I loved Gone Away Lake.
That's so interesting that a dose of the magic helped the girls so much! So happy!
Jenny LOVES her chickens. I'm sorry that when she moves she cannot take them.
You're a chicken whisperer.

Debbie said...

Soo glad you figured out what was wrong with your chickens! How pleased you must be! I THOROUGHLY enjoyed your chicken post from beginning to end. Hope you have a good week!

TexWisGirl said...

awww. so glad you resolved your illness thing! poor girls... love the way they stay close to you.

GretchenJoanna said...

What a satisfying story. I had never heard of chickens needing probiotics, either... Now you can confidently get more chicks with strong hope that you will be able to keep constant at around 30 hens!

Janettessage.blogspot.com said...

I love this post. We enjoy our friend's chickens. They allow Ben to always collect the eggs. We have learned so much about chickens. I will remember this if they start having this problem...fun post!

Rugs and Pugs said...

Rooster booster. What a hoot but so happy it worked.
Hugs :)
Laure

Alica said...

I love backyard chickens! What a great feeling, to see your hen perk up and recover like that! Their "singing"...that's a good way to put it!...is such a comforting sound. They follow me everywhere, when I'm inside their pen,and when I mow,they frantically eat the bugs that get disturbed by the mower. When I pick raspberries next to their pen,they are hovering, just hoping I'll drop one. They love to eat them,and the lower branches that hang into their pen are stripped clean!

Three Sheep Studio said...

I enjoyed your lighthearted chicken post (except for the red tailed hawk reading chicken recipes!! Lol)
Rose

Julia said...

So glad you found a cure for your ailing chickens. I hope that the hawk goes away.
I love close up photos of your chickens. They all look so healthy.
Have a great September.
Hugs,
Julia

camp and cottage living said...

I'm so glad you found a way to save your chickens, Kim! Now if you could just get rid of the hawks that are hanging about...
I love the photos of your chickens on the porch railing. do you have to gather them all at night or do they just go into their coop on their own?

Christine said...

So sorry you lost so many of these dear pets! But so good that now you have a cure for them. So sweet that they follow you!
I did laugh at the thought of the hawk going over chicken recipes!
They must taste better than doves!