Balloons 'scared hens to death'

[digthatchick]

Here is an article from our local press:

Balloons 'scared hens to death'

Free range chickens at a farm in Herefordshire were "scared to death" by the noise of hot air balloons flying overhead, their owner has claimed.
The 300 hens at Caplor Farm in Fownhope were sent "wild" by the noise of the hot air balloons' gas burners, business partner Abbie Vincent-Lloyd said.
She said 10% of the hens had died from panic-related injuries since the balloons began flying in July.
Go Ballooning in Hereford said it had agreed to alter its flight path.

It throws them into chaos, bashing into things and each other in their rush to get inside
Abbie Vincent-Lloyd
The balloons take off from nearby Holme Lacy Hotel in Hereford and were stopping the hens laying eggs, according to Miss Vincent-Lloyd.
She said a post mortem examination of some hens had shown their eggs had cracked inside them which lead to internal infections.
She added: "The hens don't notice the balloons going over until they turn on the gas.
"It throws them into chaos, bashing into things and each other in their rush to get inside, which is when their eggs crack.
"I'm very grateful to the company for changing their flight path."
Sandra Hossack, Go Ballooning flight operations director said: " We have several launch sites and take livestock concerns very seriously."
She said she had alerted the aviation authorities to set advisory flight restrictions above Miss Vincent Lloyd's airspace that would be marked on all flight maps.

[Nicos]

Poor things!
At least the company are being responsible by altering their flight paths.

[frias]

We had Bournemouth Air Show overhead in the summer with Red Arrows, Spitfires and Bombers. I have to say girls were not at all impressed. They are going to do it all again next year so will have to see if I can get them to go round us!
Right now there's fireworks going off but as the girls are tucked up in bed I'm hoping they are OK. Might have a few softies tomorrow.

[Rosie.]

aww poor things! it is good they changed the path though very decent of them
i can't hear or see and fireworks so i can't imagine the hens are going to be bothered at all. not like it was last year, i got to sleep about 1am because of all the fireworks grrr!
i hope you hens are too scared!

[Nicos]

Out of interest- how long do these stress situations affect their egg laying??

[frias]

Can only speak for my own girls but only on the day planes were overhead (they did run inside in panic) and had a couple of softies laid during the night but then the girls were OK.
One softie laid during the night last night so might have been due to fireworks. One of the girls was off colour all this morning so presume she laid it. She was OK this afternoon though so think she will allright. Never can tell with hens can you.

[MaureenHall]

There's loads of banging going on here, think families at both sides are letting off rockets!! Luckily the coop is windowless but I'm sure the chooks will be a bit disturbed and I too can expect some softies tomorrow

[Snadger]

Because my chook run is a bit like an adventure playground and because I was given a stack of large white balloons with 'Make love not War' in large black letters on them I thought I would blow a few up and stick em in the hen run.
I blew one up, put it in the run and the chooks were terrified! I had to burst it in the end as they wouldn't venture in that part of the run!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hens don't like white for some reason. I remember being told years ago that if you wanted to keep hens in a particular area, you could circle it with white chalk and they wouldn't cross it. Ours (years ago) got quite stressed when there was a lot of snow but they eventually went out in it.

Hope our three are okay in their little cupboard - there were fireworks going off all round the place earlier but I thought it best to leave them to themselves.

[Snadger]

Hens don't like white for some reason. I remember being told years ago that if you wanted to keep hens in a particular area, you could circle it with white chalk and they wouldn't cross it. Ours (years ago) got quite stressed when there was a lot of snow but they eventually went out in it.

Hope our three are okay in their little cupboard - there were fireworks going off all round the place earlier but I thought it best to leave them to themselves.

Whoaaaa....... Sounds abit like witchcraft to me drawing a circle in white chalk around chooks, no pentangles I hope!

.......they're going to be pretty paranoid when the snow comes round here then!!!!

[shirlthegirl43]

LOL Snadger! When we first used wood shavings in the hen house many, many years ago the hens took ages to acclimatise and get off their perches!

*Madmax says he has plans for a large pentacle in the centre of our sitting room floor

[Bephlam]

I heard the chooks scream in panic earlier when a particularly big fire work went off, but two seconds later they were silent again...so, I'm assuming they are fine. They're warm, well fed...safe...and dark, so they should get through the stress of the night!!

Same cannot be said for me though!!! I hate them...had to have two cans of guinness and a couple of glasses of amaretto with ice!! It's certainly taken the edge off it!

[Hilary B]

I would like to know just HOW balloons can alter their flight path? Don't they travel with the wind??
I can only assume the balloons were pretty low, or there would not have been a problem.
It would have been much worse with turkeys. They have been known to die in panic for heavy rain when they are outside.

[Qwerty]

Scientists reckon that turkeys really are the dumbest animals on earth today. There are stories of them dying of shock from paper fluttering in the wind and have died of cold in rainstorms because they are too stupid to take shelter. But I suppose the turkeys could say: "If we didn't shelter, how would we know when it stopped raining??"

[Snadger]

Scientists reckon that turkeys really are the dumbest animals on earth today. There are stories of them dying of shock from paper fluttering in the wind and have died of cold in rainstorms because they are too stupid to take shelter. But I suppose the turkeys could say: "If we didn't shelter, how would we know when it stopped raining??"

Can't remember if it was on here I read it but apparently if a turkey is sitting and a rat attacks its belly and starts eating it alive, it doesn't even move!