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Hi there. I've started a thread, because I have a few questions and couldn't find answers to them I needed...bear with me whilst i tell a story 
I recently (last Thurs) rescued a hen that was being bullied and pecked by the next door neighbouring allotments chickens (we'd put her there because we'd rescued her when we found her wandering up by the main road about 2 miles away, but didn't know where she'd come from, we did advertise, but noone came forward) So my cousin kept her in his garden for a while, but the predators and kids locally were starting to threaten her, so we moved her in with the neighbouring allotments hens as we don't have the fencing to keep her on our.. she was fine for a week , but then they all just started pecking and attacking her, couldn't let it go on so i scaled the 6ft fence between our plots and got her out in a pet carrier and brought her home.
She's settled in great, even the cat doesn't mind her, and i feed her layers pellets, rice, cooked pasta, small amounts of veggies, strawberry tops, grapes, kiwi fruit skins, carrot peelings, cooked potates and sweetcorn, aswell as the odd slug and worms/insects i can find in the back yard. I can deal with the mess, she doesn't make a great deal, and she's already one of the family as our house hen. She sleeps in the pet carrier at night and is in there when i leave the house for any length of time, but likes to perch on a highish box we have in the corner of the room.. probbly not ideal to have a hen totally in the house, but it's only temp till we make her a nice home in the back yard....
oh.. and she absolutely loves to play marbles with my little girl lol
So, my questions are:
after so much moving and stress, how long might it be till she starts laying again?
and being a total novice how can i tell if she's healthy/happy etc? Her comb isn't bright red, but it's not really all that pink either.. bit somewhere inbetween.. when i got her it was almost folded in half but has straightened up nicely now.
she does keep making peculiar growling and throaty clucky noises. is this their normal behaviour? is it something to do with the egg laying?
and i have two of her own egg shells (from before she was moved around and stopped laying) i want to feed them back to her, that's ok isn't it? to dry them and grind them? how much should i give her?
Any advice for this novice hen mother extremely welcome....
Thanks
I recently (last Thurs) rescued a hen that was being bullied and pecked by the next door neighbouring allotments chickens (we'd put her there because we'd rescued her when we found her wandering up by the main road about 2 miles away, but didn't know where she'd come from, we did advertise, but noone came forward) So my cousin kept her in his garden for a while, but the predators and kids locally were starting to threaten her, so we moved her in with the neighbouring allotments hens as we don't have the fencing to keep her on our.. she was fine for a week , but then they all just started pecking and attacking her, couldn't let it go on so i scaled the 6ft fence between our plots and got her out in a pet carrier and brought her home.
She's settled in great, even the cat doesn't mind her, and i feed her layers pellets, rice, cooked pasta, small amounts of veggies, strawberry tops, grapes, kiwi fruit skins, carrot peelings, cooked potates and sweetcorn, aswell as the odd slug and worms/insects i can find in the back yard. I can deal with the mess, she doesn't make a great deal, and she's already one of the family as our house hen. She sleeps in the pet carrier at night and is in there when i leave the house for any length of time, but likes to perch on a highish box we have in the corner of the room.. probbly not ideal to have a hen totally in the house, but it's only temp till we make her a nice home in the back yard....
oh.. and she absolutely loves to play marbles with my little girl lol
So, my questions are:
after so much moving and stress, how long might it be till she starts laying again?
and being a total novice how can i tell if she's healthy/happy etc? Her comb isn't bright red, but it's not really all that pink either.. bit somewhere inbetween.. when i got her it was almost folded in half but has straightened up nicely now.
she does keep making peculiar growling and throaty clucky noises. is this their normal behaviour? is it something to do with the egg laying?
and i have two of her own egg shells (from before she was moved around and stopped laying) i want to feed them back to her, that's ok isn't it? to dry them and grind them? how much should i give her?
Any advice for this novice hen mother extremely welcome....
Thanks
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