France in Focus

A couple of weeks ago we were having a problem with the auto chook door so in the evening I went out to investigate if it was working. One of our older chooks was huddled down outside in the rain when the others were inside with the door shut so I picked her up & put her in the house.
The next day she was still in the house & it became apparent she was late to the door as she couldn't see. I feared the worst.
By lunchtime she had found her way out into the main enclosure & seemed to be cautiously feeling her way around rather than seeing.
That night she was back in the house although sleeping on the floor rather than in a box with her pal Mme Grey who I reported here a while ago was a transgender & crowing like a cock.
As the days went on it became apparent that Mme Grey was guiding the blind chook around the chookery estate & into the outdoor day shelter when it rains. Although it's been clear she couldn't see to find & eat food scraps put down she's been back in the house every night since the eventfull day & appears fit & pecking away at the grain feeder.
Today however I chucked the chooks some boiled up fish heads etc & she was in there with the other birds pecking away at it like nothing untoward ever happened.
Certainly seems like she can see something again so here's hoping.

Either she can see something or could smell the fish heads. Fingers crossed !

Blaze wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2023 5:56 pm Either she can see something or could smell the fish heads. Fingers crossed !

I thought it might have been the smell so I tried her later with a croisant cut into finger nail size pieces.
She pecked them up OK whereas a few days ago she would have ignored them so, fingers crossed.

Cant you take her to "Pecksaver"

Wow!

Doesn't your chicken door make a noise, LAF? Our elderly set-up makes a grinding noise as soon as it starts to open or close, which serves as a warning to the girls that they need to get in PDQ It's also a lot slower to accomplish it's job, so gives them more time. One of the reasons we've not replaced it yet.
One of my girls has a dislocated hip and although she can climb up to the perch, she can't get down, so she sleeps in a nest box on the floor. I'm a bit concerned whether she's going to make it through the winter like that, without the communal heat of the others....

Quiksilver wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 10:02 am so she sleeps in a nest box on the floor. I'm a bit concerned whether she's going to make it through the winter like that, without the communal heat of the others....

Put some sort of insulation on the floor under the nesting box might help - and insulating the nesting box ?

Oh yes...the hut walls are lined with polystyrene sheets for winter, so extra sheets are on the shopping list for the floor, before the weather turns really cold. OH made decent, MDF nesting boxes just open at the front, straw-filled, so they're pretty cosy. Just hope all that will be a sufficient replacement for the communal snuggle

@Quiksilver - an enormous amount of heat can be lost through the floor so good luck with the insulation !

Quiksilver wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 10:02 am Doesn't your chicken door make a noise, LAF? Our elderly set-up makes a grinding noise as soon as it starts to open or close, which serves as a warning to the girls that they need to get in PDQ It's also a lot slower to accomplish it's job, so gives them more time. One of the reasons we've not replaced it yet.

It's almost silent, very slow to drop & never been a problem until the fatefull night the chook was left outside.
I'm pretty sure she had lost her sight, got disorientated due to the foul weather & couldn't follow the other girls in.
I've checked every night since & she's always been indoors at dusk before the door went down.
We've got an 'inside outside' enclosure leading to a large 'outside outside' one with a shelter &, perhaps with Mme Grey's help, she can now get herself indoors where she now sleeps on a bed of straw on the floor rather than in a raised box with Mme Grey but seems OK.