Would anyone like a laying hen?

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
If anyone is interested in a laying hen, less than a year old, I have one that can be taken for free. PLEASE NOTE it can't be kept with other hens as it developed a canibalistic trait (rare but does happen). Perfectly friendly with people and would only need a small shelter to sleep in.

Will come free with Layers pellets, grit, shavings, feeder etc.

Needs to go ASAP as I want my shed back ;)

EDIT: Forgot to say it's a black rock
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
(I was going to use another word that sounds like prat)!
Gnat?

Insects have feelings too you know - i think they wouldn't care for your adoption of their name as some kind of insult.

Edit: I have just consulted gentleworm.org(anism) and it turns out that insects have feelers not feelings - calling someone a 'gnat' has been ergo deemed as offensive=neutral.
 

Alee

Well-Known Forumite
provide extra meat the Sunday roast , that's if the hen doesn't eat them first
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
I've heard it all now......

"Eyewear
Cannibalism may be reduced by
fitting hens with a range of
eyewear. Rose-tinted spectacles or
contact lenses have been used.
Opaque spectacles, or blinders ,
have also been used. " (from Wikipedia)

Rose-tinted spectacles for hens?! Apparently you can also trim their beaks to stop the cannibalism!
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Apparently you can also trim their beaks to stop the cannibalism!
This was banned in the last 2 years, but I'm told even a red plastic ball would assist in them not pecking other hens... it was just too late for me to try it as she'd killed the others.

Surely the hen to whom you refer is "she" and not "it"? Hens are individuals and not objects are they not...?
I stand corrected. It is a she.

I would urge anyone who does provide the hen in question with a home to just look after her and not steal her eggs.
FEMALE hens, individuals, or whatever else you'd like to call HER... LAY EGGS! People eat eggs. They are bred and raised for their egg production.

 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
What's she going to do with them?
I don't think Henryscat has thought that far ahead, so I'll fill in the answer. She'd produce several, then stop laying, and then sit them in belief that one day they will hatch - which of course they won't as the eggs aren't fertile without a male chicken (a him - just for the record, and not an it!). Then as the days go by she will suffer depression when she realises that the eggs aren't going to hatch. This in turn can lead to reducing feed / fluid intake and make her quite ill. But I assume this is okay, Henryscat?

I do of course hope that HER new home will look after her. But I also know they will enjoy her eggs!! :)
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
This was banned in the last 2 years, but I'm told even a red plastic ball would assist in them not pecking other hens... it was just too late for me to try it as she'd killed the others.
Ohhhh - Wikipedia need to update their page about canabalistic hens....

I seriously didn't know that they're so violent, I thought that the rabbits that my dad had when I was little were bad enough - they used to chew their baby's ears off!
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
I seriously didn't know that they're so violent
I've kept around 40 hens at once before and I had NEVER experienced this previously, so it really is rare. Like with most animals though, once they've tasted anothers blood there seems to be no going back. Such a shame as she's lovely on her own.
 
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