I recently had a scare when boss hen, Hennessey, started “going light.” For 2-3 weeks, Roodolph the red-nosed rooster insisted on roosting on an 8' high steel pipe rafter, instead of following Hencate & Henrietta to the 8.5' top of the adjacent wooden stall wall as temperatures dropped. Hennessey tried to convince him, but he was stubborn & she kept breaking down and returning to his side on the ice cold pipe. Roody finally broke down the night it was dropping to 10°, and I sighed with relief when the 4 snuggled together for the night on the edge if the wall. I had been worried sick about finding Roody and Hennessey with feet frozen to the pipe one morning.
For the next day or two,Hennessey followed me around, muttering away to me. I was sure it was Hennessey, not Henrietta who usually follows me, because Hennessey's bright red ears stick out. I had no idea what she wanted, but she clearly wanted something from me.
On the 3rd morning I happened to see the 3 girls all lined up, up close, and now clearly could see Hennessey was suddenly smallest instead of biggest. Uh-oh. I caught her & palpated her breast. Uh-oh. Prominent keel bone; very little muscle mass. Poor girl's calorie intake had not keep up with weeks of overnight freezing feet. Happily there was no sign of frostbite, but I was still very worried. Going into a Maine winter underweight is not good thing for any livestock. So I caught & palpated another hen for comparison, to be sure. Hencate -- so plump, in my quick exam I couldn't even find her keel bone. I put electrolytes & probiotics into their water and started them on extra corn-mix scratch treat. Later that morning I also talked to a local poultry raiser at the grain store, who warned me about the potential for pullets going light to waste away completely. He also reassured me that with the supplements - extra calories I was doing everything possible for her.
Improvement came quickly. Within 2 days, she was already looking fuller in front And when Hencate challenged her, Hennessey stood tall and re-established her position as boss hen. Within a week, Hencate had earned the nickname "Thunder Thighs.” 10 days, and Henrietta was back to being the smallest of the 3 girls and I could only identify Hennessey by her bright red ears that stick out. Now we're down to 2 mini-meals of scratch per day, soon to drop to just the usual evening, warming treat before bedtime.
Roodolph & Hennessey
In the meantime, a week before Christmas, Roodolph found his voice. He sounded a bit like a foghorn at first. Now, he's all rooster, crowing when they get up in the morning, crowing for laggards Hencate and Henrietta to come join in when he and boss hen Hennessey head out to forage, and crowing to any other hens who may happen to be within earshot. Or maybe just crowing for the sheer joy of hearing his voice.
Fingers crossed; just a couple short months to eggs…