Bird's Eye View

A Bird's Eye View

Remember the chickens I had to cull out due to their feather-less condition? I had one more in this pen which was in the same condition. One of our other posters suggested I check to ensure that the birds did not have lice.

The goal? Catch the bird sans tail feathers, examine her to see if she had any creepy crawlies. So into the pen I crawled, literally.

This pen - affectionately known as Fort Poultry is 2 cinder blocks high, climbing in at this juncture is not quite as difficult as it was in the beginning. :-)

Fort Poultry - The Beginning

This is the beginning of Fort Poultry - notice the bare ground and all the cinder blocks showing.

Climbing into this one was a challenge - added to that one of the corner blocks, which I happened to use *once* was not secure, and I almost fell in.

Stepping into the pen causes my feathered friends to become extremely ALARMED and run as far away from the (cough) intruder as possible.

I am in the pen, everyone is piled up in the corner as far away from me as possible, ahhh, there is the one I want, hunched over, trying very hard NOT to put my knee down in the hay and uhm, droppings, snatch up a hen by the leg. Drag her back, drat, WRONG chicken!

By this time, everyone is flying around inside the pen, or as well as one can fly in limited air space. Realize I am taking up at least 1/3 of the front space, which has the opening to...F-R-E-E-D-O-M!

Release the chicken I did not want...ah, there she is...panicked, who should actually make it past me, up and out the opening to the wild outdoors? The hen I wanted.

Climb out of the pen, place tarp back over to prevent further escapees. Try to guide the hen, who at this juncture just wants to GO HOME...LET ME IN, as she tries to figure out how to get back in with her pen pals.

After a couple of times circling the pens in an attempt to snatch her, she decides to go between the Fort and the portable pen. I had placed the portable pen next to the Fort to provide security and electricity (heat lamp). I'm thinking, oh yeah...go on in between there and you are MINE!

Heh! Cooperative little bugger did just that...wedged in, she can't go up and she can't go forward, snagged.

Bird begins to scream, "HELP! HELP! I've been taken! Other pen pals begin to cackle in sympathy, "We know, we know!"

Okay, that didn't really say that...but it sure sounded like it to me. LOL!

Alright, now I have the hen, examine her, nope, no buggies. I was pretty sure that the reason for their de-frocked state was over crowding which caused the birds to pick at one another. For a standard breed the typical requirements are 2 square feet per bird, bantams are 1.

I put Vet RX on her beak, dust her with DE and put her in the recovery cage. At this stage, she is still not as lively as I would like, but with 4 in a similar state, they are not picking on one another. This is an encouragement to make sure I have the next level up pens ready. Lack of planning on my part cost me 2 pullets and 3 months worth of feed for them.