Recent content by cheapcheepcheep

Hmm, maybe I need to pay a visit to my friends who homebrew . . .

Thanks! I checked on her this morning and she seems fine. Her breathing was normal. I've always followed the thread here (Nasty Chicken Butt) that suggests the Epsom salt, and it's worked, but now I may err on the side of athelete's foot medicine, though can't vent gleet also be caused by...

Hi everyone, I've got a bird with vent gleet, and I just gave her the epsom salt in the dropper cure. Unfortunately, I think in the struggle, some got in her lungs (slight rattle when breathing). I've seen a lot that says to be careful about this (I was!) but not what to do if it happens. What...

Mine seems to be a seasonal thing. Now that I've had them a few years, I have learned the cycle. They only just started eating heartily a few weeks ago after not much at all since November. Laying is going nuts now too. Not sure if yours is seasonal, or something else. Do you have a vet who...

This morning, as I was getting the other chickens ready for morning, I wondered if I should let her back in the run. I came inside and the smell hit me at the doorway. She had dropped a massive (and obviously stinky) poop, so I'm thinking there's not a blockage, so I put her back out. I stopped...

Ok, well I gave her the old college probe, and I got about two knuckles deep, and I don't think I felt an egg, but I may have? I guess I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel. She walks ok and acts normal. I've brought her inside and put her in a dog crate for the time being to keep an eye on her...

Hi everyone, Tonight when I poked my head in the coop to make sure everyone was ok, I noticed my alpha (though she may not be the alpha anymore, I think there's some changes going on in the coop) had no feathers on her "underbutt" area. I tried to get a picture, but I was holding her in one hand...

Is the egg squishy? She might need more calcium. You could put out some oyster shells, or ground up eggshells. Though, that one looks like someone sat on it (or pecked it). If they break that easily, it may be she needs more calcium.

I use a thing called a Snuggle Safe pet bed warmer. It's a disk you microwave and it's supposed to keep your pet's bed warm, but it's also the same size as my small (1 gal) waterer's base, so I nuke it in the morning, put it in the run with the water on it, and supposedly you get 8 hours of...

Good to know I won't be alone if I try! I'd eat them myself, but I don't like them all that much. I hate to waste them, because they're not cheap.

Hi, My son likes to eat cereal bars (or breakfast bars, to some) and every so often one rides around in his backpack or lunchbox for too long and gets flattened. He won't eat them in this state, and I wondered if I could give them every so often to the chickens. I have 7 total, and would...

They're 11 weeks old now. I opened the door to the dog crate in the run tonight when I got home from work, and everyone seemed to be getting along, or at least avoiding each other. The real problem now is I have one who's broody, and this weekend, though she wasn't sitting in the bucket, was...

Yesterday I tried the supervised together time, though a little different from how you suggested. I let the grownups out into the yard, and then opened the dog crate so the little ones could explore if they felt like it. The grownups didn't pay too much attention, since they were out foraging...

Have had them in a dog crate in the run all week, and have been bringing them out and setting them alongside the run on weekends for the past few weeks. Thought I might sneak the youngsters into the coop tonight, put one in, and the alpha went after her. Oddly, the other hen in there came to the...

Ah, that's interesting that maybe them being younger might make it smoother. Good to know, thanks!