Recent content by Chewbagawk

The first hen to die (months ago) was sent in for a necropsy, and they didn't detect anything besides the tumors. Rosie was a hatchery quality Rhode Island Red, and cancer is pretty common among them. This girl, Anna Molly, a Silver Laced Wyandotte, came from a different feed store but I have a...

Thank you for your reply. About 15 minutes ago Anna Molly died in my arms. I think I do have some antibiotics left over from when I was trying to care for my hen Rosie, but I don't know if it would have resulted in a different outcome. I thought of giving Anna Molly some, but I was afraid to put...

UPDATE: My hen has since passed. Feel free to post what you think it could have been, and any steps you think I should take for my other two hens (who aren't currently exhibiting any symptoms). This is the third member of my original flock (which I'll now probably add to; yay?) that's died in...

No problem! It's just a suggestion, not a "You NEED to do this" or "You should do this", but it does save the hassle.

I was/am against dinner out of my pets as well. The crow ends up being about as loud as a hen, certainly less than a barking dog (at least that is what I've heard). We haven't heard my capon crow with his collar on tight enough, so maybe it is working.

I can't say for certain, but my Barred Rock looked really weird at times when she was growing up. It looks like new feathers are coming in. With the mouth-opening action, my chickens do it all of the time (most frequently, my Barred Rock, coincidentally) and they are fine. It could be them...

The only suspicious-looking one is Falcon, in my opinion. Sorry! I've gone through the same thing, and I wanted to let you know that there are a few options when it comes to "suppressing" a cockerel that don't involve eating him (if you're against that). Some work better than others, but a lot...

That's a cool setup you have! Just in case you're worried about your birds hopping a fence and getting into your neighbor's prized kale or something like that, you might want to consider clipping their wings if you haven't done so already. It doesn't bother them, nor is it visible, and it's not...

Yeah that is as far as my understanding goes. I knew that the operation would help with aggression (one of the many reasons I can't have a rooster). It's not like caponizing him at that age would make him grow into a hen. I was just hoping he'd never get the urge to crow for his own sake...

Update: Based on the pictures of 6 month old roosters I've seen (as well as capons of that age), he's not as developed as he naturally would be at that age. Seems like his waddles should be bigger, his legs should be thicker, he should be more muscular, should have crowed earlier, etc.

I understand the doubts, but she (the vet) said she made sure she totally removed all trace of the testis, and she had done it before. His behavior definitely changed after his "operation" and it did take 6 months for him to even think about crowing. Whatever the reason for him to continue...

I was sound asleep in my suburban house when at 6:55 AM I heard my capon Kashmir crow! At first I didn't believe it, but ten seconds later he did it again. I threw off the covers, grabbed my No Crow collar off of my desk, and ran outside before my neighbors found out where the crow was coming...

See? There's my point. You know what you're doing and you care about your work. You could try to offer her a tour of your farm to see how happy your flock is, and if she's still upset let her call animal control and let them explain to her the error of her ways. In the end, it's up to her to...

Anna Molly My Silver Laced Wyandotte pullet. She was always the weird one, so I named her after an Incubus song where it's pronounced "anomaly"

YES! To protest our consumption of the defenseless plants and animals, let's all turn to all-natural cannibalism, as nature intended.