Recent content by specklesmom

Just as an update: We could not bring ourselves to kill Baby, Instead we decided to try to modify her beak in hopes she would be less lethal. We used one of those grinder type things that is supposed to remove dead skin from your feet. While my husband held Baby I smoothed out the tip of her...

Is it a sign of my mental lapse that I believe each of our hens has a very distinct personality and that my mind decides that I will assign each hen a fantasy/cartoon type voice that seem to match her nature? I mentally create little interactions between them as well as their thoughts and...

Thanks for the information about CO 2 and how to set it up. I'm also reading about using ether from starter fluid......just going to sleep peacefully is exactly what I'm hoping for.

We are going to be away from home for five weeks and our very kind neighbor will be keeping our chickens supplied with food and water. The heat here will continue to be very miserable but we have done the best we can to provide shade and ventilation for the hens. They will be confined to...

Great suggestions! Thanks.

Thanks for your reply! No baby sitters, but we have wonderful neighbors, one of whom has taken care of the chickens in the past. At that time they just had to be sure the chickens had food and pick up the eggs. An automatic system took care of watering. It is now more complicated and we have...

Any suggestions for how to find a chicken sitter for DFW area (Keller/Grapevine/Southlake)? Any local groups I might contact?

Every year sounds worse than it should; the girls had it last year and again this year. Not like every year for weeks.

Moth balls worked great on the Brown Recluse spiders in the barn....Won't the bug zapper attract more mosquitoes to the area?

I thought that once a chicken had fowl pox (dry) they established immunity for the future. Not so for my girls....Each year when mosquito season begins chickens get black sores on their combs. So far they don't seem terribly bothered (I dab antibiotic cream on the scabs) but I hate the idea that...

Blondie is definitely doing better but obviously must have reproductive issues since some of her poops look like they contain egg yolk. I took her to the avian vet this afternoon in hopes the same type of slow release hormone implant done for BB could help Blondie. The vet said it would most...

Blondie is outside in the sun today with her group and seems to be doing fairly well. She is pecking and scratching as well as digging in the dirt box. Other issues are described below... The radiological report assessment reads: Generalized soft tissue/fluid opacity of the coelom-There is no...

Thank you for the information. I just received the very extensive report from the ER vet and haven't had time to really go through everything. Blondie seemed a bit better today. I did better at giving her the meds this morning. Hopefully the antibiotic is working and she is in less discomfort...

I'm afraid to postpone the antibiotics......I'm still hoping to get some guidance from the avain vet I've used before. She put a hormone implant in my cockatiel when she was continually laying.

I'll have to read about shell gland problems......It seems strange that she was so normal and then suddenly Friday evening she was just totally changed in her behavior. From zippy to zapped. If the cause of the infection is egg yolk peritonitis does she have any chance of recovery? The vet...