Recent content by Zmajor

It’s been a minute but thought I’d follow up here: We hardware clothed the entire floor and that didn’t help; the rats started chewing through the parts of the walls made of wood, and even worked on the 1/4” hardware cloth in a few spots until they were able to work their way through it. We...

Hi there I’m dealing with rats too and have listed a lot of methods we’re trying to eliminate them in this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diy-rat-extermination-around-the-coop.1593506/#post-27097245 You definitely will have to get a really good treadle feeder if you cannot fully...

Update: family member unexpectedly passing has me away from home more than I’d like, but numbers have decreased. However any reduction in efforts is delaying their removal. Some added steps we’re taking: 6. Using a bush hog to knock out some brushy areas 30ft-50ft from the chicken structure...

What do you recommend as an alternate feeder? Some follow ups to your great points: The grandpa’s feeder is borrowed from a friend; we have other feeders as well but tried this to see if it worked. We found it works for smaller rodents but not for the very large rats that we see on our game...

We live above a sheep farm so it didn’t take long for the rats of their hay barn to venture up and find our coop. It’s been a multi-year problem as I’ve never seemed to eradicate them each time I try. Then, we messed with their home nest and they retaliated by killing a hen. Now, it’s war. I’ve...

I have a 3-4 week barnevelder that is clearly favoring one foot. I am concerned she injured it on our mini roost for the gals (6-8” high) and it’s clearly trembling when I inspect it but she can fully move it. She wasn’t being bullied but her 7 sisters are very flighty so she was getting run...

@Razzlefrazzle thank you for your reply. I tried the 1/2 cup water with epsom salt and cannot get that much into her system.. her crop still bulges out, yet isn’t hard, and her diarrhea is getting worse. It’s incredibly stinky yet her crop is only now starting to smell. She won’t eat or drink...

One edit to the above; I did observe her for 12 to 18 hours with no food, and found her crop still to be full in the morning before assuming impacted crop.

I think I’m dealing with sour crop but would like other opinions. 4yr old Parmesan was fine Monday (eating, hanging with flock) but since then, I noticed she’d be separated from the flock while ranging and had no interest in treats. She moved slow and would scratch around and made it to the...

And final update: things progressed quickly. She could no longer stand and was very weak so we ensured a quick passing with the shovel method. Adding my opinions here in case any others come across this post later: My gut was telling me we punctured a really big cyst but I was just not...

As an update: she’s having watery clear and white liquid stool (maybe what some describe as milky?) but with no stool.

Hi KDrake, I’m so sorry to hear about your hen. I think I’m dealing with something very similar as I also pulled out clear liquid and she’s not doing much better the next day. How did her last few days go? Would you recommend culling given what you know now from the experience? Or was her...

Hi! I’ve loved this site since I found it in early 2021. It’s helped me learn how to save a chicken with a broken femur and how to self diagnose egg peritonitis. I’m currently dealing with a water belly like case so I joined and posted for my first time today :) Trying to be a good new member so...

My husband and I decided to try and extract fluid from our 3-4yr old Easter Egger’s belly last night. It felt like a water balloon, as many have stated it should feel when it’s Ascites or water belly. 18 gauge needle, 60cc tube, and alcohol wipes used. The fluid came out with ease but it was...