I'm in the middle of NC and was told by a clerk at TSC not to get any chicks on the first day of arrival. She said they have been having a lot of problems with chicks not making it. She blamed it partly on shipping delays and on their heating system. I bought some bantams from TSC a couple of...
I had a chicken hatch ducks a few years ago and it was pretty sweet watching her try to teach them to scratch. She finally gave up and scratched up the goodies herself and gave it to them. She also looked pretty disgusted when I gave them a small tub of water to play in. But she stood guard...
Ahhhh, how sweet. Most of our ducks are very friendly and like to eat hand fed treats - peas and mealworms are favs. But once they grow out of the duckling stage, none like being picked up and snuggled. So our chickens fill that void. My calls aren't laying eggs yet - or maybe they are...
We have a small pond and our ducks stay on it or the bank most of the day. The rest of the time is spent in a secure pen which opens into a fenced in wooded area. We also have run electric wire around it. Like others, winter seems to be the worst time for flying predators like hawks. We...
I got my first chickens in 2009 and wasn't prepared for how attached I would become. We lost the first one when she was around 7 months old, no idea why, just found her dead in the coup. I had been sitting with them during a free range time the evening before and she seemed fine. Anyway, I...
Well, I didn't take a pic, but it was red looking & wormlike. She doesn't shake her head or have any bubbling, just breathes through her mouth with her neck stretched out and her eyes closed.
I noticed my 6yr old Australorp stretching out her neck and gasping for breath today. I have brought her in and tested for gapeworm with a swap - that is her problem.
So how do I treat her. I read on line that Flubenol, Aviverm & Flubenvet are treatments but they only show up on New Zealand...
Hi, I know this is over a year ago, but I have a duckling I hatched in the incubator with the same problem. So wondering if yours ever made it? Don't want to cull since it does eat and drink, but like yours was - low energy, sometimes raspy breathing and scratches it's bill a lot.
Ours are definitely pets. We enjoy the eggs, give extra to family and the food bank. Currently have 30 with about 8 oldsters who are yard ornaments. My husband and I both just enjoy having them around. We figure the entertainment and the yummy eggs offset the cost.