INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

OK, here is the video. Thank you for looking.

the way she can hold herself good but then tips a touch and catches herself with her wing is very similar to both of the hens I have lost to different leg injuries. Both of my hens were no where as good as her at standing up correctly though and when on of my injured hens would tip a touch it would be a complete fall. As long as see is eating and you are sure of that (some hens pretend to eat) she should not be losing weight. Once she starts to noticeably lose weight, it is technically past time to cull. Which each of my hens that had a leg injury I waited too long clinging on to hope. I did better with the second one.
My recommendation is to get her in a pen of her own and monitor the food and water she is eating and drinking. If you have the scales I would try weighing her each day at a similar time too just in case she is hiding food instead of eating it. That is what my second injured hen did for her last 2 days by the looks of the food pile I found after I cleaned her pen.
Patrick has had success with his hen recovering from an injury but so far my hens get the dying injuries.
Another thing to keep in mind is how much effort you want to put into helping the hen. If it is a pet, I'm sure it will have earned a lot more effort than an $3 farm chicken. I have some chickens that I want to breed, I would give them more time and effort than a barnyard mutt chicken that I kept for eggs only.

 

[kabhyper1]

Hi guys. Well the three littles and their momma have been going out everyday for a couple hours with the flock. Things are slowly coming together. My RIR girls are being witches, but hopefully everyone will eventually settle in. For those of you that have babies with your flock, how do you feed them? I don't want them eating the layer food, but I don't see how it can be avoided, and the big chickens eat the chick starter like little crack heads.
The little patterned chicks are really starting to look different from each other. At birth they looked similar, but I can tell that the one is definitely half EE and the other is all SL/Wyandotte. I got a few picks, but it was scratch time, so everyone was moving really fast.

 

[pbirdhaven]

When I have chicks hatched by a broody and out with her, they get the same feed as everyone else. Of course, they're supplementing with bugs, etc., but the layer feed has never seemed to harm them. I never give it to my incubated chicks unless I'm out of the other, and then not for more than a day.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Calcium is really not good on birds that are not laying--chicks, roosters, young pullets--and should only be fed to a flock in which there are only laying hens. Birds that aren't laying can sustain kidney damage over time from the minerals in layer feed.

Personally, I have not used layer feed in some years now. My girls are on an all flock feed with oyster shell provided. The hens that are laying will eat the oyster shell as needed, and the birds that don't need the calcium ignore it. Starting this year, I also began feeding all flock feed to my chicks instead of getting grower feed. The only difference between most all flock feeds and grower feeds is that things are in slightly higher concentrations--but neither have a particularly high concentration of calcium. The chicks do fine and there's no transition from one feed to another. I've heard of people feeding grower to their adults with oyster shell provided on the side as well.

 

[kabhyper1]

Calcium is really not good on birds that are not laying--chicks, roosters, young pullets--and should only be fed to a flock in which there are only laying hens. Birds that aren't laying can sustain kidney damage over time from the minerals in layer feed.

Personally, I have not used layer feed in some years now. My girls are on an all flock feed with oyster shell provided. The hens that are laying will eat the oyster shell as needed, and the birds that don't need the calcium ignore it. Starting this year, I also began feeding all flock feed to my chicks instead of getting grower feed. The only difference between most all flock feeds and grower feeds is that things are in slightly higher concentrations--but neither have a particularly high concentration of calcium. The chicks do fine and there's no transition from one feed to another.

Maybe I should do that. I have two roos in my flock that eat the layer with the girls. Having young ones in there now too, I should probably switch.

 

[browncow15]

I have had two different hawks just kill and eat not fly off and this was with chicks that were 4-6 weeks old.  We had just moved them out that Oct.  And I had no clue that Oct was a hawk busy season. 

The one that got my girl couldn't lift her.  When I went out, it flew away.  I spent some time getting the hiding ones into the hen house.  While I was in the hen house, it came back and began to feed on the ground. 

When I went out it tried to carry her away but couldn't.  Tried valiantly but dropped her back down and left.

I learned something new! I always assumed that they flew off to eat somewhere safer. Thank goodness the hawk that came down at my place last week didn't get anything and after getting stuck under the netting in the run I don't think that one will be back!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

How ironic, I just saw a coopers hawk flying around my house.

 

[RhondaCaroline]

We have two Mille Fleur Cochin Bantam project roosters looking for homes. (That means 4 roosters in my back yard, so these two youngsters have to go.) Free to Good home. I'm close to Corydon/New Salisbury.
(I think both pics are the same rooster, so if you'd like different pics I can try again tomorrow.)
.... I uploaded additional photos to the album on my account and there are also pictures of the parents.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I don't use layer feed anymore. I had a rooster that developed health problems from eating too much of it. Granted he was a larger production rooster so it might just have been his time but He seemed to start improving when I changed the feed. I have never gone back.
I did the math roughly and while higher protein feed costs more per pound it is about the same per volume or number of my feed scoops per bag. The calcium by itself is cheaper then the high protein feed. And my birds eat less volume of the higher protein food than the layer food, meaning one scoop of all flock fed more birds than a heavier same size scoop of layer feed. So on average I spend less by buying the higher protein feed and calcium separate. Plus my roosters are not eating the calcium, so I'm saving even more there. Then I started soaking my feed and there really is no benefit for soaking calcium the soaking benefit is more in the grains. Soaking saved even more money. Then finally I was free ranging for a while and really saving on feed money. But in the end I have found offering the calcium separate while feeding a higher protein chicken feed works well for me. I will keep soaking or at least wetting the feed until winter comes and I am forced to move the food into the coop.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I feed the same way. One feed formula that they can all eat with supplements of (more) animal protein for the chicks and calcium on the side.

Makes life way easier!