The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[flagirl]

Had 2 days of sun and no rain at my house and am trying to dig sand from back of property and wheelbarrow it to front where coop is. water went down a hair, but then this morning got .3" of rain. Getting a truck load of sand but they cannot bring till tues, so still digging and hauling from yard. guess I am pretty attached to these crazy hens and i thought retirement was supposed to be easy!

Now there is a tropical storm brewing but hopefully it will go NE and miss us. have built up inside coop about 4" so far. will be tring to build a dike so the next 2 weeks forcast of rain everyday will find another place to go. Consider myself blessed-other areas of country loses houses, even a few under water nearby, so a coop is minor.

 

[delisha]

Quote: I won the eggs in the NYD hatching contest. They finally arrived. It was not a choice I made. I will be selling them eventually. I can't believe how tiny these birds are. I might keep a pair, I am not sure. 4 are out so far. One egg is rocking and rolling and the other egg, I no longer hear anything.

Well Cecilia is all done hatching her eggs. I put 6 under her. She hatched 4. A 5th one was nearly all unzipped but Cecilia took her 4 outside all day yesterday and the unzipped part was face down. The 6th one hasn't done anything. I stuck it in the incubator with the 8 I took out from under the Twisted Sisters. Just as I said I would not do.
I followed the ambulance with my mother in it to the hospital this am. It's after midnight and she's very restless. Her liver has some serious issues going on. Am hoping the cancer hasn't moved there. More tests tomorrow. At dinner time I ran home, snuggled with the bunny, checked out the new babies, got pecked for my efforts, pet the dogs and cats, kissed hubby and was back. Not bad and no speeding ticket. NYS does love giving out tickets!

I am sorry to hear of your moms additional medical issues. I am sending out virtual hugs.

Mom hen thought the living were more important. She is a good mom.
I disliked living in NY mostly because of traffic. (Long Island)

Had 2 days of sun and no rain at my house and am trying to dig sand from back of property and wheelbarrow it to front where coop is. water went down a hair, but then this morning got .3" of rain. Getting a truck load of sand but they cannot bring till tues, so still digging and hauling from yard. guess I am pretty attached to these crazy hens and i thought retirement was supposed to be easy!

Now there is a tropical storm brewing but hopefully it will go NE and miss us. have built up inside coop about 4" so far. will be tring to build a dike so the next 2 weeks forcast of rain everyday will find another place to go. Consider myself blessed-other areas of country loses houses, even a few under water nearby, so a coop is minor.

Sounds like you are building a moat.
I had to dig trenches this year also.

 

[salt and pepper]

I'm officially clueless now... I treated my bird for impacted crop for over two weeks with no improvement, so I left her for a week just to see what happened. Didn't change at all. I'm think surgery now, she getting weaker, and her comb is pale. She's still eating, but something is going on in there. The weird part is that the mass isn't hard, but very soft and pliable. Could it be some type of tumor? And advice would be appreciated.

 

[MumsyII]

I'm officially clueless now... I treated my bird for impacted crop for over two weeks with no improvement, so I left her for a week just to see what happened. Didn't change at all. I'm think surgery now, she getting weaker, and her comb is pale. She's still eating, but something is going on in there. The weird part is that the mass isn't hard, but very soft and pliable. Could it be some type of tumor? And advice would be appreciated.

She could have a tumor growing on her thymus.

 

[salt and pepper]

She could have a tumor growing on her thymus.

I don't know what it is... It's either a tumor, or a blockage lower down in her digestive track. I'll do an autopsy if she dies... It's like she's fading...

 

[delisha]

I'm officially clueless now... I treated my bird for impacted crop for over two weeks with no improvement, so I left her for a week just to see what happened. Didn't change at all. I'm think surgery now, she getting weaker, and her comb is pale. She's still eating, but something is going on in there. The weird part is that the mass isn't hard, but very soft and pliable. Could it be some type of tumor? And advice would be appreciated.

Do you have anything for female yeast infections? If you do.. give her about a pea size. She possibly had an obstruction and now she possibly has a yeast infection. You probably should give her fine ground up oregano and garlic too. You need to keep working that crop. Surgery at this point will probably kill her, however if you make that decision, it will be a learning tool to use in the future. If she has gone a whole week with no intervention she probably has no reserves left.

I am thinking if nothing has moved..she has something else wrong and the crop issues is secondary. I am leaning towards cocci or an infection. You might have to be more aggressive and give her a shot of antibiotic. I am not a proponent of antibiotics, however you are in a place you need to do something radical. If she was a cull able bird of mine I would use her for surgery practice. If she was valuable I would do the shot first and probably use a stomach tube to fill the crop with food until she recovered. Personally in this condition I would cull to save her some pain, than preform the surgery and do a necropsy to find out why she was ill.


A side note to all who read this..this is a learning tool and nothing more. This is not directed to anyone, it is directed to everyone. This is just my opinion

leaving a bird with out intervention when it can't eat and process its food will leave it to starve to death slowly. Please do your birds a favor and cull it. If you can't do it, please get someone who can and will. Everyone who owns chickens needs to cull..Everyone. Chickens do not live a long life. You will have sick chickens. We do not have access to vets and the expense does not meet the necessity of vets getting experience with chickens. Make a plan about the future of your flock. Make commitments on your flocks health and stick to it. Chickens do not complain. To survive they need to hid illness and pain. You need to be a good steward and know your chickens. Know the signs of a healthy bird. If it is not healthy and is acting off, fix it. If you can't fix it in ( blank days)cull it. Having ill birds attract predators to your coop and you risk your whole flock. If you do not have the time to know your birds, you have too many. Cut back a little and give yourself some time to know and understand chickens. Experienced chicken keepers can walk into a coop with 50 birds and know something is not right. They can look into a field of 100 birds and know too. They did not know in a few months, they know threw years and years.

 

[salt and pepper]

Do you have anything for female yeast infections? If you do.. give her about a pea size. She possibly had an obstruction and now she possibly has a yeast infection. You probably should give her fine ground up oregano and garlic too. You need to keep working that crop. Surgery at this point will probably kill her, however if you make that decision, it will be a learning tool to use in the future. If she has gone a whole week with no intervention she probably has no reserves left.

I am thinking if nothing has moved..she has something else wrong and the crop issues is secondary. I am leaning towards cocci or an infection. You might have to be more aggressive and give her a shot of antibiotic. I am not a proponent of antibiotics, however you are in a place you need to do something radical. If she was a cull able bird of mine I would use her for surgery practice. If she was valuable I would do the shot first and probably use a stomach tube to fill the crop with food until she recovered. Personally in this condition I would cull to save her some pain, than preform the surgery and do a necropsy to find out why she was ill.

A side note to all who read this..this is a learning tool and nothing more. This is not directed to anyone, it is directed to everyone. This is just my opinion

leaving a bird with out intervention when it can't eat and process its food will leave it to starve to death slowly. Please do your birds a favor and cull it. If you can't do it, please get someone who can and will. Everyone who owns chickens needs to cull..Everyone. Chickens do not live a long life. You will have sick chickens. We do not have access to vets and the expense does not meet the necessity of vets getting experience with chickens. Make a plan about the future of your flock. Make commitments on your flocks health and stick to it. Chickens do not complain. To survive they need to hid illness and pain. You need to be a good steward and know your chickens. Know the signs of a healthy bird. If it is not healthy and is acting off, fix it. If you can't fix it in ( blank days)cull it. Having ill birds attract predators to your coop and you risk your whole flock. If you do not have the time to know your birds, you have too many. Cut back a little and give yourself some time to know and understand chickens. Experienced chicken keepers can walk into a coop with 50 birds and know something is not right. They can look into a field of 100 birds and know too. They did not know in a few months, they know threw years and years.

Thank you for the advice, she is definetely NOT a valuable bird ( hatchery EE, and ugly to boot ) I Can only get sulmet around here, but worried that would be too harsh on her... I'll Cull her tomorrow...

 

[mikkles]

Hi all! I realize that all pullets are different and it takes awhile for them to "even out" with laying, but is it "ok" if they were to lay an egg and not have any others for a week or more?

 

[maggiemo]

This is just my opinion

leaving a bird with out intervention when it can't eat and process its food will leave it to starve to death slowly. Please do your birds a favor and cull it. If you can't do it, please get someone who can and will. Everyone who owns chickens needs to cull..Everyone. Chickens do not live a long life. You will have sick chickens. We do not have access to vets and the expense does not meet the necessity of vets getting experience with chickens. Make a plan about the future of your flock. Make commitments on your flocks health and stick to it. Chickens do not complain. To survive they need to hid illness and pain. You need to be a good steward and know your chickens. Know the signs of a healthy bird. If it is not healthy and is acting off, fix it. If you can't fix it in ( blank days)cull it. Having ill birds attract predators to your coop and you risk your whole flock. If you do not have the time to know your birds, you have too many. Cut back a little and give yourself some time to know and understand chickens. Experienced chicken keepers can walk into a coop with 50 birds and know something is not right. They can look into a field of 100 birds and know too. They did not know in a few months, they know threw years and years.

Boy did I need to hear this, thank you so much. I have killed meat birds but I have my first 'sick' laying hen and I think this will be my first I have to kill.
She is standing like a penguin, she is eating. I can't feel an egg, or anything inside her. I can see that she is starting to swell between her legs and waddle when she walks.
When I saw her my first instinct was "I am going to have to kill that bird'. Now, after just about 10 minutes of looking on the forums I am almost positive I am going to have to kill her..
When I first got this flock a year and a half ago she, and a few of her sisters had runny noses, no coughing, just runny noses and swollen eyes for a few days. They all got better. I about 1/3 of the flock was affected, 2/3 had no symptoms. I banded the ones that had the runny noses Every single one of the banded birds has had some issue, all mild until now. Things like molting the first year, late layers or bad layers, like 2 or 3 eggs a week (first year) when their sisters are laying 5 or 6 eggs a week.
I was going to cull these birds this fall. I guess I am going to have to do this one sooner.
Blah...this is no fun....

 

[DerbyChook]

leaving a bird with out intervention when it can't eat and process its food will leave it to starve to death slowly. Please do your birds a favor and cull it. If you can't do it, please get someone who can and will. Everyone who owns chickens needs to cull..Everyone. Chickens do not live a long life. You will have sick chickens. We do not have access to vets and the expense does not meet the necessity of vets getting experience with chickens. Make a plan about the future of your flock. Make commitments on your flocks health and stick to it. Chickens do not complain. To survive they need to hid illness and pain. You need to be a good steward and know your chickens. Know the signs of a healthy bird. If it is not healthy and is acting off, fix it. If you can't fix it in ( blank days)cull it. Having ill birds attract predators to your coop and you risk your whole flock. If you do not have the time to know your birds, you have too many. Cut back a little and give yourself some time to know and understand chickens. Experienced chicken keepers can walk into a coop with 50 birds and know something is not right. They can look into a field of 100 birds and know too. They did not know in a few months, they know threw years and years.

This post was right on time for me too. I just culled my first hen. I tried many things to make her better, but she was just wasting away. I am a city girl and do not have any experience with this kind of thing, but I guess I signed up for it when I decided to keep chickens. It was really hard, but I did the best I could for her and she is not suffering anymore.