Recent content by All Ball

  1. All Ball

    Bird Flu in Dairy Cattle

    News: first severe case of bird flu in human, and unfortunately looks like caught from sick and dead members of their backyard flock: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/m1218-h5n1-flu.html. My elderly ladies got taken out by a fox, so I am not up on the current info, but remember in the...
  2. All Ball

    Training year-old hens (egg eaters) to use new individual nest boxes

    You may want to check out the designs on here for portable chicken tractors - a safe way to get them outside foraging rotationally while protecting your garden.
  3. All Ball

    Neighbor's cat getting into chickens! Help!!

    I just saw this morning that it was a grey fox (they have daily rounds and it showed up same time as the chickens get out of the coop). They don't typically take out chickens. This one didn't even eat anything and let the crows, who gang up to harass predators eating birds, scare it away from...
  4. All Ball

    Official BYC Poll: What Are The Top Causes of Death in Your Backyard Flock?

    Here in the US we do experience a lot of chickens dying from viral or bacterial infections - and there can be a disease present on a property that can continue to infect birds (such as Marek's). Many US states offer affordable necropsies, so people can see what is killing their birds and the...
  5. All Ball

    Neighbor's cat getting into chickens! Help!!

    Can I ask, did the cat eat at all or just decapitate? A predator just took out my 2 hens this a.m. and I am trying to figure out what it was. I found them decapitated but not eaten (a flock of crows may have harassed the predator away), and yesterday afternoon the girls were making land predator...
  6. All Ball

    Drooping, swollen, infection looking bumps

    Could you try calling the vet to let them know the situation is getting worse despite the antibiotic? Wonder if they could give you some advice over the phone considering their prescription is not working. That looks pretty gnarly. Hopefully one of the medically-informed folks here might have...
  7. All Ball

    Mold on stored eggs - picture

    Unfortunately, that is what I would do. Mold is never something good to take a chance with.
  8. All Ball

    Awful looking cyst on cheek but doesn't seem to bother

    Wow, what a beautiful girl and what an awful cyst! Sorry I don't have ideas, but if you use the search function I bet you'd find some great advice - hopefully it feels like fluid, and not a growth? If the former, there might be good advice on here about trying to drain or lance it.
  9. All Ball

    Training year-old hens (egg eaters) to use new individual nest boxes

    Sounds like you've really been trying to do your best for them - no need to feel like a failure, not to mention a total failure!! I had some egg-eating but certainly not with that kind of aggressiveness. I have also had 2 girls stuff into a nest without problems except for the drama they went...
  10. All Ball

    Official BYC Poll: What Are The Top Causes of Death in Your Backyard Flock?

    I had had 11 years without my backyard free-rangers getting any predation (aside from 1 of 9 chicks taken by a crow) until this morning when my two remaining girls, aged 11 and 9 and still very lively, were downed quietly by a predator. 😭
  11. All Ball

    Review by 'All Ball' in article 'Straw Itch Mite.'

    Had not seen this linked article before - another helpful addition! FYI, the tall grass in my upper yard bears itch mites starting in late spring/early summer which remain after grass is removed until winter frost. It causes ME problems, but have not noticed it being an issue for the chickens. I...
  12. All Ball

    Pecky has mystery diarrhea & abdominal bulge?

    Hi New2theFlock - I was researching around and saw this thread, and that you didn't get a response to this last post. SO sorry you were not able to save Pecky. :hugsThe way I tend to view it is the flock views a sick chicken as a potential carrier of disease, and will move to take out a weak...
  13. All Ball

    Deworming.

    With so few vets willing to do a fecal test without seeing the animal, it's great to learn about this service - thank you!
  14. All Ball

    2 chickens lost and looking for others insight with experience

    It sounded like you thought the heat might have been the issue - one thing I do is use a stand-up mister I got at the hardware store - even if the chickens don't like to get wet it cools the air nearby. The necropsy will help you a lot in figuring this out. Otherwise, I'd just make sure that...
  15. All Ball

    Chicken struggling to bok

    I had an EE who had this kind of wheezy thing once or twice and it eventually passed - she had something caught in her throat. You could try seeing if she would eat moist food, like feed mixed with yogurt, to help soften/clear the obstruction, if that is what it is. Or you could wrap her in a...
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