Recent content by Barnhouse

For the last couple of days, one of our bantam chickens has been limping on one leg. Her toes are curled under and she hobbles on the top of her foot when she walks. It is as though she cannot extend and spread her toes to step with the bottom of her foot. I do not see any injury to the foot...

Thanks for the advice and links. The medicated feed we give the birds is suppose to "help prevent coccidiosis," per the label. I'll look for some poultry vitamins. I have added some apple cider vinegar to their water. They seem to like that. I took the hen to a farm veterinarian this...

We are feeding them a Sprout Medicated Starter Feed from Fleet Farm. Its Fleet Farm's house brand. The birds are confined to a covered run and do not free range yet. We do not treat the lawn, orchard or garden with any chemicals (bad for honeybees as well and we have several hives). One...

My wife and I purchased 21, six-week-old mixed breed bantam hens and roosters in May. One of the chickens started to wobble when it walked. One of its wings hung low and limp. Eventually the hen had trouble standing and finally it could not stand at all. Fearing a disease, I put the hen...

I just finished checking on her. She is looking a little better, still favoring one leg, but more mobile than this morning. Isolating her from the others has helped, I'm sure. I read about bumble-foot in Chickens for Dummies, but I don't think it is that bad yet. I'm not sure where I'd find...

We had six adult Leghorn hens until recently. I was a little late closing the door to the run after sunset and something got into the coop, possibly a raccoon or an opossum. Whatever it was, it made off with one hen and injured a second. The injured bird has a pale and shriveled comb, but...

This is my first post and since introductions are in order, here is a little background information. In June of 2012, my wife and I bought an 1880s barn that was converted to home in the 1970s. We live in southeastern Wisconsin. The property had a 12 ft x 8 ft wooden shed used for chickens...