Recent content by DocB

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    Excavation by Birds - A Word of Warning

    I solved the problem of my dog digging under the fence by putting her poop all along the base of the fence. I tried to cover it up a bit where I had loose dirt to keep the smell down. It worked really well. The price was right.
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    As far as the one chicken with the egg issue. Re-evaluate your food. I suspect it is a nutritional imbalance since you are feeding all different ages of birds. Just because the large print on a bag of food says it is for "all flock" or "layer food" does not mean it has the right Ca/P ratio or...
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    We have a saying "don't look for zebras". So no, it is most likely not genetic. Maintenance deworming can be beneficial, especially if you know you have a parasite issue in your environment that your hens are continually going to be exposed to. You will never eliminate round worms from a...
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    Absolutely
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    I forgot to include the link to the article about the Ca/P ratio in my last post. Sorry. The food you are feeding does not have the right ratio of Ca to P for laying hens. Here is a portion of the article: Individual birds will absorb and metabolize the calcium and phosphorous at different...
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    She is probably not a silly girl but just needs the right Calcium(Ca) to phosphorous(K) ratio in her diet. Too much Calcium can produce soft shells also since it creates an imbalance in the Ca/K ratio. Here is a link for a more detailed explanation. The ratio also changes significantly when the...
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    2 Soft Shell Eggs in a Row?!

    Since you all seem to be focused on the calcium issue and the problems with soft shelled and abnormal eggs continues with no real identifiable pattern, I suggest you might want to try a different approach. First I would stop trying this that and the other supplements assuming it is calcium or...
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    Are these normal poops?

    When you read the directions for dosing on a bottle of goat wormer (or horse wormer or dog or cat wormer)it is for a goat (horse, dog, cat) not a bird. You need to know the mg per pound for a chicken not a goat. Goats, horses, dog, chickens, turkeys etc all have different dose requirements. You...
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    Duck was bitten by a dog

    I am a veterinarian and treat birds. The reason it is best not to try to use sutures is because their tissue and skin tears very easily. Better to use a liquid surgical adhesive like VetBond on clean dry tissue or skin. You can glue the crop tissue first and then glue the skin but the important...
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    Help please - Soft Shelled Eggs everyday and not sure what to do

    I have 5 hens right at a year old. I got them last march and was feeding the Purina Dumor Layer feed plus shell on the side. I was getting 1 to 3 eggs per day so I dewormed all of them and switched to a Naturewise organic all flock 18% feed and immediately started getting 5 eggs almost every...
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    Spiders in chicken wire chicken run

    I always walk in my garden with a bamboo walking stick and wave it in front of me to make sure I am not walking into any unseen (or seen) webs. I read the orb spiders take down their webs in the morning and rebuild them each night. Last year I watched one do this on my patio every night...
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    Looking for a new dog to be around my flock, Options?

    I would look at the herding breeds. Some of the dogs in the working group are not hunters like the terriers they are more for guarding like Rotweillers. Labs are used to hunt birds so they may be risky although very smart and easy to train. Check out the AKC book on different breeds. Terriers...
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