Recent content by dougp23

Sorry to hear about Dolly....I had a hen once that just showed the exact same symptoms, and like you, she improved to the point i put her back with the rest of the flock. Came out the next morning and she was dead. I put it down to am impacted crop, but it was impossible to really tell (except...

Thanks all. I found a big pile of Milly's feathers, so I can only assume Milly is not coming back. My neighbor with the Barred Rocks is probably 10 miles away, and the Barred Rocks are only 1 year old. I think I am going to give it a try. (introduce more hens to Gertie). Should I start with...

Agree ^^. I had a hen that would do this, she would climb on the back of another hen and pull on her comb! This usually occurred after the dominant one seemed to miss out on some food I put down, and the submissive one would eat most of it. Just seemed part of setting up the pecking order...

I started out with 4, lost one to an impacted crop and 1 to a fox. That left me 2. Yesterday we had a ferocious thunderstorm come through while I was at work, and when I came home, I noticed that the fence to the chicken pen had been blown over (the wind actually broke one of the wooden posts)...

Sorry to hear about this. I know you and I exchanged PM's yesterday, and my hen passed away Sunday AM as well. I was not there for her passing, but I am glad your roo wasn't alone at the end. Let his legacy go on in your other birds!

You say she moves her neck oddly. How is her crop? If it is puffed out, it could be bound up. I had a hen that did exactly what you describe: stayed by herself, would just sit down in a patch of grass, close her eyes....it was troubling. I took her to a vet who did an Xray to make sure she...

I just lost one of my girls this morning, I'm not sure to what. But she would just sit in the grass, even let us mow around her, that's how lethargic she would be. She was the largest of my hens, but she could make it into the henhouse on her own. Make sure she gets plenty of water. How is...

I only have 4 hens, two are Reds and two are some breed of black chickens. One of my blacks is quite large, I would say the others might be 8 or 10 pounds, but Betsy is I bet 13 or 14 pounds....(so say an extra 50% heavier than the other girls). Betsy tends to be slow, she will stay in one...

Thanks for the replies! Betsy will drink water, but it's funny, if you get a small bowl and let it dribble over the side of the bowl, she will drink all day!! She looks MUCH better today, still not like the rest, but a huge improvement. Lots of grit for her, and I hunch down and do the water...

Betsy has been real lethargic lately. Thought she might be egg bound but couldn't figure it out for myself..so Off to the vet! Not egg bound, but a bound crop. Her crop is large and really sticks out. She makes these incredible gurgling or stomach gurgling noises sometimes. So ihave read...

Working on a new run. It's almost Dec here in New Hampshire, gonna get cold fast. Should I layout the new run on top of some unused lawn area, or the newly tilled garden area (I tilled in a ton of leaves, so no grass, just dirt and leaves). Not sure which one they would prefer more!!

My firend had a flock of 8 hens. He gives me 2 of them about 4 months ago. They have been doing great. Now he wants to give me 2 more of them....will it be mayhem? Will they sort of remember that they all lived together at one point??

It is pretty hot today and tomorrow. My backyard is pretty much wide open, and the pen is up against one of the few trees I have. What else can I do to make it a little more bearable for my ladies? Somewhere I read about putting water on the ground, not sure if they go in it to cool off or...

HI everyone! My very first post! I only have 2 chickens but they are great! The day before yesterday, when we were outside doing some work around their pen and coop, one of the chickens just popped an egg out in the pen, it immediately broke (weak shell??) and the other one ran over and ate...