Recent content by JacksonPearce

Agreed, I won't be! I do think it looks a bit like she's filling back up with fluid again, unfortunately. It doesn't seem to bother her, so I'll just let her carry on and live her life until it looks like she's in pain/uncomfortable, then put her down.

The fluid was VERY thick and mostly a very solid, Crayola-crayon yellow. Some was lighter, but it was all more yellow than amber. There’s absolutely no way a needle would have worked! I would absolutely go straight to the incision next time, if I face the issue with another hen. I’m giving her...

I don’t, but it was very small and very similar to those soft shell bits. It very much seemed like egg material. I don’t totally understand how egg material would be in that area, though— aren’t the oviduct and all on the upper side? I figured that treating the (what I thought was) water belly...

Bump!

I have a chicken I *thought* had water belly; her belly was swollen and featherless, and she hadn't laid in ages. I tried to drain it using a large gauge needle, but felt like I was having to stick her too many times to get fluid— so today I opted to use a (clean! sanitized!) scalpel to make a...

I have a Cochin hen who is always sort of a mess— if it’s not one thing it’s another, though she always pulls through. This eye is looking especially awful though. I’ve brought her inside, washed her vent area since it was looking rough, and washed her eye with anti-microbial wash but…any other...

I've been using sand for a while, and am wondering if I need to switch types. I'm getting river sand, which is quite coarse but still very much sand. I see some people using sand that looks more like very fine gravel. The sand I use gets quite compacted after a while-- am I not cleaning it often...

Bump? :(

Hi there everyone-- One of my hens has a massive, water-balloon-esque belly. I checked and it doesn't appear that she's egg bound; I wondered if perhaps a broken egg was in there since she's laid especially soft eggs in the past, but that doesn't seem to be the case either (I tried to syringe...

I have some water soluble antibiotics but really want an injectable for when I have birds that aren't eating or drinking. Tylan 50 was, of course, my go-to, but since it's no longer being made I'd like an alternative. I saw TyloVet 50, which is supposedly generic Tylan, but couldn't find much...

We constantly have problems with scaly leg mites, and I’ve got a number of chickens whose feet are mainly scar tissue as a result. We treat as best we can, but yesterday one of my Spitzhaubens had these dark marks on her feet. It looks like blood from dryness/mites, but it wouldn’t wash off (and...

Hi Eggcessive! The chicks definitely came to her with Mareks (I'm angry about that, but that's another post)-- I think that the breeder would likely cull them, but I know that's not something she would want to do. Since the breeder is obviously already a Mareks carrier, I don't feel like there's...

A friend has discovered that her first flock has mareks and is understandably devastated. She's already lost a number of hens, and can't decide if she wants to return the remaining three to the breeder and start fresh or just give these three a home for as long as they can carry on. She would...

Thanks! We don't actually know how old they are-- they were rescued from a hoarding situation as adults. I'm a novice rabbit owner so it's hard to know if our remaining girl is super lonely, though she's eating well, so that seems like a good sign? It's helpful to know that introducing a new...

Hi friends-- I adopted two older female rabbits from a local rescue that were tightly bonded together. Unfortunately, one died today. It's not clear why, especially given that they were given a perfect bill of health from the vet only nine days ago. :( This means I'm left with a single bunny...