Recent content by ldirk7

The Burrow chickens spent the night in the garage! We have hit -39 F so far this morning and still dropping (real temp, not including windchill), and 4 of my idiots are molting. I don't think the molting chickens would have made it, so slumber party it is. LOL!

Continuing my diary of my flock that no one reads... Ginny passed away this morning. She got sick during this summer and stopped laying. I tried everything for her (I troubleshooted it with others in a separate thread), but she never seemed to fully recover. She would have long periods of...

Update: Ginny has gone through a lot of ups and downs since I first posted that she was sick. She never laid an egg again, but had long periods where she was a very active, healthy chicken, with random lethargic days sprinkled in. Lately, as our weather has gotten much colder, she has been...

I wanted to provide an update on Ginny: Dare I say, she seems to be getting better? She is eating a lot more, excited about the blueberry/lettuce treats I bring out. Generally acting like a chicken again, scratching around and doing chicken things! She has not resumed laying so I'll be...

@azygous @Wyorp Rock Thank you both for the information and reassurance. I think last night when I discovered it, I panicked and had fears that my whole flock would be headed down the path that Ginny is currently on (sick hen). I will continue to monitor. Thank you again!

@azygous interesting… so: First off, thank you for your reply. I have two that definitely fall into the wannabe broody category- my light Brahma and my houdan. The houdan has been showing signs for awhile and went broody for about a week one month ago but snapped out of it quickly and never...

@azygous tagging people who might be able to help! Thank you!

Bumping this thread

@Wyorp Rock tagging you again, especially since you are familiar with Ginny and her symptoms. I was just spending time with my chickens and noticed the belly feathers on more chickens.

4 of my 5 hens are missing belly feathers. 3 of the hens have neck feathers missing, but in a specific area due to what I believe is a chronic feather picker. The ones that are missing feathers on the neck spot have been like that for a few months now. The belly skin on the 4 that have missing...

Ginny update- I was optimistic over the weekend- she showed some signs of recovery, she was excited about some watermelon I offered them on a hot day. But today is looking worse, she did not exit the coop on her own this morning. I am continuing sour crop treatment. @Wyorp Rock I wanted to...

Ginny is still the same. Surviving but not well... she is still getting up into the coop at night but seems unable to get onto the roosting bars. This morning I have started treatment for sour crop. I have not gotten that sauerkraut smell from her but I thought that I might as well try...

Ginny is still surviving. I can get her to eat mash occasionally. I put a big bowl of it in the run now so she can have some when she wants. Her face, comb, and waddles have grown very pale. I do think she is getting close to passing but doesn’t appear to be suffering. Here is her latest poop...

@Wyorp Rock tonight I did the first dose of the wormer that you recommended and also dusted her with permethin in case it is mites and I’m just not seeing/realizing/knowing what I’m looking for. I also re-did the egg bound finger test just in case I made a newbie mistake, no egg. Fingers...

Alright I got her to eat some scrambled egg yolk and some small sips of water mixed with maple syrup. It wasn’t much but between that and some of the mash, she has had more to eat today than the last several days combined. She did have 2 more collapsing episodes in the yard. Her feathers kind...