Recent content by littlefarmgirl9

Hi everyone. I have a five-year-old Ameraucana (she might be an Easter egger) hen. She has been very slow the past few days—her abdomen is full of liquid (ascites, I think); she has a slow-ish liquidy crop, and she is very dehydrated—drinking a LOT. She has always had very watery poos, and is...

): I’m sorry about all of this! It’s always hard when your attempt to help turns out wrong. But you are putting in a lot of effort now to fix this. Nobody blames you—if anyone, I blame your dog.

Interesting. If she’s eating feathers, maybe she has protein deficiency? Check out the protein content in her feed. Feeding some dried mealworms, crickets, or another source of protein might help with this.

Just make sure she’s getting enough protein (typically about 20 percent of their feed should be protein). If it gets worse and the featherless spot becomes red and raw, I would suggest getting some Vetericyn spray to put on it (from a farm store) or maybe unfiltered honey (natural antibiotic)...

Hey everyone! This thread is for all who want to know the color of certain breeds’ eggs. Feel free to post pics of your prettiest eggs alongside the chicken breed that laid them. Maybe we’ll see some pink eggs! Have fun! (: This egg is from my Ameraucana hen, Cocoa.

I think it’ll be fine. As long as you’ve got her somewhere comfortable, she won’t be able to damage her foot. Good job draining it! Sounds like it was needed. Yeah, I’ve got two barred rock hens. I’m the only one who can tell them apart—my family calls them ‘the twins’! Very good little layers.

Ahh, ok. To be honest, until they start showing some other signs (lethargy and going off food being the biggest ones), I don’t think you should worry. Just wait it out for now. Head twitching can also be neurological—one of my chickens frequently walks backwards and shakes her head—or a sign of...

Sneezing in chickens is usually a sign that there’s something in their throat. My chickens get very excited when I feed them, and when they eat too fast, they have to sneeze to get food out of their throats. Mine also leave their mouths hanging open when it’s hot. If there’s no other symptoms...

Sour crop and gapeworm are my immediate thoughts. Sour crop is easy to find—lethargy, not eating or drinking much, and full, watery crop first thing in the morning. As for the head movements, these could be due to crop discomfort. Impacted crop is also possible. Gapeworm is sneakier, though—it’s...

Crop issues or peritonitis come to mind with watery poop. Is she lethargic at all, or still drinking and eating? I would try examining her crop first thing in the morning for fullness—squishy crop is a sour crop, and a hard mass in crop is impacted. Not sure how these would affect egg...

You said no pressure on the crop. Does his mean I shouldn’t give her a crop massage? I’ve been doing those to move the miconazole cream around, but I have sensed that she doesn’t like it.

https://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2013/06/dont-let-fear-of-gapeworm-keep-you-from.html?m=1 https://thisnzlife.co.nz/signs-your-chickens-might-have-gapeworm-plus-how-to-treat-it/ ^ Some helpful articles about gapeworm. I didn’t mention before, but there’s also the possibility of a respiratory...

I was going to suggest soaking the foot in Epsom salt and treating with some honey or Vetericyn spray (the latter is more helpful, but honey works in a bind), then wrapping with gauze and vet tape. Basically treat like Bumblefoot. But then I saw the last post—looks like you’re handling it well...

I agree with the above post—respiratory infection, or possibly gapeworm. I think I saw something at my farm store recently for chicken respiratory tract health...

Aww, poor Frieda! She seems to be exhibiting the telltale signs of gapeworm—gasping for air, sneezing. It breaks my heart to watch this video. I hate seeing animals in pain, and I know it’s hard for chicken owners, too. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. Don’t be too hard on yourself...