Recent content by Porch Chickens

  1. Porch Chickens

    Matte shell vs. Glossy shell

    I'm excited to see this post about egg finishes.. For years I've had some chickens that lay mat and others that lay glossy. I'm winding down on my chicken keeping now and only have 2 left that lay; one 10 years old and one of indeterminate age who in I found on the street 7 years ago.. Both...
  2. Porch Chickens

    Not roosting, breathing seems labored

    My orpington, lemon, stopped roosting several weeks ago and is sleeping in a nesting box. Doesn't appear broody but also sitting a lot during the day and strangely enough she prefers to sit almost in the waterer, so I'm assuming she must feel very thirsty to want to be that close to it. She's...
  3. Porch Chickens

    Wheezing Hen

    Rue is still wheezing, but still eating and drinking normally, laying an egg every day, and very active. I'm hoping it's just a little head cold? Seems like everything is business as usual for her. I'm bringing her in at night and keeping her cozy, but letting her out during the day, separated...
  4. Porch Chickens

    Wheezing Hen

    I have some Baytril that expired in 2015... it was from when Rue's sister got the Canker. Antibiotic won't do a thing if it's viral, so maybe I'll just give it a couple of days first and see if being inside improves things. At least she's eating and drinking. Seems happy inside. Our hens are...
  5. Porch Chickens

    Wheezing Hen

    My Easter Egger, Rue, has been coughing occasionally for a few days. Today we noticed that she's wheezing. If I put my ear to her chest, her breathing sounds normal there, so it seems the wheezing is coming from higher up like from her nostrils. Her piping noises sound hoarse and whistling...
  6. Porch Chickens

    San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

    I do like to support my local businesses, but also need to feed my kids and have one soon to leave for college, so may have to give up on organic. The non-organic at the Poway store is vegetarian, anyway. I don't like chickens being fed chickens, and I've heard that's the "animal protein" that's...
  7. Porch Chickens

    San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

    Thanks so much-- I will check these out! I also since called a feed store in Poway since I'll be up there next week. Same price as SD Pet supply for organic, but only $14.99 for 50 lb bag of regular feed.
  8. Porch Chickens

    San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

    Hi "Peeps", My name is Monta and I live in South Park and have had my flock for about 5 years now with several new additions in the last year. All different breeds-- Orphinton, Barred Rock, Easter Eggers, Silky, Marin, and one more kind I can't remember name of. Love having variety in birds...
  9. Porch Chickens

    Do chickens destroy your lawn?

    How much the lawn will be damaged depends on the proportion of lawn area to chickens. They do eat a lot of grass, and also like to hollow out little holes to dust bathe in, so if I was renting I would not let them access the lawn. The poop is also too caustic for the lawn until after it's...
  10. Porch Chickens

    Thought she was poisoned, but now think egg bound!

    Vet's diagnosis was to say it was reproductive problems "common to light bodied birds" which according to him are bread to lay like crazy and then be slaughtered after one year. He says feeding organic feed makes these problems more common. She was nearly 4 years old, so maybe that's good for a...
  11. Porch Chickens

    Thought she was poisoned, but now think egg bound!

    Sorry, I never told what happened here. Our Merida didn't make it' Took her to Avian and Exotic Vet here in San Diego. Vet said she was not egg bound, that the egg shaped thing I was feeling was not an egg, poo-poo'd all the advice I was given here, shaming me for soaking her in warm water and...
  12. Porch Chickens

    Rescuing Lost Chicken with Many Missing Feathers

    Yes FalconNest, she has a name now! Just last week I was thinking, "hmm, I guess we might as well name her" and "Margaret" popped unbidden into my head for some reason, so now she's Margaret-- Maggie for short.: )
  13. Porch Chickens

    Rescuing Lost Chicken with Many Missing Feathers

    Yes she appears to be a mix, Falconnest. Looks like some kind of Easter Egger and RIR. She appears to have scaly leg mites. This is our first experience with that type of mite. She's in a separate coop from the other birds, but they have been pecking close around that coop in the daytime and can...
  14. Porch Chickens

    Leg scales and old claw lifting all at once with new underneath-- normal?

    One of my hens, a four-year-old Buff Orphington, has lifting scales on both FEET and does as well as the claws (not legs). At first she looks like she has extra toes, but it just seems to be a shedding thing. I've looked at lots of photos of scaly leg mite and can't see any that look at all...
  15. Porch Chickens

    Possible to introduce new chicks to existing flock?

    Apparently the more different the new bird looks, the harder it is to integrate them. We got a little golden silkie at one point and she was very hard to integrate with the rest of our flock which are a mix of different full-size breeds, even though we have one white silkie who does fine with...
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