Recent content by Winchikn

  1. Winchikn

    Broody Hen with Roundworm

    Thank you. I will get a first dose into her tomorrow. She is still has decent energy when she comes off her nest, and her appetite is very solid, so I'd like to let her take the chicks if she'll have them. I'm in Canada and can't get liquid safeguard so I have to use the paste, which I've done...
  2. Winchikn

    Broody Hen with Roundworm

    Hi, I have a hen who has been on a nest for 23 days now - we think the eggs are not viable. I have chicks on order to pick up and give her on July 29 (5 days from now). Broody has had watery poops and only been leaving the nest every couple of days and not been eating much (though still keen...
  3. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    The move has stressed Honey out but I just couldn't leave her in the nesting box with the other broody continually knocking her off and then leaving the eggs. Honey is now in a separate coop with a little run blocked off from but sharing a temporary fence my other chickens. I know reintegration...
  4. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    Oh my goodness, thank you. I would never consider letting her go for 4 more weeks from now - I was wondering about 4 weeks in total given the hatch and pick up days at the hatchery. And I do understand that any way she goes, we might need to brood those chicks if we get some. But I'm going to...
  5. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    You've given me a little hope - although our eggs are not very dark. They are from Buff Orps, Light Sussex, and Caramel Queens (Light Sussex-Welsummer cross). But I think we will try again in 3-4 days and if we still see nothing, decide if we're ordering day-old chicks to give her!
  6. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    After another 2 days of rotating broody hen shenanigans, we moved Honey to our little broody coop and adjacent run tonight. I had the other broody nest thief in there all day to keep her off the nest but she went right back to the nesting box this evening when we let her into the coop...
  7. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    Unfortunately my coop is quite small for this kind of set up. I can barely fit a dog crate in and then the other hens are pooping all over the plastic insert that I flip over on top, making a real mess. Our shenanigans are ongoing with the hen that was kicking Honey off her nest now having gone...
  8. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    Thank you! I think some degree of separation is probably in order. She's off her eggs again today (the big Light Sussex is on them again...she's not a committed broody, tho). I might separate Honey and also see if the Light Sussex wants to hatch a couple eggs too. Hopefully we get at least a...
  9. Winchikn

    Separating Broody Hen & Chicks

    Hello BYC, I have only hatched chicks once before (result was 5 roosters) in 2021 - and my same Buff Orpington hen (bless her) has gone broody again this year. Her name is Honey, and I gave her eggs in the nesting box 2 days ago. My pickle: 1. Honey is bottom of the pecking order and got...
  10. Winchikn

    6 yr old hen with soft-shelled egg

    Thank you. I'll do the calcium and yes they have free choice grit in addition to the oyster shells. There was a change in available grit in my part of Canada a couple of years ago - it might not be granite anymore. Does that make a difference? She's back in the nesting box today so clearly...
  11. Winchikn

    6 yr old hen with soft-shelled egg

    Hello BYC friends, I have a 6-year old Ameraucana/Easter Egger who has been an intermittent layer the last couple of years. She laid a few eggs earlier this spring and nothing for several weeks. Then she laid one nice little egg last week (with a very dark yolk). Today, I noticed she was...
  12. Winchikn

    Suspected Mareks

    A final update that I took this little hen, named Chai, to the vet last week to have her euthanized and to get help sending her off to the lab (a 7 hour drive away) for testing. She was a champ til her final day, when fairly advanced ascites was making it hard for her to walk. Here is the main...
  13. Winchikn

    Molting hen with crop issues

    A final update that I took this little hen, named Chai, to the vet to have her euthanized and to get help sending her off to the lab (a 7 hour drive away) for testing. She was a champ til her final day, when fairly advanced ascites was making it hard for her to walk. Here is the main finding of...
  14. Winchikn

    Molting hen with crop issues

    I thought I would add one more update about this little hen of mine from the original post. She made it through last year (though I think she stopped laying in the spring), with a flare of symptoms in the fall during moult. Her cropped stopped emptying properly again, her poops got foul and...
  15. Winchikn

    Hen only lays when I leave town

    Definitely her eggs - she's the only blue egg layer! Maybe she is trying to entice me home. I spent a ridiculous amount of time hanging out with my chickens when they were 'little' and have two that got pretty attached. They will fight over sitting in my lap or being held, even though I don't...
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