I know this is an old post, but I find myself in the same steps as these others did. So I figure I'll add my story too. :)
We have a flock of 6 right now, 5 hens and a rooster. We just had 5 new chicks hatch. Momma Suzy and the babies have been in their own roost with an attached run enclosed...
UPDATE: So we performed our first Bumble operation. We used a scalpel after lots of soaking and got somewhere, but it's been 2 days since and I'm sure we have to go back in. I'm leaving her for two days to recoup, mentally as well as physically.
We found some thorns in their run that is likely...
Checked Lana this morning. The area looked a little more inflamed. So surgery, drawing salve... something is going to be done soon. I've got a triple antibiotic ointment and some Blu-Kote. Is Vetericyn still needed too? I ordered some drawing salve because I've heard some good things in addition...
I was way too timid to try and dig at anything the first day. Plus my partner holding the hen wasn't very supportive, he was uncomfortable sitting there holding her. I think he suggested we just eat the hen about 5 times, but I worked through it.
Lana didn't struggle once I pulled the initial...
Hello all,
Lana needs your help! :fl I've been reading up on Bumblefoot today because I caught one of my hens limping a bit. I made her a footbath and after a few minutes picked her up and looked and found a big black dot that wouldn't wash off. So I grabbed it and tugged and most of it came...
Thanks for the reviews! :D Much appreciated.
Things have been going pretty good with this setup for the first few years. We liked this spot initially because the back wooden wall was already standing. There was a structure there once in the past. So we built the coop right in front of it and...
Did you ever figure out the reason for the eggs to have the soft spots like these photos at the beginning of the thread? I have a hen doing the same thing and I've been trying to figure it out. It's now to the point when I go to get the egg it's already broken in the nesting box.
I've got 6...
I am going through this also, I have been taking advise from everyone here. Thank you all again so much. I just saw this and I'm at the point where I cleaned the wound last night and applied ointment.
My question is about how to properly clean. I used warm water and hydrogen peroxide for the...
Ya know, that could be true. It looks like the size of a bite. We test drove a saddle on her about 5 days ago (took it off immediately because the rooster lost his mind when he saw the predator eyes on it), but I can't imagine that wound she has today was there and we just missed it. So you're...
Thank you for that link. We plan on increasing the flock, but figured I wouldn't need saddles after we get rid of this young rooster. But now I see they can be used for other things - keeping hens warm or covered when feathers are missing or clean when there's a wound.
Definitely stressing over the fox indecent. That's for sure. We just started free ranging a little over a week ago. We've seen many hawks and there was the one fox attack around 9 in the morning. We think it might be better to limit the free range time because of the predators or worse case...
Ah, yep. I see how that could happen. Thank you.
Moving forward without the rooster, the plan is to limit the free range time because of the fox threat. Noon to late afternoon at least. We saw the fox in the morning so.. that probably means nothing but it's all I've got for clues for now...
I did order a saddle to try to protect the hen, but little did I know the damage was done already. Hidden under her wing. We don't need the rooster for breeding... or waking up in the morning! ;) Keeping him was just a newbie mistake. We wanted 6 hens and only got 2 out of a batch of 6 chicks...
Not even a year yet. May makes 1. I feel terrible that I let this happen. I wanted a rooster... especially after he chased a fox out of our yard two days ago. What a champ... meanwhile... my hens is all torn up. I literally went of singing his praise to accepting he's dinner, possibly as soon as...
Yeah, that was realized shortly after too. If she won't do the trade, she said she would originally but things change, then we'll have our first roo dinner for sure. :( It's still kind of hard to get a grip on it all going this way, but that's the reality of it.