My barred rock, about 26 weeks old, suddenly started limping badly. She can't put weight on the leg. I see no sign of bumblefoot or injury, it doesn't seem broken, no swelling or extra warmth. When I hold her, I notice the bad foot doesn't curl up tightly the way the good one does, and the leg...
Update: She is barely alive. She hasn't eaten since Friday morning and she won't drink; I get a little in her beak with a syringe. I have given her Wazine and tetracycline hydrochloride as well as Sav-a-Chick (vitamins/electrolytes). I gave the active chickens Wazine yesterday and will give them...
Thank you for the advice. Crop still seems empty, no smell from her mouth but her poop is still green and very smelly, and she makes sick little sounds. Our feed store has very limited supplies (now I know to order them and have them on hand). I bought Sav-a-Chick and fed 10cc into her beak...
She is very sick this morning. She won't eat or drink. I don't see lice or mites. Her poop is green, I don't see any worms in it, and she spit out some green watery stuff too. Advice??
Two months ago we got 2 pullets to add to our flock of 3 hens, aged almost 3 years. We quarantined the new ones for 4 weeks, so they've been integrated for over a month. 2 weeks ago one of the older hens got a droopy comb and was acting lethargic, including sitting in the nesting box for hours...
In our case, the tractor is separate from the coop and run. It allows them to "free range" without worrying about hawks. The coop and run are secured against night time predators (for us, raccoons) also, but the tractor is pretty flimsy. We have an enclosed city backyard so dogs aren't a...
It should be 1 - 2 weeks, but it may be sooner unless you were checking her squatting every day until now! Our 4 chicks, all the same age, started laying over a period of 7 weeks. I don't know if they inspired each other, but the later ones started using the nest box quicker.
I had given up on their laying until the spring...and then today we got our first egg!! It was from Layla, the barred rock. I suspected she was squatting last week, but I wasn't sure. She is about 29 weeks. I hope the other three catch on quick.
(She actually laid it in the run; this is...
Homecoming, May 24
May 28
May 29, barred rock
May 29, the new hampshire red formerly known as buff orpington
So how old do they look in these photos? It was hard to get clear pics of them.
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Oh my god, you may be right! I just looked through the breed pics on the site, and she's redder and slimmer than the other BO's, not as nearly dark as the RIR, and doesn't have scattered white feathers like the Red Star. That leaves...New Hampshire Red. Her tail feathers are dark at the...
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My mistake -- I just checked their baby pictures and they had feathered wings and a few on their tails, especially the BO (the BR had the least) -- but pretty much down elsewhere, so maybe they were younger than I thought.
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I know, they do look young. I got them on May 24 and they said all the chicks were 3-4 weeks old. They didn't have feathers, just down at that point though.
I'm not sure if they're squatting. Does it look a lot different from sitting?
OK, I am upping their protein treats -- gamebird...
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That's about when my slowpokes were born.
Catfish/okie, they do get grit and oyster shell.
Thanks for the responses. Does it make sense that ALL of them are late layers?
I have four 24-25 week old chickens who have never laid an egg -- 1 barred rock, 1 black australorp, 1 gold-laced wyandotte and 1 buff orpington. I switched them to layer feed about 4 weeks ago, I give them veggie and sunflower seed treats, and they free range about an hour a day when I can...
I got my chicks (3-4 weeks old) at Ranch Hag Hens in Petaluma. I highly recommend them; check her website. She sells older ones too. Finding chicken supplies in SF is a pain -- you can search the forum for a thread on Bay Area suppliers.
For your run, make sure you use hardware cloth. Mine has...