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  1. ravenseye57

    The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

    Thanks for the advice Delisha..I'll give it a try. Lots of DE and ash in the dustbath seems to be helping and hopefully this will do the trick. I sure would hate to resort to chemical insecticide. Also, glad to hear what you said about apple seeds. That's what I had found in my research before I...
  2. ravenseye57

    The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

    I'm having trouble with ear mites I think. Several girls are shaking their heads a lot. This has probably been answered here, but any natural treatments besides DE and wood ashes in the dust bath? I feed organic and I don't want to use chemical insecticides.
  3. ravenseye57

    eggbound or internal layer?

    Thanks! Luckily I haven't had her long so though she's sweet I'm not that attached. She still seems better since her "spa treatment", but her abdomen is still large so I'm afraid it is one of the other problems (ascites, internal layer or cysts). Can't afford to feed too many pets, especially...
  4. ravenseye57

    eggbound or internal layer?

    I've given her the bath twice now and also tried holding her over the gas heater wrapped in a warm damp towel. Nothing came out as far as I can tell. I read some of the threads on ascites and internal laying and I'm starting to suspect that one of those, probably cysts since her abdomen feels...
  5. ravenseye57

    eggbound or internal layer?

    This Fall I was given some hens by an aquaintance and one of them, a RIR of uncertain age (probably 2-3 yrs old) appears eggbound. Tail down, runny stool, large, lumpy hard abdomen. I've given her the warm bath, held her on my lap with a heating pad and damp towel, lubed her vent with KY, and...
  6. ravenseye57

    Fat hens need a diet

    Some of my hens have gotten too fat, even though they are pastured and I feed a good quality organic feed and not too many treats. The fat ones are mostly 2 !/2 yrs old. I have the ability to separate them for the winter and put them on a reducing diet, since their only feed will be what I give...
  7. ravenseye57

    needs to molt

    My favorite hen, a two year old red star named Maverick, is looking terrible but hasn't molted. All of the hens that I got at the time I got her have nice new feathers, including my other red star - though she also was slow to molt and is just finishing up hers. Mav has also recently been...
  8. ravenseye57

    Will experienced but only semi broody hen take foster chicks?

    Thanks for the replies. I probably won't chance it. It's just four chicks after all, so it won't be too much trouble to do it myself.
  9. ravenseye57

    Will experienced but only semi broody hen take foster chicks?

    I have a Dark Cornish hen that raised chicks last summer. She was an excellent mother. I have 4 wellsummer chicks arriving Wednesday and I was hoping when I said I would take them (2 weeks ago) that she would foster them since she's been acting broody... spending a lot of time on a favorite...
  10. ravenseye57

    mean pullet

    I kept her in the dog crate for a couple of weeks and this time she got much tamer. I would let her out when I was in the yard. When I put her back with the flock this time her behavior was much improved. Between the "time out" and the better weather, which has allowed them to be outdoors...
  11. ravenseye57

    mean pullet

    Sounds like roostery behavior to me, but you can't be completely sure till they start crowing. That being said, when I've thought a chick was a rooster they almost always have turned out to be. I haven't kept bantams, but I didn't think you were supposed to keep them with standard sized...
  12. ravenseye57

    Feather picking

    I got the pinless peepers, but like some others have mentioned the other chickens pulled at them and they came off. I figured I'd try again, but in the meantime I kept the main troublemaker in a dog crate. I finally put her back with the others after a couple of weeks and she's behaving much...
  13. ravenseye57

    Feather picking

    Pinless Peepers are on the way, I sure hope they help! I do pasture my birds spring/summer/fall and that may be why I never had much trouble with this before. It's the young, energetic birds who are causing the trouble, and I think it all started with one crazy little chicken. The others learned...
  14. ravenseye57

    prolapsed vent

    Thanks. I felt really bad that she had this happen to her before we got a chance to put her out of her pain. She seemed OK, eating and acting pretty normal and she'd laid one egg early on without trouble. When she stayed in the back corner on the morning we planned to cull her, I knew something...
  15. ravenseye57

    Feather picking

    I'm having the same trouble. It started with one very mean little pullet, but now it has spread to some of the other youngsters. My older chickens never did this. I let them out all day, but I'm going to start setting my alarm early so they can go out at first light. I think boredom and...
  16. ravenseye57

    Infamous Tail, toe, vent, and feather pecking/pulling

    Did you find a solution? I'm having the same trouble with a few of the younger pullets in my flock. I've removed the ringleader, but she's one mean pullet.
  17. ravenseye57

    mean pullet

    Looks like I need to order some of those chicken blinders. Buttercup's sister Amber was doing the same thing yesterday, so I brought her in and put her in the crate with BC overnight and in the morning her vent had been pecked bloody. My hands are also black and blue from reaching in to the cage...
  18. ravenseye57

    prolapsed vent

    RIP Frost. I had decided to cull her, but she tried to lay another egg and died before I could do it. :(
  19. ravenseye57

    prolapsed vent

    Thanks for the support. At least she's not one of my favorites. She's always been a bit standoffish, although she is a pretty little girl.
  20. ravenseye57

    prolapsed vent

    Looks like she's going to have to be culled. I've pushed the prolapse back in 3 or 4 times, but it won't stay. Too bad. This is my first time culling a hen, although we've had roosters and cornishes for meat the past two summers.
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