We always give our chickens fresh water daily, regardless of the temperature. Our first couple years with them, we would bring out fresh cool water in the afternoon on hot days but now we keep all the waters under shade so their waters stay cool all day (plus their run is shaded during the...
Chickens are one of the few animals not originally domesticated for food. (They were probably originally domesticated for ritual/religious usage and/or cockfighting, and then people realized they and their eggs were tasty.)
Chickens were most likely first brought to South America by ancient...
Something to consider when selecting a vet to take your chicken to:
In my experience, many of the clinics or hospitals that take chickens often have only one vet on staff who sees birds, which means that if you have an emergency on a day that vet is off, you're kinda screwed.
The veterinary...
We give our chickens frozen or refrigerated watermelon or canteloupe on hot days. We'll also make "wormsicles" for them--ice cubes with dried mealworms. They also have a large pan of water (we call it their "foot bath") that they can stand in and soak their feet. I like to toss treats such as...
If you make friends with crows and ravens, sometimes they'll give you gifts!
That being said, I think the biggest concern with having them around would be that, since they are carrion eaters, they are at high risk for catching and carrying highly pathogenic avian influenza.
I've had chicks who would chase a laser pointer or reflections of sunlight but they grew out of it.
My outdoor chickens have a xylophone that they occasionally peck at, not so much now as when it was new though. The rooster occasionally gets like mad at it and will peck at it pretty hard lol...
We've always ignored withdrawal times and eaten our eggs after our chickens get medicine, under the rationale that these tests are done on raw eggs and we always cook our eggs before eating them. (We try not to give away eggs during the withdrawal periods though.)
We've always ignored withdrawal times and eaten our eggs after our chickens get medicine, under the rationale that these tests are done on raw eggs and we always cook our eggs before eating them. (We try not to give away eggs during the withdrawal periods though.)
Olga update!
Her feet are looking a lot better! Nails still need some work; we've been getting a little bit at a time with the Dremel. Thank you all so much for all your advice!
After the oil/Ivermectin application and a round of (non)petroleum jelly to the feets, already seeing some improvement! The feet of the rooster who lives with her are also showing improvement!
Still got some ways to go, though. Those nails are looking rough. We're going to work on those...
Thank you for the advice!
We have had issues with scaly leg mites in the past, so I think you are right. I'd never seen a serious case before so I wasn't sure.
We already had some bird Ivermectin we got off Chewy for their fall deworming so my mom mixed a little with oil and applied it to her...
My 4-year-old Columbian Wyandotte hen has been having this weird scaliness on her feet. It's gotten to the point where she's got like weird growths, like she's growing extra toes. It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but she always has kind of a limp due to an old hip injury so it's hard to...
Location: Southeastern Virginia
Rooster name: Sage
Breed: Blue Cochin (purebred)
Weight: 10 lbs?
Age: about 9 months
Size: standard/large fowl
About rooster: Sage is just a big little man, a man in pants. We absolutely adore him! We've had him since he was about a week old. He is super docile...
So it's been three weeks since we treated Thyme. She is still sneezy and snotty, but her activity level has improved greatly and none of the other chicks have gotten sick. We did lose one chick the day after we treated them, probably to unrelated causes (she had always been sickly). We got a new...
Thank you for your suggestion! I would never have thought about video appointment!
Unfortunately, neither our regular chicken vet or the other chicken vet nearby do telehealth. I ended up taking Orange Chick in to the other chicken vet because our regular vet was booked up. Unfortunately, this...
My people!
Castiel is my fave. I love his storyline and character development and I relate to him a lot!
And then of course Jack is a very close second, followed by Dean. I like Sam also but I find Dean a more interesting character.
Last week, I got an approximately 1 month old Olive Egger chick from a local feed store. She seemed healthy when I got her, strong lungs (she screamed about half of the way home). But on Saturday, 5 days after I brought her home, she began to develop respiratory symptoms: wheezing and sneezing...
Thank you all for your help and support. Unfortunately, Stella did not wake up this morning. We are attempting to send her to the State Vet for necropsy to determine cause of death, but we (well, my dad) will have to wait till Monday to send her. I will update you all when we get the results back.