Just an update. The abdomen appears to be getting larger to me or the bald patch is just getting bigger. I'm not entirely sure. It also feels tight when you touch it.
Adjusting crop or gapeworm?
I noticed one my pullets doing something like a gagging motion today. It was about 6 times in a one minute span. I stayed and watched her for a bit, then gapes three more times in 5 minutes. She's a young pullet--about 12 weeks. I've seen chickens do this in the...
I've been worried for some time now that my hen may have some mild ascites going on.
I've attached a picture of her after a bath a few weeks ago. Her abdomen seems quite large to me but when she's dry she doesn't have any bald patches that I see in pictures of hens with ascites. She has been...
I think of hatcheries as puppy mills and local breeders as backyard breeders if we're comparing to dog breeders.
Having said that, I think you can totally find an ethical local breeder if you do some research.
I agree. Part of the reason that I have my own chickens is because I care about those poor chickens living terrible lives to produce eggs for us. So it doesn't make sense for me to risk them going through shipping and possibly dying.
I purchased chicks from Buckaboo farm last year and this year. I have nothing but good things to say. Buckaboo farm is a small breeder not a hatchery in orange county.
Thank you to everyone who responded yesterday and helped me through my anxiety. I moved them all to a safer spot last night and my hen stayed with them all night. She accepted them!
The chicks started to stir and one of them peeked her head out from the hen's wing. My hen pecked her on the head. The chicks didn't seem to mind it too much and didn't move. The hen stared at the chick for awhile and then pecked her again and it sounded hard this time. I freaked out but the...
Thank you so much. At this point do you think it would be ok for me to walk away and just check on them every 15 minutes or so? I thought I did enough research on this but now I'm just getting stressed out.
Eggs would have been my preferred method too, but I wanted vaccinated chicks. I've also heard that hens can reject chicks from eggs they lay on so I at least wanted to be able to be present to observe. With eggs, you don't know when they'll hatch.
Should I be taking them away and trying again at night? Everyone seems content right now but it does seem like my hen just doesn't realize that they are there.