Acting 'hot' on the roost?

[Silkieworld]

Awe! Geckos are so so cute

About the neck jerks, my old chicken Dusty did that she was blind though. Chickens that are hurt are always the sweetest

Hope she feels better!

 

[justplainbatty]

Thank you so much. When I went down to check on them, I found a cluster of six geckos sitting on the outside of the coop door, basking in the chicken-heat!!

Putting out ice water seems to have helped a little. My poor girl with the hard crop is doing odd kind of neck jerks, as if she's trying to rearrange everything in there... poor thing. I really hope she's going to be okay.

Can you bring her in for the night for monitoring? Some watery poops might be from heat and extra water consumption. If she is trying to readjust her crop repeatedly and often, maybe you are correct in worrying about her crop. you've seen it before so maybe a massage would be in order tonight?

 

[kurui]

I've put down some paper under where she's roosting so I can inspect her poop in the morning, and I've got the spy camera trained on her too. I gave her a gentle massage before I shut them up again for the night which softened the crop up a little but I'm not allowed chickens in the house at the moment because we have house guests I think she should be fine until morning- or at least, she shouldn't deteriorate too much in the next 5hrs or so? I'm concerned but there's only so much I can do
She wouldn't take any medicine or water- I guess it was just too dark, or she's really very ill. I'll go down as soon as me moving around won't disturb anyone. Hopefully I won't find a dead bird

 

[justplainbatty]

I've put down some paper under where she's roosting so I can inspect her poop in the morning, and I've got the spy camera trained on her too. I gave her a gentle massage before I shut them up again for the night which softened the crop up a little but I'm not allowed chickens in the house at the moment because we have house guests I think she should be fine until morning- or at least, she shouldn't deteriorate too much in the next 5hrs or so? I'm concerned but there's only so much I can do
She wouldn't take any medicine or water- I guess it was just too dark, or she's really very ill. I'll go down as soon as me moving around won't disturb anyone. Hopefully I won't find a dead bird

I certainly hope she can last 5 hrs. But, hey, tomorrow morning you know what to do. let us know ok? hasta mañana, buenos noches.

 

[kurui]

Thank you! She seems to have settled a little since the ice helped cool things down...



She's on the right. If she can make it through tonight, I can spend as long as necessary tomorrow trying to help her pass whatever it is.



Her name is Parmazina, and she's a feisty egg-laying machine. She always stands outside the coop and squawks if anything comes near if one of the other ladies is trying to lay, as if she feels she should have been a rooster...

 

[MrsBrooke]

If there is no rooster, it's not unusual for the dominant hen in the flock to "take his place" and exhibit some very non-henlike behavior, such as treading the other hens!

MrsB

 

[kurui]

Well, not only did she make it through the night, but she had a lovely empty crop this morning along with the others! On the paper below her I found the largest poop I have EVER seen from any of my girls, with some stringy grass in it. I guess she must have been having a little trouble passing it, but she managed! That's my girl.

No free ranging for them today, though they love it- they clearly aren't sensible enough to avoid giving themselves crop troubles... I give them grit, but this is the second time in three days that they've gotten into digestive trouble, and grit only works in the gizzard, right? Could it be with their trimmed beaks they can't snip the grass up?

I did notice some tiny white insect things around Parmazina's face, though there weren't clusters of eggs around her vent, and they didn't look like mites- they were fast moving and not much bigger than a pinhead - but not round, they were long and thin. I've got some insect control spray for the chickens, so I'll give her a quick mist just to be on the safe side. I didn't see any on the others, should they get a spray too?

 

[KayTee]

Quote:
That sounds like lice - you need to treat all of your girls at once, and then again in about 8 or 9 days, to get any eggs that hatch after the first treatment.

I use a dust (not DE) that contains pyrethrin - it's really effective, but you have to be certain to dust all over the bird, and to get as much down inbetween the feathers as possible. The brand I get here in France is called 'Rhodeo', but I don't know if it's available in Spain.

 

[kurui]

That sounds like lice - you need to treat all of your girls at once, and then again in about 8 or 9 days, to get any eggs that hatch after the first treatment.

I use a dust (not DE) that contains pyrethrin - it's really effective, but you have to be certain to dust all over the bird, and to get as much down inbetween the feathers as possible. The brand I get here in France is called 'Rhodeo', but I don't know if it's available in Spain.

Thank you! I'll try and pick some up today along with a fan for the coop. Maybe I can add some to their dustbowl?

 

[KayTee]

Adding some regularly to their dustbowl is a great way to get them to treat themselves as a preventative measure. However, in addition to doing that, I would be inclined to treat each bird individually as well, since you know that you have definitely got a problem with lice at the moment.

It's not that difficult to do - get an old stocking, and dump a load of the dusting powder into the toe part, then tie a knot in it. Take each bird off the roost in the night, and 'powder puff' them all over with it - under the wings, rubbing the feathers up the wrong way on the breast, belly, back and back of the neck, and getting inbetween the feathers around the vent. Finish with a light sprinkle over the top of the head, to get any lice running about on the comb or face. I keep the 'powder puff' in a bowl on a shelf in the coop, and any time I spot something on one of my girls I grab it and give them all a quick dusting. I won't say that they enjoy it, but they don't make too much of a fuss, especially if I do it once they're 'in bed' for the night, and are feeling a bit drowsy.