I have an outdoor koi pond and needed potting material for my water plants. I found info that only 'play sand' is actually clean enoough for animals and children. It isnt salty like beach sand and it is clean enough for birds and fish pond water. I knew I had some tidbits for keeping that in my memory banks.
Hey I looked at this site and found some good info about your chicken. Hope it can help. Remember to segregate this bird and keep it away from other birds until you know more about its ailment.
Well, back to home despair! LOL Thanks! .... every thing costs money...I have an outdoor koi pond and needed potting material for my water plants. I found info that only 'play sand' is actually clean enoough for animals and children. It isnt salty like beach sand and it is clean enough for birds and fish pond water. I knew I had some tidbits for keeping that in my memory banks.
Yes, they already have ACV in their water, the food I give them is mash, what kind of grain? It's pretty small stuff. I seriously think it was caused by the stress of being cold, but I could be wrong! It is the smaller of the two, so maybe it ate something too big in the mash?? (chick starter mash, very finely ground)
It depends on how nice the LF are. I've seen videos and read where the Seramas have no idea how small they are and are quite precocious; even being at the top of the pecking order! But really, it all depends on the flock. A LF can really hurt a serama if it's aggressive. I would guess it would be safer to introduce a few LF into a Serama flock than to put a few Serama in a LF flock though!
I found the ground grain at Winn Co. Not sure if you have that store. I think it was ground wheat but I also got a bit of ground mix grains. I fed that to them right away along with the mash and didn't have any pasty butt.
My reason for removing the chicks is that I think they are more easily tamed if they have not been left with the hen. I have also had them fight over chicks if the hens were setting at the same time. I agree with what you said about the hens taking a "vacation" from the roosters by going broody. This past summer I had 3 hens which set on the nests practically the whole summer and I think it was because they wanted the roosters to leave them alone. Some roosters are very aggressive with the hens and the hens don't like it. I finally had to take the hens out from the roosters to get them off the nests. It does not seem to harm a hen to stay broody for an extended period of time as long as they eat and drink regularly. My problem has been getting them to stop setting when all the good eggs have hatched.
