Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Kooka]

Teila...

I was worried when I used copper sulphate on the hen in question.. thinking I'd get the dosage wrong and kill her as a result but it didn't do her any harm (that I am aware of) nor did it harm the canker either :/
I haven't decided yet if I'm going to dose the others but if I do it wouldn't be a regular thing because I'd prefer not to use chemicals either but maybe good for the short term just to make sure no other outbreaks happen since it's always a possibility while there's one around carrying it.

Copper Sulphate can build up and poison. Horses need it in Aust due to too much fertilizer used on our grass but it MUST be balanced with good calcite from Commetcial Minerals. The calcite eables the digestive system to get rid of the copper.

When I got troubled horses to fix first thing I did was feed Local Seaweed meal, and dolomite, raw apple cider vinegar and a trace of copper sulphate. Not a single horse did not calm right down inside a week.....but chooks????? Mmmmmmmmm set me to thinking about my own chooks

 

[Teila]

Howdy folks

Aaaw cwrite I hope you are able to sort out what ails Stampy.

K Spot this is not a judgement on your plan of giving Squeak’s chicks to Whoopi; just mentioning that I couldn’t do it … I am such a softie; taking the chicks away and watching her look for them would break my heart.

Woo hoo Sam congrats on the egg!

satay and V1cky I am so sorry to read of your losses. Sometimes we can get overwhelmed with all the responsibilities we have and trying to remember everything we need to do.

I know myself that after finishing work for the day I am constantly going over in my mind all the things I need to do before heading off to bed and then, when trying to get to sleep, remembering something I meant to do and didn’t.

As Anniebee mentioned, we are not perfect.

On the weekend, because one of the nest boxes was a little on the largish side and LuLu liked to jump in there every day and kick out all the straw, I switched the large nest box out for a smaller one; nice and cosy for them and not enough room for LuLu to throw a straw scratch party.

Anyways, they were all out mooching in the garden at the time and didn’t notice until bed time … “Chicken trap! Chicken trap! .. Run!!!” lol.

The urge to roost was greater than the fear of the chicken trap and by next morning they were cool with it. LuLu has even jumped it and tried to scratch out the straw; tee hee, foiled her plan!

Other than that, not much news .. I do not mind the cold and prefer it to the heat but I am not sure I will be saying that if we get the predicted ‘Light early frost’ and overnight minimum of 4!

 

[K Spot]

Howdy folks

K Spot this is not a judgement on your plan of giving Squeak’s chicks to Whoopi; just mentioning that I couldn’t do it … I am such a softie; taking the chicks away and watching her look for them would break my heart.

I know, I'm usually a softie as well, but the welfare of the chicks to me comes first! I candled all the eggs yesterday; had one quitter under Squeak so she's only got the 2 now. The eggs under Whoopi are going great,

for a successful hatch next week

 

[Meeka3]

I found a new use for eggs this morning, I went out to the coop with freezing hands, picked up four eggs from the one nest and they were so warm, by the time I got back to the house, my hands were warm. I didn't think I'd ever say I use eggs as hand warmers.

 

[Anniebee]

l
Annie there are many shades of green when it comes to poop. The other symptoms have to be taken into account. cwrite 's bird had been showing a reluctance to leaving the coop, lethargy , crop adjusting and general Ill thrift. In the final stages of life a bird will often poop bright green . Green watery poop can also be a sign of cocci but in your birds case , it may just be that she consumes a lot of greens or grass.

A fecal float test at your vet would tell you one way or another.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

( While here, forgot to say previously, how sorry I was to hear that you V1cky . lost one of your chickens to a goshawk recently - sad to hear that ).

.......................

Fancychooklady - - - Again - thank you for your great advice. Chickens are not as easy to raise, as many non-chicken people think, are they ?. ..... but at least they do show when they are not well - unlike dogs and cats who often can mask symptoms of illness for quite a long while. My beautiful Golden Retriever, Miss Ruby ( the 4th GR we have had ) is a very healthy dog so far, ... but around once a fortnight I check temperature, respiration rate, heart rate, breath smell - teeth, gait, belly size, weight, her bowel etc. .. .... Paranoid ? - yep, that's me.

Having lost our other 3 - all to cancer, ( 60% of deaths of Goldens is caused by cancer - they have the highest rate of it in dogs apparently ) ... I guess one could understand my hovering like an old mother duck, over her and her health. .... She turns 3 in October.

If Mandy resumes the [dark] green squirts at any stage ( all still normal at this time ) ... I will have a fecal float test done. I am guessing that, like us, chickens might vary in their tolerances of food stuffs, one chicken might be able to eat bowls of greens without a pooey problem, and another eat half a spoonful - and have loose greenish bowel as a result. My chickens haven't been free ranging for a while now - except with me in attendance, as winter is very cold / wet here, and they prefer to stay near or in their coops. I hand feed them greens, a couple of times a week only - at this stage, as none of them are laying anyway.


Cheers -

 

[V1cky]

( While here, forgot to say previously,  how sorry I was to hear that you V1cky . lost one of your chickens to a goshawk recently - sad to hear that ).  

Thank you. It is sad and as much as I want to hate the bird it has chicks of it's own to feed so I can't hold anything against it.


Update on hen with canker.....
I managed to get some metronidazole off a friend who had some left over the other day and just gave hen her third day dosage out of five. So far there seems to be no change. I'm hoping for the best but I'm starting to worry that the pills might not be working. I've promised myself not to panic for the next two days while she's still on meds but to think of my possible next option which is maybe give copper sulphate another go. It didn't work last time but maybe after the meds it'll be different (wishful thinking)

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thank you. It is sad and as much as I want to hate the bird it has chicks of it's own to feed so I can't hold anything against it.


Update on hen with canker.....
I managed to get some metronidazole off a friend who had some left over the other day and just gave hen her third day dosage out of five. So far there seems to be no change. I'm hoping for the best but I'm starting to worry that the pills might not be working. I've promised myself not to panic for the next two days while she's still on meds but to think of my possible next option which is maybe give copper sulphate another go. It didn't work last time but maybe after the meds it'll be different (wishful thinking)

The dosage for metronidazole is one 250 mg tablet per day for 5 days. If you don't see any improvement it may be wet fowl pox. There is no treatment for fowl pox but as it is a virus , in most cases it will clear up.

 

[appps]

Sorry to hear that Unfortunately these things happen.

I lost a chick to a Goshawk yesterday because I didn't latch their cage up properly and mother hen decided to take them free ranging out in the open.

Only thing we can do is try not to repeat our mistakes in the future.

Sorry to hear that Vicky :-(. The goshawk is not very popular here at the moment either.

 

[V1cky]

The dosage for metronidazole is one 250 mg tablet per day for 5 days. If you don't see any improvement it may be wet fowl pox. There is no treatment for fowl pox but as it is a virus , in most cases it will clear up.

It might be wet fowl pox.
If it doesn't get better I'll just give her ACV and spoil her with yoghurt and hope she pulls through.
I'm just worried coz she's an old girl and I'm not sure how strong her immune system is anymore.
Fingers crossed everything turns out fine though.

 

[chenee42]

Hi i am in lower south west australia and looking for some help on an incubator query