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

[Teila]

Good morning folks

MyHaven I hope you are able to get the fowl pox [if that is what it is] under control.

While we do get some mozzies which can be annoying I find that having the fish ponds helps to keep them under control. Happy goldfish gobble up lots of mozzies at dusk that have landed on the water to lay and then, if eggs do hatch, happy goldfish get to eat lots of little wrigglers

Jessbonnitcha Osta is very handsome and striking!

Mooandmcgee congrats on breaking Flower

So, turns out I was not casting aspersions on Cilla’s character and as predicted, she is broody.

Because hubby was sitting outside with them yesterday and it was very hot, I decided to not put her in the broody breaker but go with the locking out of the coop because hubby was available to play doorman to anyone who wanted to lay.

With it being the weekend, I am going to see how she goes with no nest box access but also no broody breaker. She slept on the roost last night because the nest boxes were covered and I booted her out this morning before opening up the nest boxes.

It has been a while since I tried this method so thought I would give it a go seen as it is the weekend. She is currently wandering around with occasional trips back to the run to see if the door has magically opened

and ‘touch wood’ is not behaving too badly as far as picking on her flock mates.

Having said that, I did notice that Blondie had a small amount of blood in her head feathers and a new sore on her comb which I believe was compliments of GodCilla

Even if she is not broken by the end of the weekend and does have to go into the broody breaker on Monday, hopefully only for that day or two.

While I doubt she is going to be broken sooner, it is going to be interesting to see the difference between using this method on her verses straight into the broody breaker.

As I have mentioned, Cilla knows the drill and is quite easy to break.

Knowing that the broody hormones are out of their control, I wonder, just out of interest, if it would still be possible that a broody that is used to being broken is easier to break than a newbie?

 

[MyHaven]

They don't look like your typical fowl pox lesions. What age are these birds. ?

7 weeks when I took that photo a week ago. They were full of worms. I was worried about the lesions as well. But wondered if it was because they are on the skin and not the combs. I'm even more worried now because the second chick is dead this morning and the lesions had become bloody and scabby and were even on the wings. I can post pics if people aren't too grossed.

I wondered if there is a parasite causing lesions.

 

[Teila]

Aaaw MyHaven I am so sorry to read that you lost another one

Sadly I am not able to help with a diagnosis but just wanted to say that if posting the pics are going to help with a diagnosis, do it!

Finding out what is going on with your chickens takes precedence over someone getting grossed out; we will recover

 

[Teila]

MyHaven What about Gangrenous Dermatitis?

http://www.upc-online.org/poultry_diseases/62504gangrenous.htm

It does seem to be most common in fattening and growing birds but a couple of things stood out from the above article:

Gangrenous dermatitis (GD) sometimes seems to occur almost spontaneously in birds 4-8 weeks of age.

GD usually starts with the appearance of small pimples on the skin, soon progressing to involve large areas.

The breast, wings, rump and abdomen are most commonly involved.

In addition, there has been speculation that some of the slow feathering modern strains of birds (particularly male broilers) are more susceptible to GD because their skin is less protected due to the lack of feathers .. which might explain the lesions on the naked neck??

However, some of the pictures are pretty gross and probably not what you are experiencing but I thought it worth sharing, just in case.

Edited to add: The outbreaks are frequently observed in wet and warm premises. The gangrene could begin and involve the skin of the head, neck and the breast.

 

[sweetbeak]

Hi everyone. Can anyone offer thoughts on this 16 week old aruncana cross? I'm really hoping hen as if it's a rooster I would have thought there'd be more comb and wattles!

 

[SilkieChickStar]

Hi everyone. Can anyone offer thoughts on this 16 week old aruncana cross? I'm really hoping hen as if it's a rooster I would have thought there'd be more comb and wattles!

Hmm tail and redness of comb say boy to me

 

[Teila]

Hey there sweetbeak I am not good at sexing chickens and even get it wrong sometimes with my own youngsters which I see all the time

But, for what it is worth, I am also swaying towards rooster. Unless it is a girl who is going to lay an egg very soon, I agree with SilkieChickStar that the comb and wattles are very red. A few of the feathers and tail are also saying rooster to me; plus the colouring pattern.

But hey, as I said, purely my opinion and I recommend not making any decisions based on it

 

[sweetbeak]

Hey there sweetbeak I am not good at sexing chickens and even get it wrong sometimes with my own youngsters which I see all the time    

But, for what it is worth, I am also swaying towards rooster.  Unless it is a girl who is going to lay an egg very soon, I agree with SilkieChickStar that the comb and wattles are very red.  A few of the feathers and tail are also saying rooster to me; plus the colouring pattern.

But hey, as I said, purely my opinion and I recommend not making any decisions based on it 

Thanks both. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a girl but also have a few boy vibes. It's a very sweet timid chicken, and at 16 weeks maybe not long from laying hence the comb which has only just started looking bigger in the last 2 weeks.

 

[sjturner79]

Hi everyone. Can anyone offer thoughts on this 16 week old aruncana cross? I'm really hoping hen as if it's a rooster I would have thought there'd be more comb and wattles!

Bit of a hard age to tell. If you had a picture from 12 weeks or 20 weeks it's easier. It does have roosterish tail feathers. I can't really see the neck feathers, and if the comb looked like that at 12 weeks it's a boy, if not it might be a roo tailed hen.

 

[Chook Newby]

In Broody News! Flower has been cured! It didn't take much, two days of keeping her out of the coop and just free ranging with the others and blocking the nests at night. Neither of the other two girls turned and so I am very grateful for that.
@Chook Newby how are your ladies going?

Not so good I'm afraid I now have two Broodies... i just have to keep kicking them out of the coop. I can't block off the nesting boxes as they won't lay in there I'm afraid.
I'm so glad that you have cured your girl... I will just keep persisting and if nothing changes then it's into broody goal when my cage arrives