- Apr 20, 2013
- 27
- 1
- 36
Hi,
I'm new to the whole chicken owning experiance, I love my new birds but it would seem I made a bad call when I bought them. I bought eight pullets from an exotic auction not knowing they were older birds and they looked a little raggedy (especially since they were debeaked). Honestly I thought I could spiff them back up myself and I didn't mind buying older birds because they were so incredibly friendly and sweet.
One week into owning them they started pulling feathers off each other like crazy! Some seemed to go bald overnight! I checked on here and tried out a few things like: upping their protein intake, letting them go free range, giving them lots of yummy oyster shell grit, giving them lots of nice treats, giving them vinegar/water mix, and a few other things. Slowly they began to put new feathers back on but still look raggedy. They eat and eat but really don't gain any weight, I can feel their breast bone when I pick them up to pet them. Also they stopped producing eggs, only one of them will lay anymore and it's an every other day experiance.
A couple of days ago a few of them have started sneezing, gurgling, and one has a swollen eye with red tissue around it and the eye bubbles. The runny stuff coming from their nostrils has no smell but they are constantly flicking their heads and wiping it off.
I went to orschelns and a few other farming stores around my area but none of them carry any chicken meds, they only stock cow dewormer and horse dewormers. I love my girls, I've never had chickens that love to be petted and sit on my lap like a cat, and I don't want to lose them. Could someone give me some advice as to how I can save them? It sounds like they have some sort of worm or respiratory infection, what meds could I give them and where might I be able to find them?
I do want to give my girls a seven dust bath to deter mites/lice, I read that a few people on here do this. Is there a special kind of Seven Dust or is it just the normal stuff?
PS: one of my pullets has a very large comb and wattles and acts like a rooster. Her comb and wattles were smaller when I got her, is it possible that she's mentally transformed herself into "alpha rooster/hen" or do you think maybe I've got a sneaky fella hiding amoungst my pullets?
Thanks!
I'm new to the whole chicken owning experiance, I love my new birds but it would seem I made a bad call when I bought them. I bought eight pullets from an exotic auction not knowing they were older birds and they looked a little raggedy (especially since they were debeaked). Honestly I thought I could spiff them back up myself and I didn't mind buying older birds because they were so incredibly friendly and sweet.
One week into owning them they started pulling feathers off each other like crazy! Some seemed to go bald overnight! I checked on here and tried out a few things like: upping their protein intake, letting them go free range, giving them lots of yummy oyster shell grit, giving them lots of nice treats, giving them vinegar/water mix, and a few other things. Slowly they began to put new feathers back on but still look raggedy. They eat and eat but really don't gain any weight, I can feel their breast bone when I pick them up to pet them. Also they stopped producing eggs, only one of them will lay anymore and it's an every other day experiance.
A couple of days ago a few of them have started sneezing, gurgling, and one has a swollen eye with red tissue around it and the eye bubbles. The runny stuff coming from their nostrils has no smell but they are constantly flicking their heads and wiping it off.
I went to orschelns and a few other farming stores around my area but none of them carry any chicken meds, they only stock cow dewormer and horse dewormers. I love my girls, I've never had chickens that love to be petted and sit on my lap like a cat, and I don't want to lose them. Could someone give me some advice as to how I can save them? It sounds like they have some sort of worm or respiratory infection, what meds could I give them and where might I be able to find them?
I do want to give my girls a seven dust bath to deter mites/lice, I read that a few people on here do this. Is there a special kind of Seven Dust or is it just the normal stuff?
PS: one of my pullets has a very large comb and wattles and acts like a rooster. Her comb and wattles were smaller when I got her, is it possible that she's mentally transformed herself into "alpha rooster/hen" or do you think maybe I've got a sneaky fella hiding amoungst my pullets?
Thanks!
