California - Northern

[ronott1]

Have any of you guys ever treated a chicken with a blocked crop? I think my top of the pecking order hen (Ugly) his a blocked crop. I first noticed that she seems to fall asleep everywhere. She'll just be standing somewhere and fall asleep. She has gotten much thinner, and her crop always seems to be full (even first thing in the morning). I have seen her eating and drinking though, so something must be getting through. I've looked into her mouth, and done crop massage and it hasn't seemed to help. From what I can tell, it's not sour crop (no smell?) What else can I do for her?

The first step is to give her yogurt and massage the crop. The stinky smell takes several days to show up. If the Massage does not work, then you have to cut an incision above the crop and clean it out. The incision heals up after treatment. Look for instructions on BYC.

Since she is eating and drinking but randomly falling asleep, she may have the initial Mareks virus. I would separate her, giver her a teaspoon of yogurt and some vitamins like save a chick in the water each day. Giver her grit and starter feed.

All chickens get mareks but few show the symptoms of the initial infection. 5 to 3 percent will die of Mareks cancer at around two years of age.

 

[tommysgirl]

i have a question for those of you who breed, and are therefore moving chickens around into/out of different pens -- is there any trick to introducing them, or them getting along okay? i've introduced new chickens to a flock gradually, and now that my teenagers are approaching the same size as the older girls, am starting to think about some reorganizing -- but do you just throw them together & expect some fuss as the new pecking order is negotiated, or take a more gradual approach?

(for context, i let mine out to free range all at the same time, and their pens are right next to each other -- but they've been free-ranging so little lately, they don't encounter each other one-on-one very often, & when they're out they tend to stick with their own buddies rather than mingle much...)

thanks!!

Just my limited experience...I have two pens right now. 1 housed just my 2013 chicks and one housed my 2012 hens. Then I bought a cockerel and 3 pullets from Kim who were 1 month older than the chicks I hatched/bought this spring. When the isolation period for the new birds was over did the whole "separate but visible" thing for a couple of days then started ranging them together with the 12s and the 13s. Their first night in the 2012 coop I also slipped in three of the 2013s that I wanted to house in the same pen with my 2012s and the birds from Kim. There was chasing but there wasn't abuse. My lowest hen was the worst chaser. I made sure there were multiple waters and multiple feeding spots and they worked it out. There was squawking but they had a lot of room and places to run to so within a week or so it was relatively peaceful in there. The birds from Kim...I lost one are Ozzie and Harriet and they now roost with the big girls. The three 2013 girls roost on shelves that cover the nesting boxes but inside the coop there is now peace. At one point Beakface's chicks were in there too and as those rowdy boys started to infringe on Big Girl territory they had to be reminded again and again that they didn't belong there. But it was never a violent thing, Some pecking lots of flapping and squawking.

The little cockerels are now gone so it is much quieter in the coop at dusk.

 

[lawatt]

Just my limited experience...I have two pens right now. 1 housed just my 2013 chicks and one housed my 2012 hens. Then I bought a cockerel and 3 pullets from Kim who were 1 month older than the chicks I hatched/bought this spring. When the isolation period for the new birds was over did the whole "separate but visible" thing for a couple of days then started ranging them together with the 12s and the 13s. Their first night in the 2012 coop I also slipped in three of the 2013s that I wanted to house in the same pen with my 2012s and the birds from Kim. There was chasing but there wasn't abuse. My lowest hen was the worst chaser. I made sure there were multiple waters and multiple feeding spots and they worked it out. There was squawking but they had a lot of room and places to run to so within a week or so it was relatively peaceful in there. The birds from Kim...I lost one are Ozzie and Harriet and they now roost with the big girls. The three 2013 girls roost on shelves that cover the nesting boxes but inside the coop there is now peace. At one point Beakface's chicks were in there too and as those rowdy boys started to infringe on Big Girl territory they had to be reminded again and again that they didn't belong there. But it was never a violent thing, Some pecking lots of flapping and squawking.

The little cockerels are now gone so it is much quieter in the coop at dusk.

thanks to ALL of you for the feedback -- i'm thinking, for instance, of eventually (once he's fully mature) putting harold the CL in a smaller pen with the two Amelias for breeding, or reshuffling my 2012 cuckoo marans in the same pen with the 2013 birchen marans (although i don't know what one might get, breeding a birchen with a cuckoo?), etc.

essentially trying to decide whether to go through the expense of building one more add-on to the newer coop, creating two small breeding pens, or just use the three spaces i have now & reshuffle them around more often? decisions, decisions...

 

[lawatt]

and omigosh i just peered at the incubator while walking past and there is a PIP!!! just one small one, but someone's trying to hatch!

 

[OR4-hmom]

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and omigosh i just peered at the incubator while walking past and there is a PIP!!!  just one small one, but someone's trying to hatch!

 

[lawatt]

and correction, there are TWO pips! one isbar egg, plus the Daisy Jr egg. so excited!!! (although i realize there's a ways to go still, and now need to go read up on all the stages and steps they go through... particularly since the isbar has pipped at the pointier end of the egg, not the rounder -- might be malpositioned?)

 

[lizanne]

The first step is to give her yogurt and massage the crop. The stinky smell takes several days to show up. If the Massage does not work, then you have to cut an incision above the crop and clean it out. The incision heals up after treatment. Look for instructions on BYC.

Since she is eating and drinking but randomly falling asleep, she may have the initial Mareks virus. I would separate her, giver her a teaspoon of yogurt and some vitamins like save a chick in the water each day. Giver her grit and starter feed.

All chickens get mareks but few show the symptoms of the initial infection. 5 to 3 percent will die of Mareks cancer at around two years of age.

This has been going on for a little over a week (as far as I can tell). What are the other symptoms of Mareks? She's around three years old. We got her the spring before last, when she was a little over 1 1/2 years old. I'll look up the crop surgery. I wanted to avoid that if possible, but I'll do it if the massage and the yogurt doesn't work. She still looks fairly normal (except for the thinness). Her comb is red, and her feathers look fine. She was my hen that molted for over a year (but laid through the whole thing). She was mostly naked and patchy until about a month ago. Then all her feathers grew back in.

 

[chiqita]

and omigosh i just peered at the incubator while walking past and there is a PIP!!!  just one small one, but someone's trying to hatch!

And there was much rejoicing!

My sick girls are not eating much. I think it might be they are off aspirin now so in more pain even with the spray.

I made a mealworm scramble with some vitamins this morning. They did eat some but didn't finish it. I'm going to try some watermelon later to keep them hydrated.

The things we do...

 

[Happy Chooks]

 
The first step is to give her yogurt and massage the crop. The stinky smell takes several days to show up. If the Massage does not work, then you have to cut an incision above the crop and clean it out. The incision heals up after treatment. Look for instructions on BYC.

Since she is eating and drinking but randomly falling asleep, she may have the initial Mareks virus. I would separate her, giver her a teaspoon of yogurt and some vitamins like save a chick in the water each day. Giver her grit and starter feed.

All chickens get mareks but few show the symptoms of the initial infection. 5 to 3 percent will die of Mareks cancer at around two years of age.

This has been going on for a little over a week (as far as I can tell).  What are the other symptoms of Mareks?  She's around three years old.  We got her the spring before last, when she was a little over 1 1/2 years old.  I'll look up the crop surgery.  I wanted to avoid that if possible, but I'll do it if the massage and the yogurt doesn't work.  She still looks fairly normal (except for the thinness).  Her comb is red, and her feathers look fine.  She was my hen that molted for over a year (but laid through the whole thing).  She was mostly naked and patchy until about a month ago.  Then all her feathers grew back in.

I have had luck unblocking a crop by soaking bread in olive oil.

 

[ronott1]

This has been going on for a little over a week (as far as I can tell). What are the other symptoms of Mareks? She's around three years old. We got her the spring before last, when she was a little over 1 1/2 years old. I'll look up the crop surgery. I wanted to avoid that if possible, but I'll do it if the massage and the yogurt doesn't work. She still looks fairly normal (except for the thinness). Her comb is red, and her feathers look fine. She was my hen that molted for over a year (but laid through the whole thing). She was mostly naked and patchy until about a month ago. Then all her feathers grew back in.

Oh, sorry I thought she was younger.

It would not be initial Mareks but she is old enough for reproductive problems. They get thinner from the illness.

Use the Massage and olive oil and give her the yogurt.

I am hoping for the best for her!