Well I started to feed and water this morning and saw one of my Davis FBCMs looking really raggedy. I think I mentioned her a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure if she was on her last leg. My neighbor raises Games and he was in the next door neighbor's backyard 2 days ago and was asking about all my birds. This man really knows birds. I call him the Chicken Whisperer now. He can get his birds to stand, sqwat, sit, sleep when he wants to take pictures, he says "picture" and they pose! I told him to start coming down and talking to me birds. Anyway he has all kinds of meds and vitamins and what have you. My hen is about 5. She's one of my last 3 Davis birds that Bill bought me and I need chicks!!! So I picked her up and she felt thin and her crop was mushy. It was also red and hot. He checked her out and gave her a shot of vitamins and then some oraly, which she loved. She's moulting and just looking aweful. He said to soak her in some warm water with Dawn detergent and then put her up with no food or water for the rest of the day. He says she has a lot of fluids and they need to absorb. I asked if he thought she would make it and he kind of laughed and said "Of course, I've seen much worse than this and you caught it early. She'll even lay better and have more fertility later."
I'm hoping he's right. I don't want to lose another one from the birds Bill got me and most are gone, so need to hold on to my girls.
So this guy gets 100% fertility. When I was down there, 5 guys with birds were there, getting shots of the same thing he gave my bird. They all told me if you need to know about chickens, this is the man. They use whatever this is to up fertility. One guy said he had a dud ro. Two shots once a month and he had 100% last season. I asked what was in the shot and all of them laughed. My neighbor just smiled and said it is his secret. I hope my girl isn't going to be some kind of addict now, but biy were the birds I saw something else. One was bought for $2000!
Then he asked me if I really wanted a Game x Sumatra roo he had. I fell in love with this bird when I would drive by and see him out front. He's now in my backyard all tucked in one of the Game cages until I get all the other birds in proper housing for the winter. I have a Game x FBCM that is gorgeous. I had taken her down to ask if I should breed her to my Game roo or my Sumatra roo. He said this way I have both, so later I'll be giving him a few chicks for him to work with too. For once I'm actually hoping to get rid of feathered shanks. LOL Who da thought?