Chickens and paintballs?

[katbriar]

I didn't see this post until today, so you may have already decided how to treat your chickens.

But I wanted to give you some peace of mind- antifreeze is ethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol is something all together different chemically and is safe to ingest. In fact it's one of the ingredients in OTC medicines like Nyquil for people.

How are your chickens doing?

 

[r709shackleford]

This makes my blood boil

what is wrong with those parents! Wow, I would be putting up a tall wood fence on the side their house is on or it could happen again. Hopefully the police scare them they should be fined that might get the parents attention.

Right! I totally agree with you on everything. It's the like father like son. The dad is a smug handle bar mustache douche. Kids are the same little brats. I would fence it in but the property is not ours. It's a temporary rental. And the owner has only fenced in half the property. Like a big L shape.

You could charge the boys with vandalism, tresspassing on your property, cruelty to animals, and if a bird dies, destrution of property. You have to have pics and perhaps witnesses though.

Unfortunately the state troopers won't be able to do much. I am waiting to hear back from them. Its definitely not a priority for them. The kids next door are all under 18. So as minors my Borough feels the need to treat them as babies. But if they can ride four wheelers, shoot guns and paintball, destroy other people's property they should be prosecuted as such.

wow those ingredients dont look very eco friendly
to me!! did you use the charcole or flush? be interesting
to know if either helped. so paint coloured poop! and not
eating well! maybe some favourite treats?just to keep the
paint passing through, and make sure they are drinking,
how many do you have? did you find the source of the
blood drops?
that egg is unusual!not sure how it would be connected
to the paint but stress i guess.
its terrible that the police arnt making a big deal of it! makes
me cross! i hope all your animals are doing well today

Yeah, I don't feel the egg is related, but it's just bizarre looking. I have a goose. Six ducks. And about 16 or 17 chickens. But 7 of those are bantams so they are almost like a half a chicken. Lol
I did not do a charcoal flush. I should have, but did not think about it. Just too busy. However, the day after I gave them 2 gallons of Gatorade as it rehydrates well. The paintball manufacturer said the biggest side effect was dehydration and stomach problems. But that was only reported in dogs and horses. That the only animals it was tested on. I consulted my vet, and they said, it takes a very small amount of anti-freeze to kill an animal. Ex, they said a cat could walk though antifreeze and lick its paw, and it would be enough.

I also have been having trouble with my neighbors animals. Click on my name and find the post titled chickens not safe! Bluecoondawg gave me some great advice. I hope your chickens will be ok.

I too feel much the same way that Bluecoondawn feels. If I have to spend an hour or two cleaning or repairing a problem I did not create, that should be included in per say "the final bill" or the damage estimate. I spend about an hour picking up tiny blue particles from my coop's run. About 2 hours cleaning the building. It still looks bad with blue in cracks and creases. I will have to powerwash it in the summer. And I spent about 3 hours cleaning up paint and paintball shards from trees, ground and the surrounding areas. Its woody and I had to use a large set of needle nose pliers. In all easily 6 hours so far and its only half way done. And I know the neighbor will not write me a check for 6 hours of labor. I am a contractor. Subcontractors doing what I do charge between 60-80$/hr.

I didn't see this post until today, so you may have already decided how to treat your chickens.

But I wanted to give you some peace of mind- antifreeze is ethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol is something all together different chemically and is safe to ingest. In fact it's one of the ingredients in OTC medicines like Nyquil for people.

How are your chickens doing?

Good point katbriar. I also realized that. But that medicine is used for humans as a laxative in low amounts. And a bunch of other purses in pharmaceuticals. That can still be harmful for a chicken and cause intestinal issues. Read more below.


A general update:
The chickens pooped blue, then light blue, then a greenish yellow for days. I think it turned greenish because I have been giving them lots of corn. It's cold, and they love it. Blue + Yellow = Green Maybe? Their poop has been runny and watery but in the same time chunky. Smells bad.

Appetite is still rather poor, but getting slowly better. I've upped whole and cracked corn in their feed and gave them lots of bread from our freezer. That seemed to help, but wow they sure pooped a LOT!

Most of the birds are less active. I only hear the rooster crow in the morning. Thats it. The hens have been on the low roost or hanging out by a lamp near their dust bathing box. Thats weird. They mostly stay indoors.

Got about maybe 8 to 10 eggs in the this week. Had 29 before this happened. 30 some week before.

I think late in the second day (trying to remember it's been almost a week) I found a dead rooster and another hen the next morning. These were both bantams. These were among the smallest I had. They were hatched last july and I've had them since about august. I did not see anything on the birds on the outside that would be unusual or alarming.

All the birds have had food and water all the time since the incident.

This sucks because now 5 animals have been killed because of these neighbors. Four chickens (2 from earlier that their dogs killed) and a rabbit have been lots to these pricks.
I have been going out of my way to feed them as best as possible lately too. I don't use only organic feed, but have bought a number of bags recently. It's about $30 to 40 per bag. And that hurts the pocket book. We have been thinking about getting rid of ducks. They have not laid yet and it would save on feed cost. Besides that, they get lots of table scraps. And while my wife gives me a hard time for it, I even remove the apple seeds. Grind up the banana peels. We try to buy most of our fruits/veggies organic. And everything get cleaned and used in kitchen or coop. Now it just feels like that was time and effort was wasted on those birds that died.

 

[r709shackleford]

I also noticed this today on my favorite bantie hen. Shes the best layer of all my golden laced cochins. All her bottom feathers are gone. And she has three spots on her under side that look weird.

Two look like a dark blue ish blood blister. Or some kind of boil type thing. They are not ingrown feathers. I've seen those, this is different. Its flatter and wide. I wonder if this can be bruising. But the nesting boxes are low and she hangs out with the rest of the banties on the low roost. Floor has about 6 inhes of hay.

And the third middle spot is smaller. Yet much brighter blue. I wonder if her skin touched some blue poop that was in a nesing box the other day? Otherwise I cant think of anything.

All 3:


Spot are by index finger.

 

[realsis]

poor chickens! I'm so sorry this happened! it really makes me upset that parents don't teach there kids to respect animals and others things! i have a 13 year old boy but I've taught him to respect animals! it boils down to the parents! they don't care and there kids don't care either! it makes me soooooooo angry! she definitely has a big bruise! those things hurt! what a sad thing!

 

[This old barn]

that is ridiculous. I actually play paintball. When you get shot by a paintball it will actually draw blood on to your skin and bruse the hell out of you. I can only imagine how it affected your chickens the blue spot next to your index finger is a bruise. I would definitely be pursuing criminal charges. sorry for your loss wish you the best.

 

[shell3]

Oh that poor bird! it does look like bruising from the photo! im so angry to think that she may have been hit with a paint ball! my husbands gone paintballing with mates before and he said they are quite painful sometimes! and his a big bloke so for a tiny chicken!! makes my blood boil! its just such an evil act to fire at defensless animals! i find it so hard to hear that this behaviour dosnt shock the parents of these boys! i would be very worried about a childs metal frame of mind when doing something this cruel just for 'fun'. as said before by realsis, it does boil down to the way these kids are being raised bad parents =bad kids. its upsetting that the troopers arnt helping you here, this may be paintballs for now but if no one corrects these boys now then i dread to think what theyll be getting up to further down the road, you'd think the police would see these as future law breakers and want to act now! hopefully when they get around to dealing with the issue they may do more than you expect.
Im so sorry you lost your birds! i guess being the smallest made then more vunerable. its so sad. and i hope your favourite hen recovers, i wonder what made her loose the feathers? do you think it would be from the stress of being attacked or more likely the result of eating paint? gatorade is not something im familiar with but im guessing its some type of sports drink? sounds like a great idea, keep them hydrated and if its sweet they prob drink more of it! sounds like youve had an awful lot of work to do to get you hens back as safe as possible, its just not fair that you have to spend hours cleaning up those brats mess and damage. i hope there are no more losses for you

 

[nova022]

You can go to your states attorney and ask them to press charges if the trooper will not do anything. Even though the boys are minors the parents can be held responsible for the damages and made to pay restitution. The boys will likely only get a reprimand and possibly community service, but at least there will be a record of the incident and if they do anything else the court might take it more seriously.

Sorry for your loss and the aggravation you are going through because of your boorish neighbors.

 

[r709shackleford]

Indeed. Like parents like kids!
I think the hen is loosing her feathers because she has been laying like crazy. And sitting on her eggs. She sits on other hen's eggs when I take hers out. So perhaps she though it was a better way to keep them warm. I will keep checking.

I did not even think about that the dark spots can be paintball shots. That makes sense. Duh!

And one last fact I forgot to mention. And this is great!
The rude people next door are just tenants. They lost their house about a year ago in the economy. The guy lost his job or something... So my wife was telling a coworker the kind of crap our neighbors are pulling, and one of her friends asked a few questions about them. Like description and what they drive. Turns out. These idiots used to live a few houses down from my wife's coworker's house. They pulled the same crap over there. The dogs, the kids, noise, etc etc. Our acquaintances actually packed up and MOVED because they got tired of the BS! It was easier for them to just leave then be harassed, they had a second house in the area so it wasn't that costly of a move, but still... That is ridiculous.

 

[jeepgirl13]

If your up until now healthy chickens magically died its definitely the paintballs. If you can, I would recommend deep freezing the birds that died for evidence. If you can get the state attorney to listen. I would keep calling the authorities. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[jeepgirl13]

or just tell me where they live. Ill come set Em straight. People find this little red headed country girl with an attitude twice her size rather intimidating.