Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[MedChicken]

Ok, I've got a question for the OTs.

One of my six week old chicks has been sneezing every few minutes for the past few days. I can't tell which one it is. All are active and eating well. At first it was when they were eating (crumbles up the nose?), but it seems to be more consistent now.

I started adding a small amount of ACV to their water this morning to see if that might help. They are eating non medicated chick crumbles. They are outside (highs in the low 50s, lows in the low 40s). I just added a layer of fresh leaves to the litter in their coop.

Should I be worried, or is this something that they will outgrow?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
If the leaves were wet or damp could be mold spores. or just dust from their feed.

 

[Cpprpnny19]

Chickens will TRY anything, but do not always EAT anything or everything!

(mine will not eat greens other than grass-the current favorite treat is canned dog food)

 

[MedChicken]

Quote:
If the leaves were wet or damp could be mold spores. or just dust from their feed.

They got leaves for the first time today, and I made sure they were 100% dry, so probably not mold. Before that they were getting newspaper, refreshed every few days. I guess probably just dust from the feed, then, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on the bedding and make sure it stays dry just in case.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[pdx2phx]

Hi folks. I am a Newbie, have 20-something chickens in the desert southwest for going on 3 years. I have read every page of this thread so far and am grateful for the information, discussion and straight talk.

I hadn't figured on ever posting here (being a Noob and all), but after a couple of Phoenix, AZ summers I have learned some tips for heat and wanted to add to what had already been said (wading pools, ice in the water, ventilation, shade, etc). Hopefully you all don't mind. I would suggest also checking out the AZ thread, and searching for postings on beating the heat. It is a very active, helpful thread.

HEAT TIPS -

In addition to what was already mentioned, we also freeze our kitchen scraps and put them out in the heat of the day near the shady spot hang-outs. (Our girls free-range, we have a lot of shrubs and places to get out of the direct sun).

I get old produce, especially melons and keep them in the fridge/freezer and put that out too chopped up. They also like cottage cheese and yogurt.

For the worst days/weeks (115+) we put up one of those rigid self-standing hose misters (the type I guess someone might use sunbathing to keep cool??) and a cheapo oscillating fan on a timer to run the fan over the mister under a shade cloth canopy and aim the mist towards shrubs the chickens like to rest in out of the sun. They seem to like that a lot.

All this being said, we still have lost a couple to heat over the past couple of years, and some at the time we thought was to the heat, but now after learning more about the symptoms we know was due to scorpion sting. I have learned how to treat scorpion stings now with some success, so hopefully we won't have more losses due to that so long as we catch them in time.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and wisdom, and please keep it comin'!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
You've had chickens since the year before I was born?? That's a long long time, wow.

Fred is really Old,

I'm not even close to be among the older folks here. Realizing that to a teen, just about anyone over 50 is "really old".

 

[fowlman01]

Fred's Hens :

Quote:
Fred is really Old,

I'm not even close to be among the older folks here. Realizing that to a teen, just about anyone over 50 is "really old".

to teen anyone over 30 is old.

Walt

 

[MedChicken]

Quote:
I'm not even close to be among the older folks here. Realizing that to a teen, just about anyone over 50 is "really old".

to teen anyone over 30 is old.

Walt

As one of my professors used to say, "old" is 10 years older than me.

This was his justification for constantly changing the border between "middle age" and "old age" - after all, he couldn't possibly be old!

 

[Dead Rabbit]

just one chick, its hard to say. ive never seen evidence of alot "sneezing" ive read about it here quite abit. i dont believe in dust making a chicken sneeze esp. if its a constant thing. lordy....chickens were made to scratch, peck in dirt and sand, and dust bath. if i heard sneezing id run a 1/4 teaspoon of aueromycin or some other sulfer type respirtory drug in their water for a few days.

 

[speckledhen]

Some chickens are chronic sneezers, trust me. I have one particular hen who has sneezed for four of her five years. There's nothing wrong with her unless her nasal passages are just not formed well. What I don't believe in doing is treating contagious respiratory infections and keeping immuno-compromised birds around to infect others and set myself up to have to treat, re-treat and re-treat again. Just won't do it. My advice is not to throw antibiotics at sneezing chickens, ever.