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

[Beekissed]

That's a shame! Good breed and a young bird. How often has she had this problem so far? This could just be the start of her egg laying life and it just needs a jumpstart and is sputtering around.

 

[delisha]

That is an egg with out a shell. The shell might be inside. It can be very painful and infection can set in. Do the autopsy and make your decision after. She might be OK. However she has been unthrifty for a while and she possibly has infection all through her. Pictures would be very informative and a great teaching tool to you and others.
I have to say that I am so proud of all of the woman and men being brave doing autopsy's and taking raising chickens seriously. Doing autopsy's can be so informative. I really love to see them to learn new things.

 

[Mskayladog]

this is the first time she has had a problem. She was laying good eggs until Nov. 1 then she just stopped. She was acting funny today standing around puffed up tail down so I put a little KY jelly around her vent and inner edge of her vent..(she was already leaking before I played doctor with her) she passed the yolk about 5-10 mins later.

 

[Beekissed]

this is the first time she has had a problem. She was laying good eggs until Nov. 1 then she just stopped. She was acting funny today standing around puffed up tail down so I put a little KY jelly around her vent and inner edge of her vent..(she was already leaking before I played doctor with her) she passed the yolk about 5-10 mins later.

Don't cull. I thought from the way you posted earlier that she had had a problem before this with being eggbound. Just watch her and monitor for more of the same kind of thing...this could just be a glitch because of the time of year. If she is eating, moving around and getting back to regular activity...just wait.

Sometimes time takes care of things, sometimes it doesn't. If this becomes a pattern with this bird, then it may be a good idea to cull her. If not, it's just a passing glitch...happens sometimes.

 

[delisha]

OHHH new eggs! I love it when POL's start. I am waiting for three. One of them is doing the usual post POL song so it should be any day for her. The other two are taking their sweet time.

 

[chickachee]

Just a question. I put Vaseline on my girls' combs last night, as the temp. dropped to 15 degrees. It was kind of a rodeo, mostly because I don't think I waited until it was dark enough in the coop for them to be drowsy. Anyway, got a blob on each of the combs and called it good. Tonight I think it's supposed to be about 25 degrees. Do I need to get a blob on them each time the temp drops? Or should the residue last for a night or two?

Thanks,
Sheila

 

[Alibabe]

Hi all, I am learning so much from all these posts that my head is swimming with all the info - thank you all. Beekissed I have been reading all about your flock and I think what you have done is absolutely amazing to get those birds back to such good health! I have also been following the fermented feed thread and have finally caught up all the posts and now I have a few questions that I am hoping you will be able to advise me on.
I have only 2 layers (light sussex and a ranger) and 5 bantums that I took on from my daugher in law. I started ff and the birds have never been that keen but I have stuck to it. My first batch was a mixture of scratch and layers pellets and after about 2 weeks they would not touch it anymore and went back to eating their dry food. I changed out the ff bucket and only used scratch to ferment and gave them dry layers pellets. They ate the ff but stopped eating the layers pellets so I added pellets to the feed again and although they do not attack the food, the bowl is empty when I get back home from work.
I have also tried to do the deep litter method but am having trouble getting my hubby not to clean out the coop every weekend. Hopefully will get him to see the good reasons for doing the deep litter.
Although my girls are still laying, (light sussex only about 5 eggs a week, ranger =daily) I have noticed that the tips of their combs are white/greyish. When I first noticed it, I was on my first batch of ff of layers and scratch. We also added more ventilation to the coop (4'x6'garden shed) and fed them only fermented scratch and veg, worms, eggs for extra protein). Their combs went back to normal. Now 3 days into my ff having layers pellets in it, the combs are again white/grey tipped.
Could it be that my pellets should not be fermented? Should I stick with just scratch. Could it be a ventilation problem. Or could it be a lack pf protein? I am not sure what to look for.
None of the bantums have the same thing going on with their combs. My birds have a covered run of 7meters x 3.5meters and on the weekends have our garden to range in which is probably about 20m x 40m but I don't let them out of their run all day during the week as I am at work and I am worried they may get out of the garden onto the road which is very busy.

 

[Beekissed]

Just a question. I put Vaseline on my girls' combs last night, as the temp. dropped to 15 degrees. It was kind of a rodeo, mostly because I don't think I waited until it was dark enough in the coop for them to be drowsy. Anyway, got a blob on each of the combs and called it good. Tonight I think it's supposed to be about 25 degrees. Do I need to get a blob on them each time the temp drops? Or should the residue last for a night or two?

Thanks,
Sheila

You really don't need it on their combs. Frost bite is a humidity problem, not a dry comb or cold comb problem. Just provide good ventilation in your coop to prevent the humidity levels during cold weather. I stopped having comb tips freeze when I started using deep litter in the coop, with pine shavings. I think the pine shavings actually absorbed some of the high humidity in the coop because we have had colder weather since and I was using the exact same coop, with the same ventilation(plenty) and haven't had a frost bit comb since starting the deep litter.

Hi all, I am learning so much from all these posts that my head is swimming with all the info - thank you all. Beekissed I have been reading all about your flock and I think what you have done is absolutely amazing to get those birds back to such good health! I have also been following the fermented feed thread and have finally caught up all the posts and now I have a few questions that I am hoping you will be able to advise me on.
I have only 2 layers (light sussex and a ranger) and 5 bantums that I took on from my daugher in law. I started ff and the birds have never been that keen but I have stuck to it. My first batch was a mixture of scratch and layers pellets and after about 2 weeks they would not touch it anymore and went back to eating their dry food. I changed out the ff bucket and only used scratch to ferment and gave them dry layers pellets. They ate the ff but stopped eating the layers pellets so I added pellets to the feed again and although they do not attack the food, the bowl is empty when I get back home from work.
I have also tried to do the deep litter method but am having trouble getting my hubby not to clean out the coop every weekend. Hopefully will get him to see the good reasons for doing the deep litter.
Although my girls are still laying, (light sussex only about 5 eggs a week, ranger =daily) I have noticed that the tips of their combs are white/greyish. When I first noticed it, I was on my first batch of ff of layers and scratch. We also added more ventilation to the coop (4'x6'garden shed) and fed them only fermented scratch and veg, worms, eggs for extra protein). Their combs went back to normal. Now 3 days into my ff having layers pellets in it, the combs are again white/grey tipped.
Could it be that my pellets should not be fermented? Should I stick with just scratch. Could it be a ventilation problem. Or could it be a lack pf protein? I am not sure what to look for.
None of the bantums have the same thing going on with their combs. My birds have a covered run of 7meters x 3.5meters and on the weekends have our garden to range in which is probably about 20m x 40m but I don't let them out of their run all day during the week as I am at work and I am worried they may get out of the garden onto the road which is very busy.

Could you give me your area, the temps there and a pic or two of these combs and the coop? I don't think it has anything to do with the foods...many people are using the FF right now with any number of different feeds in it without having problems with comb changes as a result, so I can only guess this may be coincidental and may be your temps and the fluctuating humidity levels in your coop.

Just spitballin' here....maybe some more info?

 

[Mskayladog]

Don't cull.  I thought from the way you posted earlier that she had had a problem before this with being eggbound.  Just watch her and monitor for more of the same kind of thing...this could just be a glitch because of the time of year.  If she is eating, moving around and getting back to regular activity...just wait. 

Sometimes time takes care of things, sometimes it doesn't.  If this becomes a pattern with this bird, then it may be a good idea to cull her.  If not, it's just a passing glitch...happens sometimes. 

Bee we will wait it out and see how she does. I'm not very good at typing what I'm thinking and trying to say, so I understand if I confused you . I still have one question was I wrong to put the KY jelly around the ouside and inner edges of her vent. If I was say so so no one else makes the same mistake.

 

[Beekissed]

No, I don't think so. You were thinking she was eggbound and wanted to facilitate things. I understand and that is what many do to help. It's really all you can do right now and just wait. Too good of a bird to waste if you don't need to....I hope she snaps out of this and goes on to be a great hen for you.

If you aren't using the ACV in the water, you might want to give it a shot to give a little extra boost to the bird.

The WR breed is an especial favorite of mine..