cityeggs
Songster
I have 14 w 1 accidental cockerel and 3 pullets. Sky, the cockerel, has been crowing for a few weeks now - and his crows sound completely normal - not baby ones anymore. He has always been one to be face-down in the food when he notices/remembers that there's food around. I'm still feeding them chick crumbles bc my local small feed store only carries layer pellets and chick crumbles - no all-flock feed. It's always available, I don't ever remove food, though occasionally I've noticed that the crumbles don't come down properly in their new feeder, and they've been stuck with mostly dust, so perhaps this problem has arisen bc he doesn't trust that there will be food available?
A few times recently, after madly eating for a bit, he'll step back and make a noise that sounds like a donkey or one squeeze of a squeaky toy. The first time I heard him do it, they were in our temporary run while we worked on the coop for an hour and I realized they'd finished off the small feeder we had in there. When I put more in, he ate and ate and made that noise, kept opening his mouth, and weaving his neck back and forth as if he'd eaten too much and couldn't get it to go down. It sounded a little like stridor, but he only made the noise once, then quiet again for 5-10 min, and then repeat. I kept trying to get him to take a break and drink something. He did eventually drink some water and later stopped making the noise, and closed his mouth, and the head weaving stopped by the time they were ready to roost an hour or so later. I did check on him the next morning - made sure droppings looked normal and that he was acting normal, and he was.
I didn't check his crop that morning bc I'm now leery of approaching him in the morning, after he came out and bit me recently when I opened the pop door. Since then, I've been leaving the pop door open (their run is secure - but I had been keeping it closed bc we had a little cold snap) so I don't have to go through that before coffee (I had announced myself, but he was crowing so I'm not sure whether he just didn't hear that it was me and thought it was something scary so came out all puffed up and hangry, or whether this is the beginning of bigger hormone problems). Because he seemed fine an hour later, and still the next day, I assumed he'd gotten hungry and ate too fast and either inhaled a little food, or just had trouble getting it all to go down, but it seemed to have resolved and not caused any further issue. I can figure out a way to check his crop, though, if that would help.
This afternoon, when I came in the coop to check on them, all the chickens happened to remember that they had food (it had been there the whole time) and they all went over to the feeder. Sky, again, was face down in the food, and dashing around the feeder (it hangs and spins a little when they eat sometimes) and again made that squeaky toy noise once or twice, though no weaving neck, and only a moment or two of open mouth breathing this time (seemed less of an issue than the first time).
Does it sound like he's eating too fast and getting a little stuck? If so, aside from insuring that they always have plenty of food, is there anything I can do about it? I've been thinking maybe I need to add another feeder and not only would there be more so if the crumbles got stuck again, there would be a back-up/it wouldn't happen at the same time with both, and also there would be less of a melee around the food (though all 4 of them easily can all eat at once from the current feeder). Is there anything else that it could be? Today, I couldn't tell whether it was Sky or one of the pullets, but someone was making a sound that sounded like a single bark from a yappy dog - not sure of another way to describe it - while they were eating. The pullets have started sounding like they've mostly gotten their adult voices, though I still hear the occasional honk, and one still sounds chick-like sometimes when she's worrying that it's bedtime and no one else will go up to the coop with her, so it could've been one of the pullets whose voice is still changing just objecting to being pushed off the feeder by him?
They have free access to grit, though at the moment all I have is chick grit - larger grit should be arriving tomorrow. Let me know if there's any more info I've missed that would be helpful.
A few times recently, after madly eating for a bit, he'll step back and make a noise that sounds like a donkey or one squeeze of a squeaky toy. The first time I heard him do it, they were in our temporary run while we worked on the coop for an hour and I realized they'd finished off the small feeder we had in there. When I put more in, he ate and ate and made that noise, kept opening his mouth, and weaving his neck back and forth as if he'd eaten too much and couldn't get it to go down. It sounded a little like stridor, but he only made the noise once, then quiet again for 5-10 min, and then repeat. I kept trying to get him to take a break and drink something. He did eventually drink some water and later stopped making the noise, and closed his mouth, and the head weaving stopped by the time they were ready to roost an hour or so later. I did check on him the next morning - made sure droppings looked normal and that he was acting normal, and he was.
I didn't check his crop that morning bc I'm now leery of approaching him in the morning, after he came out and bit me recently when I opened the pop door. Since then, I've been leaving the pop door open (their run is secure - but I had been keeping it closed bc we had a little cold snap) so I don't have to go through that before coffee (I had announced myself, but he was crowing so I'm not sure whether he just didn't hear that it was me and thought it was something scary so came out all puffed up and hangry, or whether this is the beginning of bigger hormone problems). Because he seemed fine an hour later, and still the next day, I assumed he'd gotten hungry and ate too fast and either inhaled a little food, or just had trouble getting it all to go down, but it seemed to have resolved and not caused any further issue. I can figure out a way to check his crop, though, if that would help.
This afternoon, when I came in the coop to check on them, all the chickens happened to remember that they had food (it had been there the whole time) and they all went over to the feeder. Sky, again, was face down in the food, and dashing around the feeder (it hangs and spins a little when they eat sometimes) and again made that squeaky toy noise once or twice, though no weaving neck, and only a moment or two of open mouth breathing this time (seemed less of an issue than the first time).
Does it sound like he's eating too fast and getting a little stuck? If so, aside from insuring that they always have plenty of food, is there anything I can do about it? I've been thinking maybe I need to add another feeder and not only would there be more so if the crumbles got stuck again, there would be a back-up/it wouldn't happen at the same time with both, and also there would be less of a melee around the food (though all 4 of them easily can all eat at once from the current feeder). Is there anything else that it could be? Today, I couldn't tell whether it was Sky or one of the pullets, but someone was making a sound that sounded like a single bark from a yappy dog - not sure of another way to describe it - while they were eating. The pullets have started sounding like they've mostly gotten their adult voices, though I still hear the occasional honk, and one still sounds chick-like sometimes when she's worrying that it's bedtime and no one else will go up to the coop with her, so it could've been one of the pullets whose voice is still changing just objecting to being pushed off the feeder by him?
They have free access to grit, though at the moment all I have is chick grit - larger grit should be arriving tomorrow. Let me know if there's any more info I've missed that would be helpful.