Consolidated Kansas

[lizzyGSR]

Has she just finished laying for the season? I would say she sounds like she is calcium deficient. Laying takes a lot out of them and if you offer an all flock feed it is often too low in calcium. I put my laying geese on 16% layer pellets with calcium while they are laying and afterwards. I also offer free choice oyster shell and a nut mix that is a bird feed mix in small quantities (a lot of sebbie breeders swear by supplementing after the laying season is over with nut mixes that are high in calcium)

I would put her in a dog crate for 24 hours with lots of fresh grass hand fuls, give her a couple calcium pills if you have them and put some layer pellets and lots of fresh water in front of her. I had a goose that collapsed this spring after setting a clutch of eggs and she was just weak from laying and it sucked the life right out of her. Gave her a couple 500 mg calcium tablets, put her in a crate and the next day she was good as new. Worth a try!

To my knowledge, she has not started laying yet this year. IN fact, I have begun to even wonder if she really is a 'she'. However, last year, I got two eggs on several different days, and these two birds are the only two that could've laid them...

I do provide my birds with oyster shell and have noticed that we seem to be going through it faster than usual. Is the oyster shell not enough of a calcium supplement? I feed my birds 16% all purpose poultry crumbles mixed with some corn and milo. They free range nearly every day, usually for about 10-12 hours per day.

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy I had read that calcium carbonate is the form of calcium best used by birds. Calcium carbonate is simply limestone. If you can find some crushed limestone it's a great source of calcium. Don't buy agricultural lime however because they often add other chemicals to it.

 

[cherwill]

Been there...done that. Broke my neck but not in a car accident. He will probably have some spinal issues the rest of his life but being young is also a good thing. He should recover much faster. As long as there wasn't nerve damage with the break he should be able to adjust fairly well. Most of my neck is fused so I can't turn it like a normal person. No one really notices except me. I have to turn my whole body instead of just my neck. The only time it really creates a problem is when I am trying to back a car or other vehicle. DH got me a back up camera for my car for Christmas but it isn't mounted yet. Humm! Go figure.
I've been cleaning out the brooder house. What a job! Seems I have to do that a lot.

My boyfriend in high school had the same thing. I'm sure he has, at the very least, arthritis in his neck, but he's never let it stop him from doing anything. My right shoulder doesn't move the same way the left one does because of an injury, but I'm the only one (besides medical people who are trained to look for stuff like that) who notices. I hope you get that camera mounted before next Christmas!

It's a sad day here. After having chickens for just over a year, we lost our first one this morning. She was laying dead in the coop. Don't know what happened. I did notice she was hanging out away from the rest of the girls yesterday but that was it. We only have six backyard hens that all have names and are very spoiled so we get attached. Never thought losing a chicken would be so sad.

I'm sorry. We've lost some birds over the three years we've had them (three due to a genetic issue, I think) and it's hard. It's so easy to get attached to them.

I am avoiding all the things I should be doing. Lalalalala....

I'm pretty good at that myself!

Ok, so hope all had a wonderful Memorial Holiday, I wanted to show off my nearly complete new coop.......it is sooooo much nicer than my first one I built!

!

The coop looks fantastic, and I love the bench and milk cans on the porch.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Danz, I have a good supply of limestone. My farm sets on solid limestone. I make plenty of limestone dust every time I chisel a fence post hole.

It's nice to know the chickens can benefit from it.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

[/quote]
[COLOR=006400]One of my nephews graduated from college Sunday, and another got in a car wreck and broke his neck in two places. He's having surgery today and I haven't heard anything yet. He should fully recover, but it will be 6 months before he can do much physical labor, and at least a year before he can do any heavy labor. He's only 20, so it's bad, but it could have been so much worse.[/COLOR]
[/quote]

Sorry your nephew was in a car wreck. I hope he recovers soon.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I almost forgot... I wanted to follow up on the conversation of freezing eggs.  I made a chocolate chip cookie bar with frozen eggs.  It turned out really good, but it wasn't as thick as usual.  I thawed the eggs in the microwave, and I wonder if that was a bad idea, so I intend to try again with eggs thawed overnight in the fridge.  I've got a few more eggs in the freezer now.   I'll try to follow up with ya'll again later on the success/failure of this experiment.

Please do share your freezing recipe. I sure want to try it so we will have enough for baking in the winter when the hens' production is down.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

The mystery deepens with my "injured" goose.  Yesterday morning, she was limping so badly that she didn't stray very far from the pen.  By yesterday evening, she was walking much better though still limping.  This morning, she is still limping and the skin on her legs is still peeling, but she seems somewhat better.  On Sunday, the birds were not allowed to free range for very long because I was gone to church and then to lunch and then laid down for a nap.  On Monday, the birds were out free ranging all day long.  That would point to a possible nutrient deficiency (as some have already suggested) that is at least partially filled when the birds are let out to free range.  I am going to try to see if I can find a niacin supplement for the birds that won't cost me an arm and a leg and see if that helps.  Any other suggestion

Lizzy, I got a bottle of brewer's yeast from walmart. It was pretty cheap. I just grind them up and added that to the feeds.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

It's a sad day here. After having chickens for just over a year, we lost our first one this morning. She was laying dead in the coop. Don't know what happened. I did notice she was hanging out away from the rest of the girls yesterday but that was it. We only have six backyard hens that all have names and are very spoiled so we get attached. Never thought losing a chicken would be so sad.

Sorry for your loss. It never got easier even though I have had my fair share of losses.

 

[JosieChick]

To my knowledge, she has not started laying yet this year. IN fact, I have begun to even wonder if she really is a 'she'. However, last year, I got two eggs on several different days, and these two birds are the only two that could've laid them...

I do provide my birds with oyster shell and have noticed that we seem to be going through it faster than usual. Is the oyster shell not enough of a calcium supplement? I feed my birds 16% all purpose poultry crumbles mixed with some corn and milo. They free range nearly every day, usually for about 10-12 hours per day.

How much corn and milo do you feed? I have found that if I mix whole grains into my pellets the geese pick through and eat all the grain candy and leave the pellets so if it is a goose she may not be getting the calcium she needs from the layer feed. I also have better luck with pellets with the waterfowl, they just seem to eat it better. Just personal experience though. If it isn't a calcium problem then I would try a supplement and some brewers yeast but it sounds like a goose with a calcium problem, I have had geese get too weak to lay and boosting their calcium for a day and keeping them quiet helps them pass the egg, she may be a bit bound up in there. I have noticed that the geese to not get sick as quickly as a chicken that is egg bound and the eggs don't seem to break as easily internally as they do in a chicken. Hope this helps!

 

[JosieChick]

Lizzy I had read that calcium carbonate is the form of calcium best used by birds. Calcium carbonate is simply limestone. If you can find some crushed limestone it's a great source of calcium. Don't buy agricultural lime however because they often add other chemicals to it.

I just looked at my bottle of calcium supplement and it is indeed calcium carbonate.

My goslings hate me now because I stole their friends and brought them to you! It makes me sad that they run screaming from me now, must spend some time with them but time is short these days!