Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

A dog "played" with one of the hens. Does anyone have any suggestions how to treat shock and bruises on a chicken?

There are only a couple of places where the skin was broken, but a fair amount of feathers were on the ground in the area. When I found her she was still curled up, not moving, but after I held her and checked her over she was talking to me. She is now in a cage until I can make sure she is ok.

As Hawkeye said keep her warm. Pedialite or sugar in her water will help boost her a little. I use pine tar on my birds injuries but some over the counter antibiotic ointment will work well. If the cuts are deep flush them with warm water for a few minutes to clean them out, but only if she is no longer in shock. You could even do a little peroxide cleaning if you want. Keep her form the other chickens until her wounds heal enough they aren't noticeable or she'll get picked on. As long as there are no internal injuries she should recover in no time.

 

[Ivywoods]

I agree. Keep her separated so the others don't pick on her. Pedialyte or vitamin/minerals dissolved in her water and some sugar, maybe even some special treats like fruit and yogurt or scrambled eggs if she is reluctant to eat.

Speaking of TREATS... My mealworms just arrived.

I'm sure my chickens will be delighted, but I am still wondering if I'm just a little bit crazy.

Actually, so far it is not a problem at all. They are really clean little beasties and there is absolutely no oder. I put them in the second warmest place in house. The warmest place, on top of our heated waterbed is OUT of the question!

They are in the little guest bathroom. That is also where we bring the little baby goats when they are born in the cold. We bring them in there long enough to dry them off and warm them up then they go back out to their mommas. Back to the worms.... Now we can sit on the throne in there and watch all the little wigglers. DH just hollered to me and said I need to put some more apple slices in there. He said there were so many worms on the slices I put in there that they were sliding off! Well, wish me luck on this new adventure. I want to take a few of them out already and see how my little chickies like them. I can't give them too many yet because I need to keep most of them to raise more. I guess it only takes a couple months to get quite a few new ones.

Trish-So far for me the lavenders have been the most popular to sell. They are kind of a fad right now. They are such a pretty, stunning color, but everyone who sees my wheaten rooster says, "OH he is beautiful!" And like I said, they seem to be the most personable of the ameraucanas. The wheatens can be feather sexed at a fairly early age, so you know if you've got pullets or cockerells long before you can tell on some of the other varieties. That's kind of a nice thing. I'm not as thrilled with the silvers personally. They definitely seem to be the most flighty of them, but as I said they lay the best egg and that is why I have them. They are very pretty however... kind of like the color pattern on the little old english that I just posted. I guess it's all just a matter of personal preference. It's just a good thing there are so many different kinds of chickens to satisfy everyones different tastes.

Hawkeye-They dub the little roosters out of tradition. The old english evolved from the old "fighting" chickens, and when they used to use them for fighting, they would trim their waddles, earlobes and comb to keep them from getting cut and bleeding during a fight. It's a tradition. I'm with you, however. I love the looks of a big pretty red comb. I wish you didn't have to dub them in order to show them. I helped Checoukan (rather she SHOWED me how) to dub her roosters. It really doesn't seem to hurt them much and generally they don't bleed a lot. It sure seemed like they healed up a lot quicker than I thought they would, so maybe it isn't so bad.

Oh, and yes, the little one that pipped is now fully hatched and drying off in the hatcher. Cute little wheaten ameraucana.

 

[chicken danz]

Well my luck I had a heat bulb burn out in section bin in the brooder where the youngest chicks were. I lost 8 of the about week old ones. I have a heater in there but it wasn't close to that bin and it is set to come on at 70 degrees. Most of what I lost were bantam polish. I also lost two silkies and one Serama. I guess if I was in Rittert's shoes I could stash these in the freezer to feed someone's snake. Makes me shiver to think about it. I gathered up the eggs where the faverolles stay and am going to stick them in the incubator. Heaven knows what all I'll end up with. Sometimes I wish I didn't have quite so many breeds on the place.
The ducks seem to be picking up finally in their egg laying. I guess I'll throw a few of those in to hatch as well.

 

[tweetysvoice]

awww.. danz, I'm sorry to hear about the chicks

I guess I didn't realize how sensitive they really are! How long was the light out?

 

[Ivywoods]

Danz-AW CRAP! Darn light bulbs! I bought some cheap ones here recently that were supposed to burn for a year. They didn't last a month!

Well, folks. I think we are back to square one with my DH. He is getting his symptoms back that he had before the heart cath and stenting. I am beginning to think his stent may have clotted or collapsed or something. We talked to the Dr. a little while ago and plan to go in the morning. If his symptoms get any worse I am going to drive him straight to Topeka. Whatever is going on right now is not good. He is sleeping right now. He is so tired and fatigued and I am sad and worried.

 

[HEChicken]

So sorry to hear about your DH right as you thought he was on the mend. You both are definitely in our thoughts - please keep us posted.

Danz - sorry for the loss of your chicks. I don't know if they are any better in terms of how long they last or how likely they are to burn out, but I switched to a ceramic heat emitter on my last batch of chicks and really liked it. They are expensive, so it BETTER last longer. What I like about it is that it only emits heat - no light - so the chicks can keep a normal day/night schedule from day one, instead of being under lights 24/7 for the first few weeks.

 

[Trish44]

Oh Gosh IVY, sorry to hear about your DH, I hope he has not had a complication from the heart cath. Keep us posted & we'll be praying for you.

Well I was so intrigued by the Aloha project that I went & read about it & then sent a PM to Sommer. I do have the right kind of chickens & rooster to join the project. KarenS, Sommer's information says not to use Red Stars or hybrids like that because it will water down the project, you're supposed to use Rhode Island Reds or a true breed like that. She also has used Exchequer Leghorns, which I had meant to order some of, but it didn't work out this time. I ended up ordering brown ones instead & I didn't order roosters either because I don't need any more roosters. If I decide to join the project later on after I get my breeder coop built maybe you & I can do some exchanging to get the improvements Sommer talks about. She says later on after we get started we would need some Swedish Flowers to improve the coloring & all. I think it would be fun to see what comes of this.

Danz, sorry to hear about your chicks.

 

[cherwill]

Danz, I'm frustrated since the change, too. I get email notifications of new postings to the thread, but then suddenly I don't get the emails anymore. My last email notification was about 20 pages ago, in fact. So sorry about your chicks. Your roo is beautiful; thanks for the picture.

Karen, your breeding project sounds interesting. We just got into chickens a couple of years ago. We know nothing about breeding.

HEChicken, we have three BOs and they go broody all the time. It's aggravating because we aren't planning to hatch any chicks in the near future. Our two Australorps also went broody last summer.

Patricia, I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles lately. I hope things get better. And I hope all you sick people get better quickly, too. I've been lucky so far.

Congratulations to all the soon-to-be grandparents!

Ivy, sorry to hear your husband's symptoms are back. I'll keep my fingers crossed for him at his next doctor's visit.

We've been trying to decide when to add a hen or two to our flock since all our chickens are pretty much the same age. I read recently that egg production slows way down after three years. Is that true for most breeds? If that's the case, I think I need a couple of hens this summer since my birds are all about 2 years old!

 

[cherwill]

Oops, I forgot to say how much I enjoy hearing about the crocheters on board. I used to do a LOT of cross stitching but haven't done any in several years. Then I started doing a lot of crochet after my Grandma died. When she was in a facility to recover from a bone break, she always had a lap robe over her lap and legs. I'd never heard of a lap robe, but I guess a number of older ladies would crochet, knit and sew these very small blankets to put over the legs of the patients in wheelchairs. After Grandma died, I made a whole bunch of lap robes (Granny Squares, so very easy) and gave them to a local nursing home. Then I crocheted a stuffed Tigger for my niece and pretty much quit because I was burned out on it. Maybe I'll take it up again. I've tried knitting, but apparently it's beyond my ability. I always end up with a bunch of stuff on the needle that's so tight I can't budge it.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh Gosh IVY, sorry to hear about your DH, I hope he has not had a complication from the heart cath. Keep us posted & we'll be praying for you.

Well I was so intrigued by the Aloha project that I went & read about it & then sent a PM to Sommer. I do have the right kind of chickens & rooster to join the project. KarenS, Sommer's information says not to use Red Stars or hybrids like that because it will water down the project, you're supposed to use Rhode Island Reds or a true breed like that. She also has used Exchequer Leghorns, which I had meant to order some of, but it didn't work out this time. I ended up ordering brown ones instead & I didn't order roosters either because I don't need any more roosters. If I decide to join the project later on after I get my breeder coop built maybe you & I can do some exchanging to get the improvements Sommer talks about. She says later on after we get started we would need some Swedish Flowers to improve the coloring & all. I think it would be fun to see what comes of this.

Ivy -- so sorry to hear about your DH. I've been through a nasty experience with my DH and heart cath but it all turned out fine after all. Hope everything goes well for you.

Trish -- It's true Sommer's info says not to use Red Stars, etc., however, she and I have PM'd it and she is interested in hatching eggs from the RS crossed with Sussex. I think the RIR is a much better cross and the New Hamp would also be excellent. I will only be using the Red Stars for one breeding and never again, mainly for the increase in egg production. I will probably cross them back to a New Hamp before adding these to the Aloha mix. It's just a little side experiment. Sommer has expressed some doubts as to whether the Exchequers were a good thing because she is having some barring in the current birds that she is not happy with. I guess barring crossed with spangling dilutes the spangles. Still, they are beautiful birds. I would love to work with you on the project -- what fun!