flyinferg
Chirping
Hello folks, I am so grateful that I can come here to find guidance. Long story as short as possible. Newish to chickens, I was given a 5 year old family raised chicken when the family had to downsize. All went well for first three years. (I got Nancy a formerly caged friend from a rescue and they happily spend all day strolling through my untamed yard/gardens). About 6 months ago I noticed a 50 cent size patch of bright red on both sides of Nancy's vent. Carefully dusted her with Permethrin over course of 6 weeks, vacuumed and dusted the coop every 10 days. The few mites I had seen disappeared. The other chicken does not seem to attract mites but I lightly dust her when I dust Nancy, just to be on the safe side. I read that perhaps she wasn't getting enough protein so I sent away for a high end layer feed, supposedly 18% protein. In addition to free ranging worms and snails, they get, throughout the week: bits of egg white and egg shell, tiny cubes of cheese from my white cheese, quartered grapes, cantaloupe slices, uncooked corn on the cob, one half at a time, stuck onto a device I built to hold cob upright. I even added a tablespoon of a wet cat food every morning and they like that. I was so worried, though she does not seem to be affected by the patches, I took her on Thursday to a vet. The vet does not have chickens but she conferred with another vet who does. CT scans and Xray and $1200 later.... waiting to hear. I am in Eureka. Wondering if I am on the right track. I will know if there is any "reproductive" issue in two weeks. Nancy lays about 3 eggs, every 6 months though I told her she can retire now, I did not get her for the eggs. You know how it goes, in the moment I don't question the direction the professional is taking but thinking about it later... ;-)
