Thanks! First step is to see if vet will test I am hoping yes as the ‘exotics guy’ does see birdsYou can use a knife or small spatula to scrape up watery poo into a specimen jar. Thankfully the vet doesn't need a lot to do the test. The things I know that cause persistent watery poop are worms, mites & coccidea. I'm sure other things do too but I would be checking those 1st. Hope it clears up soon.
Just be aware I have had a fair bit of coccidea to deal with & blood hasn't always shown up ~ but diahorrea has. Loss of balance ~ never mentioned but something that I have seen too. Unlikey you have it but I would be remiss if I knew these things & didn't say. Oh, & just because you haven't seen worm doesn't mean they don't have them Chickens usually carry a worm load. It's when it's large & their immunity is down it becomes a real issue.Thanks! First step is to see if vet will test I am hoping yes as the ‘exotics guy’ does see birds
I don’t see any worms (which doesn’t mean a thing) and I don’t see blood.
I can check for live and mites but I have been wary of handling anyone because of the whole painful itchy porcupine thing going on.
I am inclined to watch and see a bit longer but her comb being a tiny bit less vivid started to make me anxious. Could that also be associated with molting?
Hopefully it just clears up on its own.
And how have the other hens been treating Phyllis at roosting? Has their roosting behaviour changed at all now there are babies next door?
Thanks RC. I'll have a look.
This is what I did when I finally let my “new” chickens out with the “old” chickens. I sat out there all day supervising.
I've though for a long time now that it's not being able to hear/make sense of where the sound is coming from that the chickens find difficult when its windy.But I think @Shadrach has mentioned his theory that the wind affects their being able to hear everything well too.
But now that I think of it, I do know that wind speed will also affect songbirds' ability to forage - fly here and there, etc., and do their rounds. But I think that kind of wind is greater than just a breezy day. Of course the smaller birds are affected first with increasing wind speed. I think I read a study on that and what the wind speeds were for each type of bird... from ability to fly across fields, from tree to tree, fly/jump from branch to branch, to essentially being grounded / seeking shelter and not moving (sheltering in pine trees in the case of chickadees...)
But a breezy day would create more noise in general, so sound interference theoretically would be a problem for chickadees and songbirds. There is a whole system of warnings that get transmitted through forests. Chickadees keep their flock/tribe in contact with each other through peeps and whatnot as they forage, and they rely on this system too. I wonder if they also forage closer together and are more nervous on breezy days? The radio gets a lot of static...
Chickens need to hear each other and hear the other species around them. So it seems to me that in general chickens that have the genes or a predilection for more caution on windy days would have better chances to individually survive and thus their species to survive.
Yes. In my experience hens are the most successful way to eradicate it because the bulbs are so numerous and easily break off during weeding. I haven't had any oxalis in the backyard since the hens decided it was delightful. I'm looking forward to one day releasing them into the front yard for some extreme weeding, turning and fertilizing, but a new front fence is needed first.
