Ok , got it . Thank you for the quick reply , I will just leave a container of grit out with the food & water feeders for them to grab as they want it . I'm slowly learning but doing pretty well with my flock thus far hope it keeps going good for us and the flock. Have a great day !!!Hello and welcome to BYC!
Leave the grit out as free choice. They know how much they need and will pick through it as needed. Same with oyster shell for calcium. Some birds need extra calcium, some don't.
As for too much grit, as long as it is not sand, which if over eaten will cause trouble, tiny stones will pass right through them quick enough if they over eat them. If you have the nerve to look at their poop, LOL, sometimes you can see tiny stones that they have used or discarded through their system. Sand works as grit for younger birds not yet laying. Never offer sand to tiny chicks as they can over eat it thinking it is food. The bigger the bird, the bigger the tiny stones need to be for grinding food in the gizzard.
Enjoy your birds!
Quote: Sounds like you are doing just fine and enjoying your birds! Feel free to ask any questions you may have and we do welcome you to our flock!
Thank you so much , we really love our flock and want nothing but the best for them , however we do have another problem on our hands now , one of our girls has hurt her foot somehow and is hoping on just one foot she seems happy and fine health wise and was ok until yesterday we noticed her hoping along and holding the bad foot up . Just wondering if you may have any advice that we can do to help her through until her foot gets better . Thank you !!!Sounds like you are doing just fine and enjoying your birds! Feel free to ask any questions you may have and we do welcome you to our flock!
Quote: You will want to look at her foot and feel her foot joint, hock and up to the hip. The best way to inspect a chicken or do anything medical to them is to towel them up and lay them on your lap. So set the bird on a bench and with a big towel, wrap the bird up around the wings and breast and lay them on their back's, on your lap, feet up and out of the towel. Look at her pads. Does she have redness on the pad, a poke or hole or a big black spot on her pad? If so, she may have punctured it and has bumblefoot to which you will need to do a surgery. (It sounds scary, but it is not that hard to do and I will lead you through the entire thing.
If there is no puncture to the pad, feel the food joint for heat, redness or swelling. Go further up to the hock or elbow, and then up to the hip, feeling for any swelling and heat. Is it broken? Can she stand at all or does the leg just dangle? Is the leg twisted a bit and possibly she dislocated it at the hip? How high are your roost bars? Heavy breeds need low roost bars. My Aussies are huge and I had all kinds of sprains until I lowered my bars to 15 inches from the floor.
Give her a good inspection and give it your best guess. She may have just come down hard on it and sprained something. If you think this is just a sprain, you should confine her for a week or so until it improves. If they over do a sprain, it can lead to the tendon ripping off the bone, which there is no cure but surgery and she will be lame for the rest of her days. If it is just a simple sprain, you can give her some aspirin. One baby aspirin or a 1/4 of an adult aspirin. The easiest way to give meds like pills is to crack them into smaller pieces and stuff them in a couple of raisins...they never know they are being medicated.
So give her a check and let us know what you think she has going on?
Thank you for the quick feed back , no from her hip to her foot is fine the problem is her foot and ankle area only , as you say it seems as if it's a sprain as to what it appears to be . She is doing better on it today so think it might be a slight sprain . Thank you so much for all your help , I may be over reacting as a new chicken farmer but I am trying my best to learn as much as possible as fast as I can as our birds our part of our family now. We got 4 eggs today from our 9 hens , I realize that's not a great amount but being they have just been through a lot of stress from moving to a new coop & run we are very grateful they are laying any eggs . You have been a tremendous help and we love this site , everybody is so very helpful and caring of one another . You are a god send for your information and thank you dearly .You will want to look at her foot and feel her foot joint, hock and up to the hip. The best way to inspect a chicken or do anything medical to them is to towel them up and lay them on your lap. So set the bird on a bench and with a big towel, wrap the bird up around the wings and breast and lay them on their back's, on your lap, feet up and out of the towel. Look at her pads. Does she have redness on the pad, a poke or hole or a big black spot on her pad? If so, she may have punctured it and has bumblefoot to which you will need to do a surgery. (It sounds scary, but it is not that hard to do and I will lead you through the entire thing.
If there is no puncture to the pad, feel the food joint for heat, redness or swelling. Go further up to the hock or elbow, and then up to the hip, feeling for any swelling and heat. Is it broken? Can she stand at all or does the leg just dangle? Is the leg twisted a bit and possibly she dislocated it at the hip? How high are your roost bars? Heavy breeds need low roost bars. My Aussies are huge and I had all kinds of sprains until I lowered my bars to 15 inches from the floor.
Give her a good inspection and give it your best guess. She may have just come down hard on it and sprained something. If you think this is just a sprain, you should confine her for a week or so until it improves. If they over do a sprain, it can lead to the tendon ripping off the bone, which there is no cure but surgery and she will be lame for the rest of her days. If it is just a simple sprain, you can give her some aspirin. One baby aspirin or a 1/4 of an adult aspirin. The easiest way to give meds like pills is to crack them into smaller pieces and stuff them in a couple of raisins...they never know they are being medicated.
So give her a check and let us know what you think she has going on?
Quote: Sounds like you are doing a great job with your flock! If she sprained something in her foot joint, just limit her usage of the foot for a couple of days. Use aspirin once a day for a couple of days too to help with inflammation.
Yes, if they are under too much stress from moving, temperature changes, predators, aggression, feed changes, just about anything can cause enough stress to clamp off the egg laying. They will adjust eventually. Keep the coop as quiet as possible, move slowly around them, go sit on the floor with them with some goodies so they learn to trust and bond with you. It never hurts to put a ticking clock in the coop. I keep one in my coop 365 days a year. The constant ticking seems to help calm their nerves. Even some soft music on the radio during the day only helps to keep them calmer. Keep fake eggs in the nest boxes and even curtains over the boxes will help stop any egg eating. Gives them privacy to lay as well. Make sure they have at least 5 square feet per bird in the coop, 10 square feet in the run, things like mirrors, ladders, levels, seed pecking blocks, hanging veggies and fruits...things to keep them entertained and burn calories. Helps with their physical and mental state.
Enjoy your babies!!
Sounds like you are doing a great job with your flock! If she sprained something in her foot joint, just limit her usage of the foot for a couple of days. Use aspirin once a day for a couple of days too to help with inflammation.
Yes, if they are under too much stress from moving, temperature changes, predators, aggression, feed changes, just about anything can cause enough stress to clamp off the egg laying. They will adjust eventually. Keep the coop as quiet as possible, move slowly around them, go sit on the floor with them with some goodies so they learn to trust and bond with you. It never hurts to put a ticking clock in the coop. I keep one in my coop 365 days a year. The constant ticking seems to help calm their nerves. Even some soft music on the radio during the day only helps to keep them calmer. Keep fake eggs in the nest boxes and even curtains over the boxes will help stop any egg eating. Gives them privacy to lay as well. Make sure they have at least 5 square feet per bird in the coop, 10 square feet in the run, things like mirrors, ladders, levels, seed pecking blocks, hanging veggies and fruits...things to keep them entertained and burn calories. Helps with their physical and mental state.
Enjoy your babies!!
