Hector's World: Adventures and Mayhem at Mountain View Poultry (or Sequel to The Evolution of Atlas

[speckledhen]

I certainly don't mean this to sound heartless, but some of your older girls who are in really bad shape are awfully time consuming.

If they are like Neela, they aren't. She has just become much less active and now, she's sleeping a lot, surrounded by her group and her sister. I won't separate her when she can be comfortable where she is and pass away peacefully.

The crop issues are not happening mostly to the older hens. In fact, most of that happens with the Brahmas. Maretta's is a fluke, I guess. I do hate dealing with sluggish/soured/impacted crops. I'd be happy to never see that again. Maybe I need to see how other breeders feed their Brahma flocks, to see if there is anything I should do differently.

Of course, Amanda and Snow do require a little more care, them having to have their food/water bowls and cages cleaned out two or three times a day-those are truly the only ones who really need a lot of extra time right now. Gypsy, my second oldest hen of all, and most of the other oldsters are doing quite well, no "special handling" required.

Now, rooster drama and the "repairs" that go with it, that is time-consuming and stressful! I think Hector and Atlas both need a good spanking. Some days I feel like letting them at each other and let the chips fall where they may, but with my luck, they'd just both need a lot of fix-up work and both live to fight another day.

 

[speckledhen]

Hector is in some pain, I can tell. Here are pics of his beak. Looks like the top layer is off from that crack to the tip. What do you think?

Jane and Maddie today.

Neela and Alice. You can see the growth inside Neela's left nare.

And MaryJo. Shame I can't breed her and can't tell if she's a dwarf gene carrier. At least she's a layer and less than 2 years old.

My dogwoods are turning.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Poor Hector. Hopefully it heals quickly and doesn't fall off. Your hens are looking good as always. Mine are looking a bit worn. Thankfully the molt is starting here. It's been much too dry and I see some leaves changing from the stress of no rain, and the willows are dropping their leaves already.

 

[1muttsfan]

I think it's heal. Soft food and an aspirin, by now there should be no risk of bleeding.

 

[speckledhen]

I made him some soft scrambled eggs with aspirin ground in it. He tried it very gingerly and then backed off. I turned my back to walk out, heard an odd noise from him and saw him trying to scratch his face, shaking his head. And then, I saw he was bleeding again, but from inside his mouth. I believe he lacerated his tongue. I hope it doesn't swell up. That concerns me, that it may block off his airway if it really swelled a lot. Is that even possible? I bet he'll be off his feed for a couple of days, at least.

 

[1muttsfan]

That might be a concern, but there's not much you can do

 

[speckledhen]

That might be a concern, but there's not much you can do

I know and it scares me a little. I'll check on him in the morning first thing. He was so off his game tonight that he let Tom actually pick him up off the nests and place him on the roost without struggling. Those idiot roosters find ways to do themselves in while trying to kill each other. Good grief.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, Hector is not going to eat for a couple of days, looks like. I made him some baby oatmeal, a mush really, added collagen powder and a crushed aspirin. I separated him into an empty pen and offered it to him. He wouldn't try it so I scooped some on my finger and he did take some twice. Then, he was on the floor scratching at his face, making a pained noise and shaking his head. His beak and tongue are just really painful. One good thing, though, is that he did crow and sounded just like normal! That means his airway is unobstructed. He even let me pick him up twice with almost no struggle and was very sweet like he knew I was trying to help. He never does that, ever.

Going back to where I saw him fighting and become injured, we found this. That is the entire top layer of his beak. Poor baby. But, then again, he did this to himself so stupid doof!

 

[getaclue]

Do you have a primary care physician? If so, call his office, and ask him to call in some silvadene, or generic equivalent cream. IF he even asks, just tell him you burned a little place on your hand taking something out of the oven, and you know silvadene is really good for things like that. It's not something they quibble about. If not, just put a little triple antibiotic on it. The silvadene is so worth it though.

 

[speckledhen]

Do you have a primary care physician? If so, call his office, and ask him to call in some silvadene, or generic equivalent cream. IF he even asks, just tell him you burned a little place on your hand taking something out of the oven, and you know silvadene is really good for things like that. It's not something they quibble about. If not, just put a little triple antibiotic on it. The silvadene is so worth it though.

I actually have a tub of that here. A former chicken customer who used to work in a vet's office brought it to me as a gift years ago. I didn't put anything on his beak that showed because I thought one of the girls would pick at him. I did spritz it with Vetericyn a little.