My first year of chickening was a year of hard lessons. I researched a ton on here and the wealth of knowledge still learned ( the hard way) was mind boggling.
I overfed my flock scratch. Which made for no eggs, one bird who was also a bit gluttonous— dying. Too many roosters= bald backed hens, horrible molts, etc etc.
rookie year was tough on my ego.
Don’t be too tough on yourself. That bird is lucky to have you.
6th year for me and I’m still humbled and learning new things on these birds every day.
Do you have a photo of her? I wonder if giving her a wormer at her stage of molt is good now. If she’s a free ranger she’ll probably have a light load of worms at least.
Forget the vet. It’s a shame he wants to jack you for ‘exotic’ fees. That’s dumb. Sounds like he’s in the business for the wrong reasons. Sorry about the vent. Find the tube of safegaurd paste. Just get the smaller tube. Pea sized amount for her. Then 8-9 days later another pea sized to get the worm eggs that will have hatched. And that does it. Pretty easy. May as well do the whole flock or non layers while you’re at it. You’ll have to not eat the hen eggs for two weeks after the second wormer dosing. But they can be fed to your dog if you wish.
I overfed my flock scratch. Which made for no eggs, one bird who was also a bit gluttonous— dying. Too many roosters= bald backed hens, horrible molts, etc etc.
rookie year was tough on my ego.
Don’t be too tough on yourself. That bird is lucky to have you.

6th year for me and I’m still humbled and learning new things on these birds every day.
Do you have a photo of her? I wonder if giving her a wormer at her stage of molt is good now. If she’s a free ranger she’ll probably have a light load of worms at least.
Forget the vet. It’s a shame he wants to jack you for ‘exotic’ fees. That’s dumb. Sounds like he’s in the business for the wrong reasons. Sorry about the vent. Find the tube of safegaurd paste. Just get the smaller tube. Pea sized amount for her. Then 8-9 days later another pea sized to get the worm eggs that will have hatched. And that does it. Pretty easy. May as well do the whole flock or non layers while you’re at it. You’ll have to not eat the hen eggs for two weeks after the second wormer dosing. But they can be fed to your dog if you wish.

Last edited: