Fishkeeper
Crowing
I see a lot of threads on here that are just titled things like "help please", and have minimal information inside. I'm not pointing at any specific thread here, it's common on a lot of forums, but it won't get anyone a quick answer. There are too many pieces missing for someone to figure out what's going on. Could it be the feed? The living conditions? Another animal causing trouble?
So, here's a template for how to make a post that'll hopefully get you a good answer. This is a generalized guideline.
You do not need to include EVERY detail from below, but it will very much help if people don't have to ask for more information. This at least rules out obvious problems, and helps find the moderately odd ones.
EDIT: If you can see the problem in a photo, take pictures and upload them. If it's a weird motion or sound, try to take and upload a video. This is especially important with any kind of wound, damaged area, or unknown parasite, but is useful in pretty much any situation where you can physically see the issue.
In short: INFORMATION.
Title: Should be specific. "help with birds" doesn't tell us anything, "help with chickens not eating, seeming lethargic" is better. One of the best ways to get the attention you need is to make your problem as clear as possible in the title.
Problem description:
You might include a lot of information that nobody really needs, but that won't hurt anything. And it's much faster than posting something, only to have someone ask you for more info and need an answer on your end. If you give all the possible info, that helps things.
So, here's a template for how to make a post that'll hopefully get you a good answer. This is a generalized guideline.
You do not need to include EVERY detail from below, but it will very much help if people don't have to ask for more information. This at least rules out obvious problems, and helps find the moderately odd ones.
EDIT: If you can see the problem in a photo, take pictures and upload them. If it's a weird motion or sound, try to take and upload a video. This is especially important with any kind of wound, damaged area, or unknown parasite, but is useful in pretty much any situation where you can physically see the issue.
In short: INFORMATION.
Title: Should be specific. "help with birds" doesn't tell us anything, "help with chickens not eating, seeming lethargic" is better. One of the best ways to get the attention you need is to make your problem as clear as possible in the title.
Problem description:
- What's going on?
- When did it start?
- Has it gotten worse?
- What animals are affected? Species, general age, number and sex. Breed may also be helpful.
- Are they still laying regularly?
- Has anything different happened recently?
- Do you see parasites on them? Check any visibly affected areas (bare patches), under the wings, around the vents, in the mouth and nostrils.
- Does their poop look normal?
- What are you feeding? Do you provide oystershell, separately?
- How much of the diet is treats? "Treats" are, basically, anything other than a commercial, species-appropriate, complete diet. Scratch, veggies, table scraps, that sort of thing.
- How many poultry, total, do you have? What species, ages, and sexes? How many of those are living with the affected birds?
- What size space do the affected birds have? For reference, if your chickens have less than 4 square feet per bird in the coop (house area, for sleeping) and 10 square feet per bird in the run (outdoor area), NOT counting space occupied by nesting boxes and other items, that's probably your issue.
- Do they get any enrichment (things to jump on, novel foods)? Especially important if it's a behavioral issue or something to do with feathers.
- Have you seen them doing anything to each other that looks dangerous or out of the ordinary? Aggressive behavior?
- Are there any nearby toxins or odd substances they could have eaten?
- What other animals have access to them?
- Where do you live? Has the temperature been extreme, or the weather?
- Try your best to get the punctuation in. Capitalized letters, commas, and periods are the most important.
- Break your post up into lines. A single paragraph of lots of information isn't very easy to read.
- While you're waiting, try looking things up on Google. The animal species and the symptoms, searched together, should get you something. If you think you know what it might be, edit your original post or put it in a new post to see if that makes sense.
You might include a lot of information that nobody really needs, but that won't hurt anything. And it's much faster than posting something, only to have someone ask you for more info and need an answer on your end. If you give all the possible info, that helps things.
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