Illinois...

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40

He looks great! Our oegb cockeral who looked worse had a lot less bad tissue damage than we thought. They weren't lifting about the icky purple blisters protecting healthy skin. My Mickey's comb looks great! Our other oegb cockeral, Nugget, well several of his tips(think they're called blades right?) Are still black and I think he will lose them. But there's no sign of infection and he's no worse for wear.

Now for even better news Jasmine has recovered and is with the flock again. After almost a week I think it was she is finally out of her crate with the flock and feeling better. Her crop is emptying and she's ravenous but not over-eating. We are of course continuing to monitor and check on her frequently. After nearly a week with almost no food she has weight to gain back but she never stopped drinking. She also doesn't poop for nearly a week but yesterday or maybe the night before she started to poop and poop and poop and poop and we'll you get the idea. No visible worms but I think I will start looking into wormers now. Last weekend the whole flock had their first mite dusting as did the coop. Another one in ten days yes?

What has everyone else used for mites? We have garden and poultry permethrin dust from farm and fleet.

What about for a wormer? Please fda approved we sell eggs and the whole business of lifetime withdrawal and such just blows my mind. Is there something that is fowl approved that I can use and trust that the withdrawal isn't terribly long of course whatever it is I'll follow.

I'm guessing this will probably keep her from laying her first eggs for a while as she has some much needed weight to gain. We started her on just crumbles(other than the baby food carrots we used to dose her) and gave her a little scratch tonight. The whole flock is being treated with (Poultry Performance- I think it is- and its by Duvet, we got it at farm and fleet) It says it contains living microorganisms, vitamins, electrolytes, probiotics, and minerals, it also says it stimulates digestion and appetite. I truly think this stuff works after having this in her water for 24 hours the last grape-sized mass in her crop dissolved and she started pooping. Something that two treatments with baby food carrots laced with stool softeners didn't do, although that did get it moving from peach sized to ping pong ball sized, so maybe it was just a combination of things combined with lots of crop massages. I'm just grateful Jazzy(Jasmine) is on the mend. She's such a sweet good little girl.

Glad to hear Jasmine is doing better. I never tried "Poultry Performance" but I have noticed that my feed matters. My flock does best on Nutrena NatureWise Layer Feed. It's not organic but it contains probiotics, marigold for dark yolks, & helps make nice, thick shells. When I use Country Feeds (also from Nutrena) their eggs lose the nice thick shells & their poop may get runny. They free range & have oyster shell always available, so I'm pretty sure its the feed. We have limited choices on feed brands, so I don't know about other brands like Purena.

 

[Faraday40]

Someone laid me surprise today, must be a double yolker. It makes the leg bar and Maran eggs look small in comparison.

Cool! (and glad it didn't freeze!) I can't wait to see if you got a double yolker.

A few years ago, DD begged to add an egg like that to our incubator. She was hoping for twins, and I was hoping for a nice breakfast. The egg had been stored in the fridge for 3 days, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't hatch. 21 days later, we got a chick! Because I was upset about missing my breakfast, I nicknamed her Omelet. She was very odd-looking but remained DD's fav. Then when she started laying, the eggs were odd-looking too! (olive) The roo hatched from a pinkish egg & the mom hatched from a brown egg. Both parents were mixes with beautiful golden feathers, so Omelet's dark appearance & dark green egg color really surprised us. Due to an increase of Orps, we needed to rehome sweet Omelet. She went to live with BYC member Lizzychick. I hope her new family is enjoying her as much as we did.

 

[Pixie]

Glad to hear Jasmine is doing better. I never tried "Poultry Performance" but I have noticed that my feed matters. My flock does best on Nutrena NatureWise Layer Feed. It's not organic but it contains probiotics, marigold for dark yolks, & helps make nice, thick shells. When I use Country Feeds (also from Nutrena) their eggs lose the nice thick shells & their poop may get runny. They free range & have oyster shell always available, so I'm pretty sure its the feed. We have limited choices on feed brands, so I don't know about other brands like Purena.

I agree with the "feed matters". I tried Prince and my hens LOVE it compared to the Country Feeds (Nutrena). I have not tried Purina yet as it is more $$ than Country or Prince.

 

[Molpet]

Glad to hear Jasmine is doing better. I never tried "Poultry Performance" but I have noticed that my feed matters. My flock does best on Nutrena NatureWise Layer Feed. It's not organic but it contains probiotics, marigold for dark yolks, & helps make nice, thick shells. When I use Country Feeds (also from Nutrena) their eggs lose the nice thick shells & their poop may get runny. They free range & have oyster shell always available, so I'm pretty sure its the feed. We have limited choices on feed brands, so I don't know about other brands like Purena.

I tried Nutrena NatureSMART organic Layer Feed (16%)... I went from 2-3 a day from 6 hens to 3 that week from one rir, the rest went on strike

I switched back to natures grown organic (18%) Saturday and eggs are picking up... 2 a day

 

[mothergoose]

Sorry it took so long for me to get back with a few photos of our BLR Wyandottes. You have to excuse my photography skills they are lacking and my subjects did not want to cooperate. The first photo is of some of the hens, don't mind the turken and cuckoo maran hens...they would'nt get out of the shot. There is one of the roosters in the 2nd photo. They are all regrowing feathers after their molt, so everybody is looking kinda fuzzy.

Christie

 

[Faraday40]

Sorry it took so long for me to get back with a few photos of our BLR Wyandottes. You have to excuse my photography skills they are lacking and my subjects did not want to cooperate. The first photo is of some of the hens, don't mind the turken and cuckoo maran hens...they would'nt get out of the shot. There is one of the roosters in the 2nd photo. They are all regrowing feathers after their molt, so everybody is looking kinda fuzzy.

Christie

Pretty flock!

 

[Faraday40]

1st Sebright Egg!!!

We're all very proud of our little "Trouble". Not only did she lay her 1st egg, but she's doing great in her training.
When DD or I hold out an arm & say "UP" she hops on eagerly. Today I've been calling her from farther away & she will fly about 2-3ft to land on my arm. (You have to remember that this is a crazy, independent, young pullet, so just having her come when called is a big achievement.) My end goal is to have her fly several feet feet & land on my arm when called........ Beats chicken chasing!


BTW- Trouble looks much larger in the pic due to the camera angle. DD is holding her forward, so Trouble & the egg look bigger in proportion.

 

[cavemanrich]

1st Sebright Egg!!!

Who gets the honor to eat the first one.???

 

[Faraday40]

Who gets the honor to eat the first one.???

That is a problem, isn't it? Not like we can share an egg that tiny. LOL

 

[Junibutt]

Question about de-worming:

I have never de-wormed my chicken thinking that they don't free-range and are always in their coop/run. Even when they are out, they roam around on cement. Is there a reason for me to de-worm annually like most people do? If yes, whats a safe de-wormer with a short withdrawal period?