INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[minmin1258]

Those calves have bn through H, poor babies! Wish you well with them (keeping em in prayers).

I am having an issue with my favorite hen. She is molting (I believe) but looks like she's wasting away to nothing, seems very weak. She is eating ok and wondered around some today when the run was opened for foraging but seemed to take lots of rest breaks. I've had her and her sister for 5 months and they have always bn the most lovable friendly girls. She seems to be somewhat nippy with the other girls and her sister (who is usually glued at the hip) won't go near her. Poor thing is nearly bald and is supposed t b 9* here tonight!

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I'm a firm believer in "you never know what the day is going to bring." I have had so many days turn out totally differently than I thought they were going to. Today was one of them. I was 5 minutes away from leaving to go to church early to practice music. I was supposed to lead singing and a friend & I were going to play "The Heavens are Telling" from Haydn's Creation (for those of you who know classical music

) as a piano/organ duet. We had been practicing it for weeks as part of a dedication for our new church organ and refurbished piano (the piano and old organ were damaged in a fire in the sanctuary in January). Right before leaving I heard the emergency buzzer we installed in my parents' apartment. Chloe & I ran over there & discovered my mom (with the dementia) had had a seizure while in the bathroom and had fallen between the stool and vanity. She was unresponsive so we called 911 and she ended up in the ER. Her CAT scan didn't show anything and she came out of it after awhile. I was able to go to church to play for our duet & then went and brought mom back home. We're not sure what this incident will do to speed up the progression of the dementia....

On a happier chicken note, I thought perhaps our girls were starting to let up laying a bit, going from 21 - 23 eggs/day to about 14-15 eggs for about 3 days in a row. However....my son happened to find a new hiding place that was created after bringing our hay bales into the barn last Sunday. There were 27 eggs in this new stash. Guess they didn't stop laying after all! I'm starting to wonder why we even have next boxes for the girls -- they hardly use them anymore. We have eggs in the straw in the loft, in different corners of the duck coop, in the duck's nest boxes, in the rabbit nest boxes stored in the loft, in the haybin, and now in this new spot -- oh, and sometimes just laying on the floor of the coop. It's like hunting for easter eggs every day!

 

[minmin1258]

Should I separate her from the others? Or is this behavior normal for a molting hen? BTW I believe she is an Americauna not 100% sure. She has muffs and a beard normally and has beautiful thick striped feathering of dark gray and black tones. Layed blue/green eggs when she was laying before molt (her sister has never layed! What's that all about? Lol

 

[hanakimi]

I have a buff orpington hen that was fine yesterday but this afternoon she laid down and refused to get up. I have isolated her with personal food, water and grit. She is not interested in food or drink. We checked her feet, eyes and nose and everything appears to be normal. There is no egg trapped at the vent that we could feel. Yesterday she did lay an egg so I don't think she is egg bound. We did a 15 minute Epsom salt bath just in case. She doesn't appear to have any paralysis because when the issue is forced she will walk a few steps. She also has no mites or lice of any kind. I would post a picture but it simply looks like she is asleep. If anyone has any ideas on what this might be I would greatly appreciate it. Does anyone know the real scoop on necropsy? Is it free or how much does it generally cost? I didn't see any details on Purdue's website. Is there any avian, exotic, or farm vet in the Indy area that wouldn't require the drive to Lafayette?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

• PeacefulWalls
  
  I'm sorry to hear that about your mother. Glad you had the buzzer in place. We made it to morning services. Then I help with the children before the evening service so we barely made it back to that before my youngest broke out with a fever. A fever means no nursery which means we leave. I have not discovered a great method of keeping any of my children quiet for long but my youngest, he needs a nursery not a sanctuary. Plus there were many others there that did not need to be around a child with a fever, the elderly and the other new babies imo could have weaker immune systems.
  

 

[kabhyper1]

Here are the 5 and 7 week updated pics of the silkies. They are still to young to sex, but I have homes for 6 of them already.

 

[lilmizscareall]

I have a buff orpington hen that was fine yesterday but this afternoon she laid down and refused to get up.  I have isolated her with personal food, water and grit.  She is not interested in food or drink. We checked her feet, eyes and nose and everything appears to be normal.  There is no egg trapped at the vent that we could feel.  Yesterday she did lay an egg so I don't think she is egg bound.  We did a 15 minute Epsom salt bath just in case.  She doesn't appear to have any paralysis because when the issue is forced she will walk a few steps.  She also has no mites or lice of any kind. I would post a picture but it simply looks like she is asleep.  If anyone has any ideas on what this might be I would greatly appreciate it. Does anyone know the real scoop on necropsy? Is it free or how much does it generally cost? I didn't see any details on Purdue's website.   Is there any avian, exotic, or farm vet in the Indy area that wouldn't require the drive to Lafayette?

Could she be broody?

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

No posts in 9 hours! Where is everybody? Good morning

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Kab- cute pics! that is great that you were already able to find homes for 6 of them.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I'm way behind...and not sure I'm getting this in context!

I purchased one of the heat emitters thinking I'd try it for the brooder. Decided against it for 2 reasons.

One was that they get incredibly hot and since there is no light involved, I thought one of the kiddos might get burned - like to death because they are so hot. So...I like those cages. Do you have a link as to where to get them?


But the main reason I didn't use it is, although it gets blazing hot, it only heats a very small area and it had to be so close to the area it was heating that it was just about useless and seemed like a fire hazard because of closeness of proximity. Now, mind you, I got a 250 watt one so it should have been plenty hot. And it was if you were within a very few inches away from it.

So...for brooding, I felt that it was not a good option. If I ever brood w/out a broody again I'm going to use an ecoglow. Lower wattage and no light so they get the natural day/night cycle.

If you're talking about heating a coop I guess that's a different subject.