INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

Hi folks...I'm sorry to just pop in asking for help, but like many of you, I have been so busy with garden and canning and everything else...anyways. ..I think I have a hen that is egg bound...she seems to have all the symptoms but I did not feel the egg when I examined her. I may not have gone in far enough but I know I went in AT LEAST an inch per some articles I read here on BYC....I have been giving her tums and vitamin E and calcium for 2 days, (first noticed her not feeling well Saturday morning, today is Monday). She will eat and drink some and I bring her in often to give her water and mealies and whatnot, but she seems most comfortable with the other girls. So I keep taking her back out. I assume she has had an issue all week as we haven't been getting our full number of eggs for a full week. But we aren't down just one egg so I didn't think much of it. The mister won't allow me to take her to the vet, (I may anyways while he at work) but is there anything else I can be doing for her? One minute she is walking around with everyone acting ok, except her tail is down and another minute she is laying down and looks awful. She has been a true gem throughout the exams and me constantly checking on her and taking her to and fro...

Could be internal laying which is almost always fatal, unfortunately.

On the bright side - I have had one hen that showed the symptoms you are describing and she perked up in 2 days. I got her some liquid calcium but don't really think I got much down her. Immediately gave her some raw (grass fed from the farm...don't feed raw if from the grocery) ground meat. She gobbled it down which is always a good sign.

I didn't do ANY exams internally. I did look at her externally and didn't see any hardness in the abdomen.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hello after an almost year long hiatous!

Hey @oldrooster !

What ya been doing all year?

 

[redring]

Hay everyone!!! I am starting my first chickens and coop this year. Building our coop currently. All my chickens have had a summer condo in a run Aka a very large dog house. There happy. But we have had some problems. I started off with only 6 chicks. Worried and nervous that will all I have on my plate I may find chicken raising too much. My hesitation has resulted in some issues. We took a class at big R where they did tell us you may in up with a Roo. But they made it seem like it rarely happened. Still I was actually excited when one seemed to be a boy. Here we were my happy little clutch and I when a few weeks ago a easter egger I was sadly and obviously thinking was a girl decided to clear the issue up. Walked up to me, looked up and crowed. ....... I should have noticed this earlier. He is very fancy. Most animals the boys are fancy. I have a lady who is supposed to pick up my other rooster tonight. But now im down to 4 hens...... I hope. And they never tought in the class or have I come across that you need at least 8 hens per rooster. where can I get hens this late in the year? Can I still get marans, blue and olive eggers?

 

[redring]

Oh, yeah, my girls go nuts for those paper-thin-shelled eggs, the naughty old buzzards!

Oyster shell sounds like a good idea. I would put a separate feeder for it in your coop rather than mixing it with the grit, though, so your girls don't have to dig through the grit to find it if they want it.

You know mine keep dumping the bowls together. Flipping the oyster bowl into the grit bowl. No idea if I should bother to keep separating it. Strange little buggers.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@redring

Well..... it will be a "chore" to integrate new birds into your little flock at this point. They have their pecking order all set and adding new birds has to be done with plenty of room for each group and a place that they can see each other but can't intermingle until they are more used to seeing each other...perhaps a few weeks.

So you need to realize that before taking on more birds with limited space already.

If you have the time and energy (and it will be somewhat taxing on your "peace" ) I'm sure you could find some "started pullets" that would be what you want.

And...glad you stopped in to the thread!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Update on MY COCKEREL STORY.....

A recap...

The flock has 5 adult hens.

I had 2 groups of chicks this year. (Note to self...never again unless they are all the same age and brood together.)


Each group had 6 birds, ration 3:3 female/male. I "was" planning on keeping a cockerel from each group. Oldest group SFH; Younger group, Buckeyes. Both quality breeder stock.

Approximately 5-6 weeks apart in age.


I was able to re-home one of the guys in the shf group to an all-adult flock of hens for a flock roo. So far his new home is reporting that he's doing very well for them. Another good story of a cockerel coming in to adult hens!


The boy I had intended to keep became very aggressive and bad mannered. He couldn't be trusted around the younger chicks. He even attacked one of them full on, legs forward like an eagle. Not good. So I gave the second sfh boy a chance and it was not good but in a different way. Neither of these guys had the demeanor of the previous sfh roo I had. But they had competition of the brothers and my other sfh was an "only cockerel" with no adult roo in the flock. I think I probably could train one of them but don't want to do that with the little Buckeyes coming up behind. I've kept each of the sfh boys penned separately since. They leave tomorrow morning. If I want an sfh I can get one in the spring.

****

So after tomorrow, I'll still have 3 Buckeye cockerels that are 14 weeks old.

I've been trying to decide whether to remove 2 of them to a pen a bit away and just grow them for meat or if anyone wants a flock roo, thus giving ONE of the boys the opportunity to interact with the flock as the only roo. I'm leaning toward doing that, and I have a pen I can use if he needs a little away time that is right in the flock.

If anyone has advice on this I'd love to hear experiences and thoughts.

Having trouble trying to decide which I should keep in the flock, however. They're so young that they are still "chicks" in their behavior so there's no telling how they will be when the hormones kick in. They are very sweet personalities at this point.

 

[HelloChickies]

Hay everyone!!! I am starting my first chickens and coop this year. Building our coop currently. All my chickens have had a summer condo in a run Aka a very large dog house. There happy. But we have had some problems. I started off with only 6 chicks. Worried and nervous that will all I have on my plate I may find chicken raising too much. My hesitation has resulted in some issues. We took a class at big R where they did tell us you may in up with a Roo. But they made it seem like it rarely happened. Still I was actually excited when one seemed to be a boy. Here we were my happy little clutch and I when a few weeks ago a easter egger I was sadly and obviously thinking was a girl decided to clear the issue up. Walked up to me, looked up and crowed. ....... I should have noticed this earlier. He is very fancy. Most animals the boys are fancy. I have a lady who is supposed to pick up my other rooster tonight. But now im down to 4 hens...... I hope. And they never tought in the class or have I come across that you need at least 8 hens per rooster. where can I get hens this late in the year? Can I still get marans, blue and olive eggers?

Hey redring- So you were told you HAD to have 8 hens for your 1 rooster? I'm guessing what they meant was, if you have more than one rooster, they each need their own harem... (?) If you have just one rooster, he'll be fine with only 4 hens. (Am I right about this, everyone?) I have one roo with 5 hens, and everyone's happy and content. So in other words.... I don't think you have to add hens at this point to get 'up to' 8.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello after an almost year long hiatous!

Great to see you post!

Hi folks...I'm sorry to just pop in asking for help, but like many of you, I have been so busy with garden and canning and everything else...anyways. ..I think I have a hen that is egg bound...she seems to have all the symptoms but I did not feel the egg when I examined her. I may not have gone in far enough but I know I went in AT LEAST an inch per some articles I read here on BYC....I have been giving her tums and vitamin E and calcium for 2 days, (first noticed her not feeling well Saturday morning, today is Monday). She will eat and drink some and I bring her in often to give her water and mealies and whatnot, but she seems most comfortable with the other girls. So I keep taking her back out. I assume she has had an issue all week as we haven't been getting our full number of eggs for a full week. But we aren't down just one egg so I didn't think much of it. The mister won't allow me to take her to the vet, (I may anyways while he at work) but is there anything else I can be doing for her? One minute she is walking around with everyone acting ok, except her tail is down and another minute she is laying down and looks awful. She has been a true gem throughout the exams and me constantly checking on her and taking her to and fro...

Only thing i can think of trying is warm soaks in a tote. It did help one of my comets, but she later prolapsed, ugh. I hope its not being bound fingers crossed for her.

Quote: I will check with him, wonder if he added some from another breeder. Never seen color like that before!

@jchny2000

My father in law is loaning me a pellet rifle ( since .30-06 is frowned upon in city limits

) and some box traps.
He didn't revisit the coop last night, but I also found the switch to the flood lights outside (we just moved in a week ago) and flipped them on and off every time I went down the hall. I'm a night owl so I was up until about 4am. That might have kept him at bay too. If I get him, I'll tan the hide, and my buddy will use the carcass as dog treats. Hate to kill something that won't go on the table, but if it's him or my birds/rabbits.... My animals will win.

Totally agree!

Quote: Pull your dominant hen from the flock, complete time out for 2 weeks. Solitary away from the flock will change the pecking order. Once your other hen heals, let her out and see how she does. Do continue exposing her to the flock, so she doesn't become new again however.

 

[redring]

@redring

Well..... it will be a "chore" to integrate new birds into your little flock at this point. They have their pecking order all set and adding new birds has to be done with plenty of room for each group and a place that they can see each other but can't intermingle until they are more used to seeing each other...perhaps a few weeks.

So you need to realize that before taking on more birds with limited space already.

If you have the time and energy (and it will be somewhat taxing on your "peace" ) I'm sure you could find some "started pullets" that would be what you want.

And...glad you stopped in to the thread!

Thank you! Yes I understand it wont be easy but I already planned on integrating 6 more next year. This just makes this happen faster. I was happy to get a rooster because we were told this would help integration. I wont get more hens until we finish the new coop and move the run to it. Then there will be plenty of space. Til then ill just study up on integration tips. The lady who picked up the rooster said I should visit rural king and that they have chickens all year. Doesn't sound right but ill look.

Hey redring- So you were told you HAD to have 8 hens for your 1 rooster? I'm guessing what they meant was, if you have more than one rooster, they each need their own harem... (?) If you have just one rooster, he'll be fine with only 4 hens. (Am I right about this, everyone?) I have one roo with 5 hens, and everyone's happy and content. So in other words.... I don't think you have to add hens at this point to get 'up to' 8.

I guess different people different experiences? They said I had to have 8 or get rid of both roosters. Not just one. But you are the second person today to say that's not right. I would like a few more hens. 4 are not giving me many eggs for 6 person household. I am going to have to deal with integration sooner or later. but I guess I dont have to worry over having 8. thanks all!


Dose anyone know of a ok and not ok to feed to the chickens list? Everyone here keeps saying feed them anything but I don't trust that idea. Other than feed they have been getting garden tomatoes, watermelon rinds. herb cuttings. I tried to add protein with the cat food suggestion and when they were not impressed with that gave them some salmon which was a win.

 

[redring]

I understand. I just gave up my best rooster. Made me nervous but everyone swears the underdog in my coop will step up to the job. But I still wonder if he will be as good. I hope it works out for you. I bet separating them will help. Vying for rank tends to make animals aggressive.