INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

I'm so sorry, @Mother2Hens! She was such a wonderful bird, and you've been through so much lately.

 

[good2016]

Need some advice please. We have our first sick chicken and we are unsure how to help it. We have a 4 month old silkie that my daughter hatched at school. We have had it inside our house since we brought it home. Planning on putting it out with our other chickens when it warms up. Has been healthy until earlier this week. She was fine one night, then the next day she couldn't walk straight or hold her head upright. She flopped around, twisting her head almost 180 degrees. I gave her water with a dropper and made scrambled eggs. She drank and ate well. The next day seemed fine and was fine the rest of the week. Then last night her symptoms started again mildly. Today she is as bad as the first day. We noticed her scratching at her right ear this morning. I looked and both ear canals looked clean, no odor or drainage. But her right "ear lobe?" looked swollen. I'm sorry I don't know what is called. It's the blue skin below her ear canal. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. She is the sweetest chicken and I hate feeling helpless to help her. Thank you.

 

[JanetMarie]

Need some advice please. We have our first sick chicken and we are unsure how to help it. We have a 4 month old silkie that my daughter hatched at school. We have had it inside our house since we brought it home. Planning on putting it out with our other chickens when it warms up. Has been healthy until earlier this week. She was fine one night, then the next day she couldn't walk straight or hold her head upright. She flopped around, twisting her head almost 180 degrees. I gave her water with a dropper and made scrambled eggs. She drank and ate well. The next day seemed fine and was fine the rest of the week. Then last night her symptoms started again mildly. Today she is as bad as the first day. We noticed her scratching at her right ear this morning. I looked and both ear canals looked clean, no odor or drainage. But her right "ear lobe?" looked swollen. I'm sorry I don't know what is called. It's the blue skin below her ear canal. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. She is the sweetest chicken and I hate feeling helpless to help her. Thank you.

Even though you couldn't see anything inside the ear she may have an ear infection that's further inside since the earlobe is swollen. I would take her to a veterinarian.

 

[good2016]

Since it is the weekend, is there anything I could give her that I can pick up at TSC or Rural king?

 

[twoacrefarm]

Is saw dust safe to use as a bedding for chicks?

 

[Faraday40]

Is saw dust safe to use as a bedding for chicks?

I would be nervous about them trying to eat it. Baby chicks are not very smart & try to eat everything.

For the 1st few days, I like to use textured paper towels - like Bounty, but cheaper. LOL That way I can make sure their toes & poops look normal and they they won't slip. Some people just use old towels & wash them.

After a few days I move to the large hardwood flakes. Farm stores sell a huge kiln dried package for about $5.

 

[twoacrefarm]

Ok! They were on straw but it seemed like they were pulling it around with them too much, and trying to eat it.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I prefer pekin and muscovy honestly they seem to thrive here. I have one tiny snow mallard hen that is the meanest little thing LOL she even takes on geese. She hangs out with the pekin, and geese. The rest of her flock were taken by predators. She's been a real favorite for me.
Roosters that are leaving.. those that were aggressive. He is gone, a NN fella that attacked anyone he met and anything that moved! All my other boys are ok. If you need a roo, I have a couple EE muffed and bearded, good boys. I use my AM roo for the EE flock.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Babies have been doing wellately in the coop. The older turkeys are really curious about them, but mostly, I think they want out into the yard (read:my neighbor's yard). I put them into a brooder tote at night and release them into that smaller area of the coop once it's warmer. Been well and still cuddly. Wishing I felt well enough to go out there for longer periods but everyone's sick here and my symptoms were worse yesterday.

(((Hugs))) I hope you feel better soon.

Quote: @pipdzipdnreadytogo

Call tree services in your area. Some of them are happy to have a place to drop off a pile of their chips so that they don't have to take them somewhere farther away if they are working in your area. THESE SHOULD BE FREE. Call around until you find someone that will do it for free.

The only issue I have with that is that I want to know it is coming from a yard (not from along a road that may have been sprayed with poison). Some of the guys will look out for the best for you if you let them know you're using them for animals.

I usually let my pile sit for a couple months to be sure they're "cured" but I don't know that it is necessary. I like to see worms in the pile before I put them in the animal area. But that likely won't happen if you try to do it in winter, of course.

I would say it's pretty important to let the wood chips cure at least somewhat before using them around the animals. Maybe in an open air setting with larger animals it might not be too crucial, but here is a thread started by a friend here on BYC who had tragic consequences from using too many fresh chips in his covered run:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1129854/dying-chickens

He would want his story to help others avoid the same problems.
I am so sorry! Japanese Yew is very poisonous. Cedar chips is also deadly.. so many common plants can be. ask google! https://www.google.com/
Just type in your question. That's the downfall of free wood chips/mulch.

Here's the latest update of my little city coop. I felt like a farmer today, scooping wet mucky straw, shavings and poops. lol
We are dealing with all this wet too. I made use of the water to clean the floor of the coop area!

LOL loved it!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm sooo excited I set up my incubator and am weighting down the entire experience with it considering it's my first time and I want to see if it stays were it needs to be iv red bad reviews on them so I'm making sure it works. The only von so far is that it is 1° off but that's an easy fix now I'm working wight the humidity and I even have 2 extra termimomitors in it to check the temp next is more eggs and a hydrometer so I know the exact %. Plan to put some EE eggs and Maby a few black seklink eggs if my girl lays any on Monday just as test eggs before I start getting my savrt eggs so I will prolly just put the chicks on cregslist as 2.00 each because I don't really need them.

Exciting, good luck on your hatch!

RIP Frieda
I am sad to say that early Wednesday morning, I found that Frieda, my beautiful six month old Bielefelder pullet from @kittydoc had died in her sleep. She had eaten foam insulation, was treated by my veterinarian with activated charcoal in her crop, gradually improved and seemed like she was almost back to normal. As I've done in the past, I laid Frieda outside the coop area so that all the chickens could see her and understand on some level instead of just having her disappear. My Silkie, Smalty, has always been the one to be overtly upset/verbal about a death. Later when the chickens weren't around, I buried Frieda in the far backyard in one of her favorite areas. She was very sweet—DH and I formed a close bond with Frieda during her recovery. This is the heart-wrenching part of chicken raising.
Originally Posted by Mommahiggy

We have been getting two eggs a day from our relative newbie layers (2 eggs from 3 chickens)... laying just started about the time it got cold, so...

Other than the MUDDY yard, they have it pretty good, with their treadle feeder supply, and the feeder being moved once a week, so they can get at the feed that fell through. We give them a treat pretty much daily of scrap, meal worms, or one of these delicious birdseed cupcakes I made from a bag found in the garden shed. (coconut oil, birdseed, and meal worms)


Good to see you post again @Mommahiggy —Iike your special cupcake treats for your chickens!
I enjoyed your dog training story! A hard peck on their noses was all it took for my cats to learn not to mess with the chickens. They go out of their way to avoid the chickens because they also don't like to be chased by mad hens! Haha

Long time listener,first time caller! lol Bloomfield Indiana here. Complete newbies ready to dive in.. sucking up all the info possible over the past couple weeks. Ready to pull the trigger!

I am so sorry to hear it M2H. You love them so much. We never know what they will get into!