INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CRSelvey]

Im

Well, I lost my first adult chicken last night. When I went out this morning, my Jersey Giant was laying under her perch on the ground. Not sure why. She was near the bottom of the pecking order, and never really reached a large size. She was about 9months and I believe never laid an egg. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the flock for anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't as attached as some on here, but it still sucks to lose one. I will replace her though, JGs have always fascinated me. I will try to find a true giant line this time.

I'm really sorry.

 

[Leahs Mom]

BackyardBitten ~ I don't know about that use for pumpkin, but most chickens love eating them-- except mine. They weren't interested at all.

The wind is ridiculous! Be careful.

It is the PUMPKIN SEEDS that are supposed to be a natural wormer (not the pumpkin itself). My birds were never very interested in either pumpkin or the seeds. But some people swear by the seeds for worming. RAW SEEDS not roasted

Well, I lost my first adult chicken last night. When I went out this morning, my Jersey Giant was laying under her perch on the ground. Not sure why. She was near the bottom of the pecking order, and never really reached a large size. She was about 9months and I believe never laid an egg. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the flock for anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't as attached as some on here, but it still sucks to lose one. I will replace her though, JGs have always fascinated me. I will try to find a true giant line this time.

This is about the age that people seem to report heart failure in their birds. Pretty common at that age it seems. From your description it sounds like she wasn't thriving and probably had internal issues from hatch. If you decide to do a necropsy you may be able to see it there were heart or other organ issues.


And it is frustrating. Very sorry to hear it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

O and I just saw on another thread, not to bring your chickens inside if they have frostbite. It actually will open them to infection. I didn't know that. Handy piece of info

Right now it seems to me that I agree with NOT bringing them in the house. I know I've said it before, but I believe that bringing them in and out of the warm and cold actually causes most of the extreme issues that people have with frostbite.

As a side note, when you bring a bird into the house, you need to be prepared for them to stay in the house until it's at least warm enough that it won't be a shock to put them back outside. Rangi and Olive went back outside in that weekend of 40's we had just after those two days of subzero temps and they are doing fine now. I currently have a little banty, Rose, inside because she's been sick and it looks like now that she's better, she won't be going back outside for a long time.

Oh, well. Rosie's living the high life right now, although I can tell she misses her flock

And this is the other thing that I agree with right now.... IF you bring a bird in, keep them in.

You can't keep going in and out to the temperature extremes. It's either in or out. I've read so many accounts of people bringing their birds in for a few hours then putting them back outside - sometime in more than a 70 degrees temperature change!

It actually makes me somewhat angry because I know they think they're helping but their birds end up with some pretty extreme damage.

Now the disclaimer
Note that I said I agree "right now"...and "it seems right". I'm open to change and learn on this for sure, but on what I've read, seen, and just common sense seems to point that direction.


Frostbite Chronicles:
I'm doing the "frostbite chronicles" this year. I had a rooster get some bad frostbite on his wattles from eating wet feed from a feed-setup that I changed. Originally I had it set up so that there was minimal chance of getting wattles into the wet but I made a change to the setup. In the less than 8 hours of the different feed set-up he got his wattles into the wet.
The temps were about -7F with very low windchill but I had kept them from going outside so no wind. I immediately put the feed set-up back like it was but he had already gotten it.



So...I'm taking photos and tracking how he does. I'm watching for any signs of infection, wetness/rotting, etc. If I see anything that looks like deterioration, inability to eat or drink, etc., I will change my MO. In the meantime:

-I have not treated or even touched it. I do not want to cause more trauma to the tissue by handling it.
-I have not brought him in to warmer temperatures that the outside hen house. It is not heated.
-I have kept the hen shed doors closed if there is an extreme wind chill to be sure none of the "lowers" get chased outside and stuck in those extremes.

These 2 photos were the day he got it. -7F outside; -30's windchill. He had gotten them into the wet feed.





This is during the 40F weather a couple weeks later.





Now it's cold again for these past couple of weeks. He is still looking good. No deterioration. No wetness. Eating, drinking and behaving normally.

I continue to watch.

 

[hogster160]

can your mom drink ensure or boost? they have a special formula for people in her condition, not eating for one reason or another and it packs on weight, or at least helps keep them more stable weight wise...

She does drink ensure, but can only drink about 1/4 at a time as it causes pain too. She also is on limit fluid intake due to congestive heart failure. She also adds protein powder to pudding, ice cream hoping to get just a little extra. I think her stomach shrunk, and she's scared to eat anything. Pain is a good motivator they say.

Wow thats awful for your mom! I hope they can determine whats going on.
I bet the cold is really uncomfortable for your DH too.
Theres several members that do awesome pictures on here!

Hopefully they can. I'm hoping when my sister gets back in town tonight, she will get her to the dr. Tomorrow and they take some kind of action.

The cold is nasty on his hand. If he can keep it warm mostly it's good, but once it's cold it's the last part of his body to warm up, and it does hurt.

@hogster160



Hoping the best for your mom! 

Thanks hugs!

 

[leslea]

Absolutely beautiful. I swear you are causing me to want a silky just for a pet. Tooooo cute!

 

[hogster160]

Wow, I'm so sorry that your mom is going through this.  I hope she starts feeling better and gets a good diagnosis soon!

Thank you, hopefully soon!

It started snowing a little bit ago. At least a 1/4 an inch in 30 mins. The roads aren't very good and people aren't learning to drive an better lol. My dad got in a wreck, well it guess it is yesterday now. A guy didnt stop,not because he slid, but because he wasn't paying attention. Bent the crap out of the passenger side, infront of the wheel, bent the rim, truck now needs to be realined. Then he borrowed his girlfriends van and someone backed into! Once again, not because it is slick but people dont know how to drive. The van was parked and no one was in it. Will get a new bumper. No one got hurt though, I bet they will say his 83 ford ranger is totaled, but I'm sure he will get it realined and drive it anyways. As far chickens, no one it froze yet. They are all fluffed up keeping warm, they have now also figured out another purpose of the buddy system. To stay warm!

So glad to hear no one was hurt. I live on a busy highway, and Friday night we had a car go off the road and into our yard, before they could get out of their car, it was hit by another. Before I knew it, I had 6 young people running up to my house. No one was hurt thank God. So out came all the blankets, hot drinks, police were called, parents called. 2 hours later all went home. The finally got the cars out today.

Well, I lost my first adult chicken last night. When I went out this morning, my Jersey Giant was laying under her perch on the ground. Not sure why. She was near the bottom of the pecking order, and never really reached a large size. She was about 9months and I believe never laid an egg. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the flock for anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't as attached as some on here, but it still sucks to lose one. I will replace her though, JGs have always fascinated me. I will try to find a true giant line this time.

I'm so sorry to hear that, it sucks.




And congrats to all the new egg layers. I'm getting 2-3 a day still. Molt is done for all but 2, and there 3 not at pol yet.

But, 3 of those chicks my broody hatched were boys, so there's 14 layers and 3-4 month olds pullets. The Roos are singing their songs now, and I've seen them trying to do the deed. So I think my flock is upset about the rowdy boys. Can I put the boys in the coop with my turkeys? The turkey run is right next to the chicken yard. Will they fight each other if none of them can get to the chickens? Or do I need to get them their own space until they mature to decide who's going to be good for the flock. I plan on keeping just on rooster.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

So glad to hear no one was hurt. I live on a busy highway, and Friday night we had a car go off the road and into our yard, before they could get out of their car, it was hit by another. Before I knew it, I had 6 young people running up to my house. No one was hurt thank God. So out came all the blankets, hot drinks, police were called, parents called. 2 hours later all went home. The finally got the cars out today.

Glad to hear everyone in your incident was safe too. I guess highways in fort wayne are really bad, lot of pille ups. I dont go their much, especially not in this.

 

[goatluver20]

Well, I lost my first adult chicken last night. When I went out this morning, my Jersey Giant was laying under her perch on the ground. Not sure why. She was near the bottom of the pecking order, and never really reached a large size. She was about 9months and I believe never laid an egg. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the flock for anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't as attached as some on here, but it still sucks to lose one. I will replace her though, JGs have always fascinated me. I will try to find a true giant line this time.

So sorry about that. I wonder what what happened to her because I have a Jersey giant probably close to a year old and she is big.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Well, I lost my first adult chicken last night. When I went out this morning, my Jersey Giant was laying under her perch on the ground. Not sure why. She was near the bottom of the pecking order, and never really reached a large size. She was about 9months and I believe never laid an egg. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the flock for anything out of the ordinary. I wasn't as attached as some on here, but it still sucks to lose one. I will replace her though, JGs have always fascinated me. I will try to find a true giant line this time.

Sorry about your JG. There are runts when it comes to chickens. They often don't make it, especially that long. I have had some runts, they usually make for a few months, smaller but still thriving. Then they eventually are over powered and dominated by the others and can no longer thrive, as it can't really put up a fight. It is sad, some breeders cull for runts.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I have a new runt now that I haven't been able to cull. I keep thinking I'll find it gone in the brooder box in the morning but it has made it a week so far. Its eyes don't look great and it is getting pasty rear. I know I should cull but ....