INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Morning all Cockadoodledooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I've been meaning to ask you, how are the steaks in Solsberry? :-D

 

[pginsber]

Update on my Golden Comet pullet with an impacted crop -

I had her isolated and withheld everything but water for 24 hours, then I fed her raw egg mixed with coconut oil for four days. After the first day and a half, her crop had gone down to golf-ball size and was very hard, and it hasn't changed since.

Yesterday, with no signs of improvement, I started thinking that I'm going to have to cull her... except that she's still acting alert, active, and healthy. She's lost some weight for sure, but otherwise seems fine. So I turned her out into the flock to see what would happen.

Last night her crop was pretty full and squishy again, but no more than a well-fed chicken. I checked her early this morning, and it's back down to the hard golf-ball. So. Either the food she's eating is getting around whatever is in there, or she's throwing it up in the night. I can't observe her closely enough to know which is happening. So, from here I'm just going to keep an eye on her. If she starts to act sickly or her crops sours again, or if she continues to lose weight, I'll isolate her for 5 days of water only, no litter or anything, as suggested by armorfirelady, and see what happens.

I really don't want to lose this one. She's one of the friendlier birds in my flock. But if she's starving to death, I won't just let it go on, either.

Have you considered crop surgery? If you solder components onto a circuit board, surely your hands are steady enough to make a 2" cut and pull out whatever's in there. If you're going to lose her anyway, this could be an option to do before she's too weak to heal.

I've researched only--not done this--but I've been amazed at the things that the birds eat. Dried caulk, roofing nails, stringy vines, mice skeletons, fishing hook....

You probably already have all the things you need in your chicken medicine kit. Alcohol, sterile scalpel, needle, dissolvable suture, skin glue, tweezers, antibiotic ointment.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Have you considered crop surgery? If you solder components onto a circuit board, surely your hands are steady enough to make a 2" cut and pull out whatever's in there. If you're going to lose her anyway, this could be an option to do before she's too weak to heal.

I've researched only--not done this--but I've been amazed at the things that the birds eat. Dried caulk, roofing nails, stringy vines, mice skeletons, fishing hook....

You probably already have all the things you need in your chicken medicine kit. Alcohol, sterile scalpel, needle, dissolvable suture, skin glue, tweezers, antibiotic ointment.

Hmm. I suppose that's something to consider. I don't have a chicken medicine kit yet. But I have a lot of medical people in my family, and I'm sure I can get all those things, and probably assistance on the procedure. How do you get the chicken to sit still for this? I guess I can look that up when I research the process.

 

[leslea]

But, there's no point in stressing because that's not going to change what they are in the end.

That's exactly what I'm telling myself.

It will be tough to choose which one to keep if the two I suspect in addition to Otis turn out to be boys. Which would be better? A silkie rooster or a Barred Rock? I love BRs and she/he has the best personality of the bunch, but the Silkies are so sweet and docile. I don't dislike the EE Otis as much as DH does, but I foresee he will be kind of aggressive. He just not as chillaxed as the other birds. Never was.

I told hubs that if I end up short hens, I will seek out a frizzle cochin pullet from someone to adopt & who knows what else (whatever I want, I guess!). The chicks were super fun (with the exception of our casualty), but since we now for sure have a rooster, the kids and I will be raising our own barnyard mixes in the future, I'm sure.

Another lesson in chicken math! It's as tough as calculus.

 

[leslea]

Here's Georgie, by the way. I'm seeing red in 'her' hackles and she's only 3 weeks old, which is my main basis for being suspicious of her.



And Mabel.




And I can't share pictures of the babies without Elda sneaking in.

She's 100% girl by her color at this point, so I don't mind showing her off a bit. Cuddles!

PS I'm staring at these pics and feel that same thing. Are they or aren't they?

We don't have any cuddly chicks, darn it!

 

[ChickCrazed]

Vanilla helps keep bugs off. It does not last nearly as long as the chemicals but it smells nice and costs about the same if you buy the pure / real stuff at sams.

Good news / Bad news. Bad news first. My third hen that went broody, with precise killing intent, pecked her new baby chick to death. The one that she did not like was black while the others were light colored. She has 2 other chicks from the eggs I gave her. But she really prefers the chicks from the first broody to hatch. The good news, my Rosie, the BLRW hen, hatched out all 7 eggs and I gave her some of the chicks from the killer broody and from my incubator so now she has way too many chicks. She is the happiest chicken on the place, even though we moved her nest once she was done hatching her 7. She had set up camp in the duck house and there was no easy way to get to her without her waking up. So we waited and waited. Now she is in the broody pen. It looks like she may become the leader of the bunch.

Thank you for the tip about vanilla! I'll have to invest in some. Worth a try! Sorry about killer broody! Wonder why that happens!?!?!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Speaking of chicken math - What would you consider to be the minimum number of chicks to raise together and add to an established flock? I'm just thinking ahead to the inevitable.

My half-baked notion is to brood the chicks in a cage inside the coop, so the flock gets to know them as they grow, then let them loose at some point. Is there a reason that's totally insane and won't work?

I've also considered waiting until my current birds stop laying effectively, harvesting the whole flock, and starting over with a new batch.

I have years probably before any of this needs to happen.

 

[chickiebaby1]

Can anyone tell me what the best way to keep temps stable in a syrofoam incubator is. I have 2 different models and it seems the temps change all the time. I have them in a closet where the temp stays warm and doesn't fluctuate much. Help, I think I killed some of my eggs because the temps keep changing.

 

[CRSelvey]

Hey all, are the super tiny reddish tan bugs a chicken can get in their feathers mites or lice? I just found some on my sick chicken, so I'm hoping that is her issue this time. If so, I'm putting Frontline on the flock...unless that is totally crazy.