INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

[COLOR=333333]Because we don't know the future, I spent some quality time with my sweet Cuddles. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Forgive me for talking about her so often. She's simply very special to me & by writing updates, it helps me deal with my sick hen.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Cuddles walking around the basement & looking to go outside. I know she must miss her flock.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Looking good after spa day! (an epsom salt soak.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]She's not really eating but did peck at some soaked pellets & drank a little on her own. I'm giving some liquids via tube feeding. She's lost weight but responds to her name & hearing my voice. I honestly thought she'd be better or dead by now. Whatever is blocking her is allowing some poop to pass. As you can see in her pics, she still has her personality. Just more quiet & not into eating. Of course THAT is a big part of every Orp's loud, treat stealing attitude.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Below are some of the icky pics. [/COLOR]

Spoiler: Warning: Vent & poop pics

Here's what her vent looks like. Tight & dry Here are some poop pics from yesterday & today. It has varied but none look normal to me. Maybe 5-6 poops during the day & 3 at night. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

BTW- Thank you for teaching me the trick of how to cover up some of the pics in my posts.

Has anyone mentioned trying to treat her for blackhead? I bought what is known to treat it for my peafowl just in case. I understand chickens are normally just carriers but it might be worth looking into.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Thank you both!

@jchny2000, sorry to hear about your parents. It's really tough. I'm a nurse. I've worked nursing homes and home health for 12 years, and also cared for my mom in her home for a few months in 2011 until she died. It is so hard on families.

@Digz- WELCOME

@indyshent- he looked like he had a personality like no other! Glad you have a good one. I won't have a roo for a while, but when I do, I hope to have a good one too.

Thank you.

Woke up this morning, walked past the brood box that I have the six bittie babies in, had to back up and look again HHusband's black kitten was in the box batting at the chicks. Grrrr. She had wriggled under the top wire. Got her out, went about making breakfast, came back through and I'llbe darned iif the cat wasn'tback in there!. I keep threatening to make cChinese food

.

All of my pullets are now laying! All within a couple days of each other. Youngest dDD has been fighting every day to be the one to eat the pullet eggs lol. She knows what'sgood

.

My first aattempt at fodder failed. I wasn't watering it enough. Thankfully I only started a few seeds, so I didn't waste much.

I have 6 boy chicks to rehome and 2 rabbits for sale if anyone is interested. PM me. I'm so over using Craigslist. Had a lady email me last night not wanting to buy a rabbit, but wanting to "rescue" him. Got a long hateful email back from her when I told her he didn'tneed rescuing, iI was not driving him three hours away just to give him to her, and he would go to feed my family first :}. Then I get emails on chicks asking if it likes to wear clothes and do tricks. Grrrr.

Hope you all have a great day!

Ugh craigslist...Its my last result before I process birds. Some of my calls and texts are just ridiculous! One that really got me going was a guy telling me he can buy ducklings at rural king for $1 each. I finally told him you better go buy them. He bothered me for 2 days, so I called Rural king and asked about ducks. They had no more in and would not for the year. The regular price was 4.99 if I remember right. I was asking $2 a ducking. Other people calling wanting 1 chick or 1 duck. Not happening!

Quote: I hope she improves.

Just in case anyone is looking for local beef, this is the guy we use in my area. His next set of cows is going for processing soon.
https://www.facebook.com/poebeef/?fref=ts

Great post, thanks for sharing!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Will the heart work help with the dementia? Your parents were so sweet the times I've been able to talk to them. It's so sad watching this happen to them (and to you). Will be praying.

Thank you, and yes, the lack of oxygen is whats causing it. We saw this when he was rushed to the heart hospital for emergency valve replacement. Not enough oxygen to the brain makes him "act out" and its a danger sign with heart patients.

Quote: Thanks. My 2 little old dogs love eggs too! Momma DS is getting them all right now to help keep her protein up while nursing the piglets.

Quote:
Thats a nice mix!

Chick Radar Report

Columbia City, IN TSC Store

Good numbers of:

Mystery Duck - variety breeds straight run (all were yellow)
Mystery Bantam - variety breeds straight run (mostly chipmunk, a few dark)
Production Red - straight run
RIR - straight run
Amber Sex-link - pullets
ISA Browns - pullets

Thanks for the chick radar!

Hey all,
New to BYC and keeping chickens too. Getting ready to build a coop for a small egg laying flock. Finding lots of good stuff on the site, but hard to dial into specifics for our region. Will be nice to get info from experienced folks close to home.

Welcome to BYC and our thread!

LOL! Coop size is one of my big concerns along with overwintering the birds. Been reading up on some of that. The ventilation thread is next. I clearly have lots to learn!

Learning the difference between draft free and ventilation is really important for respiratory health, and preventing frostbite. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Because we don't know the future, I spent some quality time with my sweet Cuddles.
Forgive me for talking about her so often. She's simply very special to me & by writing updates, it helps me deal with my sick hen.

Cuddles walking around the basement & looking to go outside. I know she must miss her flock.






Looking good after spa day! (an epsom salt soak.)




She's not really eating but did peck at some soaked pellets & drank a little on her own. I'm giving some liquids via tube feeding. She's lost weight but responds to her name & hearing my voice. I honestly thought she'd be better or dead by now. Whatever is blocking her is allowing some poop to pass. As you can see in her pics, she still has her personality. Just more quiet & not into eating. Of course THAT is a big part of every Orp's loud, treat stealing attitude.

Below are some of the icky pics.
Here's what her vent looks like. Tight & dry


Here are some poop pics from yesterday & today. It has varied but none look normal to me. Maybe 5-6 poops during the day & 3 at night.

BTW- Thank you for teaching me the trick of how to cover up some of the pics in my posts.
She is just the prettiest little lady. I remember reading somewhere about the poop.. Going to go looking, and try to find that link.

 

[Soylent Chick]

Local RK has buff Brahma and cuckoo maran. I thought they might have been mislabelled but the chicks looked right. Brahmas look so adorable.

@Acornewell Those poor chicks! The sales associates don't always know what's going on but I hope you sent those pics to some level of management.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thank you. My dear Cuddles is staying the same. She has good color & bright expressive eyes. No respiratory issues. Her abdomen is very firm & she walks in slow motion. She's not really eating. (If I offer a mealworm, she'd gobble it down, but HB eggs & other soft foods, nope.) I've been tube feeding 2xs per day so she keeps some strength & stays hydrated. I feel if whatever the obstruction is would pass, then she'd be fine. OR The blockage will grow & she'll stop pooping. I'm sure she'd take a rapid decline if that happened. For now, she's mostly quiet but will react with soft clucking when she hears me say her name. It's been 6 days. I honestly expected improvement or decline by now. I hope your wrong, but because there's been no change, I've been thinking organ damage or cancer.

Since the few avian vets around here work with exotics, an appointment starts with $90 for me to walk into the office. I will look around the Purdue 's & U of I's websites. That's an idea I didn't explore yet. Thank you.

Two years ago, one of my favorite chickens, my Jersey Giant, had ovarian cancer and I had her put to sleep. She had become less active, started waddling, and laid some scrambled looking eggs— she always had egg laying issues. I remember recently discussing it with @pipdzipdnreadytogo who had a hen with similar symptoms—maybe she can share her experience.
I just noticed this interesting article from @kittydoc 's veterinary school: Flaxseed-fed chickens shed light on ovarian cancer | Preview: "Chickens fed a diet of flaxseed for a year experienced a decreased severity of ovarian cancer and higher survival rates. The finding is important because the chicken is the only animal where ovarian cancer develops on the ovary surface, as it does in humans. Flaxseed, the richest plant source of alpha-linolenic acid, has also been shown to inhibit the formation of colon, breast, skin, and lung tumors."
I just found my post about my infamous Flock Leader, Nene:
Very sad day here! Our first ever chicken, Nene, had to be put to sleep at the veterinarian’s. She was diagnosed as having congestive heart failure. Signs weren’t obvious until two days ago when I observed Nene waddling, and that evening she wasn’t able to jump up to her high perch. Nene was eating/drinking, but was breathing heavily. We had noticed that her comb had gone limp and was becoming purplish at the ends (lack of oxygen). I felt her abdomen area, which was bulging, so I assumed she had ovarian cancer tumors like my Black Jersey Giant had last winter.
I'm afraid that my precious Bantam Chocolate English Orp, Bonbon (my avatar) has been having similar symptoms for several weeks. She is slower than usual, but not waddling. She slightly rocks back and forth on the perch at night. Bonbon became stressed when I gave her the wormer the other day and was panting and her comb/waddles turned purplish. However, she has been the same—hasn't worsened, and she still eats, drinks, flies up to her perch, and participates in flock activities.
Here's another link—you may have already read all of this. It's so difficult to know what's going on inside of a chicken.
6 Causes of Swollen Abdomen in Chickens - Hobby Farms
I am so sorry you and Cuddles have been having a rough time — I admire all of your efforts to help her.

Post-worming
I gathered the eggs to pitch and saw a Sharpie marker nearby...
(and Roadrunner laid a perfect blue-green egg, the first since last fall).
Oh well, things could be much worse!

 

[chick rookie]

Are they Lavenders? I've heard that some lines of Lavenders still have issues with green eggs popping up. If not, then yep, looks like you have some pretty olive eggers instead.
I don't know, I just sat it on a napkin on the counter last night after taking pictures and went back to bed. I'll have to open it to see for sure, but it doesn't look like there are two yolks (the membrane is somewhat see-through, but not quite enough so to be sure).

Nah, no such thing as dumb questions! I don't know about anyone else, but I don't eat the soft shelled eggs like that. Too much risk of contamination without the shell on it, in my opinion. I just held onto it because it's my li'l ducky's first try at it. I'm a proud ducky mama.

Edited to add, oh, and congrats on the future move!!

You took my advice, right?

nothing at ll wrong with being a proud duckie mama... lol
I didnt take your advice but believe me I though real hard about it!!! lol

Congrats on the move. (One of my own dreams is to get out of the suburbs.)

As far as the soft shell eggs, I fear there's not enough protection from bacteria. If warm/fresh, I'll pop them & feed to the dogs. (They eat far worse things from the backyard!) I just don't take the chance with my human family.

I throw them away or like you give them to the other critters... I have even cooked them and fed them to my dogs, but was always scared to eat them. I too thought it would be too risky.

I did a lot of research before I chose them. They are exactly what I hoped for. Excellent layers also.

and they make great broodies too... well most of them do.

I have blue and black hens, and a blue and splash roo. Lovely birds! I really like the breed. With very little effort the roosters are lap tame.

SOOOO excited for you! Hope you find a secluded place to yell, holler and enjoy some peace of mind too. Keep the animals you choose too, and privacy from difficult folks. I am very grateful for good neighbors sharing a common interest.
Good question! If there is no breaks in the "shell" may be ok but I worry so much about bacteria. Mine all go to my pigs if shells are poked, soft or cracked. specially with Momma DS right now, want to keep her proteins up! She is getting all but 2 dozen a week that are not meant for hatching. Have to keep some for us!

Thank, the only neighbor I will have at the new place is a school bus driver and I have been warned she is a bit grouchy. But NO WAY she can be anything like the 3 psycho's I live in between now. the next closest neighbor is a mile or better away. It is so quite out there.... I miss the quite. Have so much traffic noise here you cant here mother nature.

My next tray to hatch I just candled at day 14. Only 2 viable eggs out of 19, am pretty sad. Suspect the temp jumps some days as much as a 50 degree change! All duds went to Momma hog DS, made her night with a warm protein snack.
Dad went for a checkup due to recent mood swings and off behavior.. I insisted. Pacemaker is malfunctioning, causing less blood flow, oxygen and hence some Dementia! He is also dehydrating again, so med changes. I conned him into going because he keeps saying he has headaches.. honestly because he has been hateful. sure sign of heart issues. He has been a total pistol the past few weeks and now we know why. Mom goes tomorrow for her followup on her valve. Note to self, I need to do more of the scheduling, this should have been the same day. The trip to Indy is hard on both of them. Both were in bed by 8pm.
I am taking another hard look at more downsizing. I may be selling my remaining turkeys, some of the chicken breeds I keep. From what Dads Dr discussed today, he will not be driving much longer. Thats going to change things even more here. Will asses what I have and post more info this weekend.

o sorry about your eggs that aint good at all. And I hope your DD gets fixed up and is back to normal soon, it is hard caring for parents it is that much harder when they arent them selves.

Hello fellow Hoosiers I wanted to jump in and introduce myself and my families newest additions.
I just joined today and stumbled into here. Today we just picked up our four babies and I must add we are total newbies to this but have done tons of reading and video watching. We are a bit nervous but have found BYC a tremendous help.
Well not to keep you waiting but here are the little ones..

The chicks seem happy in the brooder I made in our unfinished bathrooms tub. I plugged all holes and placed a layer of carpet pad all the way around the inside and bottom then a few layers of thick plastic finished with cardboard sides and fresh pine shavings. Heat lamp and small roost for fun with fresh water and chick crumble.
This is the first night for them here and I'm sure I won't sleep much.

Welcome!! Cute chicks, we all love chick pic's here so post away.. lol You have a good mix.

Woke up this morning, walked past the brood box that I have the six bittie babies in, had to back up and look again HHusband's black kitten was in the box batting at the chicks. Grrrr. She had wriggled under the top wire. Got her out, went about making breakfast, came back through and I'llbe darned iif the cat wasn'tback in there!. I keep threatening to make cChinese food

.

All of my pullets are now laying! All within a couple days of each other. Youngest dDD has been fighting every day to be the one to eat the pullet eggs lol. She knows what'sgood

.

My first aattempt at fodder failed. I wasn't watering it enough. Thankfully I only started a few seeds, so I didn't waste much.

I have 6 boy chicks to rehome and 2 rabbits for sale if anyone is interested. PM me. I'm so over using Craigslist. Had a lady email me last night not wanting to buy a rabbit, but wanting to "rescue" him. Got a long hateful email back from her when I told her he didn'tneed rescuing, iI was not driving him three hours away just to give him to her, and he would go to feed my family first :}. Then I get emails on chicks asking if it likes to wear clothes and do tricks. Grrrr.

Hope you all have a great day!

Some people are just plain nuts!! lol

Hey all,
New to BYC and keeping chickens too. Getting ready to build a coop for a small egg laying flock. Finding lots of good stuff on the site, but hard to dial into specifics for our region. Will be nice to get info from experienced folks close to home.

Welcome!! We have plenty of experience wrapped up on the thread... ask away. I for 1 have never been treated like a dummy... lol Everyone is always eager to help with what they know.

Two years ago, one of my favorite chickens, my Jersey Giant, had ovarian cancer and I had her put to sleep. She had become less active, started waddling, and laid some scrambled looking eggs— she always had egg laying issues. I remember recently discussing it with @pipdzipdnreadytogo who had a hen with similar symptoms—maybe she can share her experience.
I just noticed this interesting article from @kittydoc 's veterinary school: Flaxseed-fed chickens shed light on ovarian cancer | Preview: "Chickens fed a diet of flaxseed for a year experienced a decreased severity of ovarian cancer and higher survival rates. The finding is important because the chicken is the only animal where ovarian cancer develops on the ovary surface, as it does in humans. Flaxseed, the richest plant source of alpha-linolenic acid, has also been shown to inhibit the formation of colon, breast, skin, and lung tumors."
I just found my post about my infamous Flock Leader, Nene:
Very sad day here! Our first ever chicken, Nene, had to be put to sleep at the veterinarian’s. She was diagnosed as having congestive heart failure. Signs weren’t obvious until two days ago when I observed Nene waddling, and that evening she wasn’t able to jump up to her high perch. Nene was eating/drinking, but was breathing heavily. We had noticed that her comb had gone limp and was becoming purplish at the ends (lack of oxygen). I felt her abdomen area, which was bulging, so I assumed she had ovarian cancer tumors like my Black Jersey Giant had last winter.
I'm afraid that my precious Bantam Chocolate English Orp, Bonbon (my avatar) has been having similar symptoms for several weeks. She is slower than usual, but not waddling. She slightly rocks back and forth on the perch at night. Bonbon became stressed when I gave her the wormer the other day and was panting and her comb/waddles turned purplish. However, she has been the same—hasn't worsened, and she still eats, drinks, flies up to her perch, and participates in flock activities.
Here's another link—you may have already read all of this. It's so difficult to know what's going on inside of a chicken.
6 Causes of Swollen Abdomen in Chickens - Hobby Farms
I am so sorry you and Cuddles have been having a rough time — I admire all of your efforts to help her.

Post-worming
I gathered the eggs to pitch and saw a Sharpie marker nearby...
(and Roadrunner laid a perfect blue-green egg, the first since last fall).
Oh well, things could be much worse!

M2H you are having the worse luck right now, I wish I could do something for ya.

I hate it when I have to throw away eggs, the 2 weeks go so slow, at least it does for me.. Lacy is a good listener and she tries to give good advice too... lol





Looking for some ideals from people with experience with chickens in wooded areas. The way the new property is laid out the woods ( about 5 steps from the side of the house ) will be the only place I can put my chicken pens, and the horses and goats still have grass. Eventually they will have the pastures the free rang in ( I hope ) depending on predators, but for the time being I need to make them as safe as I can next to the woods.
Ideals accompanied with pictures would be awesome.

 

[tmarsh83]

LOL! Coop size is one of my big concerns along with overwintering the birds. Been reading up on some of that. The ventilation thread is next. I clearly have lots to learn!

Wintering birds isn't bad as long as your coop is big enough and you have enough ventilation to prevent frostbite. Cold doesn't bother chickens like heat does. User Aart has a really good link about ventilation in his signature.

Do you have an idea how many birds you are looking to keep? (double it, at least, once you get them, LOL) Are you planning to free range at all?

 

[dennislambert79]

Well I'm shocked I placed ten duck eggs in my incubator and after a 7 day check. I got 8 still going good. One I know is done and one I'm pretty sure is done because I seen the black spot on it. The fact I have 8 still going is impressive because I've not had that much luck with this incubator. I'm 4 for 20 chicken eggs in it so far. 1/10 first batch and 3/10 the second. Good news my new incubator has shipped

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Just saw a coyote in the field behind us for the first time yesterday! The dogs were in the fenced pasture with the alpacas & I heard them barking up a storm. I could tell the bark was a bit different than usual. When I looked out to see what was up I saw a coyote standing in the field looking towards the dogs/barn a couple hundred yards away. Not sure if any of the chickens were in the pasture or if they were hanging out in the barn. It eventually went off across the field. Unfortunately when we built/moved here neighbors said they've heard and seen coyotes. Fortunately this was the first time in about 4 1/2 years we've seen one. Hope it was just passing through and not a full time resident!