Michigan

[wyliefarms]

Opa- Love the ideas for the games! All of my kids would enjoy an egg hunt, but if you want to keep it for the younger ones, maybe the older ones could team up with the youngest ones and help them with the egg hunt. The baby chicks for prizes is perfect!

 

[wyliefarms]

Doctored one of Rachel's laying hens tonight. She has had a swollen toe for about 2 weeks or so. There was a hard mass in it and if the area around it was poked puss would come out. so we were draining it daily, missed yesterday and the toe was the largest it has been. So I improvised and took my quilting roter cutter and sliced it open. Got a mass the size of a marble out of her. Looks like scrambled egg in color and consistencey. The hen seemed better, walking sore but better than before. Seperated her for the night and see how she is doing in the morning.

My question is do abcesses in chickens look like that?

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Quote:
Could it be bumblefoot? It sounds like it to me. I haven't experienced it myself, but I've saw pictures. There is usually a black plug (scab) on the bottom of the foot. You peel that away and clean out the inside. Which by your description -- the scrambled egg stuff -- it sounds like you cleaned out the inside. I believe it's a staph infection. It occurs when a chicken gets a scrape of some sort (can be tiny) on their foot and the chicken picks up staph in that area. I believe Speckled Hen (Cynthia) deals with this quite a bit -- due to the terrain around her home. Sounds like you did a good job! I've read that it's important to get out the all scrambled egg stuff (that's the infection).

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
Could it be bumblefoot? It sounds like it to me. I haven't experienced it myself, but I've saw pictures. There is usually a black plug (scab) on the bottom of the foot. You peel that away and clean out the inside. Which by your description -- the scrambled egg stuff -- it sounds like you cleaned out the inside. I believe it's a staph infection. It occurs when a chicken gets a scrape of some sort (can be tiny) on their foot and the chicken picks up staph in that area. I believe Speckled Hen (Cynthia) deals with this quite a bit -- due to the terrain around her home. Sounds like you did a good job! I've read that it's important to get out the all scrambled egg stuff (that's the infection).

We wondered if that might be it. I could tell where there was a scab and that is where we cut it open. Not sure if there was more, it was bleeding and didn't want it to bleed too bad.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Here's a link with some pics. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=195545 The black plug could be bigger or smaller than this one. Sometimes it even creeps up between their toes. And down at the bottom of the page is a picture of the infection inside (scrambled egg stuff).

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
I am positive that is it bumblefoot. Just feel bad that she had to limp around for so long. Since it is a staph infection- now I am wondering if her eggs have been safe to eat?!?

 

[Opa]

Quite a difference in weather from yesterday and the forecast is for more typical Michigan weather. The last few days were certainly nice but I think we all knew that it wasn't going to last. Hopefully it didn't get to cold in the coop where the heat over the chicks was insufficent. I quess I should get dressed and go check on them. David will be here soon and we have to go pick up materials for a job. Hope everyone has a good day and I check in later.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Have a great day everyone! My chickens sure are enjoying the morning -- there are worms galore out in the yard.

Anybody ever have to deal with a fox? I've had one come in at night three times now in the past three weeks. I pretty sure it's been after my cats. Usually I just turn on the outdoor light and yell get out of here! And it quiets down and is on it's way. A couple of nights ago, I got up to yell at it to shoo away. So I turned on the light and was saying" get out of here!" I couldn't see it, but it was close. They are very loud! After making it's normal calls, it started sounding like it was after something -- kinda barking harshly and growling a little bit. Well, here comes our kitty Sweetie Pie running up onto the back deck. And behind her, Mr. Fox (or Mrs.). It ran between the house and polebarn and towards the woods. The house and polebarn are only twenty five feet or so apart (if that). I didn't expect that! It's always sounded as though it was on the outskirts of the lawn. Although it was dark out, I did have the lights on. It did look normal -- no mange. And it has been coming in at night like it should. So no odd behavior, but I just didn't expect it to be soooo close. Anybody ever have trouble with a fox?

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I have a husky. He's a stinker, though, so we don't let him roam around by himself. Otherwise he's down by the creek and wherever else, but home! He's an excellent territory marker! Maybe I'll have to lead him around exact areas so that he'll mark. Now I do remember that foxes steer clear of dogs and their marked territory.

 

[briana1975]

We have foxes in the area. There was a whole group of them last summer about a half a mile down the road. There would be 8-10 of them in the field at a time. Right asross from someone who had chickens. ( they have moved) I love seeing wild animals out and about. That being said, if they come messing with my animals it is a whole other thing. We do have 2 dogs of our own that walk the ditch line and mark our yard a few times a day. Maybe it helps because so far no foxes in our yard that I have seen.