Michigan

[RIRJen]

not sure what to do...do you think poop all over eggs will keep them from hatching? my broody hen has been sitting but shes managed to poop all over them...they're yucky! not sure what to do here...maybe wipe them quickly/gently with a damp clothe? or just leave it be? I didn't write down the day she started sitting but I think they should be hatching any time now.

 

[Olive Hill]

Flick off anything that's dried, don't worry about the rest.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Randy! He is getting so big! He is adorable!

Jen - easier to clean poop off eggs really quick than to get it off new chicks..anddd, bacterial infection seems like a possibility- quickly clean and candle and put them back.

 

[RaZ]

not sure what to do...do you think poop all over eggs will keep them from hatching? my broody hen has been sitting but shes managed to poop all over them...they're yucky! not sure what to do here...maybe wipe them quickly/gently with a damp clothe? or just leave it be? I didn't write down the day she started sitting but I think they should be hatching any time now.

An old toothbrush works well. Gentle brushing will get rid of most of the poo.
Don't worry too much.
The hen will rub off some debris as she turns the eggs in the nest. Let nature take its course.

 

[teeville5]

Fuzzy, don't know where your comment went, but no, I don't have a roo or hen that is aggressively dominant. Occasionally, I'll see a hen peck at another, but nothing like this.

Do your chickens have access to the road? Maybe she got hit by a car.

Yes, they do. I let them free range, but I've never seen any of them closer than 5 feet from the roadside. It was something I thought possibly of or even the possibility of maybe a rock being kicked out from someone's tires as they sped by that might have hit her.

She is still the same as yesterday and we still have her crated. We just don't like how the swollen side looks. She only seems to drink or eat when being offered and not on her own so I wonder if she just can't see it well enough with the bad eye to do it herself. On a weird positive note (?), she laid an egg in there so maybe she just looks worse than she feels?

not sure what to do...do you think poop all over eggs will keep them from hatching?

Good question. MY broodie is sitting on a few less lovely looking ones, too.

 

[RaZ]

Randy! He is getting so big! He is adorable!

He weighs a ton!
I'm convinced that he is blind in his right eye. It is still cloudy and he reacts more to sound than visual cues. The new habitat is bigger and brighter but he has a hollow log to hide in.
I'm still waiting for my vet to get back with me about de-scenting him.

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote:
So you are going to keep him then. Well, I guess you'd have to now, after all this time.

(I hope the comment from that other person on the WA thread didn't offend you)

 

[Olive Hill]

Chicken Grandma - Rather than respond directly as to whether or not you should water your lawn I'd like to arm you with some information: The U.S. is buckling under the warmest 12 months it has experienced since we began recording temperatures, most of the nation is under a drought. Just to the south of us, in IL, farmers are able to stick their hands down into the cracks in their fields because it is so dry. The heat and drought have led the USDA to declare huge portions of the U.S. -- including much of the grain belt -- under a natural disaster. Farmers are losing their stock and their crops and many will come out the other side of this bankrupt. Food prices are rising rapidly already and will continue under the pressure of low yields, making it difficult for more families to afford their groceries as early as this fall. We are, essentially, as close to The Dust Bowl as we've gotten since it ended. Regardless of how it looks, do you think you should be watering your lawn?

 

[NovaAman]

not sure what to do...do you think poop all over eggs will keep them from hatching? my broody hen has been sitting but shes managed to poop all over them...they're yucky! not sure what to do here...maybe wipe them quickly/gently with a damp clothe? or just leave it be? I didn't write down the day she started sitting but I think they should be hatching any time now.

Jen, Leila was a great one for pooping on the eggs. She would not leave the nest for nothing. I'd have to get her out and half the time she'd be back in with in minutes, she was so dedicated... Boy, I bet she'd be broody now if the coon hadn't gotten her. Well anyway, I just picked off the bigger clumps very carefully with out rotating the eggs to much from the last position Leila had them in, and then I took the egg shells out ASAP so they would not be consumed at all.

, do you think you should be watering your lawn?

I only water the necessary plants. That'd be the veggies. I haven't needed to mow in a month. ALSO, I have a well, but I still don't think I should be watering more than what I need for the food to grow. It really ticks me off to see the city watering every night. Condo units watering also, and watering the pavement. THAT alone has always just bit my backside. Why are these people wasting precious water on pavement?

 

[1muttsfan]

Cloudy and rained a deluge last night, thundered for hours, and high clouds tonight so probably will not see the Northern Lights