Minnesota!

[Coffee 1st]

ok maybe i spoke too soon??  I got home and she is laying on the floor of the coop on her side with her legs stretched out.  she seemed super weak.  I brought her inside and she ate an entire eggs worth of scrambled eggs but i had to keep coaxing her.  i think she is still recovering.  She would stand up and kind of sway a little, and occasionally plop down on her butt with her eyes closed.  i would pet her and she would open her eyes, stand up and eat more eggs.

she went back down to the basement for tonight.  probably another scrambled egg in the AM then she will spend the day in the coop again so she can walk around.  Her crop felt like it had something in it before she ate the egg, so she definitely was at the feeder earlier.  

Poor baby my fingers are xx'ed for her..

 

[The BlanchRanch]

Quote: Hope she pulls out of it.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Minni .. No I'm not to mad I was at 1st but to him I'm sure it was cool to see. Wow sounds like a very tough 1st year with the dogs.. Did they get trained or did u get new dogs? Scandia hope ur pup has learned a lesson ... There is no place like home...

We kept the dogs and got an in-ground fence for them. Works like a charm. The older female doesn't even need a collar, it scared her enough right at the start to have the beep on it, so she stays in the yard by the house. About 3 times a year she wonders down in the field to the south of the house, and once she thought she would go to the neighbor's to the west, but otherwise, she stays where she belongs. The male, at first when I didn't have the fence all up for the chickens, would figure out when the batteries were dead on the collar or if someone unplugged the wire and he would go chasing. He killed one rooster who wandered up to the house once, but that was over 4 years ago.
We even had a litter of puppies and they never killed any because we fenced them in before they could figure out how fun it was to chase the birds.

I am usually careful about where my head is in relation to the goats' heads....but today was in a hurry to do evening chores. As I was bending over my goat's head came up and I got a hard bump with her horn nubbin in the corner of my eye. It bled. Now it's swelling up and turning a lovely black and blue. My neighbor, a first responder, came over to make sure it wasn't an ER kind of injury, and it's not. Just a Christmas shiner. Good thing me and dh took our Christmas pic already!

I too had to laugh because I went through something similar on Christmas Eve. My oldest was maybe 4 or 5. I bent down to pick something up off the boys' bedroom floor, just as he jumped up from squatting down and his head hit my eye socket. I had a shiner for Christmas that year.

I am finally getting some eggs!! 2 or 3 a day. Not bad this time a year for 5 hens I figure.

I finally started getting hen eggs again two days ago. I had 4 yesterday and today, with the Silkies who are outlaying everyone for the last 6-9 weeks, I had over a dozen eggs the last two days. The lights are doing their trick.

Is there an easier way to get pine shavings other than the bags from the feed mill?

Nope. But the easiest way I know to get them out of the bag is to cut around three sides on the top of the bag, then slit down the middle of the widest side, dump and kick them around a little. The chickens will spread them around pretty evenly from there.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Tada! Cherry heads with hickory handles

Klop, you can make a giant sized jenga set and drop it off at my casa! Great work!

 

[scandiafowl]

Giant Jenga games! Yes! Those are so much fun.

 

[cottonlouie]

Sigh.

 

[lalaland]

Louie, ouch, that does look like it hurt!

Klopklop, maybe I missed it, but what do you think is going on with your hen? If she was laying on her side , I would be wary of leaving her in the coop during the day without supervision unless you have her cordoned off somehow. Sometimes chickens will attack even their best loved flockmates if the chicken is ill.
That is why very ill chickens will "perk" up in the presence of other chickens, and will act as normally as they can. I've seen my own sick hens even fake peck at the ground, and fake eat to mimic the actions of a healthy chicken when I've had them out for a bit of outdoor time.

This morning Goldie was interested in venturing outside her kennel. She came out, ate a bunch of mealworms, looked around, flew up to the top of the wire kennel door and teetered. I retrieved her and set her on the floor, she flew up to the edge of the bathtub. I had the chance to touch the skin near her wounds, and it is normal temp, not hot - I've been watching for infection.

Good to know her wings work! They hang off her body in a strange way, and one is definitely kind of drooping off her shoulder, so she looks strange when she is just standing. I'll try to take a pic tonight.

Tried to interest her in raw egg, even forced her beak into it but she just sipped what was on her beak and wouldn't have any of it. Had to go to work so put her back in the kennel. So today she will probably have apple and mealworms. I left mealworms in a feeding dish that has a big rolled edge on it so if the worms crawl up they should fall back in. I do not want mealworms wandering around the bathroom.

 

[KlopKlop]

Louie, ouch, that does look like it hurt!  

Klopklop,  maybe I missed it, but what do you think is going on with your hen?  If she was laying on her side , I would be wary of leaving her in the coop during the day without supervision unless you have her cordoned off somehow.  Sometimes chickens will attack even their best loved flockmates if the chicken is ill.   
That is why very ill chickens will "perk" up in the presence of other chickens, and will act as normally as they can.  I've seen my own sick hens even fake peck at the ground, and fake eat to mimic the actions of a healthy chicken when I've had them out for a bit of outdoor time.  

This morning Goldie was interested in venturing outside her kennel.  She came out, ate  a bunch of mealworms, looked around, flew up to the top of the wire kennel door and teetered.  I retrieved her and set her on the floor, she flew up to the edge of the bathtub.  I had the chance to touch the skin near her wounds, and it is normal temp, not hot - I've been watching for infection.  

Good to know her wings work!  They hang off her body in a strange way, and one is definitely kind of drooping off her shoulder, so she looks strange when she is just standing.  I'll try to take a pic tonight.

Tried to interest her in raw egg, even forced her beak into it but she just sipped what was on her beak and wouldn't have any of it. Had to go to work so put her back in the kennel.  So today she will probably have apple and mealworms.  I left mealworms in a feeding dish that has a big rolled edge on it so if the worms crawl up they should fall back in.  I do not want mealworms wandering around the bathroom.

I have been thinking that she is just struggling with her molt but now I'm just not sure. She is a 2.5 year old leghorn and couldn't weight more than 2 or 3 lbs on a good day so she is fighting an uphill battle

 

[lalaland]

I have been thinking that she is just struggling with her molt but now I'm just not sure. She is a 2.5 year old leghorn and couldn't weight more than 2 or 3 lbs on a good day so she is fighting an uphill battle

sometimes hens that are on the edge healthwise get pushed over the edge with the stresses of molt. I would agree that it isn't her molt that is the issue. You might want to consider worming her but not with a chemical wormer right now because she is in molt. Have you wormed the flock lately?

If not, I would look into some herbal stuff to support anti-worm environment for her - really, pop for the Molly's herbals because the herbs don't interfere with feather development. You could use a chemical wormer on her, but her feathers will likely come in deformed and scanty . Even a normal parasite load can turn into overload when the hen's overall immune system is down. If you don't want to do chemical or molly's, try large amounts of grated carrot and fresh - not jarred- chopped garlic. You could mix these into the egg she is eating.

I'm thinking worms as a good possibility because of her age and weight issues. There are obviously other possible health issues, but worms is a common one and easily treatable.

Just my opinion. I also don't know much about leghorns, some hatchery stock seems to have a high mortality rate after 2 years.

Keep us posted!

 

[KlopKlop]

sometimes hens that are on the edge healthwise get pushed over the edge with the stresses of molt.  I would agree that it isn't her molt that is the issue. You might want to consider worming her but not with a chemical wormer right now because she is in molt.  Have you wormed the flock lately?

If not, I would look into some herbal stuff to support anti-worm environment for her - really, pop for the Molly's herbals because the herbs don't interfere with feather development.  You could use a chemical wormer on her, but her feathers will likely come in deformed and scanty .  Even a normal parasite load can turn into overload when the hen's overall immune system is down.  If you don't want to do chemical or molly's, try large amounts of grated carrot and fresh - not jarred- chopped garlic.  You could mix these into the egg she is eating.

I'm thinking worms as a good possibility because of her age and weight issues.  There are obviously other possible health issues, but worms is a common one and easily treatable.

Just my opinion.  I also don't know much about leghorns, some hatchery stock seems to have a high mortality rate after 2 years.

Keep us posted!

We will see how she looks tonight. She looked so sad this morning your last comment about hatchery stock is what I have been dreading... Production Leghorns aren't exactly bred for longevity
It is just a bit more sad than usual because she was one of our first chickens we had on the farm