New Here. New Chicken Owner. Aggrevated.

[The Truth Is Out There]

New here. Aggravated with the confusion. I am reading here that some of you are using Purina Flock Raiser with your mixed flocks and not having any issues. I have a small flock of 7 hens; about a year, one pullet and one rooster both about 5 months.

5 Buff Orpington
3 Barred
Rooster is a Buff/Bard Mix

(We lost his father rooster in Sept)

I am feeding Flock Raiser now to all with oyster shell and grit on the side. The get cry little scratch mixed in 2 times a week. They are in a coop with (2) 12x36 runs, one off each side. They can come and go as they please. I’ve given them things to climb on and treat stations for the Poultry cake treats.

I have noticed two things; the poop looks “grainy” in some instances. The second thing is the youngest pullet seems to shed little pieces of pinkish material a couple times every week.

She seems fine otherwise. A vet came out last month and did a flock assessment and said was intestinal lining. $500 for a visit and assessment. Said the runs were beautiful and what they like to see with backyard flocks that cannot free range.

I’m worried I’m giving them too much protein or not doing something right here. I clean the coop and run multiple times a week. I bring the water in each night and clean and refill. I add vitamins and probiotics to the water a couple times a week.

I am 1 year into chickens and am worried I’m doing something wrong. Am I paying too much attention to their poop, noticing every little change?

I had them on layer feed when I first got them and they were supposed to be 8 hens. A couple months into it; one ended up being a rooster. 4 months later; he got sick out of nowhere. I didn't have a local vet who could see him. He was lethargic, couldn't stand or hold his head up. His beak was open and he was breathing deep and slow.

I made the decision to cull him because I had no answers and he was suffering. I consider myself a relatively strong person but that was tough.

As I read more and more; I thought I messed up with the layer feed and made him sick. I read it could have been 500 things. Without a necropsy or a clue; I treated for Coccidia, took their 9x16 run and turned it into (2) 12x36 runs, stopped feeding treats more than a couple times a week, stopped putting ACV in their water and put poop boards under the roost. Now I pay too much attention.

When one of the babies turned out to be a rooster; I was happy and decided I would transition the flock to an all flock crumble. I keep a bowl of grit and a bowl of oyster shell available all the time.

I have noticed that this rooster is much larger than Cluck was; at least twice the size.



That is what I was reading and what the vet recommended when he came out.



I thought I had done enough research actually. Didn't get them until I felt confident I knew enough. Come to find out; I didn't know enough. I also found out the importance of "validated opinion".

For example; one person may say "I give my chickens candy every morning and have for years with no issues." - Come to find out the truth of that would be something like the chickens free range; they hardly see them and chickens dying from the candy and being carried off ended up being assumed they were just picked off by a predator. See my point? So; I want as much info as possible.

If I am going to do something, I want to do it right. If another living thing is counting on me to do it right and I don't, I take it personally. If I failed my wife, I would feel the same way. It drives me bonkers. Seems the older I get the worse I hold myself accountable if even its illogical . I end up overthinking.

We cannot control all things but I want to. I want to prevent everything bad from happening to every living thing and I can't and it aggravates me. I think knowing that I can't makes it easier to be harder on myself for not doing enough. I have to turn the channel when the ASPCA or the St. Jude Children's commercials come on. Don't like to see them. Same for you?

We have horses too and when our young Friesian suffered colic; we first blamed ourselves for maybe mold in his feed. Thankfully we took him to state and he was there for 2 weeks but made it out without surgery. When we were able to focus on how it happened we found the place we boarded him put him in the pasture that he wasn't supposed to go into because of the trees and plants that were in there. We knew what things he needed to be kept away from and they didn't do it. The pasture was full of black walnut trees. He was just a baby and got into them. We moved him to a friends house as we pursued our own place. Then my wife's parents fell ill and we moved back closer to them. They passed in 2021. We are back to pursuing another homestead. We still are very careful to make sure the feed and hay quality is the best possible. The anxiety eventually went away. I am thinking it will with the chickens as well.

Sometimes I wish I could just be irresponsible and not care lol

I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!!!!!
You said
“I have to turn the channel when the ASPCA or the St. Jude Children's commercials come on. Don't like to see them. Same for you?”

ME TOO!! I mute it and ignore it or walk away/change the station.
And all the lawyer commercials that are on make me angry too! Like toxic water at that military camp etc....
This fallen world is hard enough to live in but “they” don’t want to stop reminding us of all the sadness.
I am one who takes things personal just the same as you. People like us are not as common. Try to think of your compassion as a gift. It is very hard that we can not control things... I know first hand! Especially being a mother. Luckily God has blessed me and I am able to be a stay at home mother. So being able to control situations with my own child is a God send. Being home eliminates the endless possibilities of sending my child off to strangers. Like how they are treated, what they are taught, what they eat etc....


I LLOOOOVE Fresien horses! They are one of my favorites! I used to own a quarter horse and I miss her.
I know how you feel because she got hurt where I used to board her.

Not to mention the hole fact that I have been searching for a house for 3 years exactly next month. All I want is my small farm but I happen to live in the worst state for it! RI.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. The best thing you can do is to continue searching for information and do what you feel is right.
Everything by else is just dealing with what life throws at you.
And there will be A LOT thrown at us!

 

[PopoMyers]

Welcome to BYC, the best community to search for answers, get answers, help, and to also share what you learn about chicken things on this journey. We have a great group of wonderful encouragers. Keep on being vigilant, and there is never a dumb question except the one you don't ask. Happy to help. Just don't make yourself too crazy. On more than one chicken loss occasion I have felt and questioned my dumbness, or perhaps overlooked or forgot to do something that would have possibly prevented such loss. Illness and injury happens. It is never easy to lose an animal that you've invested so much in.