Not Sure What's Goin on with My Hen

[cowcreekgeek]

Sorry she's failing to fully cooperate w/ ya ...

As to the ACV? Start w/ less, and then increase w/ each refill (removing the chlorine increases my birds' intake of water by 6-8%).

If you don't have the treatment, you might have something you can dust with, so as to begin reducing the numbers of parasites ... you can simply take birds to that dustbath, and give 'em one; that'll teach 'em what it's for, and let the rest see that it ain't gonna kill 'em. I've also included a very small amount of DE in w/ their food (and, for my dog as well) as it does reduce the count of internal parasites as well.

Beekissed uses wood ashes of some kind (different woods produce ashes w/ differing properties), but I'm not sure if there's anything she adds, or if the pH has been adjusted in any way. Might wanna check w/ her about it.

In the event that all else fails, and her time comes? You oughta read what I said earlier in this thread, and see if there's somebody that wouldn't mind takin' care of her for ya ...

 

[Chickmate]

It was a nice mild spring-like day and the chickens enjoyed it. Tomorrow should be the same. I almost left Oprah out in the coop tonight because it's so warm, but decided to keep the routine and bring her in. I usually have her carrier all cleaned out and ready for her to walk into but forgot to fold the towel and put it in so I set her on the washing machine while I did that. The little s##t decided she wanted to sit on the back of the machine where the knobs are but it's slippery there so. . . . . she fell behind the washer and dryer. Great. I climbed up on the dryer and fished her out with my bird net which was easier than it would have been if she had weighed more. She fluffed herself off and scooted into her carrier. Thankfully she didn't break anything when she fell. They all had cooked rice and buttermilk today for a treat and she scarfed it down. Tomorrow I'm going to put her right into the DE bath and get her covered good before she goes out with the flock for the day.

Beekissed - I have wood ash ordered from my son-in-law who heats their house with a wood furnace. The problem is that they live 2 1/2 hours from me so we don't get together too often. He's going to start saving it for me so next time I see them I'll get a bunch. I have to re-read your instructions on fermenting feed so I can get them started on it. My problem is that I don't have anyplace to set a big bucket where it's warm. My laundry area is tiny and I don't have an entryway, mudroom or basement. I'll have to put it in the bathtub in my bathroom I guess. Oh BTW, I've been wanting to answer the question you ask in your signature line: In Heaven with my Lord and Savior! Thanks!

cowcreekgeek - I don't know too many people over here so don't really have anyone who would do the deed for me if it came to that. I guess I should find out how much the farm vet would charge me to euthanize a chicken, but he's a 60 mile round trip for me so I'd probably spend whatever I'd save going to him in gas!

 

[chicknmania]

Reason with the vet that it's just a chicken and they might charge you less. I was able to do that with one, but then they wanted 65.00...:/ Anyway, there's a vet here who will do it for us for 15.00; she's awesome, she has chickens herself, so she can relate. Too bad she's not a poultry vet; she won't begin to try to diagnose one.

Your hen might have some weird issue that Is a result of being incubated too warm or too cold, or a genetic issue, a nutritional absorbtion issue, or all kinds of things. Chickens have so many problems, but then they were never intended by nature to live long, really. Regardless, they can surprise you...and sometimes wonderful things happen. Sounds like you might be on the right track.

I don't know if you live near a university that teaches animal science, but if you are, that's another place you could call for info. Ohio State University will refer you to one of their profs who's a poultry expert. At least they used to. I

 

[chicknmania]

funny story about the washer.

Don't use more than a tablespoon of ORGANIC ACV per gallon of water, and she should drink it. Beyond that, they probably won't it's too strong. You can give it to all of them once in a while; we do, especially when one has some symptoms, or during times of stress like weather change, etc. Not all the time though

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Best way to get to know folks is to let 'em know you have need of 'em ... look around for smoke on any cold evening, and go knock on their door w/ bucket in hand and say, "Hi, I'm ______, and live [point towards home as you tell 'em where] and needed some cool, dry ashes for my chickens."

Better still? Take a good handful of your eggs w/ ya, and offer 'em a trade for those ashes I'm sure they'd be happy to get rid of ~'-)

 

[Chickmate]

Another nice warm day today, I think it hit 70! That's the end of it for us here in Michigan though, I do believe. Ms. Oprah got dunked in the DE dust bath this morning when I took her outside. I kind of pushed her down into it and then rubbed it good into her feathers all over. After I let go of her she just stayed there for several minutes looking around like "what the???" Then she jumped out and shook herself off and ran to join the flock. I tried warm oatmeal this morning and she ate maybe a teaspoon or so, but that's all. Tonight her crop is full again so I didn't offer her anything. I have set up a kind of mini fermented feed bucket that I'm going to try on Oprah to see if I can get her to eat it. It's the same idea as the 5 gal. buckets suggested by Beekissed, but this one is a large cottage cheese container suspended inside a peanut butter bucket, so on a much smaller scale. I'm kind of afraid to do the larger buckets because I'm afraid they won't eat it and it will be wasted. I suppose that won't happen because they eat almost anything, but I'd rather try a smaller batch first to see how it goes. Can I also mix grains with the feed or is that not a good idea?

You know Michigan State has an excellent vet college where I've taken my dogs before. I think someone on the MI Thread has a number for a poultry vet there that I could check with on Oprah's condition. Good idea, don't know why I didn't think of that. Duh. Thanks for hitting me with a 2x4 chickmania, I needed that!!! I'm thinking I put too much ACV in her water the first time so I'll try again with much less.

Another great idea for getting some wood ashes cowcreekgeek. I'll start noticing where the smoke is coming from and take some eggs with me. I can also ask at church if anyone heats with wood.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Ms Oprah is tucked in for the night. I'll be so excited if and when she finally puts on some weight and her feathers start coming in nice and glossy black instead of all chewed up looking and falling out. They just fall out and break off everytime I touch her. In the morning the carrier is full of broken feathers and little new feathers that have fallen out. I still do not see any lice or mites at all. I think I'll try calling MSU tomorrow.

 

[Beekissed]

Could be she just needs some time? Sounds like she is active and eating well, so it may just be a matter of time before she is correcting herself. Especially after starting the fermented feeds...it truly does wonders for sick birds. Take a look about half way down this page and see the difference in just 7 wks for these birds...and many of them were looking great in less than a month:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress/2950

 

[Chickmate]

Bee, your chickens look AMAZING!! They're so fat and shiny! And the picture of the poor hen with the swollen feet was so sad to look at. They must feel wonderful now. Thank God you took them back and gave them a new life. I'm really hoping that Oprah will look like that one day. Maybe if I can get her completely healthy she'll even start laying again. I won't count my chickens before they hatch, but that would be wonderful. I'm not sure if I mentioned it here before but her sister Whoopie has also stopped laying. I haven't gotten an egg from her in a couple of months. BUT, she did molt so maybe these two FBCM's just take forever to finish. She looks like your chickens, fat and shiny, so I would have thought she'd have started laying again. Oh well. My focus is on getting Oprah healthy. I'm anxious to see how she does on the fermented feed and hoping she really likes it. No matter how much she eats she doesn't seem to be putting any weight on.

 

[delisha]

The FF will help.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

The FF will help.

For folks like me? FF = Fermented Feed


(I was gonna ask you, 'til I panned further up the page ~'-)