NY chicken lover!!!!

[miquwid]

So this is Apri an 8 month old non bearded partridge silkie, she's a laying hen and was second in command in our flock. Well this morning we went out to check the girls and everyone was in their run and waiting for breakfast I feed everyone and start to check one of our babies that was making non-hen like noises and then I spot Apri just laying on the run floor. She either couldn't or wouldn't walk and has some head twitches. she did flap her wings a little and my son and I immediately took her out the coop. We put her in the kennel thinking we could go to the emergency vet who see's every type of exotic animal except chickens apparently. I got the run around and tried numerous vets with no results, and we were told that she probably wouldn't make it by a receptionist. So okay at this point she is fully collapse and is on her side rapidly breathing. My son starts to cry and I'm like stop she ain't dead yet. So we get her in the attic with a heat lamp water and food. Since we can't get to a vet I put a post in several places and run my errans. We get home and she is standing and made a mess in her kennel. I give her vitamins more food and a boiled egg and plain fat free yogurt, and of course ACV in her water. I clean her kennel and put down a puppy pad. I come back later and she laid an egg and it was cracked in the process but that's okay with me right now, ate her food and made another mess of things. Her poops looked good and she was able to give me the silkie Stink Eye as I call it, it seems my silkies are nice but have teenage girl type attitudes. I check on her several times and each time she seems to be getting better and better, Then at night I check again and she is peacefully sleeping like a silkie should.

I can't say if it was head trauma from one of our babies who are almost laying age, or if it was her being egg bound, or disease. I have a separate coop and run I will put my other silkie in and then Apri when she recovers.

So other than that I tended to my garden today, make some cool scores on the free section of craigslist. Made a big breakfast which I couldn't eat the eggs from probably from being upset. I watched my three cats sleep and eat today. I took the dogs out for exercise several times. I especially did not do any type of homework today just not feeling it LOL. I tucked in my the rest of the flock in their coop, and the babies in the brooder are ready for outside so 2moro that is what I will be doing getting their part of the coop ready. And I will be taking video of our hen in question making "her" sounds, and watch her posture our other silkie who will be moved. But now that I think about it once I do this my 6 almost laying girls will have one coop, and my barred rock will have a coop all to herself, but at least the coops are attatched to the same run. So four coops when I thought I would only have one LOL how does this chicken math work again!??!

Well I hope the evening finds everyone and well!

 

[Pyxis]

Well, I had the week from hell this past week. Sunday, I go outside and find a trail of duck feathers leading from my yard across to what used to be my grandma's yard, across that and across the road over to my awful neighbor's place. All ducks were accounted for, but most of my ten three month old chicks are missing.

Monday, I find my silkie hen with her neck torn wide open, still alive. I take her to my workshop and try to make her as comfortable as possible, thinking she will pass away. I doctor up the wound and give her aspirin for pain.

Tuesday I had to leave for work at 7 in the morning so I rolled out of bed, got ready, and left without checking the chickens, whom I had left penned because of the attacks. I get to work, go about my business, and my mom comes in to work (we work at the same place right now) a little while later. On my lunch break, I stop by. She tells me that my father had gone outside earlier that morning, and all the birds had somehow, with the exception of Lacie (my little goose) and one barred rock hen, gotten out of the run. And as he was walking over to the workshop, he spotted my Rhode island red hen laying on the ground, as well as one of the wyandottes that Bakingintherain gave me.

He walks over, thinking they're dead, and the Rhode island red jumps up when he touches her and bolts into the woods. He goes over to the wyandotte and flips her over and she staggers to her feet and totters away. So, angry, he walks over to the neighbors, who are out in the yard, and talks to them. They at first try to say they think it's another dog from up the road, and then their hell hound shows up with feathers from my birds in its mouth. Well, no arguing with that. As it turns out, it's a new dog their daughter had got (because they already have like ten and she really needed one more, and a pitbull of course, because they needed another of those to raise poorly) and they apologize and the wife offers my dad some more chickens, which they have a ton of and do not feed (at which point my dad explains it's not that I want more chickens, it's that my chickens are pets and their dog is killing my pets just as surely as if it had killed someone's cats). They promise to tie it up.

I come home, look in the backyard, and there's the dog, standing over a pile of feathers. What looks like a tiny piece of rope is dangling from his collar, so maybe they did tie him up with rope and he snapped it, or maybe they didn't, who knows, but here he is in my yard again. Feathers are everywhere. I chase him off. I can't find a single bird except Lacie safe in her pen and the one barred rock. I go looking in the woods way to the other side of my property, I find Honey (my buff orp roo) and four girls, and I bring them back and feed them and lock them in the pen. Luckily one of the four is my favorite hen, so at least she's safe.

At this point I'm devastated. I'm wandering around the yard in the rain carrying my blue food scoop hoping the other birds are around and they'll see it and come thinking I have food. Suddenly I hear a rooster crowing up the road and it sounds like Lime (my other roo) and I go walking up the road carrying my little scoop at the same time my dad is driving back from the workshop. He sees me (he also saw the dog as I chased it home so he sort of knows what's going on) and asks what I'm doing. I say something to the effect of that there are feathers from almost every bird I own all over the yard and I can only find five and I think I hear Lime up the road but I started crying in the middle of it so I don't know if it made much sense. I kept going up the road and suddenly Lime burst out of the woods on one side and came running over to me. I can't tell you how happy I was to see that rooster. His feathers had been all over the yard and I was sure the dog had killed him while he tried to protect the girls.

He usually hates being held but for some reason he let me pick him up and start carrying him down the road. My dad was walking up the road toward me and I must have looked pitiful clutching a rooster to my chest in the pouring rain trying not to cry. Even though he usually doesn't care much about the chickens he started helping me look in a rainstorm, so I'm sure I looked awful.

On our way down the road Lime suddenly started clucking and three more hens came running out of the woods to him. I set him down and he followed me and told his girls to follow and they did. So I got them in the pen and we kept looking. After a while in the rain my dad gave up and said we'd have to wait till night and see if any more came back.

I wasn't ready to give up just yet and kept looking and I did manage to find one, my Rhode island red, standing dazed on the porch of what used to be my grandma's house, right across the road to where the dog lives. I carried her back and put her in the pen. Those were all the birds I found.

The next morning, thank goodness, I found four more waiting for me outside the pen to let them back in. My new black copper marans hen, Plum, Penny the buff orp, and the wyandotte whom had been so badly attacked. All appear to be okay except missing feathers. Two of my babies from this year have also shown back up. Just two, out of all the ones I had. All the other hens and chicks are still missing.

Wednesday, some chicks I had ordered to replace the ones that were killed arrived. All dead. The silkie, Fluff, was also still alive. She was one of my first hens and I was very attached to her so I finally took her to the vet. They told me the wound was too extensive to heal even if they stitched it up (the tissue underneath had dried out and the flesh around the outside was dying) so I had to have her put down.

Thursday, I was late to work because on the way I was run off the highway by a drunk driver and had to spend two hours talking to the police.

Friday, thank goodness, I had the day off, but it rained all day and all Saturday as well so I got no work done on my new coop and run.

So anyway, that was my week, sigh. Here's hoping this week will be better. Sorry to write a small novel, I just wanted to vent and I knew you guys more than anyone else would understand why my week was so awful. No 'they're just chickens' here!

 

[JLaw]

I feel sorry for this chick I have. It's one of the gold laced cochins I got last week. They was suppose to be 4 weeks old but it's so much smaller than even my 4 week bantams was so i'm thinking younger. I put the other one down due to bum leg didn't want it suffering or being picked on so this little guy has been alone in house since wed. Right now it's sitting on my desk next to key board as I type away. Wish I had another little one for it cause the bigger chickens out side pick on it too much so when its out and they are out it runs to my wife or me or the kids to protect it. Well you know me it's pic time.





Only going to subject ya'll to two pics. The other chick was more like 4 weeks it was almost double the size of this one. It had more gold in it also. Just wish this one would get bigger faster so it could go out with the other chickens.

jlaw

 

[JLaw]

pyxis I'm sorry about your losses. I hope things get better for you. I hope they take better care and watch that pittbull. I love pittbulls and I hate seeing people not training and treating them correctly. It gives them such a bad rap when they are trained badly and just let loose. I think it's how people on here talk about breeding the well behaved roosters and culling the mean ones. People have been breeding mean pits and using good ones as bait dogs so long that its takeing time to train them good. Our pittbull was great put herself before kids and anyone who walked through door and if someone held them she was right there. I hope the rest of your chickens recover and live long and happy lives.

jlaw

 

[Pyxis]

pyxis  I'm sorry about your losses. I hope things get better for you. I hope they take better care and watch that pittbull. I love pittbulls and I hate seeing people not training and treating them correctly.  It gives them such a bad rap when they are trained badly and just let loose. I think it's how people on here talk about breeding the well behaved roosters and culling the mean ones. People have been breeding mean pits and using good ones as bait dogs so long that its takeing time to train them good. Our pittbull was great put herself before kids and anyone who walked through door and if someone held them she was right there.  I hope the rest of your chickens recover and live long and happy lives.

jlaw

Thanks I know, pitbulls as a breed are very sweet dogs. My vet has one who is the gentlest dog I've ever met. But these people...they raise them nasty because that's the 'cool' thing, to have a mean pitbull. Not good.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Grammachick, I know it would be safer to keep them cooped up til I'm home. I choose to let them free range, my neighbors enjoy seeing them, I like that they act like chickens and eat what they are supposed to eat. To me that is the benefit of having them, that deep orange yolk I get is what I'm looking for. I would really like for them to be pretty well self sufficient, similar to how stoney raises his. They have a good solid coop for night time, and plenty of places to hide during the day. Darwin was just at work Friday.

Beta carotene gives them dark orange yolks. Spinach, cantaloupe, chard, parsley
Sweet Potato , Kale , Carrots ,Turnip Greens , Mustard Greens, Butternut Squash , DARK Lettuce, Collards are rich in beta carotene, Grass, alfalfa too .

I understand ..mine free range too ..it is healthier for the chicken & makes the eggs healthier too ..even a couple of hours ranging is good for them .

I dont think they can hide from a fox ...maybe they can ?
Stoney is home with his chickens to protect them . Predators still get some anyway .. .And they will come back if they are alive .
I was home last year when a fox got our 2 chickens ..1 a day ...by the 3rd day ..I was out with them .
. I stopped the fox ..that day he / she tried to get 2 . It dropped the one it had when I yelled & ran at it ..she has never been the same since .
the next day I saw it from a distance & shot at it .( missed ) It didnt show up the next day ...
I am sure they are still around . I dont see them . Other people see them .

 

[JLaw]

Thanks

I know, pitbulls as a breed are very sweet dogs. My vet has one who is the gentlest dog I've ever met. But these people...they raise them nasty because that's the 'cool' thing, to have a mean pitbull. Not good.

Yeah that's what pisses me off for any dog owner. there is a difference between a good guard/trained dog that protects and one that is just straight mean/neglected. Sadly I would rather see dogs that are mean/neglected eather taken away from them or put down. It's only time before a dog hurts someone if not trained right. Like my dad said anything with a mouth can bite. I tell my kids the same. They ask oh does it bite? before the person can answer about what ever animal it is I always reply "It has a mouth so yes it can bite you." Animals are like people they have breaking points and better the kids know they can bite even if they have never bit anyone.

I also worry about some training methods. Take orca's. Killer whales if you will. They do tricks for fish. Makes you wonder if they really get what they need/want without doing tricks. I guess each fish could taste different but still seems wrong when a caged orca gets put down because it attacks a trainer. They are wild animals and have mouths. The trainers know the risk when they work with them. These animals are use to traveling many miles and have been breed to do it as a pod. Now they take a baby or breed a few in pens and expect them to not bite people.

Sorry been drinking as you all can tell I get vocal when drinking some. I tend to speak my mind and complain on what I maybe thinking about. Sorry ya'll have to read my rambleings.

Best of luck to your chickens they seem to have a very caring owner and that's the best thing any animal can have.

jlaw

 

[JLaw]

I dont think they can hide from a fox ...maybe they can ?
Stoney is home with his chickens to protect them . Predators still get some anyway .. .And they will come back if they are alive .
I was home last year when a fox got our 2 chickens ..1 a day ...by the 3rd day ..I was out with them .
. I stopped the fox ..that day he / she tried to get 2 . It dropped the one it had when I yelled & ran at it ..she has never been the same since .
the next day I saw it from a distance & shot at it .( missed ) It didnt show up the next day ...
I am sure they are still around . I dont see them . Other people see them .

Hideing from a fox would be hard once it gets a sent or hears them if it knows what that is. Figure It's pretty much a wild small dog. I would think a tree would be best they can do to hide from it once they notice it or if they are down wind and stop clucking.

Sorry about your chicken loss good job keeping that fox away though. Since I've gotten my chickens I've been keeping an eye on the sky and noting where the hawks are. I think the wife thinks i'm crazy when I tell them (the hawks) to stay over here as we drive down the road into town.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Well, I had the week from hell this past week. Sunday, I go outside and find a trail of duck feathers leading from my yard across to what used to be my grandma's yard, across that and across the road over to my awful neighbor's place. All ducks were accounted for, but most of my ten three month old chicks are missing.

Monday, I find my silkie hen with her neck torn wide open, still alive. I take her to my workshop and try to make her as comfortable as possible, thinking she will pass away. I doctor up the wound and give her aspirin for pain.

Tuesday I had to leave for work at 7 in the morning so I rolled out of bed, got ready, and left without checking the chickens, whom I had left penned because of the attacks. I get to work, go about my business, and my mom comes in to work (we work at the same place right now) a little while later. On my lunch break, I stop by. She tells me that my father had gone outside earlier that morning, and all the birds had somehow, with the exception of Lacie (my little goose) and one barred rock hen, gotten out of the run. And as he was walking over to the workshop, he spotted my Rhode island red hen laying on the ground, as well as one of the wyandottes that Bakingintherain gave me.

He walks over, thinking they're dead, and the Rhode island red jumps up when he touches her and bolts into the woods. He goes over to the wyandotte and flips her over and she staggers to her feet and totters away. So, angry, he walks over to the neighbors, who are out in the yard, and talks to them. They at first try to say they think it's another dog from up the road, and then their hell hound shows up with feathers from my birds in its mouth. Well, no arguing with that. As it turns out, it's a new dog their daughter had got (because they already have like ten and she really needed one more, and a pitbull of course, because they needed another of those to raise poorly) and they apologize and the wife offers my dad some more chickens, which they have a ton of and do not feed (at which point my dad explains it's not that I want more chickens, it's that my chickens are pets and their dog is killing my pets just as surely as if it had killed someone's cats). They promise to tie it up.

I come home, look in the backyard, and there's the dog, standing over a pile of feathers. What looks like a tiny piece of rope is dangling from his collar, so maybe they did tie him up with rope and he snapped it, or maybe they didn't, who knows, but here he is in my yard again. Feathers are everywhere. I chase him off. I can't find a single bird except Lacie safe in her pen and the one barred rock. I go looking in the woods way to the other side of my property, I find Honey (my buff orp roo) and four girls, and I bring them back and feed them and lock them in the pen. Luckily one of the four is my favorite hen, so at least she's safe.

At this point I'm devastated. I'm wandering around the yard in the rain carrying my blue food scoop hoping the other birds are around and they'll see it and come thinking I have food. Suddenly I hear a rooster crowing up the road and it sounds like Lime (my other roo) and I go walking up the road carrying my little scoop at the same time my dad is driving back from the workshop. He sees me (he also saw the dog as I chased it home so he sort of knows what's going on) and asks what I'm doing. I say something to the effect of that there are feathers from almost every bird I own all over the yard and I can only find five and I think I hear Lime up the road but I started crying in the middle of it so I don't know if it made much sense. I kept going up the road and suddenly Lime burst out of the woods on one side and came running over to me. I can't tell you how happy I was to see that rooster. His feathers had been all over the yard and I was sure the dog had killed him while he tried to protect the girls.

He usually hates being held but for some reason he let me pick him up and start carrying him down the road. My dad was walking up the road toward me and I must have looked pitiful clutching a rooster to my chest in the pouring rain trying not to cry. Even though he usually doesn't care much about the chickens he started helping me look in a rainstorm, so I'm sure I looked awful.

On our way down the road Lime suddenly started clucking and three more hens came running out of the woods to him. I set him down and he followed me and told his girls to follow and they did. So I got them in the pen and we kept looking. After a while in the rain my dad gave up and said we'd have to wait till night and see if any more came back.

I wasn't ready to give up just yet and kept looking and I did manage to find one, my Rhode island red, standing dazed on the porch of what used to be my grandma's house, right across the road to where the dog lives. I carried her back and put her in the pen. Those were all the birds I found.

The next morning, thank goodness, I found four more waiting for me outside the pen to let them back in. My new black copper marans hen, Plum, Penny the buff orp, and the wyandotte whom had been so badly attacked. All appear to be okay except missing feathers. Two of my babies from this year have also shown back up. Just two, out of all the ones I had. All the other hens and chicks are still missing.

Wednesday, some chicks I had ordered to replace the ones that were killed arrived. All dead. The silkie, Fluff, was also still alive. She was one of my first hens and I was very attached to her so I finally took her to the vet. They told me the wound was too extensive to heal even if they stitched it up (the tissue underneath had dried out and the flesh around the outside was dying) so I had to have her put down.

Thursday, I was late to work because on the way I was run off the highway by a drunk driver and had to spend two hours talking to the police.

Friday, thank goodness, I had the day off, but it rained all day and all Saturday as well so I got no work done on my new coop and run.

So anyway, that was my week, sigh. Here's hoping this week will be better. Sorry to write a small novel, I just wanted to vent and I knew you guys more than anyone else would understand why my week was so awful. No 'they're just chickens' here!

I am so sorry ...You have had a rough week ! your chickens have too ! Can you make a large run for them ?
Can you call the dog warden on these people ? the dog is a nuisence ...

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:

Hideing from a fox would be hard once it gets a sent or hears them if it knows what that is. Figure It's pretty much a wild small dog. I would think a tree would be best they can do to hide from it once they notice it or if they are down wind and stop clucking.

Sorry about your chicken loss good job keeping that fox away though. Since I've gotten my chickens I've been keeping an eye on the sky and noting where the hawks are. I think the wife thinks i'm crazy when I tell them (the hawks) to stay over here as we drive down the road into town.

Quote:

Hideing from a fox would be hard once it gets a sent or hears them if it knows what that is. Figure It's pretty much a wild small dog. I would think a tree would be best they can do to hide from it once they notice it or if they are down wind and stop clucking.

Sorry about your chicken loss good job keeping that fox away though. Since I've gotten my chickens I've been keeping an eye on the sky and noting where the hawks are. I think the wife thinks i'm crazy when I tell them (the hawks) to stay over here as we drive down the road into town.

thats what I was thinking .
Thanks it happened last year ...it still bothers me though ..
And if I see or hear a fox I go into a Fox Fury...I am very attached to my chickens..esp the ones I raised from babies