NY chicken lover!!!!

[marquisella]

Quote:

My BR went thru a molt over the summer and wasn't laying that much. She is the only laying right now. Not sure what's going on with my lavender orp, doesn't look like she's going thru a molt. The splash roo is definitely molting but I'm not expecting eggs from him anyway.

I haven't seen a single feather from the buff orp so I don't think she is but a couple of weeks ago around the 1st week of Sept she tried going broody on me again and I threw her out of the nestbox. She never went back in after that. So I would have thought she would be back to laying by now. She only layed for maybe a month or two prior to that and that's when I put them all back on grower mash to get them to lay.

Birds don't go through a true molt until they are a year old. Your chickens are still under that, right? Do you have lights inn your coop? The lack of daylight drastically drops egg production. You can give them more protein, but if they don't have the light, it won't really help. Right now, I think we have maybe 12 hours? They need 15 hours for egg production. They might lay a few now & then, but most breeds stop for the winter.

 

[Pyxis]

We are in Cohoes. Anyone else in the (518) area code? My wife and I are just starting out and would love to talk coop design and placement. If possible, we would really like to take a tour of local coops already established. Please email and we will set something up.

! You're about an hour and a half from me, and even closer to a couple other members who live in the Saratoga area, I think.

 

[Lynzi777]

Birds don't go through a true molt until they are a year old. Your chickens are still under that, right? Do you have lights inn your coop? The lack of daylight drastically drops egg production. You can give them more protein, but if they don't have the light, it won't really help. Right now, I think we have maybe 12 hours? They need 15 hours for egg  production. They might lay a few now & then, but most breeds stop for the winter.

All of my larger laying hens and one roo are over a year old.

 

[cheeka]

We are in Cohoes. Anyone else in the (518) area code? My wife and I are just starting out and would love to talk coop design and placement. If possible, we would really like to take a tour of local coops already established. Please email and we will set something up.

518 is a pretty geographically vast area... and the territory varies wildly, from true urban living to the very rural right to farm areas... what kind of property do you have to work with? and how many birds to you plan to keep...
it all depends on your budget and what resources are handy... I built my dome run out of an old fallen down tarp carport, used the frame and covered it with hardware cloth... the coop is made from an old farm apple crate with a hinged plywood roof, it lifts up on one side for egg collection... simple recycle/freecycle... it's functional and awesome, but not as pretty to look at as some folks setups

 

[Lapeerian]

This website had the coupon too but of course you have to wait for it in the mail. I'm thinking of picking up a bag and trying it with them. I just picked up two bags of grower mash today to hopefully help with their laying again. Such a weird summer this year with the hens. Just can't get over the lack in egg production.

Why would you feed chick feed to laying hens?

 

[armorfirelady]

Corn starch is a natural blood stopper/ clotted like a syptic pencil. I would give her some fresh chopped up basil & oregano in some scrambled eggs. Both herbs are natural antibiotics. Nustock on the wound. Not where eye was tho. And maybe a small piece of gauze cut into a small circle but big enough it would stick to Nustock surround it. And maybe if you got some vet wrap and cut it in long thin strips you could wrap from from of head above nostrils and back over gauze area to hold graze on. Without blocking her other eye, nostrils or beak. Even if it was just at night when she's roosted just to keep bugs, flies and other debris out. I would def isolate her tho till she starts to heal.

Thanks! She is isolated, maybe I did a bad job of describing it before. She's in a dog crate, and I put the dog crate inside the hoop coop that I'm mostly finished with so that nothing could get to her. Then I put her siblings in the hoop coop to keep her company, but they can't get to her through the dog crate. Do you have a picture of the kind of wrapping you're talking about? I'm really bad at picturing things like this. I just don't want to put her off eating and drinking by putting things around her head because that's the last think she needs, poor girl.

Sometimes I am poor at describing lol. I can see it in my mind.........it's what we would use for a person with an eye injury. Just chicken sized, here's a pic of a persons eye wrapped.

The vet wrap looks like this

I have human wrap like this that's work good to. This width I would probably cut into thirds about 6 inches long. Now I wouldn't wrap like the humans pic completely but something similar. Maybe even medical tape cut thin to hold the gauze over the eye. I think it would stick to feathers?
If she wouldn't tolerate it during the day even just at night would help I think. You would have to experiment I guess to see what works best.
I would also flush it with sterile water if you haven't yet. It would flush out any debris. You can get it at any pharmacy. The Nustock is pretty thick and might even hold a small piece of gauze pretty well. I wouldn't put the Nustock in the eye socket though. I know people have packed wounds with Nustock but never an eye injury.

I'm just thinking with the eye gone and the open wound there it's going to be more prone to infection. the herbs won't hurt her but will help her heal.

Wish I was closer I have all the items in my chicken first aid kit. Of course being an EMT helps me keep it well stocked lol

 

[armorfirelady]

This website had the coupon too but of course you have to wait for it in the mail. I'm thinking of picking up a bag and trying it with them. I just picked up two bags of grower mash today to hopefully help with their laying again. Such a weird summer this year with the hens. Just can't get over the lack in egg production.

Why would you feed chick feed to laying hens?

Lynzi try upping their protein with eggs & meat. One of my girls is molting hard and I have been giving her eggs with garlic and herbs and lots of animal protein. Chicken wings, mackerel, liver, ground beef........it seems to of helped and the other girls who are moulting are not molting as bad.

All my hens are fed grower with oyster shell always avail on the side to them. I have 2 pullets not laying yet so it's easier to feed their fermented food that way. Within the month they will all be on grains only. I'm sick of buying commercial feed when I can make my own cheaper, they eat what they need of the oyster shell themselves and I have nice hard shelled eggs this way.

 

[Lapeerian]

I was allowed to print it out.  I expect CM to have to order it though.  

Cortland CM had it in stock, think this is something all CountryMax are carrying.
Agway egg layer is 14%, hearty hen is 16%, this Nutrena Feather Fixer is 18%.

 

[Lynzi777]

Why would you feed chick feed to laying hens?

Because they are not laying! Lol When they weren't laying this summer someone recommended up'ing their protein and when I asked the feed store what I would do or give them in order to do that they told me I could put them back on the grower mash since the protein in it is 20%. I started feeding them that and within a week they started laying again. They went thru the 50lb bag over the rest of the summer and when it was out I started buying layer mash again. Well now they've been on that and I'm back down to 1 layer, my BR. This is why I picked up grower mash today again.

 

[Pyxis]

The vet wrap looks like this

I have human wrap like this that's work good to. This width I would probably cut into thirds about 6 inches long. Now I wouldn't wrap like the humans pic completely but something similar. Maybe even medical tape cut thin to hold the gauze over the eye. I think it would stick to feathers?
If she wouldn't tolerate it during the day even just at night would help I think. You would have to experiment I guess to see what works best.
I would also flush it with sterile water if you haven't yet. It would flush out any debris. You can get it at any pharmacy. The Nustock is pretty thick and might even hold a small piece of gauze pretty well. I wouldn't put the Nustock in the eye socket though. I know people have packed wounds with Nustock but never an eye injury.

I'm just thinking with the eye gone and the open wound there it's going to be more prone to infection. the herbs won't hurt her but will help her heal.

Wish I was closer I have all the items in my chicken first aid kit. Of course being an EMT helps me keep it well stocked lol

Lol, I keep a well stocked chicken first aid kit too. I have the vet wrap and the gauze. I did flush her wound gently when I found her. No Nustock, I generally use neosporin so she got that on her wound. I think I'll try wrapping it tomorrow and see if she'll be okay with it. I'll also try the herbs. I'll scramble her up some eggs tomorrow and give them to her. I've never done herbs for my birds before, about how much should I add to the egg and how often should I give them to her?

I've been questioning for a while now if she was actually a pullet or if she might be a cockerel. I told her that if she ends up being a he, I'll have to name him Captain Jack the pirate chicken.