NY chicken lover!!!!

[Tough Old Bird]

I know that the frostbite won't kill him. I just didn't want it to get worse. I didn't plan on doing anything with the comb that is looking bad. I figured that the tips would fall off. I have several hens that look like they will lose a few tips. I was just so shocked that his waddles were so hard and then to find them bleeding so was a shock.

Jlaw - This is my first year with chickens and as soon as it started to get cold I worried about his comb. Never thought that I would have to worry about his waddles. I plan on just cleaning it up a little now that it has quieted down. I don't want to rub it to much. It is still dripping blood and I hope that it will stop soon. My biggest concern is just making sure that the bleeding stops. He has finally thawed out and resting comfortably.

He is being nice and quiet and enjoyed a nice treat of scrambled eggs.

The protein is probably a great idea since he's ailing...hope he recovers quickly and well.

They make me laugh every morning when they do it. I plan on getting them some girlfriends this year. I'll have to get some more tubs for next winter.

And a second bucket to carry out all the warm water.

I just think it's so sweet the way they will park themselves in whatever water is available, even in a little container. So cute! Stony often says how entertaining his ducks are. I can see that!

Yeah I never treat combs only this ones foot. I figure if they loose the tips this year they cant loose them next year. Suffer once loose them then not have to suffer again.

Now that's a good point, JLaw....never thought of it that way!!


TOB

 

[armorfirelady]

 
  True you will not lose him over frostbite. AND if you treat or you do not treat it simply will not make a difference. The frost bitten part will fall off and he will not know the difference. Been there done that. Waste of time treating for frost bitten combs. 

I am relieved to hear this.  A couple of my hens have some black dots of frost bite.  And as I watch them drink and see their wattles getting quite wet while the thermometer reads -15F, I am trying not to freak.  How could they NOT freeze?  Anyway, I'm keeping an eye out, but it's good to know that in your experience, the birds get through the injury.  

I'm really wishing we could get back to a little more moderate temp's.  The extreme cold is causing other troubles.  One of our pipes froze and burst.  Still no hot water and we have several holes cut into our stairwell wall.  It's not been a good day...

TOB

A couple of my girls were,getting their wattles in the water dish. I was concerned about frostbite but they haven't gotten any. Yesterday when someone got Stella's comb and I wet out and it was all bloody I just left it alone. It was so cooled the blood froze quickly. This morning you wouldn't even know she was covered with blood.

My girls also tend to walk thru their food. It's up off the ground but I catch them in there now & again. Perhaps because it's my feather footed ones that do that I haven't seen frostbite on their feet. Or they wipe it off on the hay abroind the feeders. My thought on frost bite wattles is you need more ventilation in your coop. The north end of the coop is about halfway open. No frostbite on combs or wattles.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

A couple of my girls were,getting their wattles in the water dish. I was concerned about frostbite but they haven't gotten any. Yesterday when someone got Stella's comb and I wet out and it was all bloody I just left it alone. It was so cooled the blood froze quickly. This morning you wouldn't even know she was covered with blood.

My girls also tend to walk thru their food. It's up off the ground but I catch them in there now & again. Perhaps because it's my feather footed ones that do that I haven't seen frostbite on their feet. Or they wipe it off on the hay abroind the feeders. My thought on frost bite wattles is you need more ventilation in your coop. The north end of the coop is about halfway open. No frostbite on combs or wattles.

The problem is that my coop is well ventilated. They just don't like to stay in there. They all hangout cuddled up in my Duck hut. I have added more ventilation to it after the last super cold spell, but I guess that I need to add more! I love that they aren't stupid and they cuddle up to keep warm together...Just wish that they would do it in their own coop.

 

[Pyxis]

Is there anyone else in here not getting a single egg? I'm at my wit's end with these birds. I never wanted to light my coop, but I think I'm going to. Seriously, thirty birds and not one egg for over a month. They've been wormed, they had lice but I dusted, they eat a good quality, non store brand food. Nothing. I can understand some of the younger birds from this summer that haven't even started yet, but not one of my older hens is laying either. It's not like they're hiding them either because they don't leave the run this time of year. Ugh.

 

[why do birds]

This is one of several of your posts, why do, that have made me consider whether you're running a satirical experiment or truly have these questions. I think Stony is right about checking out his blog and getting more prepared for the reality of livestock. Doing so might cause me to have less "Are you for real?!?" reactions to your posts. I grew up in an agricultural environment and have spent my professional life in the veterinary world. In both realms I have learned this: unpreparedness when owning animals often leads to unintentional cruelty. We should always be prepared to eliminate pain and suffering in the animals under our care. I am concerned that you may be learning about the aspects of animals that you enjoy and are comfortable with, while completely shutting out the parts that make you uncomfortable. Chickens often do die on their own. Despite our best efforts, they are just as likely to suffer a horrible fate that requires us to intervene in order to prevent them further suffering. Please be ready to do so.

Yes, thanks, we will try to be prepared. We've known people with chickens and they just die. They never did any kind of killing thing. Or predators ate them. So this is a real surprise that there are so many ways that people use. We were prepared to bring them to a place to have them "processed", if we had a lot of roosters someday, but that's if somebody's actually going to eat the animal. We were happy to learn that chickens can live as long as a dog and didn't think we'd have to do anything like putting down an egg laying bird any time soon. I was thinking that if this had to be done at home, it would be possible to simply administer a correct dosage of anesthetic agent or whatever is used to put down dogs? I'm not sure what you mean by a satirical experiment? What's that mean? As I said before, I have an old cat. That's about it for my animal expertise. In the past I've brought other cats to the vet and the vet administered an injection for the cat to die. Didn't think it's so much different with any other animals. Why can't a bird be anesthetized?

 

[why do birds]

I have also questioned the same. I certainly hope these are legitimate posts. But honestly some of them are so out there I really feel....hope I'm wrong...but really feel the thread is being "played". Gawd I hope I wrong and why do is very innocent and studies up CONSIDERABLY before purchasing any more critters.

On a related note...that kitchen will never be cleared as a commercial kitchen with chickens living in the house. Vacuumed chickens or not.

Is the blog you referred to the one about homesteading? I did read that one. And we don't plan to cut wood. As I mentioned in an earlier post the plan is to put in a geothermal system for the house, and if it is advisable to allow geo capacity to the barn. Not being a farmer I don't know if the barn needs heat or not, and I'm attempting to put together a viable system in case we have more birds in the future. We were told that it is advisable to have water in it's liquid state for animals. We hope to have some of the system computerized, yes one of us is a computer expert. We would like to have automatic garage doors on the barn that may be operated from within the house. We don't plan to have the chickens, or any other animals, not even the older cat, living inside of the house once we move. We've read the rules on catering development, and have relatives in the food industry, a few of whom have catering businesses from home, and so are developing this idea so that the kitchen has the "capacity" for catering, if we should decide to use it that way. Hopefully we will have stable heat and central air, and many more modern comforts. Other than the 3 chickens we now have, and love, we want to make sure that the structures are appropriate for any future animal adventures. We aren't people who want to "live off the land", we want to enjoy as many modern comforts and conveniences as possible, and maybe run a little business on the side, sell some food, have good products. We can't compete with Tyson, KFC, McD's, BK, and don't intend to try. We want to have fun, this is going to be happy retirement times. So, I do apologize if I come across as stupid, I'm not actually stupid in the real world, only in the farming world. Maybe if I'd had a chance to actually observe a farming operation I'd know more, but I'm trying so please be patient!

 

[Cass]

Yes, thanks, we will try to be prepared. We've known people with chickens and they just die. They never did any kind of killing thing. Or predators ate them. So this is a real surprise that there are so many ways that people use. We were prepared to bring them to a place to have them "processed", if we had a lot of roosters someday, but that's if somebody's actually going to eat the animal. We were happy to learn that chickens can live as long as a dog and didn't think we'd have to do anything like putting down an egg laying bird any time soon. I was thinking that if this had to be done at home, it would be possible to simply administer a correct dosage of anesthetic agent or whatever is used to put down dogs? I'm not sure what you mean by a satirical experiment? What's that mean? As I said before, I have an old cat. That's about it for my animal expertise. In the past I've brought other cats to the vet and the vet administered an injection for the cat to die. Didn't think it's so much different with any other animals. Why can't a bird be anesthetized?

Yes, a chicken can be put down just like a mammal....but at what cost? I understand it cost my brother $69 to have his dog put down. Are you really prepared to pay $69 for each bird you have to put down?

I have been at this for 2 plus a little years.....I had one develop (what I suspect was ) Merek's...had to put it out of it's misery or watch it die from starvation. Had a rooster flog me repeatedly. I don't want (and you shouldn't want) a human aggressive rooster on the property. He needed to die (or be rehomed, but that rarely happens). That's $138 bucks to put down chickens? Really? One was a free chick and the other I paid $10 for. There are a lot of ways I want to spend my money....2 days pay to do something I could easily (at least physically) do myself? Not a good use of funds, in my opinion.

Now if you want to EAT the bird (and I do) you can't use chemical means to kill them. Whatever method you decide is easiest for you to use....including sending them out or selling them to someone who will butcher them...is up to you. But eventually you will need a bird dead, it's just part of owning animals.

 

[stonykill]

Is the blog you referred to the one about homesteading? I did read that one. And we don't plan to cut wood. As I mentioned in an earlier post the plan is to put in a geothermal system for the house, and if it is advisable to allow geo capacity to the barn. Not being a farmer I don't know if the barn needs heat or not, and I'm attempting to put together a viable system in case we have more birds in the future. We were told that it is advisable to have water in it's liquid state for animals. We hope to have some of the system computerized, yes one of us is a computer expert. We would like to have automatic garage doors on the barn that may be operated from within the house. We don't plan to have the chickens, or any other animals, not even the older cat, living inside of the house once we move. We've read the rules on catering development, and have relatives in the food industry, a few of whom have catering businesses from home, and so are developing this idea so that the kitchen has the "capacity" for catering, if we should decide to use it that way. Hopefully we will have stable heat and central air, and many more modern comforts. Other than the 3 chickens we now have, and love, we want to make sure that the structures are appropriate for any future animal adventures. We aren't people who want to "live off the land", we want to enjoy as many modern comforts and conveniences as possible, and maybe run a little business on the side, sell some food, have good products. We can't compete with Tyson, KFC, McD's, BK, and don't intend to try. We want to have fun, this is going to be happy retirement times. So, I do apologize if I come across as stupid, I'm not actually stupid in the real world, only in the farming world. Maybe if I'd had a chance to actually observe a farming operation I'd know more, but I'm trying so please be patient!

I have many posts. I promise you this will be my last response to you.

 

[Pyxis]

Yes, thanks, we will try to be prepared. We've known people with chickens and they just die.  They never did any kind of killing thing.  Or predators ate them.  So this is a real surprise that there are so many ways that people use.  We were prepared to bring them to a place to have them "processed", if we had a lot of roosters someday, but that's if somebody's actually going to eat the animal.  We were happy to learn that chickens can live as long as a dog and didn't think we'd have to do anything like putting down an egg laying bird any time soon.  I was thinking that if this had to be done at home, it would be possible to simply administer a correct dosage of anesthetic agent or whatever is used to put down dogs?  I'm not sure what you mean by a satirical experiment?  What's that mean?  As I said before, I have an old cat.  That's about it for my animal expertise.  In the past I've brought other cats to the vet and the vet administered an injection for the cat to die.  Didn't think it's so much different with any other animals.  Why can't a bird be anesthetized?

I haven't chimed in yet, but yes, you really need to do a lot of preparing I think. It's great that you want to get into farming, and having birds is great and is my favorite thing in the whole world to do, but you really really need to read some farm blogs or something. Yes, you could pay a vet to put a bird down, but that's really expensive, assuming you could even find a vet that does birds. I don't want to sound harsh here, but it seems like you might be idealizing this whole thing. It's not easy. Birds get sick or injured and you have to put them down. They're dirty. They're hard work. Bigger farm animals even more so. So yes, you could pay a vet to put down your birds. But then you need to give up the idea that you'll EVER make money cooking with their eggs.

I think a lot of people in here are getting startled by your questions because it seems like you've done zero research on what having livestock is really like. That's probably not true, but asking things like whether or not you should vacuum your chickens and thinking that you can build a hamster-like habitat for them including an exercise wheel makes people really skeptical - and worried. I understand that you love your birds. I understand that it's your dream to own a farm and have lots of animals. But I think you really need a lot more research and reality checks before you attempt it.

That said, don't give up. Maybe try to visit someone with chickens to see what it's really like. If you're anywhere near me, I invite you to stop in some time. The same with other animals you want to own. I don't want to chase you off or discourage you, but I think you really need to be looking at this a whole lot differently that you currently are.

 

[JLaw]

Is there anyone else in here not getting a single egg? I'm at my wit's end with these birds. I never wanted to light my coop, but I think I'm going to. Seriously, thirty birds and not one egg for over a month. They've been wormed, they had lice but I dusted, they eat a good quality, non store brand food. Nothing. I can understand some of the younger birds from this summer that haven't even started yet, but not one of my older hens is laying either. It's not like they're hiding them either because they don't leave the run this time of year. Ugh.

I was getting like maybe 1-2 a day then I made changes to my set up. I think the biggest problem I had was too much wind in the nesting area. I make them go out to eat and drink but I don't think they liked the wind in nest boxes. I do have lights also though but I've noticed if I have them on at night they just stay on the roosts and sleep anyways. I'm not sure on the morning because I keep them locked up till after sun is up but I wouldn't be surprised if they sleep through it in morning also. The lights come on at like 4-5ish till 7 in morning then night at like 4-7. I've also cut back on scratch I was using it as a support feed 50/50 which was another large thing. I've never wormed they have lice I dust and sprayed but still have it just sprayed the other day so going to check in another day or so.

Thing to remember is a chicken normally slow down or stop in winter. We change they're environment and feed/water they would normally get along with light that makes they lay more in winter if we want them to lay more in winter.