NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

I went down to close up the coop and there was blood EVERYWHERE....OMG....I thought something had gotten in the coop and hurt one of the birds.

Turns out the WHITE hen had torn her toe nail somehow and was roosting in the rafters dripping blood all over everyone. Bluekote is a wonderful thing, except if it is a WHITE bird. But she was picking at the blood on her own chest....you know, the blood she put there herself scratching her chest, her head, her wing. Poor thing looks terrible, but I am going to be gone for 2 days so I had to cover every spot of blood with bluekote or risk her being nude (or dead) when I got back. (had to put it on the spots that dripped on the other birds too. It's now a very purple spotted flock)


On a more serious note, can adult birds get wry neck? Randy the Roo has a twisted neck and falls off the roost at night. Otherwise he is acting fine and eating, walking and crowing like his neck isn't spinning around at odd intervals. I hope that is what it is, cuz I don't want Merek's in my flock and he's my main roo.

I tried to do a quick research for Wry neck and I think it may be a vitamin deficiency. What are you feeding your birds? I read that it might be a vitamin E thing. I haven't done deeper research but you might try giving every one a dose of vitamins. I try to do so once a month. While the books say commercial feed is sufficient I don't think that is the case. After all we still have to feed hens osyter shells to keep their eggs hard don' t we?

As for the blue kote it is a God send. All my roos have blue heads.

It's not really funny IMO. Every winter no matter what I do there is damage. I swear if I had the room I'd separate them each to his own warm pen. I might just build something for that, you never know.

Happy - I plan to order some Del chicks and don't want to order 25 so I was thinking of ordering 15 and 10 PR's. They would be straight run of course. I did read that they are late bloomers. But I can't think of anything else he has to order that folks would want. BO's are pretty common.

In further news I was in TSC and ran into a nice young lady and her DD and we got to talking. I'm not shy you know. Anyhow I asked her if she knew of BYC and she said yes , who are you? I said Rancher Hicks, she says "oh yeah, I know you , your famous". I laughed but didnt' ask her why she thought I was famous. After all Charles Manson is famous too.

We talked for a while and then I finally shut up. I had to switch my crumble layer for the pellets I wanted. TSC has them on sale for $14. A five day sale.

 

[Cass]

I tried to do a quick research for Wry neck and I think it may be a vitamin deficiency. What are you feeding your birds? I read that it might be a vitamin E thing. I haven't done deeper research but you might try giving every one a dose of vitamins. I try to do so once a month. While the books say commercial feed is sufficient I don't think that is the case. After all we still have to feed hens osyter shells to keep their eggs hard don' t we?

In further news I was in TSC and ran into a nice young lady and her DD and we got to talking. I'm not shy you know. Anyhow I asked her if she knew of BYC and she said yes , who are you? I said Rancher Hicks, she says "oh yeah, I know you , your famous". I laughed but didnt' ask her why she thought I was famous. After all Charles Manson is famous too.

We talked for a while and then I finally shut up. I had to switch my crumble layer for the pellets I wanted. TSC has them on sale for $14. A five day sale.

Thanks Rancher. I did research too. (Sincerely I don't expect y'all to fix my life for me, I can use a search engine) BUT I didn't find ANY info on age that it strikes. I cured a chick of wry neck with vitamins....I just used Poly-Vi-Sol (w/o iron)....turns out I should have used that AND Vit E/selium mix....but what did *I* know....it was just a chick, I would have culled it if it hadn't responded to the cheapest treatment. Face it, even $5 chicks aren't worth $10 in vitamin suppliments.

Rancher, you ARE famous. Sincerely. We all count on you to make us smile and in return we add you to our prayers regarding your aches and pains....can't have your fingers hurt too much to type, now, can we?

 

[Nambroth]

Thanks Rancher. I did research too. (Sincerely I don't expect y'all to fix my life for me, I can use a search engine) BUT I didn't find ANY info on age that it strikes. I cured a chick of wry neck with vitamins....I just used Poly-Vi-Sol (w/o iron)....turns out I should have used that AND Vit E/selium mix....but what did *I* know....it was just a chick, I would have culled it if it hadn't responded to the cheapest treatment. Face it, even $5 chicks aren't worth $10 in vitamin suppliments.

Rancher, you ARE famous. Sincerely. We all count on you to make us smile and in return we add you to our prayers regarding your aches and pains....can't have your fingers hurt too much to type, now, can we?

I used the Poly-Vi-Sol (no iron) in combo with Vitamin E/Selium to treat a chick with wry neck successfully myself. I'm glad I spent the extra, as she turned out to be a true sweetheart of a chicken, and has actually brought me more income than my egg laying hens... but I should emphasize that my birds are pets also and I understand not wanting to invest a lot in a livestock animal.

 

[Cass]

I used the Poly-Vi-Sol (no iron) in combo with Vitamin E/Selium to treat a chick with wry neck successfully myself. I'm glad I spent the extra, as she turned out to be a true sweetheart of a chicken, and has actually brought me more income than my egg laying hens... but I should emphasize that my birds are pets also and I understand not wanting to invest a lot in a livestock animal.

Oh, I hear you....I would probably spend whatever it takes to cure my birds now....but I was very very new to chickens when this happened and I wasn't even sure I was going to like having chickens at the time.

And I don't want Rancher to think I baby my chickens. (but I do LOL)

 

[Henicillin]

Sorry to hear about your silkie, Horsekeeper.

When the two Polish boys were still in residence, they both had purple-streaked 'dos because the pullets liked to pick at their crests, and they were happy to let the girls do it. It was a pretty cool rockstar look, really.

My frostbitten boys are doing very well with their Bag Balm slatherings. I don't even think they'll lose their tips.

EggCartons.com just made me very happy. They have "irregular" (blemished or imperfectly painted) egg scales for sale for thirteen bucks right now. I'd love an antique one, but haven't found one yet at a price I like, so this one will fill the bill.

The ladies have contributed a dozen eggs for two days running - good girls! I have a Cuckoo Marans from Meyer Hatchery who is turning out to be a laying machine. She's right up there with the Leghorns, rarely missing a day. Her eggs are nowhere near as dark as a breeder-quality bird's would be, of course, but they still look pretty cool.

 

[rancher hicks]

Cass, you know I love you. Thanks for the prayers too. I've got bandages in two fingers already. This cold causes them to crack even with not going out often. I don't expect anyone to baby their birds. I sure don't. Even if I do give them a hot breakfast of creamed corn and bread and milk.

How can we not baby them? It's not who they are, it's who we are.

Heni - I've got the Bag balm and while it's good for them it' can't hurt my hands either, can it? Only thing is they don't like me rubbing it on as much as I like doing it.

This is how they act. I got a nice bite from a Blk orp the other night.

 

[Cass]

Cass, you know I love you. Thanks for the prayers too. I've got bandages in two fingers already. This cold causes them to crack even with not going out often. I don't expect anyone to baby their birds. I sure don't. Even if I do give them a hot breakfast of creamed corn and bread and milk.

How can we not baby them? It's not who they are, it's who we are.

Heni - I've got the Bag balm and while it's good for them it' can't hurt my hands either, can it? Only thing is they don't like me rubbing it on as much as I like doing it.

This is how they act. I got a nice bite from a Blk orp the other night.

Rancher, you make me smile soooo very much. Thank you.

Have you tried putting a petroleum product on your hands at night? NO MOTOR OIL, silly....vasoline or antibiotic ointment....it's the ONLY thing that fixes the cracks in my mom's hands in the winter. She puts white gloves on her hands to keep the product off her sheets....but a bandaid over the spot you are treating would work too.

Have you tried biting the chicken back to teach them how much that hurts?

 

[Henicillin]

Quote:

Cass, you know I love you. Thanks for the prayers too. I've got bandages in two fingers already. This cold causes them to crack even with not going out often. I don't expect anyone to baby their birds. I sure don't. Even if I do give them a hot breakfast of creamed corn and bread and milk.

How can we not baby them? It's not who they are, it's who we are.

Heni - I've got the Bag balm and while it's good for them it' can't hurt my hands either, can it? Only thing is they don't like me rubbing it on as much as I like doing it.

This is how they act. I got a nice bite from a Blk orp the other night.

It's great for cracked hands. My husband's hands are prone to chapping and cracking, and it definitely helps him. It's essentially Vaseline, lanolin, and an antiseptic, and it's good for human use. We sell it in our skin care aisle.

My boys aren't the problem when I apply the BB to their combs. The younger Leghorn is the issue - she tries to peck me when I'm handling her man.

 

[happyhensny]

Quote:

It's great for cracked hands. My husband's hands are prone to chapping and cracking, and it definitely helps him. It's essentially Vaseline, lanolin, and an antiseptic, and it's good for human use. We sell it in our skin care aisle.

My boys aren't the problem when I apply the BB to their combs. The younger Leghorn is the issue - she tries to peck me when I'm handling her man.

She will have to learn how to share, sassy girl!

 

[featherz]

Yuk! Was not supposed to be this cold this morning. Weather said +9, but it's -5 here. And I didn't cover my water bowls (to keep the humidity down in the coops). Ah well, humidity outside is at 80% so I am guessing it's not gonna matter much. I do have one leghorn with a frostbitten wattle, but she has bigger wattles than any roo and is dipping them in the water. Silly girl. Tempted to attack her with the bag balm again, but waiting until it warms up. She laid an egg, tho.