Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[fisherlady]

On my seconds and closer inspection, I see now that my favorite girl has a puncture wound. She has been just standing and not pecking much, and not interested in food, but she did drink a little. I have her inside on some towels in the dog crate to keep her warm. Only time will tell, but it doesn't look good at this point.

.

I have nutridrench, but do I just add to her water at this point or just shoot a dropper full down her throat?

I don't remember the dose on it... but I would just mix it up in a small quantity, give her 2 or 3 droppers worth of it right off and put the rest into a chick waterer or small dish for her in her hospital cage.
Wash the puncture out thoroughly with either warm, soapy water or disinfectant of your choice, if you found one puncture you can picture how a small set of jaws would fit around the hen and then check on the opposite side to see if there is another puncture or possibly just a bruise. The upper and lower canines are intended to grip prey, so the wounds often follow the pattern of the teeth. Sometimes prey gets lucky and the bite isn't square and if that is the case then the patterns are disrupted. I am hoping it was disrupted on your hen.

 

[chiques chicks]

X2 - and I'll never do that again !!
Unless it smells or leaks, or I really need the incubator space (never a problem with my cabinet incubator), it stays until lockdown. At lockdown, any eggs I can clearly see through are discarded, but the dark colored eggs (Welsummer and Marans) stay anyway, though I've gotten quite good at telling which of those are duds at lockdown, but those dark eggs (for my Welbar project) are so valuable to me I won't risk anything with them.

How late do the "chronic hatchers" on here keep their incubators going? I know it's late in the season already, but it's so hard to quit . . .

X2 on all that!

I quit hatching some time ago, but have three broodies hatching right now. It was their idea.

 

[chiques chicks]

Hello from West Chester! I didn't even know this thread existed until someone in the ducks forum directed me to it to get an answer to a question I posted there.

I'm planning to start showing next season, so I'm trying to find a way to get my AI testing done at a reasonable price.I had to call around to several avian vets to even find one of those who can do it, and it's going to cost around $300. That's going to run into a lot of money if we have to have it done every month or two, so I'm really hoping some of you can give me some other alternatives.


Thanks for any suggestions, and it's GREAT to see that there's a PA thread!

Welcome to our little corner.
What kind of ducks? I don't have ducks, the neighbor does.

And two acres is plenty to add a few chickens, especially if they are hens so you don't bother the neighbors as much. Quail are an option, too. Many of us do not have farms, just animals, lol.

I don't enable much.

 

[barbiegirl]

Well I broke down and gave my 2 broody hens eggs to sit on. I can't believe my Barred Rock just started to lay like last month and she is broody already. Next month I should have some little peeps!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Thanks for the welcome!

At the moment, we have Rouen, Khaki Campbell, Buffs, and Anconas. We're looking to rehome the Buffs and Anconas because we're switching to primarily Call breeding and showing.
I'd really like to have a few chickens, but my husband won't hear of it, and that is not likely to ever change

 

[hendricks115]

Ick, I caught a head cold and can't sleep, even with NyQuil. Chicken question, has anyone seen their egg production drop yet because of day light? I have one chicken that went broody again, but I feel like I still am getting less eggs. Maybe they are upset about being penned up.

I can relate to both your issues! The head cold is horrible. I've had 2 days of very little sleep, I'm so stuffed up I can't breathe. On the second part, our egg production has been way down for over a week already. I've only been getting a few eggs a day. I want to make a dutch pear cake today and I'm probably going to have to run down the road to a neighbor and buy some eggs. We are right in the middle of our old girls slowing production and our new ones haven't started yet, so that doesn't help either!

 

[labradoodlemama]

My 2 leghorns (24 wks) have stopped laying. I got my 1st egg Aug 7 and soon after I started getting 2 eggs a day. Every once in awhile I got a soft shelled and 1 rubber egg. I posted on here and was told to start layer feed even though my other girls where younger, so I took that advice and when my grower was all I bought layer feed and oyster shells about 3 wks ago. In they mean they stopped laying. I thought I had an egg eater but I checked all the nests and there is no sign of anything. They have also stopped squatting at my feet. Is this normal? I also had got 3 girls and 1 cockerel from beaglady right before this started. Could it be stress? They are now getting along ok. My other 12 are not laying yet but I think soon since they are getting red in face and getting bright red wattles. (19 wks) HELP!!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

I don't remember the dose on it... but I would just mix it up in a small quantity, give her 2 or 3 droppers worth of it right off and put the rest into a chick waterer or small dish for her in her hospital cage.
Wash the puncture out thoroughly with either warm, soapy water or disinfectant of your choice, if you found one puncture you can picture how a small set of jaws would fit around the hen and then check on the opposite side to see if there is another puncture or possibly just a bruise. The upper and lower canines are intended to grip prey, so the wounds often follow the pattern of the teeth. Sometimes prey gets lucky and the bite isn't square and if that is the case then the patterns are disrupted.  I am hoping it was disrupted on your hen.

I think you hit the nail on the head; it looks like one part is a superficial skin wound, whereas the other part is a bit of a puncture. I cleansed all the wounds with Peroxide. She is alert but not moving around much. I have her in the dog crate on some towels and I am keeping it dark so she can rest. I take it as a good note, she ate a whole scrambled egg so far. Fingers crossed!

Well I broke down and gave my 2 broody hens eggs to sit on. I can't believe my Barred Rock just started to lay like last month and she is broody already. Next month I should have some little peeps!

Hope you get some Chickies soon!

Thanks for the welcome!

At the moment, we have Rouen, Khaki Campbell, Buffs, and Anconas. We're looking to rehome the Buffs and Anconas because we're switching to primarily Call breeding and showing.
I'd really like to have a few chickens, but my husband won't hear of it, and that is not likely to ever change

You may be surprised, my DH went from not being crazy about having chickens, to today, when people come over, he's always happy to have them meet the hens.

I can relate to both your issues! The head cold is horrible. I've had 2 days of very little sleep, I'm so stuffed up I can't breathe. On the second part, our egg production has been way down for over a week already. I've only been getting a few eggs a day. I want to make a dutch pear cake today and I'm probably going to have to run down the road to a neighbor and buy some eggs. We are right in the middle of our old girls slowing production and our new ones haven't started yet, so that doesn't help either!

We must have the same thing. I couldnt sleep hardly at all the past two nights. Even with NyQuil! I think I picked it up from the little boy I was holding at church with green stuff coming out of his nose.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

You may be surprised, my DH went from not being crazy about having chickens, to today, when people come over, he's always happy to have them meet the hens.

I'd be so surprised that I'd probably have to be hospitalized for shock. I'm pasting some clips of posts I did in the duck forum that explain why this isn't likely to ever change...

Reply to someone's suggestion that I get a broody Silkie:

"If worse comes to worst, I'll try to convince the hubby on the silkie. He's a wonderful man who will go along with almost anything that makes me happy, but he has put his foot down on chickens. He grew up on a chicken farm and worked on it since he was 6 or 7 years old, and he's said more than once that he never wants to see a living chicken again as long as he lives. When I brought up the subject again last spring, we were standing outside and he just looked up at the sky. I waited a few seconds, then said, "Are you praying?" and he said, "No, I'm counting to 100." A chicken is going to be a very hard sell

"

Next reply to her reply:

"Hubby was in a great mood this morning, as he usually is. I thought it might be a good time to discuss potential hatching scenarios with him so I'd have some time to work on it, especially since he brought up babies and hatching and keeping Sophia for hatching in case the Calls didn't go broody. I explained to him that people on this board had seconded my reservations about Sophia being too heavy, so he said that meant we'd just have to get an incubator even though we agreed long ago that artificial incubation wasn't our preference.

I did get at least part of the way through my sentence. "Well, since we've always agreed we want to do natural hatching, if the Calls won't go broody, there is another option. The people on BYC have suggested that the next best option would be..."

That's as far as I got before the, "Oh, no. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! YOU ARE ABOUT TO SAY THE C WORD! I CAN FEEL THE C WORD COMING. DO NOT SAY THE C WORD!" Then he went outside to work on modifcations to the pen and house.

Boy do I hope we get at least a couple of broody Calls. He told me a good while back that he's never seen a Silkie chicken, but I seriously doubt I could buy one and convince him it's an exotic breed of duck

"

 

[wingstone]

Since the rainy day has allowed a little extra time, I decided to stop in and say Hello..
Hello to all the new names.
Just to let those know that have meat birds ordered, I will be starting those this Saturday and working on that pen for the next 3 weeks, let me know when it suits you for pick up ..717-824-6829.. slim chance of me answering but please leave message..
I also have duck available at $2.50 a pound..I have smaller one's that will be around 3 pounds or I have large Muscovy that will be closer to 8 or 9 pounds, a good chance to try duck meat at a reasonable price..
Will also have a few thanksgiving turkey available.