Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Exactly! I know the numbers in my layer flocks, but then with the grow outs and creating some breeding pens, I totally lost track

Definitely easier said than done, I really enjoy my chickies although, with hatching all these boys, especially the ones from the mean EE rooster, wowza, they are so mean and cause a ruckus all the time, it will honestly be more peaceful once they are gone, so at least for those 9 boys... it's not going to be exactly easy, but there is definitely some relief in there!

Yeah, their antics can really give you that last push to get it done. And that peace that settles in the flock once they've been removed helps to quell the guilt I feel with the whole process. I hesitate to say it makes it easier, it's never easy, but when the girls all seem to breathe a sigh of relief because the source of the chaos in the flock has been removed, it at least makes it worthwhile.

I don't think we can have chickens in the house running around because of our 3 dogs. I don't think that would go over well with them. However, they are fine when they are outside with the chickens. I've only had 1 maybe 2 chickens the house and I went straight to my bathroom with them. Olive is in a building that is temp controlled. But, if I could have a house chicken Olive would be it.

Oh, no, no, I didn't mean chickens loose in the house on purpose! I meant them darting out the cage as soon as it's opened and causing a ruckus while I run around after them trying to grab them. Not a fun time.

Wish I had a secure outbuilding to put them in! Unfortunately, the bathroom or my bedroom are the only options for me at the moment, so chicken chasing in the house is a risk I must accept if I want to give a specific bird some one-on-one care.

I had to do the 2nd round of deworming yesterday and tried to grab Rose before she went to roost (in the rafters still), but that was such a fiasco. She's like the road runner from Wile E. Coyote. I decided it was easier to drag the ladder out later. Plus, then I checked the eaves for bantam eggs and found 2. I might invest in a net just for her.

Crazy rafter-roosting buzzards! My Sebrights were the ones that started the rafter-roosting habit in my coop, too. To this day, I still have a couple birds that insist on sleeping up there, and the Sebrights have been gone for years now.

As for as Olive, I am not able to take her to the local vets. So, after a lot of research here's what I'm doing - dropping peroxide in to soften the tissue. Using terramycin afterwards as it is labeled a broad spectrum antibiotic. While I know it's used for eyes, people have had success using it for ear infections in dogs. Rubbing calendula oil on the outside to help with healing. She's also getting ecchinecea in her water along with a little nutri-drench.

This morning when I went to check on her, her crop was a hard little ball. I don't know if I missed it or this just happened. So, I'm also giving her some coconut oil to soften that. I've done it 3 times since early this morning and the hard ball has softened up, but it's still a little lump and squishy. I haven't fed her anything since finding that.

The good news. She is still feisty. She won't let me hold open her beak to put stuff in. So, luckily she hates the q-tips just enough that she will bite at it and eat the coconut oil. She even picked a q-tip up off of the table just to throw it down.

I'm still worried about her of course. And I'm sad that she's going through all of this.

Ah, man, Olive It stinks that there are so few vets that will even see chickens, even if it's just to help in these cases. It sounds like you have a good regimen figured out, though. I think you're making all the right calls on that. Hopefully you see some change soon

When I've had a slowed or doughy crop in the past and limiting feed has not fixed it, I found that an Epsom salt drench works well to get things moving again. Let me know if you'd like instructions for that, I can look them up real quick. But hopefully you won't need it for her

Her still giving you attitude is a very good sign, though! And that's funny about the q-tips--sassy girl! I definitely hear you on worrying anyway. Lots of hugs

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Picture of the day 36! Look at that, Peanut Butter finally let me get a good shot of her, too.

Just one runner up. Always with the nosy birds, this time it's Fifi. This loon has been crowing as much as the roosters have been lately!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Yeah, their antics can really give you that last push to get it done. And that peace that settles in the flock once they've been removed helps to quell the guilt I feel with the whole process. I hesitate to say it makes it easier, it's never easy, but when the girls all seem to breathe a sigh of relief because the source of the chaos in the flock has been removed, it at least makes it worthwhile.




Oh, no, no, I didn't mean chickens loose in the house on purpose! I meant them darting out the cage as soon as it's opened and causing a ruckus while I run around after them trying to grab them. Not a fun time.

Wish I had a secure outbuilding to put them in! Unfortunately, the bathroom or my bedroom are the only options for me at the moment, so chicken chasing in the house is a risk I must accept if I want to give a specific bird some one-on-one care.




Crazy rafter-roosting buzzards! My Sebrights were the ones that started the rafter-roosting habit in my coop, too. To this day, I still have a couple birds that insist on sleeping up there, and the Sebrights have been gone for years now.




Ah, man, Olive It stinks that there are so few vets that will even see chickens, even if it's just to help in these cases. It sounds like you have a good regimen figured out, though. I think you're making all the right calls on that. Hopefully you see some change soon

When I've had a slowed or doughy crop in the past and limiting feed has not fixed it, I found that an Epsom salt drench works well to get things moving again. Let me know if you'd like instructions for that, I can look them up real quick. But hopefully you won't need it for her

Her still giving you attitude is a very good sign, though! And that's funny about the q-tips--sassy girl! I definitely hear you on worrying anyway. Lots of hugs

Oh, I knew that you don't have chickens in the house on purpose. I might not have phrased that right.

I would like to know how to do the Epsom drench. Thank you! Her crop was hard this morning, but I got it back down. I did give her a little very watery mash just now since she hasn't eaten in about 36 hours.

The ear is turning different colors (probably not phrasing this right though) like I can see the pus, but I just can't get to it. In other threads people have a plug or a crust to scrape off with these type of ear infections. Olive's ear doesn't have this. I'm afraid if I scrape, I'm scraping her skin off. Maybe I could poke a hole and drain some of it? But, I feel she's already quite tired and traumatized. She's still feisty. But, gets away from me and stands in a corner as soon as she can.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Picture of the day 36! Look at that, Peanut Butter finally let me get a good shot of her, too.

View attachment 3892736


Just one runner up. Always with the nosy birds, this time it's Fifi. This loon has been crowing as much as the roosters have been lately!

View attachment 3892737

Fifi looks nosey.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

She's gone.

I fed her a little earlier. She ate very little. I came out to work on her ear. I was getting some warm water to cool down and had her wrapped in a towel. She started seizing and then died. I'm so so so sad.

 

[2ndTink]

She's gone.

I fed her a little earlier. She ate very little. I came out to work on her ear. I was getting some warm water to cool down and had her wrapped in a towel. She started seizing and then died. I'm so so so sad.

I'm so sorry

 

[2ndTink]

Picture of the day 36! Look at that, Peanut Butter finally let me get a good shot of her, too.

View attachment 3892736


Just one runner up. Always with the nosy birds, this time it's Fifi. This loon has been crowing as much as the roosters have been lately!

View attachment 3892737

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

She's gone.

I fed her a little earlier. She ate very little. I came out to work on her ear. I was getting some warm water to cool down and had her wrapped in a towel. She started seizing and then died. I'm so so so sad.

Oh, no!! I am so, so sorry! It sounds like you were doing everything right, that's so strange! These birds can just be so fragile sometimes.

I would like to know how to do the Epsom drench. Thank you! Her crop was hard this morning, but I got it back down. I did give her a little very watery mash just now since she hasn't eaten in about 36 hours.

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this.

I use 1 teaspoon of Epsom salt per cup of water. Run the water warm from the sink so that the salt dissolves into it easier, then let it cool once dissolved so that it's easier for them to drink. I tube a little of it into my birds to get them started, but you can also very carefully drip it from a syringe onto their beak so that it rolls inside their mouth and they swallow it if you're not comfortable with tubing. I'd do about 1/2 of a cup that way at that concentration (more or less depending on the size of the bird and how much room is in the crop) and then put the rest in their water dish to drink from the rest of the day. Birds in particularly bad shape, I'll do another round of it in the evening before bed.

This is a laxative, so it should not only water down what's in the crop, but also push it on through the bird's system along with the drench. Usually by the next day the crop is at least greatly reduced if not emptied so they are a bit easier to work with. If not then you can drench them a second day and maybe a third, but I try not to push it too much if it doesn't seem to be at least helping by the second day.

You can also do a more concentrated version, about a teaspoon of Epsom salt in ~2 tablespoons of warm water, in extreme cases where you need things to move ASAP. You would put all of that (or as much as you can) in the bird at once to get things going rather than only doing a partial dose, and do that both first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I again wouldn't push it past 2-3 days like that due to an abundance of caution. You would provide fresh water to them in this case, not Epsom salt water as in the previous case.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Busy day! My absolute favorite movie was given an anniversary re-release in theaters for just this week and I'd never seen it on the big screen before, so as an early birthday gift I went and saw it today. UGH, what a fantastic experience. Anyway, the birds were NOT happy with me because they had to stay in until I got home. Sorry girls!

Today's picture of the day, day 37, is another double. Kya and the pullet she hatched. I was hoping for a halfways decent shot of Kya since I don't really have one, but she flapped her wings and turned away (protesting the late free-range, perhaps?) before I could try for a better shot.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Oh, no!! I am so, so sorry! It sounds like you were doing everything right, that's so strange! These birds can just be so fragile sometimes.

I keep thinking that she was just exhausted and stressed by me. Yesterday she kept going back into her kennel when I had taken her out. But, I did think she was doing OK as she hopped on top of it - acting more like a normal chicken. Except, the swelling wasn't going down at all and I know she did not like me messing with her. The other thing is is that she really wasn't eating - even before I took her off of food. A few things that I observed prior make me think that maybe she wasn't doing as well as I thought and she had a lower immune system and this is why she came down with the ear issue. She would roost quite often and even sleep in the run. I thought it was weird, but then she would act fine other times. Most of my chickens aren't sleeping during the day, but I read that sometimes they do.

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this.

I looked it up after you mentioned it, but didn't have time to attempt to give it to her. But, it's good to have on hand. I don't know how comfortable I am with tubing, but maybe should learn for my larger birds.

In the 7 plus years that I've had chickens, I have not once saved one from dying when I thought it was feasible. I was hoping this was the one time.