Sebright Bantam Hen Suddenly Aggressive?

[ClareScifi]

I have tried giving my hens baths, but they don't take to them. I did have some luck washing their behinds with washrags, but they didn't much care for it. I'm thinking I need to try to do that for Esther today. She laid an egg and scared me to death. It was hanging out of her rear end! I thought it was stuck inside her (you and I had just been discussing the eggbound/broken condition), and I was so scared. But I think the egg must have gotten stuck on some poop that was in her tail feathers. I think it was fully out of her, just stuck or glued onto some feathers with poop. It finally fell off on its own. I had tried to unglue some feathers holding it on, but that hadn't work, but it finally came off. Poor girl! Always some new weird situation like this to have to deal with/worry about. She seems fine, though. Doesn't seem at all in pain. She was gleefully eating her laying mash when I found her with the egg still attached to her bottom! I thought it was a prolapse at first. Scared me senseless.

I do feed them lots of watermelon in the summer. They love that, to keep cool. They don't care for cantaloupe, though. Or honeydew. Only watermelon.

Bumblefoot is when they cut their foot on anything, which is easy for them to do when scratching in the dirt. Could even just be a thistle or goatshead prickly. Then they get a staph infection and knots swell up on their feet. Can be debilitating and even kill them if not caught in time. Thankfully, I have not yet had to deal with this one.

I do play with my chickens. My favorite is blowing bubbles for them. They love that. Chasing the bubbles around the yard. I sing to them at bedtime "Good Night Ladies" and various lullabyes. The rooster loves "Sleep My Child & Peace Attend Thee, All Through the Night... Guardian Angels God Will Send Thee... All Through the Night..." It's flattering that the chickens like my singing voice, because no one else does. HAHA

 

[chickens 4 ever]

You are so funny, and very nice! That would scare me to! Her egg just laying there! I should try blowing
bubbles for my chickens. It's amazing how God made chickens so unique and so different! Thats why I
love them! They are unique and different..... And can be HILARIOUS!! I love my chickens!!

 

[ClareScifi]

Your chickens are so lucky to have you, Chickens 4 ever! You are a great, caring Chicken Mama!

I had another scare yesterday afternoon. Little Merry Etta started attacking my foot again, like she did a week ago. I was cleaning out her coop, and she didn't care for my presence in there, as she loves her privacy and was trying to lay an egg, unsuccessfully. At bed time, she still hadn't laid one, as far as I could tell, and she decided to spend the night under the nesting box, like she had once done before, on March 20 (I checked my old postings in this forum for the date).

I reached in and tried to feel for an egg, and she pecked me. But not hard. Just to let me know she didn't appreciate my rummaging around in there around her like that. So I think she might be broody? But I can't imagine what her chicks would look like since the rooster is huge and different colored than she is, so I don't think it would be wise to try to hatch them. I'm not even sure she could hatch chicks fertilized by a different, big breed of chicken like the rooster?

So she slept under the nesting box all night. I was worried she might be sick. This morning I did find an egg in her nest, and she was out in the run, but not acting as perky as usual. Standing in a corner. I am a little worried. I am thinking I may put the laying mash in the run, and if the rooster eats it, too, well I don't know what I can do about it. It might be that Merry Etta isn't getting enough calcium and having an egg-laying problem? Laying mash isn't good for roosters (too much calcium), but the rooster loves the taste of it.

I'd hate for a chicken to die of eggbinding. What a horrible death. And if I let her out to eat the laying mash away from the rooster, with my luck she'd go broody under the house, and then I'd really worry about her.

I suppose I can leave the rooster in the one pen all by himself while I let the girls go at the laying mash. This all takes a lot of coordination-- having a rooster on a special diet. But they are all worth it!

The rooster does have a couple of blood spots on his feathers this morning. One on his neck, up high and another on his back. I don't see any blood on his comb that could have dripped down there, so I'm wondering where the blood came from. I wonder whether he might have mites or something?

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Mites? Oh that would be bad! AWWWWWW, poor Mary Etta

........ What is your roosters name? Yes egg binding would be a terrible terrible death. What kind of snacks do you regularly feed them? I feed mine bread and cheese ( they LOVE cheese) and I fed them mashed potatoes once! HAHA. Oh if you didn't already know this DONT feed your chickens onions. There bad for them and makes there eggs taste really bad....... I have always wanted an Ameraucana, there eggs are awesome! They lay lots of different colors. What kinds of chickens do you have? I know you have a Bantam, but what else? I have an Australorp ( she is beautiful) and then I have a white leghorn. She is like a creamy white, very pretty

So how have you been? I feel like all we talk about is chicken..... Whats your name? I'm Hayley

 

[ClareScifi]

My rooster's name is Baby.

I used to give my chickens snacks of rice and bread as treats, but I don't anymore. I am in another chicken group where they say that is not a good idea, because it can keep them from getting enough proper nutrition, because it's too starchy to be good for them. Also, I think I lost a hen to fatty hemorrhagic liver disease, and that is also known as fatty liver, so cheese is out for my girls. Hatcheries sell broiler birds for slaughter and they fatten up too fast. Obesity in chickens is a real problem, causing premature death. So I stick to their chicken mash, water with 1 T of Apple Cider vinegar in it per gallon (helps their digestion and prevents worms, it is thought by some), a T of plain non-fat yogurt once a week (they love it!) and mixed baby greens. I also give them all the watermelon they want in the summertime.

Sometimes they raid the cat food when I forget to put it up. They love it, but it is very bad for them, so I try to keep them away from it. Sometimes they raid the compost pile. My neighbor had thrown a sugar doughnut in there once, and I saw them madly devouring it, along with mashed potatoes they had also thrown out. So I try not to let them near the compost pile. LOL.

Celery and artichokes and stringy vegetables like that are bad for chickens, because the strings can bind their crops. Avocados are a no-no, too, as are potato peels (raw).

 

[Malibu99]

My rooster's name is Baby.

I used to give my chickens snacks of rice and bread as treats, but I don't anymore. I am in another chicken group where they say that is not a good idea, because it can keep them from getting enough proper nutrition, because it's too starchy to be good for them. Also, I think I lost a hen to fatty hemorrhagic liver disease, and that is also known as fatty liver, so cheese is out for my girls. Hatcheries sell broiler birds for slaughter and they fatten up too fast. Obesity in chickens is a real problem, causing premature death. So I stick to their chicken mash, water with 1 T of Apple Cider vinegar in it per gallon (helps their digestion and prevents worms, it is thought by some), a T of plain non-fat yogurt once a week (they love it!) and mixed baby greens. I also give them all the watermelon they want in the summertime.

Sometimes they raid the cat food when I forget to put it up. They love it, but it is very bad for them, so I try to keep them away from it. Sometimes they raid the compost pile. My neighbor had thrown a sugar doughnut in there once, and I saw them madly devouring it, along with mashed potatoes they had also thrown out. So I try not to let them near the compost pile. LOL.

Celery and artichokes and stringy vegetables like that are bad for chickens, because the strings can bind their crops. Avocados are a no-no, too, as are potato peels (raw).

Wow.. a doughnut in a compost pile XD Do you know how old the chicks have to be to have ACV in their water? And how old for yogurt?

 

[ClareScifi]

I was told 8 weeks for the AVC. I think I waited till my chicks were older, though. Maybe 20 weeks, to be on the safe side. I think I started Esther on it earlier than that, probably as soon as I learned about its value, but I don't recall how old she was at that time. Probably about 8-10 weeks. Not sure about the yogurt. Some say dairy products are not good for chickens because they don't digest it well, but others think yogurt has redeeming value in providing valuable bacteria and helping improve their immune systems and health. Opinions vary. They sure do love the taste of it. Some think AVC doesn't really work, but I think there is something to it. My girls drink their water well with it in it. But it is important not to leave the water with AVC in the sun in hot weather, because it may sour.

 

[Malibu99]

Aahh. We culture our own Milk Kefir and my mother wants to give them some. She says that if they can eat yogurt, they can eat milk kefir. It is unsweetened and unflavored, and organic :3 Would it be okay for them? They're 6 or 7 weeks, and eat anything in sight. Including mudpies that a little girl makes when she comes over ._.

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, how darling that they eat the little girl's mudpies, Malibu!

 

[Malibu99]

Yup. What she does is she takes grass, oyster shell, dandelion leaves, and mud, mixes it together in a pot, then makes cookie shaped things and puts them on the slide of my swingset to dry in the sun. Then she sprinkles them with a little bit of feed XD They love it.