Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

Well done RC. I was just about to do a search.
Need to find out about dosage.

Not exactly a peer reviewed source but poultry DVM has
5-10 mg/kg PO q8-12h

See more at: http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/ibuprofen

 

[Shadrach]

Not exactly a peer reviewed source but poultry DVM has
5-10 mg/kg PO q8-12h

See more at: http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/ibuprofen

Bookmarked. Thanks.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

Very good to know about the ibuprofen. I wouldn't have thought it would have been good for chickens but I suppose when they are dying anyways liver damage isn't worth worrying about. Thank you RC.

 

[Perris]

Not exactly a peer reviewed source but poultry DVM has
5-10 mg/kg PO q8-12h

See more at: http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/ibuprofen

Thanks! very useful

 

[Perris]

Let me run an idea past this hive mind, and especially yours @Shadrach

I am trying to let my chickens live as naturally as possible. That includes letting hens raise chicks if they feel so inclined. Most years 2 have felt so inclined somewhere between May and September. Taking into account fetal development failures, predation, and illness, I expect about 50% of a clutch to make it to adulthood, but it's very variable; last year was unusually good, the year before was unusually poor. (Because it was unusually poor I let the broodies raise bigger clutches last year than I had before.) The flock size has been about 20 for 3 years now and it works well; it's self-sustaining, it's below the carrying capacity of the land and forage available to them so there's no fighting over resources, and the flock is holding together as one and not splitting into two. As we've gone along the birds have got better at free ranging and I've got better at facilitating instead of hindering, and I have a waiting list of customers for eggs.

Meanwhile the media is scaremongering about a catastrophic decline in commercial egg production because of the price of feed, avian flu and its restrictions, and numerous other factors. I want to continue to allow broodies to do their thing, but I don't want to expand my flock to a 4th coop and more of everything. And I don't want to cull in the form of taking out old hens and spare cocks. So, I was wondering if anyone has tried hiving off a clutch-sized mixed flock, and selling them as a complete package, so to speak: a cock, a mature hen, a middle hen, and a pullet, all of whom have grown up together and know their places vis-a-vis one another already. It would include the collective wisdom and experience of free ranging and raising the next generation. Of course there may be some scuffles to re-sort the hierarchy as a separate flock - the roo in particular would be either the wonderful elder (Sven) or the subordinate junior (Pip) so he'd go (back) up, and I'm sure his life would be better compared to where he is now. And whoever took them would have an egg supply and some spare to sell to others wanting them, plus light gardening duties and fertilizing done, and possibly a broody and chicks to delight them. And they'd have to understand that these breeds don't do well in confinement; they must be free.

Would you buy in to this? As a keeper, and/or with your chicken-hat on?

 

[ManueB]

Red certainly took a beating from Cholo. At the moment we only let out one of the 2 tribes. His eye is still swollen but is open now. My wife cleans it regularly with saline solution and applies Terramycin. Same treatment we gave Cholo when he was a young cockrell and took a beating from Red.View attachment 3045972View attachment 3045979

Pretty impressive wound, I hope his eye is ok under the swelling. Is Red older than Chollo?

 

[ManueB]

. I used to be fluent in German from living there in the late 80s but time has took that from me unfortunately.

Spoke German with Grandma but she grew up in America.
I was there till 8 ...

Actually my parents made me take German in school when I wanted to take Spanish . I hated German (probably for that reason) and have also forgotten most of it!

Thank you RC.

Definitely will be useful, ibuprofen is also sold over the counter here whereas metacalm requires a prescription.

Let me run an idea past this hive mind, and especially yours

Would you buy in to this? As a keeper, and/or with your chicken-hat on?

I would have loved to start keeping chickens with a flock like this, and would also love to find that kind of arrangement when my ex-batts pass away. For one thing I wanted a rooster but was afraid to get a mean one (either to me or to the hens) ; and an other thing is that having a group that already know each other would make the integration process much easier, which I find a really stressful thing.
However, you would need to find a buyer with the proper setting and probably someone who doesn't have a full time job either to be able to let the flock free range, so that does limit the potential number of interested buyers.

 

[ManueB]

Yesterday I had stuff to do in the morning so I locked the chickens in the run. I came back at two and didn't see anyone.
When I got in the coop six of the girls had crammed up in the laying box at the back of the coop. They were all piled up one on another. The rooster came out of a nest just under the coop's roof. The last hen had built a hole to hide in the straw behind the grain barrel.
I didn't find any trace of an attack. They were not hurt and I could see nothing wrong. My best guess is that something tried to get in, either the hawk or a fox, and scared them so.

Barely 30mn later April's fool day poured some white stuff, first hail then snow. This morning the temperature was -5 and any tree that had blooms or flowers froze. It's that period of the year when I'm happy we don't depend on what we grow to live. Nothing to do but go for a run to enjoy the pillowy stuff.

 

[GregnLety]

Pretty impressive wound, I hope his eye is ok under the swelling. Is Red older than Chollo?

Red is a year older than Cholo. The swelling has gone down some, for a few days it was swollen shut. In the pictures I posted you can't see it but he can open it completely.

 

[GregnLety]

Turnabout is fair play But sometimes you have to look over your shoulder for a long time. I guess Red stopped looking.

You're right, maybe he underestimated Cholo. I did that once myself and got knocked out, lol.