Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

Tax contribution for all the feed stuff, and photos of chicks and hens sans roos: Llyn giving it all he's got

and blackberry picking (he's highly selective, only taking the ripe ones)

 

[Shadrach]

I've mentioned on other threads who's advice one pays heed to can be the difference between success and failure.
Unfortunately we now live in a world where everyone can publish their opinion and a current fashion is that each opinion is of equal value. It isn't.
When it comes to the majority of medical problems one can research the topic through the various online medical texts and find the information one needs.
There are exceptions. This for me was one such exception which demonstrates what I though was an interesting range of responses and even more so, an interesting result.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nuerological-or-something-else.1318208/

Bracket was alive and well when I left Catalonia.

So, when seeking advice on an internnet forum try and check the probability that the person who is giving the advice has at least some experience of the problem you are faced with. Good intentions and empathy are great, but not much use when you've got a critical problem.
One way of checking is looking at profiles and photo albums.
On the profile page is is a small box with Find written in it. It offers Content, Threads and Articles.
There is a lot of regurgitating advice and information from other posts and medical texts. You can find all this yourself.

A lot of what I've learned about chickens and chicken keeping has come from observation and other chicken keepers I've known over the years. I learned very little from Internet forums until I got off the main drama boards and started reading the better articles and reading some of the threads from some of the more experienced chicken keepers.
Some of the most interesting and evenually proven to be useful information I found came from chicken keepers in Catalonia. There were as one might expect problems in translation, some of which were pretty funny.

One such piece of advice concerns the problem of Isolation and transportation.
Most people do not habitually move their chickens long distances. People involved in cock fighting and specialist breeding however do move chickens long distances, often to and from other countries.

I and the chickens found taking trips to the vets very stressfull when I started doing this. They don't like being caught and shoved in a strange container.
I mentioned this problem to one of my Catalonian friends and he told me to buy a pet transporter of the appropriate size and leave it open in a area where the chickens would see it and investigate it permenantly. He kept one in each of his runs for his game fowl. Each container was kept open and in his case filled with bedding. The cock and hen got used to the container and even built their nests in it after a while. Ushering a bird into one in such circumstances is virtually stress free for all. These days a plastic pet transporter are easiest to keep in good condition when outside. My friend still used the tradititional wicker basket.
I ended up with two. One I kept outside and another in my house.

 

[Shadrach]

If you plan on keeping chickens for the long term and intend to contribute to forms such as BYC take pictures; lots of pictures. Not only can they illustrate a problem much better than text, they'll provide you with a record of who, when and where.
Today with the prevelance of mobile phones with decent cameras having the means to take pictures shouldn't be a problem. Storage is cheap these days.
I really regret not having a camera in the first few years of living in Catalonia.

A couple of examples of pictures being worth a thousand words.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...fect-hen-bedding.1540581/page-2#post-26004920

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/so-do-i-really-need-a-walk-in-coop.1540673/post-26000022

 

[no fly zone]

Found this little guy in the big coop this morning. He was lucky it was still dark and Skeksis or Mr. Bumble didn't see him.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

84 sunny 64 % humidity feels like 91 with a 1 % chance of precipitation.

Have a great day!

 

[Iluveggers]

I've mentioned on other threads who's advice one pays heed to can be the difference between success and failure.
Unfortunately we now live in a world where everyone can publish their opinion and a current fashion is that each opinion is of equal value. It isn't.
When it comes to the majority of medical problems one can research the topic through the various online medical texts and find the information one needs.
There are exceptions. This for me was one such exception which demonstrates what I though was an interesting range of responses and even more so, an interesting result.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nuerological-or-something-else.1318208/

Bracket was alive and well when I left Catalonia.

So, when seeking advice on an internnet forum try and check the probability that the person who is giving the advice has at least some experience of the problem you are faced with. Good intentions and empathy are great, but not much use when you've got a critical problem.
One way of checking is looking at profiles and photo albums.
On the profile page is is a small box with Find written in it. It offers Content, Threads and Articles.
There is a lot of regurgitating advice and information from other posts and medical texts. You can find all this yourself.

A lot of what I've learned about chickens and chicken keeping has come from observation and other chicken keepers I've known over the years. I learned very little from Internet forums until I got off the main drama boards and started reading the better articles and reading some of the threads from some of the more experienced chicken keepers.
Some of the most interesting and evenually proven to be useful information I found came from chicken keepers in Catalonia. There were as one might expect problems in translation, some of which were pretty funny.

One such piece of advice concerns the problem of Isolation and transportation.
Most people do not habitually move their chickens long distances. People involved in cock fighting and specialist breeding however do move chickens long distances, often to and from other countries.

I and the chickens found taking trips to the vets very stressfull when I started doing this. They don't like being caught and shoved in a strange container.
I mentioned this problem to one of my Catalonian friends and he told me to buy a pet transporter of the appropriate size and leave it open in a area where the chickens would see it and investigate it permenantly. He kept one in each of his runs for his game fowl. Each container was kept open and in his case filled with bedding. The cock and hen got used to the container and even built their nests in it after a while. Ushering a bird into one in such circumstances is virtually stress free for all. These days a plastic pet transporter are easiest to keep in good condition when outside. My friend still used the tradititional wicker basket.
I ended up with two. One I kept outside and another in my house.
View attachment 3205299View attachment 3205300View attachment 3205302

That is a great idea, @Shadrach . Before I moved my chicks to the coop, they lived in a large dog crate brooder in the garage. (Coop was not predator proofed right away). I wanted them to have access to the run, so I put a smaller dog crate in front of the one they were brooding in. They would go back & forth between the two. When we wanted to carry them out back to the run, I would put a bowl of wet mash in the small crate and they would all rush to get in it, and peck at the food as we carried the crate outside. When they were ready to come back indoors, I would see them all return to the crate and know they were tired. Didn’t do that last year, and this year was so much easier!


A medical question for you all. One of our family farm hens, an olive egger (legbar/something cross) from TSC (not my choice of places to shop but I am just a helper at the farm, not the decision maker), is very swollen and red about 4 inches below her vent. My aunt thought she might be egg bound, so we gave her two epsom salt warm baths yesterday. When I felt inside, I did not feel an egg. The swelling was not super hard, slightly firm but squishy. I have a feeling it might be reproductive issues, which is a shame (she is barely a year old), but we are treating for vent gleet just in case it is that by adding probiotics. Also giving her calcium and yogurt in case it is that. I don’t think it is water belly since it is more toward her back end but not directly below her vent. Thoughts? The farm animals will not go to a vet as it isn’t cost effective. If she is going to pass I would like her to be as comfortable as possible. We have her separated with a friend in the prefab medical coop for now. I am not starting a new thread to ask because sometimes those threads can get crazy. I can post a pic of the swelling if anyone thinks that will help. Poor thing. We did not see any mites, lice or maggots upon inspecting her.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Found this little guy in the big coop this morning. He was lucky it was still dark and Skeksis or Mr. Bumble didn't see him.

View attachment 3205333

What type of snake is it?

 

[Sequel]

they're lovely. Dare I ask what you feed them?

Of course! I feed them Purina Flock Raiser with eggshells on the side. It has 20% protein, I can take a pic of the ingredient panel in a bit. They do get to rummage around and forage, and in the winter they get the vegetable garden as well. I do have a secure coop and run, but daily they go to minimum security run.

 

[no fly zone]

What type of snake is it?

Corn snake

 

[Shadrach]

That is a great idea, @Shadrach . Before I moved my chicks to the coop, they lived in a large dog crate brooder in the garage. (Coop was not predator proofed right away). I wanted them to have access to the run, so I put a smaller dog crate in front of the one they were brooding in. They would go back & forth between the two. When we wanted to carry them out back to the run, I would put a bowl of wet mash in the small crate and they would all rush to get in it, and peck at the food as we carried the crate outside. When they were ready to come back indoors, I would see them all return to the crate and know they were tired. Didn’t do that last year, and this year was so much easier!


A medical question for you all. One of our family farm hens, an olive egger (legbar/something cross) from TSC (not my choice of places to shop but I am just a helper at the farm, not the decision maker), is very swollen and red about 4 inches below her vent. My aunt thought she might be egg bound, so we gave her two epsom salt warm baths yesterday. When I felt inside, I did not feel an egg. The swelling was not super hard, slightly firm but squishy. I have a feeling it might be reproductive issues, which is a shame (she is barely a year old), but we are treating for vent gleet just in case it is that by adding probiotics. Also giving her calcium and yogurt in case it is that. I don’t think it is water belly since it is more toward her back end but not directly below her vent. Thoughts? The farm animals will not go to a vet as it isn’t cost effective. If she is going to pass I would like her to be as comfortable as possible. We have her separated with a friend in the prefab medical coop for now. I am not starting a new thread to ask because sometimes those threads can get crazy. I can post a pic of the swelling if anyone thinks that will help. Poor thing. We did not see any mites, lice or maggots upon inspecting her.

Even with pictures I would only be guessing. Ascitis would be my guess.
There is no cure. it's a symptom of other underlying problems.
Unless there are signs that the other chickens are pecking at her or bullying her I would leave her wiith her flock mates. It is not contagious.
If it is ascitis then you could drain her but it will come back. Itt's up to you to judge when her quality of life is below acceptable.