- Sep 4, 2009
- 12
- 0
- 22
I just want to express my thankfulness for the this website and its member forums. I have learned so much and gotten so much help... it is just ridiculous. Every time(no exaggeration) I have had a problem or potential problem with my chickens, I have received invaluable help from this website and its members.
Just now, I was concerned about two of my chickens having weird feathers on the back of their heads. A quick check on the forums for diseases, and predators and pests assured me that no, they don't have lice or mites, they are just getting new feathers... duh.
Probably the best help I ever got was after a raccoon visited us one evening. One of my chickens was killed and another had her breast skin pulled off. A couple of people had posted about stitching their chickens up and after care. I washed the wound with saline, removed stray feathers, pulled the skin back up and loosely stitched it closed (so it could drain if it needed to). I used Blue Kote around the wound. Then I put her in a dog kennel in the house in a dark area so she could get over the shock. The next morning, I called my vet and told him what I had done. He said that was fine, told me the name of an antibiotic I could put in her water and which is available at feed stores, and said to remove the stitches in a week. That chicken is now 2 1/2 years old and there is no evidence of her injury at all. Due to her time in our house, she is one of our friendlier hens. If it weren't for this forum, I would have had to take her to a vet and paid to have him/her do the very thing I did. That is, if she had lived through the night. The other option I was looking at was euthanizing her because I didn't want her to be in pain, and I thought she was going to die anyways.
There have been countless other times i have run to this website for a bit of help with numerous other little issues. Thank you for being such an awesome group of people and for this cool online resource!
Just now, I was concerned about two of my chickens having weird feathers on the back of their heads. A quick check on the forums for diseases, and predators and pests assured me that no, they don't have lice or mites, they are just getting new feathers... duh.
Probably the best help I ever got was after a raccoon visited us one evening. One of my chickens was killed and another had her breast skin pulled off. A couple of people had posted about stitching their chickens up and after care. I washed the wound with saline, removed stray feathers, pulled the skin back up and loosely stitched it closed (so it could drain if it needed to). I used Blue Kote around the wound. Then I put her in a dog kennel in the house in a dark area so she could get over the shock. The next morning, I called my vet and told him what I had done. He said that was fine, told me the name of an antibiotic I could put in her water and which is available at feed stores, and said to remove the stitches in a week. That chicken is now 2 1/2 years old and there is no evidence of her injury at all. Due to her time in our house, she is one of our friendlier hens. If it weren't for this forum, I would have had to take her to a vet and paid to have him/her do the very thing I did. That is, if she had lived through the night. The other option I was looking at was euthanizing her because I didn't want her to be in pain, and I thought she was going to die anyways.
There have been countless other times i have run to this website for a bit of help with numerous other little issues. Thank you for being such an awesome group of people and for this cool online resource!
