The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[1muttsfan]

I don't know about Cyn, but it was up to 12 degrees here this am and felt tropical compared to yesterday's 6 below

 

[speckledhen]

How cold did it get last night for y'all? Is everyone ok this morning?

It was 3* with windchills around -15* or so. Most waterers were frozen in spite of defrosters, though not all of them.

Rex doesn't sound right. His crow was very different yesterday and I'm a little afraid he may be getting pneumonia. WHY, I'm not sure. He is fully feathered, a big guy, only a year and a half old, has a nice, dry coop with 3 heat stations, 2 are just black night reptile bulbs and 1 is a 250W red infrared ( the extra heat higher wattage station is partly because of 5 yr old Rita, who is not fully feathered after her bad molt) and no drafts but decent ventilation up high. He survived the same weather last winter when his daddy got the frostbite. All other roosters sound fine and everyone else seems okay.

Finn spent the night in the house for the first time ever; I have not been able to find a heating pad without an auto shut off to keep his floor toasty all night. I do have one, but it sits under a 1 gallon waterer in the bantam coop on low as a defroster (and it was one that was not frozen this a.m.). His condo is covered with a quilted moving blanket, plus a comforter, but still, it was just too cold with no reliable heat in his floor and of course, his water was frozen solid out there.

 

[crazyhen]

It was 4 degrees

this morning , all water frozen even with heater. But the hens look good. I gave them a bit of scratch last night just befor close up time. and again this morning plus their reg. feed. Its up to 10 now. We had some flying snow yesterday but non stuck to the ground. Keep warm all.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

It was 3* with windchills around -15* or so. Most waterers were frozen in spite of defrosters, though not all of them.

Rex doesn't sound right. His crow was very different yesterday and I'm a little afraid he may be getting pneumonia. WHY, I'm not sure. He is fully feathered, a big guy, only a year and a half old, has a nice, dry coop with 3 heat stations, 2 are just black night reptile bulbs and 1 is a 250W red infrared ( the extra heat higher wattage station is partly because of 5 yr old Rita, who is not fully feathered after her bad molt) and no drafts but decent ventilation up high. He survived the same weather last winter when his daddy got the frostbite. All other roosters sound fine and everyone else seems okay.

Finn spent the night in the house for the first time ever; I have not been able to find a heating pad without an auto shut off to keep his floor toasty all night. I do have one, but it sits under a 1 gallon waterer in the bantam coop on low as a defroster (and it was one that was not frozen this a.m.). His condo is covered with a quilted moving blanket, plus a comforter, but still, it was just too cold with no reliable heat in his floor and of course, his water was frozen solid out there.

Oh no, sorry to hear about Rex. How does pneumonia present in chickens? Have you had to treat for it before?

 

[speckledhen]

Oh no, sorry to hear about Rex. How does pneumonia present in chickens? Have you had to treat for it before?

I've had three instances of pneumonia in chickens over the years. Once, it happened with a weeks old D'Anver chick when temps went from 90* high one day to a 50* high the next with lots of blowing rain. He came down with that gurgly breathing, no discharges; I surmised it was the wild weather change and them not roosting yet, but sleeping on the floor-no others were affected, could be he had a weaker constitution than the others. When he was about a year old, I found him with a purple comb and his crop had quit working and he passed away, either weakened by the pneumonia as a chick or he was a weaker bird to begin with. Sadly, he was a gorgeous porcelain male and non-aggressive, too. No other D'Anvers have ever been affected by weather that way, so I think it was a weakness within that one bird.

In their later life, Suede and Meg each had pneumonia during one of those bizarre weather events. The others were not affected in the coop, only those two. So you have to assess the symptoms and the situation. In all instances, I did do Tylan injections, they all recovered quickly and never had it again. We get the craziest weather up here in the mountains sometimes. If there is some weakness in a bird, it may show up then, like with the very old or the very young.

 

[1muttsfan]

I picked up one of these for my old lady cat who has quite bad arthritis, she loves it. It only heats up when a cat is lying in it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00403MX9E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[speckledhen]

I like those beds, but I can't afford to buy one. I saw they had pet bed warmer pads, but they won't work in the false floor of the condo because it seems they rely on pressure from the pet's body to actually get warmer, so not normal heating pads from what I gather. If I could just find a use electric blanket, I'd be set. I will keep looking at the thrift stores around here, and there are many of them.


Atlas's dad, Rex, still isn't feeling well. I can't figure out what's wrong. The first sign was that his crow was way off a couple of mornings ago, very shortened, missing his high pitched "trumpet" at the end. At first, I had no idea who it was, but then realized, after Isaac crowed over the baby monitor, it had to be Rex-the monitor is in Rex's side of the coop. Sounds like a different rooster entirely. It's an effort for him to get the sound out, takes a lot out of him, so he's not crowing nearly as much as normal. I see today that his comb points are curling over, not a good sign at all, tail is down, and he's parked under a heat lamp, definitely not his usual behavior. When I gave him some bread, he ate it-usually, he drops it for the hens or just refuses it entirely. He's slow and just not right. It's been so cold, but he's been inside for three days and it's pretty okay in that coop as far as comfort level. I thought maybe he's getting pneumonia, from the sound of his crow, so I decided to give him three days of Tylan, but after close examination, he isn't congested. If it's pneumonia, it's in the beginning stages. Why he'd have that, I would have no idea. He shouldn't, really, always been very robust and healthy.

Ominously, it reminded me of the first time I heard old Suede crow very weakly and thought it was heat stress (July 2012), but later, realized it was the beginning of the end of his life. He died in September after progressively going downhill from that first weak sound, losing weight and strength, but then, Suede was almost 6 years old. Rex will turn 2 years old in June, so he's in the prime of his life. Everyone else, including old Isaac, seems to be handling the cold just fine. Even almost 5 yr old Rita, who raised Rex as a broody and who was butt-naked in a full molt two weeks ago, is getting in an entire body's worth of feathers and isn't as lethargic as Rex is.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

I like those beds, but I can't afford to buy one. I saw they had pet bed warmer pads, but they won't work in the false floor of the condo because it seems they rely on pressure from the pet's body to actually get warmer, so not normal heating pads from what I gather. If I could just find a use electric blanket, I'd be set. I will keep looking at the thrift stores around here, and there are many of them.


Atlas's dad, Rex, still isn't feeling well. I can't figure out what's wrong. The first sign was that his crow was way off a couple of mornings ago, very shortened, missing his high pitched "trumpet" at the end. At first, I had no idea who it was, but then realized, after Isaac crowed over the baby monitor, it had to be Rex-the monitor is in Rex's side of the coop. Sounds like a different rooster entirely. It's an effort for him to get the sound out, takes a lot out of him, so he's not crowing nearly as much as normal. I see today that his comb points are curling over, not a good sign at all, tail is down, and he's parked under a heat lamp, definitely not his usual behavior. When I gave him some bread, he ate it-usually, he drops it for the hens or just pneumonia, from the sound of his crow, so I decided to give him three days of Tylan, but after close examination, he isn't congested. If it's pneumonia, it's in the beginning stages. Why he'd have that, I would have no idea. He shouldn't, really, always been very robust and healthy.

Ominously, it reminded me of the first time I heard old Suede crow very weakly and thought it was heat stress (July 2012), but later, realized it was the beginning of the end of his life. He died in September after progressively going downhill from that first weak sound, losing weight and strength, but then, Suede was almost 6 years old. Rex will turn 2 years old in June, so he's in the prime of his life. Everyone else, including old Isaac, seems to be handling the cold just fine. Even almost 5 yr old Rita, who raised Rex as a broody and who was butt-naked in a full molt two weeks ago, is getting in an entire body's worth of feathers and isn't as lethargic as Rex is.

So sorry to hear that Rex still isn't feeling well. If he has pneumonia hopefully you have caught it early enough so that he will not come down with a full blown case. Rex is in good hands, you will get it figured out. He could not have a better chicken momma.

 

[speckledhen]

So sorry to hear that Rex still isn't feeling well. If he has pneumonia hopefully you have caught it early enough so that he will not come down with a full blown case. Rex is in good hands, you will get it figured out. He could not have a better chicken momma.

You're sweet. I am going to continue treating it as if it is pneumonia because that's the only thing that really makes sense, considering his crow and general lethargy. Ladyhawk reminded me of how they get their big old wattles in the water tray and water runs down their chests. In this frigid weather, that could do it, certainly. The hens don't do that, so they have less chance of contracting pneumonia that way. She also said when her rooster, Lancelot, had pneumonia as an older chick (got drenched to the skin in a sudden rainstorm and was trapped so he couldn't get to shelter), he didn't start wheezing until about three days afterward. The pullet with him was a daughter of Suede's she'd brought back from here and they both were treated by a vet for pneumonia. To this day, Lancelot tends to have respiratory relapses in bad weather like they, and we, are having right now.

I forgot one bird I had to treat for beginning stages of pneumonia-my crippled rooster, Zane! Zane laid on his chest constantly. Once, he'd gotten some bedding around his waterer especially wet and it slipped by me. He began to sound a little ragged so I treated him for pneumonia, and of course, cleaned out his cage. He couldn't stand up to get out of the dampness. I always felt he might get pneumonia simply because of that fact, like any bedridden person might. It was the only time, other than the bad hock infection that helped to cripple him, that he was ever remotely ill in his 4 1/2 yrs of life.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I learned my first year of having roosters, don't use a metal feeder in winter. One of my males drank water, then went to eat and his wattles stuck to the feeder. I found him with bloody wattles. Ever since then, I change out the feeder to plastic in winter.

I'm sorry Rex isn't doing well. Good luck with him.