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

[speckledhen]

It sounds like she has a motility disorder, meaning that the muscles in her crop are not contracting normally, causing food to remain in the crop. I can't find any references on pharmaceutical treatment, but frequent emptying of the crop appears to be important, as otherwise the crop becomes dilated and has even more trouble emptying. You might be able to manage that by frequent gentle massage to move the liquids along.

Here is a quote from this article http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww42eiv.htm
"Crop stasis occurs when the normal mobility of the crop is impaired, causing food to remain in the crop. The crop may appear enlarged orit may be hidden by feathers. Food, fluid and mucus or foreign bodies may be present in the crop. Crop stasis is most common in baby psittaciines (parrots) and may be the result of improper concentration of formula, infection or dehydration. In older birds crop stasis may result from lead or zinc intoxication, foreign bodies, candida, parasites or viral infections, including PDD. Whatever the cause, food that remains in the crop for prolonged periods of time spoils as a result of bacterial and fungal overgrowth and can lead to systemic illness."

I found that happened with far advanced pendulous crop. My blue Orp line was prone to it. Dusty never had it, but her sister, Smoky, did, and her daughter, Athena, owned by Ladyhawk, had the same condition. It progressively became worse with age, with both mother and daughter. LH consulted her vet about Athena's crop. He said he could do a surgical crop tuck, but that it would not be a permanent solution, that it was a genetic condition with her and would get worse again with time. So, we both did the massages until at 4 1/2, Smoky's crop completely quit working. We surgically removed the stuff in it, but the crop was basically dead.
My Buff Brahma, Caroline, had mild pendulous crop starting when she was a few years old and progressing as she aged. We always had to keep up with her food issues, but it was not what killed her in the end, that was just old age (she was almost 10, if you recall, and a hatchery gal at that).

I'm not sure the cause of Betsy's issue. All her sisters are molting and BRs are molting and none have any crop issues, even the oldsters. She must have gotten hold of something bad somewhere. But, as Lisa said, it could be something else wrong internally that is causing her crop to malfunction. Seems to me that mostly, crop issues don't begin in the crop but somewhere else. The crop is the visible part we can see, an organ that won't function if something is terribly off inside the bird. Dusty's short bout with sour crop, the only one she ever had, was shortly before her death at 9 1/2 years old.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm going to say it right here, make my disclaimer, as it were. I have sold birds to NPIP breeders, some I knew were in the program and some I did not know were NPIP, some I discovered were NPIP after they bought birds from me. Sometimes, I don't even know for sure which state they live in because I am in a tri-state area near the borders of two other states. The buyers rarely volunteer any NPIP information and I DO NOT ASK! It's not my business. They are the ones in the program. They are the ones who are supposed to follow certain rules. If they do not, that is NOT my fault. I am not "complicit in a crime", for cripes sake.

I offer birds or hatching eggs for sale from my location, only-no shows, no swaps, no auctions, no flea markets-and if someone wants the birds, has a suitable accommodation for them and will pay cash, I will sell the birds to them, unless I find out they are trying to pull something over on me or I feel leery of the buyer for some other reason. I make no profit on birds or eggs. Most of you are well aware of that, knowing the cost of keeping them and how rarely I have any to sell. I am certainly not in the 'chicken mob'. I don't ship eggs. I don't ship chicks. I don't ship adult birds. I am not required to be NPIP certified. I am not required to register my premises or my flocks. If I was, I would not do it. Some laws are unjust. That would be one of them, IMO.

NPIP does not prevent disease in backyard flocks. NPIP has only ONE goal-to protect the nation's food supply and big agri-biz. They don't give a flying fig that your birds in your backyard have something, other than to know where to come kill them if there is an outbreak of something nearby. Commercial flocks with their overcrowded, one-breed, monoculture are far more likely to contract and spread disease than any properly managed backyard flock if they come in contact with some diseased rat or wild bird in those big warehouse operations. Think about it-how does getting on a list prevent disease? It only alerts someone to a disease when it is already there. My flock has zero way to spread disease to a commercial flock, even if they had one. Wild birds to not roost in my barn. They do not eat from my feeders. Rats and mice are not in my barn. If they were, how do they get down the road and into the warehouse of a commercial grower to spread anything? They don't. NPIP is for commercial flocks, period. They test for diseases that may affect the general table-egg-and-chicken buying public. That's the entire purpose.

IF NPIP was at all effectual in stopping disease, then NPIP breeders would not be responsible for the spread of ILT in both Washington State and Indiana, but they were. Tested birds were ILT carriers and the breeder HAD to know because there are only two ways for a bird to be a carrier- he had to have had it and recovered or had to be vaccinated with the live vaccine, which is NEVER given unless you already have ILT in your flock.

NPIP is on the honor system and if you think there's a lot of honor today in the face of losing money, think again. Useless program for the casual chicken keeper. Casual and serious breeders use it to get customers sometimes, attributing to it things that it cannot give, a complete stamp of health on their birds.

 

[speckledhen]

Working on the mandala style throw. Mandala just means "circle" in Sanskrit, no religious significance to this as there is in Hindi and other cultures, just a pretty circle. It calls for 50 rounds and I'm only on round 27. Not sure I'll do the entire thing yet. Depends on if I get sick of the project.

***well, I cannot load a photo here. Reported the problem. Tried numerous times. No, it's not my computer, which has been completely overhauled, cleaned out and has a brand new hard drive. Other sites work fine, but BYC is slow and won't allow me to post pictures.

 

[speckledhen]

Okay, maybe the gremlins are gone now.

NO, they aren't!

 

[speckledhen]

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's cool. What's it's current diameter roughly?

 

[speckledhen]

That's cool. What's it's current diameter roughly?

It's about 29" so far. The only thing I don't like about making it is all the yarn changes and tie-offs you have to make. But it sure makes something that is visually interesting, I think. I've never made one similar to this that wasn't just a coaster. And I make those with 100% cotton yarn like I do wash cloths and hot pads.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's a lot of work. It will be pretty big if you do all the rounds. I like it.

 

[speckledhen]

That's a lot of work. It will be pretty big if you do all the rounds. I like it.

It takes awhile, but it's not as exacting as quilting. I can just sit with it and the pattern instructions in my lap and do it until I put it down, then go back and take it back up. This one has some stitches I've never even seen before in the pattern, but that makes it interesting.
This is the pattern, though I changed up some of the colors a little bit, not being able to find them all in Red Heart With Love yarn and having to substitute similar ones.
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/circular-fall-mandala-throw#

 

[getaclue]

I have a sickly hen too. One of my original flock, a red production hen. She is able to stand, and walk some, and is eating, and drinking, but she's doing way to much sitting down. I grabbed her, sat her first in one tub, then a second, of warm water to clean a lot of pooh off, that had accumulated below her vent. Bad odor. Today, I finally found some liquid calcium at GNC. I also got some Monistat 7. I was going to treat her when Dh got up (he works nights, so I try to be quiet in the daytime), but I was so tired from grocery shopping, lugging them in, and putting them all up, that I laid down for a nap, and didn't wake up until after dark. Of course, it gets dark a lot earlier, and the time change didn't help. Anyway, the hen is asleep now, so I'll be up early, and go to work on her. I'm not sure any of it will help, but I can try. She's very old, especially for a production hen.