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

[1muttsfan]

The cold did not used to bother me. However, after years of working outdoors in all kinds of weather, my hands got cold a few times too many and now they just ache and burn when I have to be working outside. I have heard that after you have frostbitten your hands a few times it affects the circulation permanently.
The cold weather came a little later than usual but the snow a little earlier. I am not looking forward to this winter very much, supposed to be colder and snowier than normal. Right now it is a big muddy mess from all the snow and rain we have had in the last week or two.

Poop is always good! And I'm very glad to see some of our more loved Smilies return.

 

[robhuncor]

Chilblains

 

[getaclue]

Cynthia, I thought my chicken was egg bound. She was laying around quite a bit. She also smelled terrible. Her weight was good. I brought her in, checked her with a gloved finger. Yes, there is something hard, I assume an egg, about 2-3 inches, upward direction where the eggs come from, not downward where the poop comes from. I brought her in, gave her liquid calcium, and put her in a shallow warm tub of water. Nothing. I put her in a "sick cage" on the back porch.

I then put liquid calcium, and some nistatin (thinking the smell could possibly be vent gleet) in her waterer, and fresh Purina Flockraiser feed, with some oyster shell mixed in. She ate, and drank, but no egg. BUT she had terrible diarrhea. Stinky watery diarrhea. I decided she might need supplemental lighting to help her lay the egg, and that the diarrhea could be from being egg bound, so I've been leaving the back porch light on for a few extra hours, so she would be getting about 14 hours of light. I've done this for two nights, and no egg, but still bad diarrhea. I've been soaking her bottom, and cleaning her up every day, then blow drying her so she doesn't catch a chill. I make sure she's warm at night.

Today, because of the way she was laying on the hay, I noticed her upper chest pooched out. This evening when I went to clean her up, I checked her crop, and opened her mouth to smell her breath. Her crop is full, and there is some odor, but not real bad. She is still eating, and drinking, but I massaged some on her crop a little. I will check her in the morning to see whether it has emptied or not. You have dealt with sour crop. Most of what I've read says give olive oil, and ACV. You mentioned giving yours baking soda. I need to know a couple things. 1. Do you massage downward, upward, or what? 2. How do you treat them with baking soda? How much, and do you mix it in a gallon waterer, or do you mix it with water, and put it in their mouth?

 

[getaclue]

Like I had mentioned before, she's a very old gal, especially for her breed, so she may just be shutting down, but she could be having trouble with her crop, that I have not really noticed before.

 

[speckledhen]

Cynthia, I thought my chicken was egg bound. She was laying around quite a bit. She also smelled terrible. Her weight was good. I brought her in, checked her with a gloved finger. Yes, there is something hard, I assume an egg, about 2-3 inches, upward direction where the eggs come from, not downward where the poop comes from. I brought her in, gave her liquid calcium, and put her in a shallow warm tub of water. Nothing. I put her in a "sick cage" on the back porch.

I then put liquid calcium, and some nistatin (thinking the smell could possibly be vent gleet) in her waterer, and fresh Purina Flockraiser feed, with some oyster shell mixed in. She ate, and drank, but no egg. BUT she had terrible diarrhea. Stinky watery diarrhea. I decided she might need supplemental lighting to help her lay the egg, and that the diarrhea could be from being egg bound, so I've been leaving the back porch light on for a few extra hours, so she would be getting about 14 hours of light. I've done this for two nights, and no egg, but still bad diarrhea. I've been soaking her bottom, and cleaning her up every day, then blow drying her so she doesn't catch a chill. I make sure she's warm at night.

Today, because of the way she was laying on the hay, I noticed her upper chest pooched out. This evening when I went to clean her up, I checked her crop, and opened her mouth to smell her breath. Her crop is full, and there is some odor, but not real bad. She is still eating, and drinking, but I massaged some on her crop a little. I will check her in the morning to see whether it has emptied or not. You have dealt with sour crop. Most of what I've read says give olive oil, and ACV. You mentioned giving yours baking soda. I need to know a couple things. 1. Do you massage downward, upward, or what? 2. How do you treat them with baking soda? How much, and do you mix it in a gallon waterer, or do you mix it with water, and put it in their mouth?

Cheryl, it could be that her systems are shutting down. Seems that the crop is one of the most visible signs on a lot of hens. I put a teaspoon or two of baking soda in her plastic one gallon waterer and remove food for 24-48 hours, then plain yogurt mixed with egg yolk. And massage, pushing down and back toward the opening that goes into the proventriculus. If you push up, she may throw up and aspirate and it's over in two seconds. They choke very quickly.

By then, if there is nothing else wrong, it usually begins to clear up, but if her systems are shutting down, it may be persistent. If you read online, some say ACV and I used to do that. Some say no ACV because it's already too acidic--much conflicting information on the web, imagine that? Some say it's a yeast problem, sour crop, so you can use the Monistat suppositories for women's yeast infections and I've did that on Betsy, which did change her sour breath, but the mass being in there, it will probably cultivate the nasties again. Allen Wranch (Carla) in Texas, an old time BYC member told me to put 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of copper sulfate in her water for about three days, nothing else in there with it, which seemed to help Dusty a lot and her crop did clear up. Some say an Epsom Salts flush, but they mean flood the crop with the water and Epsom solution then vomit the bird, something I will not do; too many folks kill their birds trying to help that way. It's not natural for a bird to throw up and they often aspirate. Had that happen to a bird who threw up on her own in my arms, a Blue Orp years ago.

Epsom salts flush is now in the 2nd edition of the Chicken Health Handbook I've read. Mine had nothing about it, but neither did the other six books I own.
1 teaspoon Epsom salts with 1/2 c water. Squirt down the throat of the bird 2 times a day for 2-3 days. Also, in the handbook, a copper sulfate solution is recommended, but it can be toxic if overdosed, to be used after the flush.

 

[1muttsfan]

I don't believe that oil is recommended, too much risk of aspiration and following pneumonia.

 

[getaclue]

Thank you! Yes, the baking soda makes more sense. Unfortunately, I think you are right about her shutting down. I said I put nystatin in her water, but I said the wrong thing. I got Monistat 7, not the capsule, but it's miconizole cream, and I mixed it in her gallon waterer. I did not notice any signs of sour crop when I first brought her in. With the tub soaks in warm water every day, and then blow drying, I'm sure I would have noticed a squishy crop. Besides that, she was eating, and drinking just fine. I'm sure the doughy crop was a new development yesterday. I did scramble an egg for her, with the shells in it, and put it in with her last evening. Looking at her this morning, she doesn't have much longer.

 

[speckledhen]

Found this about a doughy crop on the forum-someone found it online to do with cockatiels and so the member used it and it cleaned out the doughy crop on her hen, she says. Certainly can't hurt. I've put cinnamon and ginger in the baby cereal that Betsy was eating and she's had baking soda in her water, just not lemon juice. As you know when you put lemon with baking soda, it has a reaction that quickly dissipates. She still has a big dough ball this a.m. but as soon as it warms up, hopefully she'll eat some of the baby cereal in which I put that same formula. Should taste pretty much the same to her. I know we should syringe it in to be sure she gets it all, but we'll see if she eats the soupy mixture on her own. Can't hurt, might help. This has been going on with Betsy far too long now.

 

[1muttsfan]

It looks as if the whole thing needs to be given immediately after mixing, so free feeding may not be as beneficial, as the reaction between the soda and the acid lemon juice would dissipate fairly quickly.

 

[speckledhen]

It looks as if the whole thing needs to be given immediately after mixing, so free feeding may not be as beneficial, as the reaction between the soda and the acid lemon juice would dissipate fairly quickly.

I was wondering that, actually, if it was mostly the reaction that helped. I can do it later. She is not eating this a.m. anyway. It's colder today and that's a messy proposition. Already had a smelly old lady in our bathtub because she lays in poop and smelled awful; normally, she smells okay, but she is one who does not dustbathe and in winter, I can't even take her outside because she cannot lay on frozen ground. One of her hock joints looks awful, poor arthritic thing. I'm just getting so tired of "special situations" again.