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

[speckledhen]

Oh, I forgot to say that June isn't feeling well. She's about to turn 10 years old next month and this extreme cold is getting to her, I think. She started sleeping in a nest, not even under her ceramic bulb heat spot as she usually does. And I started hearing little snick sounds from her, not really a sneeze, per se, but like maybe some fluid is building in her lungs. She doesn't appear to be bloated, or at least, it's not noticeable if she is.

Her eyes are bright and no discharge from anywhere, but this morning when I took them their "doctored-up" warm oatmeal-grits-egg-probiotic treat, she refused it. That is not at all like June, who is head hen and the first to dive in and push underlings away from her food. I called to Tom in the other pen when she would not even eat it when I took it from the others and held it out for her alone and we decided to put her in the hospital cage with a little heat all to herself so she could rest. There is oxine in her water and I may let her drink that awhile then change it out for some organic unfiltered ACV in the water or make her some ACV/raw honey and lemon tea and see if she'll take that somehow. I hope she's not coming down with pneumonia, but you never know with a hen that age.

 

[kitkat5505]

Aw, poor old girl. Hopefully the warmth perks her up.

Does anyone have advice for a bleeding comb? One of my leghorns has a bloody comb dripping down her face. I’m not sure if it’s just gotten raw and chapped from the cold or if she scraped it on something but I can’t get it to stop. Looks like just the first point and front of comb are bleeding. The nesting boxes look like a murder scene every time she lays from her flinging her floppy bloody comb around. It does eventually clot a bit but then gets scraped or pecked again. I was just out there cleaning her face, had to get clotted blood out of one nostril so she could breathe better. I tried putting cornstarch on to stop the bleeding but it didn’t work. And she was very uncooperative. So far it doesn’t look like any of the other hens are pecking at her and she still acts normal and lays regularly so I haven’t isolated her, should I just leave it be and just clean things up if it’s clogging her nostrils?

 

[speckledhen]

@kitkat5505 Kara, we've packed loose dirt on combs that wouldn't stop. We've heated up a piece of metal with a soldering iron then touched the hot nail or screw to the wound to cauterize the bleeder. She really is making a mess, isn't she?

 

[kitkat5505]

It seems to have finally clotted for today. I’ll just keep an eye on her. Poor girl is a bloody mess but I don’t want to bathe her and worry about getting her completely dry when it’ll probably just happen again lol. The first time I saw the nesting boxes like that a few days ago I was freaked and afraid I’d find a dead chicken somewhere. I need to get a scrub brush and try getting some of the crime scene cleaned up, or just wait until warm weather and repaint lol.

 

[Leahs Mom]

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[speckledhen]

We have some snow flurries this a.m., very floaty and tiny, just a few. Tonight is another single digit night for us. Junie seems okay this a.m., bright-eyed, hasn't lost weight, no discharge or any sounds from her, so I put her with her gallon waterer laced with organic ACV with the mother in the pen with the others. I'm not sure what was wrong or if I fixed anything, but I think she needed a little rest from head hen duties.

 

[1muttsfan]

It's 3 below zero and doesn't look like it is going to improve much, until Saturday anyway. Feels cold even inside! At least the sun is shining and there is little wind. Good day for critters of all kinds to stay inside.

 

[speckledhen]

It's 3 below zero and doesn't look like it is going to improve much, until Saturday anyway. Feels cold even inside! At least the sun is shining and there is little wind. Good day for critters of all kinds to stay inside.

We're about 24* with winds (Intellicast says it feels like 12*), going into single digits again tonight. No need to even offer to let any chickens outside. They all hate the wind. I'm inside working on a quilt, watching little snowflakes swirl around in the sunshine. Deceptive, that sunshine.

I realized that tomorrow, my adoptive mother would have been 100 years old. She passed in Nov 1999, with Tom's mother passing just two months later in January, though she was about 20 years younger than mine (he was born when she was 17).

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm freaking freezing, this is gonna be a long winter.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm freaking freezing, this is gonna be a long winter.

I'm even considering going back to hand-quilting for this quilt so I can sit with a quilt on my lap! I'm dead serious about this, too, carpal- tunnel or not.