The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[DeesHens]

Quote:

So I tossed my batches with vinegar and started over. (just a couple of jarfuls so no big deal) Now, again, I am using water kefir as the starter culture. That is when my hen ate it but I ran out so then I did an adlib recipe with the vinegar. So when you mentioned the vinegar may be the problem it finally came back to me where I messed up. So thank you! Hopefully we are back on the road of favorable FF.

Hope you are also. Be brave and face the nation.

~Dee~

 

[aoxa]

So I tossed my batches with vinegar and started over. (just a couple of jarfuls so no big deal) Now, again, I am using water kefir as the starter culture. That is when my hen ate it but I ran out so then I did an adlib recipe with the vinegar. So when you mentioned the vinegar may be the problem it finally came back to me where I messed up. So thank you! Hopefully we are back on the road of favorable FF.

Hope you are also. Be brave and face the nation.

~Dee~

I will!!

Hey speaking of kefir, we do milk kefir, and it's the chickens' absolute favourite treat EVER. They all love it like crazy. Very good for them too I will be continuing.. Though our milk is organic and pricey, so it's not a frequent treat.. But that will all change when we breed Alice and get goat milk for kefir!

 

[flagirl]

I get raw goat milk for my kefir and it is great, rarely give to the hens-keep it for us. If you current milk is not raw, you will e surprised how fast the grains grow with the raw.

 

[holderh]

Got any answers for this problem? I have also posted on the injury thread thought I would see if any old timers or natural chicken keepers had any responses that might help me.

I have a two year old hen who I noticed yesterday she wasn’t acting right. She is wild and won’t let us touch her so I don’t handle her much. I finally caught her today and found her problem. She has at least an inch deep hole on her hip...close to her vent. Well there are maggots in it. I However, the wound doesnt look fresh. Even thought i dont touch her I do look my hens over every day. I called our vet and he said all we could do is clean her up with dawn dish detergent and if it doesn’t help put her down. I had already cleaned her up and separated her from the flock but I can’t get the maggots out. I am pretty sure she is too far gone and is going to have to be put down but I am just concerned as to why this would happen and want to prevent this problem from happing to the rest of my flock. This particular hen was missing on Tuesday when I put them up for the afternoon in their run. When my husband shut the coop door that night he said somehow she found her way back in. We just wonder if something got after her and hurt her and she got away or if when she got back in she scratched herself but we never noticed a wound on her. She started acting funny yesterday. This hen also keeps nasty feathers covered in fecal matter on her bottom. She isn’t the only hen that has that problem but not all of my hens have that problem either. This has been going on for about a year now on and off...they had worms so i thought the nasty feathers was due to this so I have wormed them a few times and cleaned them up and I have also had to clipped off the nasty feathers but some of them are just nasty again the next day. I am going to take a fecal sample to the vet to be sure they don’t have any bacterial problems as some one had mentioned it could be vent gleet but i really dont think it is that. I did put a spray on there rear ends every day for a week before i knew for sure they had worms the spray is supposed to help with bacteria, yeast and all wounds and it didnt help either. I cant remember the name but it was something like vetacylin....They free range for most of the day and I check them every so often for mites and lice , I dust them down if I find any but they also have dusting holes in the yard and I have one in the run for when they can’t get out. I clean out the coop every 3-6 months. Its use less to clean up their rear ends because it’s just nasty the next day. I feed them layer pellets, a little scratch, Black oil sun flower seeds, and kitchen scraps and i dont give them any rotten food.... every so often I put probiotics and electrolytes in their water and I give them apple cider vinegar too. Does this sound like maybe she hurt herself and the flies laid their eggs in the wound or flies laid some eggs on her messy feathers? I really don’t know what else I could do to keep them healthy or keep there bottom feathers from staying nasty. What do you do?

 

[Bulldogma]

Please help I have 65 baby chicks with wet bellies never had this happen before. what should I do and what may have caused this.

Did you hatch these chicks or were they shipped? What is their exact age in days (if you know it). What breed are they and what are you feeding them? What kind of bedding are you using?

Welcome to the thread!

Got any answers for this problem? I have also posted on the injury thread thought I would see if any old timers or natural chicken keepers had any responses that might help me.

I have a two year old hen who I noticed yesterday she wasn’t acting right. She is wild and won’t let us touch her so I don’t handle her much. I finally caught her today and found her problem. She has at least an inch deep hole on her hip...close to her vent. Well there are maggots in it. I However, the wound doesnt look fresh. Even thought i dont touch her I do look my hens over every day. I called our vet and he said all we could do is clean her up with dawn dish detergent and if it doesn’t help put her down. I had already cleaned her up and separated her from the flock but I can’t get the maggots out. I am pretty sure she is too far gone and is going to have to be put down but I am just concerned as to why this would happen and want to prevent this problem from happing to the rest of my flock. This particular hen was missing on Tuesday when I put them up for the afternoon in their run. When my husband shut the coop door that night he said somehow she found her way back in. We just wonder if something got after her and hurt her and she got away or if when she got back in she scratched herself but we never noticed a wound on her. She started acting funny yesterday. This hen also keeps nasty feathers covered in fecal matter on her bottom. She isn’t the only hen that has that problem but not all of my hens have that problem either. This has been going on for about a year now on and off...they had worms so i thought the nasty feathers was due to this so I have wormed them a few times and cleaned them up and I have also had to clipped off the nasty feathers but some of them are just nasty again the next day. I am going to take a fecal sample to the vet to be sure they don’t have any bacterial problems as some one had mentioned it could be vent gleet but i really dont think it is that. I did put a spray on there rear ends every day for a week before i knew for sure they had worms the spray is supposed to help with bacteria, yeast and all wounds and it didnt help either. I cant remember the name but it was something like vetacylin....They free range for most of the day and I check them every so often for mites and lice , I dust them down if I find any but they also have dusting holes in the yard and I have one in the run for when they can’t get out. I clean out the coop every 3-6 months. Its use less to clean up their rear ends because it’s just nasty the next day. I feed them layer pellets, a little scratch, Black oil sun flower seeds, and kitchen scraps and i dont give them any rotten food.... every so often I put probiotics and electrolytes in their water and I give them apple cider vinegar too. Does this sound like maybe she hurt herself and the flies laid their eggs in the wound or flies laid some eggs on her messy feathers? I really don’t know what else I could do to keep them healthy or keep there bottom feathers from staying nasty. What do you do?

Sounds like either a predator injured her or she got into something and got hurt. Soak her in a warm bath with Epsom salts - try to make it deep enough to submerge the wound. Use Q-tips or a clean toothbrush to "debride" or scrub the area of any dirt and maggots, then use an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin or Nu-Stock to pack the wound. Keep her separated from the other chickens - like in a dog crate or something, and keep her out of cold/drafts. Often birds heal up just fine after a little attention... sometimes they don't. Give her a few days and a few treatments before deciding if you should cull her.

Welcome to the thread!

 

[Bulldogma]

New post on the thing. See it HERE.

 

[aoxa]

Did you hatch these chicks or were they shipped? What is their exact age in days (if you know it). What breed are they and what are you feeding them? What kind of bedding are you using?

Welcome to the thread!


Sounds like either a predator injured her or she got into something and got hurt. Soak her in a warm bath with Epsom salts - try to make it deep enough to submerge the wound. Use Q-tips or a clean toothbrush to "debride" or scrub the area of any dirt and maggots, then use an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin or Nu-Stock to pack the wound. Keep her separated from the other chickens - like in a dog crate or something, and keep her out of cold/drafts. Often birds heal up just fine after a little attention... sometimes they don't. Give her a few days and a few treatments before deciding if you should cull her.

Welcome to the thread!

I agree with BDM, often wounds like she has don't bother them all that much. Open wounds aren't a big deal. Now the maggots.. I have heard that hair spray kills them. I have not tested this, but if you get them all out you can then treat her with Nu-Stock or Blue-Kote or coconut oil.

 

[aoxa]

New post on the thing. See it HERE.

Perfect timing. I just put SOD in with the chicks I'm holding for a friend today. They love it, but at first they screamed bloody murder.. like I was killing them by introducing such a terrible thing lol.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

Did you hatch these chicks or were they shipped? What is their exact age in days (if you know it). What breed are they and what are you feeding them? What kind of bedding are you using?

Welcome to the thread!


Sounds like either a predator injured her or she got into something and got hurt. Soak her in a warm bath with Epsom salts - try to make it deep enough to submerge the wound. Use Q-tips or a clean toothbrush to "debride" or scrub the area of any dirt and maggots, then use an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin or Nu-Stock to pack the wound. Keep her separated from the other chickens - like in a dog crate or something, and keep her out of cold/drafts. Often birds heal up just fine after a little attention... sometimes they don't. Give her a few days and a few treatments before deciding if you should cull her.

Welcome to the thread!

No I went and picked them up at hatchery. They are 4 days old . They are on pine shavings. 24% chick starter tomorrow will start FF. 50 are cxr and15 B O

 

[stonykill]

Got any answers for this problem? I have also posted on the injury thread thought I would see if any old timers or natural chicken keepers had any responses that might help me.

I have a two year old hen who I noticed yesterday she wasn’t acting right. She is wild and won’t let us touch her so I don’t handle her much. I finally caught her today and found her problem. She has at least an inch deep hole on her hip...close to her vent. Well there are maggots in it. I However, the wound doesnt look fresh. Even thought i dont touch her I do look my hens over every day. I called our vet and he said all we could do is clean her up with dawn dish detergent and if it doesn’t help put her down. I had already cleaned her up and separated her from the flock but I can’t get the maggots out. I am pretty sure she is too far gone and is going to have to be put down but I am just concerned as to why this would happen and want to prevent this problem from happing to the rest of my flock. This particular hen was missing on Tuesday when I put them up for the afternoon in their run. When my husband shut the coop door that night he said somehow she found her way back in. We just wonder if something got after her and hurt her and she got away or if when she got back in she scratched herself but we never noticed a wound on her. She started acting funny yesterday. This hen also keeps nasty feathers covered in fecal matter on her bottom. She isn’t the only hen that has that problem but not all of my hens have that problem either. This has been going on for about a year now on and off...they had worms so i thought the nasty feathers was due to this so I have wormed them a few times and cleaned them up and I have also had to clipped off the nasty feathers but some of them are just nasty again the next day. I am going to take a fecal sample to the vet to be sure they don’t have any bacterial problems as some one had mentioned it could be vent gleet but i really dont think it is that. I did put a spray on there rear ends every day for a week before i knew for sure they had worms the spray is supposed to help with bacteria, yeast and all wounds and it didnt help either. I cant remember the name but it was something like vetacylin....They free range for most of the day and I check them every so often for mites and lice , I dust them down if I find any but they also have dusting holes in the yard and I have one in the run for when they can’t get out. I clean out the coop every 3-6 months. Its use less to clean up their rear ends because it’s just nasty the next day. I feed them layer pellets, a little scratch, Black oil sun flower seeds, and kitchen scraps and i dont give them any rotten food.... every so often I put probiotics and electrolytes in their water and I give them apple cider vinegar too. Does this sound like maybe she hurt herself and the flies laid their eggs in the wound or flies laid some eggs on her messy feathers? I really don’t know what else I could do to keep them healthy or keep there bottom feathers from staying nasty. What do you do?

Sounds like either a predator injured her or she got into something and got hurt. Soak her in a warm bath with Epsom salts - try to make it deep enough to submerge the wound. Use Q-tips or a clean toothbrush to "debride" or scrub the area of any dirt and maggots, then use an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin or Nu-Stock to pack the wound. Keep her separated from the other chickens - like in a dog crate or something, and keep her out of cold/drafts. Often birds heal up just fine after a little attention... sometimes they don't. Give her a few days and a few treatments before deciding if you should cull her.

Welcome to the thread!

perfect answer