The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aaggjg]

Delisha & Leah- my girls just wanted to say THANK YOU ............


You got 8 tails up for suggesting soaking their feed in raw milk. I have never seen them gulp their food down so fast once they got a taste of it. And their crops were BULGING tonight. I didn't even need to touch them to see if they were full. They all seem to be in a food coma dreaming of more yummy raw milk

Mrs green has another spa treatment today. She really seems to enjoy them. I just set her in and she stays put till i take her out


Here is the bumblefoot today


The one on the left is the smaller one. Its def smaller than when I started treatment awhile ago. The one on the right is still the biggest and seems to be the same size. Ive tried over a week of surgery, then iodine/sugar wraps. then blue kote alone, then drawing salve & now coconut oil wraps. I saw the best change with the drawing salve. the scab on the small one came off (it returned in the 5 days I was out of town and applied blue stock while I was gone) and the bigger scab was starting to lift around the edges. I was hesistant of using the drawing salve after the scab came off? Ill try the coconut oil for a week with daily dressing changes (she gets them filled with dirt no matter how I wrap them) & see how it looks. the downfall of the wraps is her scales baove it raise some. She has no pests its just the dirt getting up under them and they return to normal when I take the wraps off. All I know is this treatment is taking forever........I think I started the beginning of July? She doesnt seem bothered by it or any of the treatments. Must be because she enjoys the Spa days

I asked a vet about Bumblefoot she said to soak up to 3 times a day if possible!!! She also suggested picking at the edges of the scab to help loosen it and rubbing vitamin D oil on the foot.... When picking at the scab she said just lift the edges off and if you meet with too much resistance to stop as it will bleed.... then rub the oil under the edges and into the pad. My hens scabs were lifting and healing nicely with this method.

 

[Myrth]

Tagging to subscribe. I am an herbalist and want to make my way through the thread.

 

[delisha]

I have a question, do pullets get a lil more testy as they get closer to laying?
I have 4 barred rocks that are 16 weeks this week and have been chasing my 2 blrw that have started mercilessly picking on my blrw hens that are 2 weeks younger. Just curious, they square off with each other too, not as bad thoogh. They chase them all over the place. Just wondering if its hormones?
Please and thank you!

all chickens are different
It sounds like the behavior is normal pecking order behavior and not hormone related. Pullet hormone related behavior is more of noise..extra scratching..nest digging. etc

Tagging to subscribe. I am an herbalist and want to make my way through the thread.

Looking forward to additional knowledge!!

 

[Eggcessive]

I want to buy a window exhaust fan to put in a small window in my hen house.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Would love to find one for barns so that it can take the extra dust. Solar would be great but not mandatory.

I can't seem to find anything barn quality.

I bought one of these last year after going through a couple of pedestal fans that collected dust. This one has worked well for my 12 x 24 ft coop. The motor is enclosed so as not to be a fire hazard. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...t-drive-wall-mounted-fan-18-in-blade-diameter

 

[Sally8]

I bought one of these last year after going through a couple of pedestal fans that collected dust. This one has worked well for my 12 x 24 ft coop. The motor is enclosed so as not to be a fire hazard. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...t-drive-wall-mounted-fan-18-in-blade-diameter

That fan looks perfect. I have one that looks something like this hanging from the ceiling in one of the coops but I don't think my motor is enclosed. I used to use a pedastal rotating fan and I had a hen that would sit on top and rotate with the fan.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sally8, I would get penicillin or cephalexin if your broody needs more antibiotic. I have injected Tylan without any harnful effects before, but it is more for the respiratory bacteria than the wound kinds. I would wash that bottom up in warm weak betadine or hibiclens and water, but I'm sure by now you have already washed her. Neosporin or bacitracin ointment is good. Watch out for flies on her bum because there are too many fly strike stories with maggots on the emergency thread. I once did epsom salt soaks on my horse's foot for a week twice a day, and he broke 3 different buckets because it started to burn after a few minutes. I may have had it too strong though.

 

[maryhysong]

I need a little help. I came home from work early today because I'm sick. Opening the car door, I heard a chicken screaming. This is Cecilia's behind. I had already poured water/peroxide over her before I remembered to take a picture. What can I do now? I know this is a Natural thread but my gut feeling says to start an antibiotic. I have 2 but never used them. Tylan 50 and Duramycin 10. I have homemade NuStock and farm salve. I gave her yogurt.

She has 5 baby chicks and they stayed hiding until I got her back in a cat carrier and then she started calling to them. they came out of hiding from under a huge bush.

She has several bleeding areas and her tail looks a little ripped, mostly she's missing feathers.

I called the neighbors to get their dog and they are as sick as I am over it. I had told them that Ginger chased the chickens and they didn't believe me. It's only because I came home early that I happened to see her here. I know they let her out to free roam when I'm not home. No bad feelings between us, unless it continues. My chickens sometimes roam on their way back yard but she was on mine when I caught her.

Hopefully, I can heal her.

BYW, my mother is still in the hospital and hopefully she can come home in 2 weeks. But today, I had to put her 15 yr old dog to sleep. He's been sick for some time now and was vetted. But now he's just suffering. (Cushing's Disease) When it rains it pours.

oh dear, is that her vent? poor thing. When mine were attached by dogs last year I didn't even clean up the survivors, just smeared nustock on everything that was bloody, brought them in and kept them warm and gave ACV water with a little sugar (for shock). One girl got a tooth right in the head at the end of the comb; I didn't think she would live, I gave ACV water by syringe to keep her hydrated; thought for sure she was going to die. Several days she just sat there with her eyes closed, then she started pecking at things a bit and would drink if I held the container up to her. It was probably close to 10 days before she actually ate anything. Every time I would think "OK if she's not better tomorrow I'm going to put her down" well tomorrow would come and there would be some small improvement. She eventually recovered except for being blind in one eye and acting a bit retarded, totally understandable with brain damage. She even began to lay. (the girls were right at POL when it happned) I did end up giving her to a pet home because with being blind in one eye and being very sweet and docile, she was getting picked on really bad around here. She is doing really good there. Anyway, the other birds were tore up on their backs, My roo was laying on his back and I thought he was dead until he started making some noise. Had huge wounds on his back and sides. Just slathered on the nustock. Whenever the nustock dried up and flaked off in a day or two I'd put on some more. He was a meaner on his way to the stew pot when this happened and afterwards he was nice for several months, then started attacking me again when he got totally well, so became 'mean rooster soup'. I still have one hen that had most of her back ripped off. She has been bare backed ever since. She is now about 18 months old and molting, so we'll see if she grows any new feathers on her back.

One duck had a wound on her breast about 4" long and at least that deep (it was deeper than a qtip) It was getting infected and smelling. A friend gave me some antibiotic injectable (I"d just been using a cream inside with nustock on the outside). I poured some into the wound as well as gave her a shot of it, in 24 hours the smell was gone and things healed up very nicely.

Anyway, nustock is amazing stuff and I now use it for everything. I think the important things are to treat for shock and keep them hydrated. good luck.

 

[maryhysong]

Oh forgot to tell you all, seems the little Am girl has turned the corner. Came home from work and she was up pecking around, gave her some food and she ate with gusto. An occasional gurgle or sneeze still, but doing a lot better. I think I am going to let her rest tonight and clean her ears out real good again in the morning.

I have about decided that the terrible mite problem is maybe coming in on the straw I've been buying. So, going to use shavings for a few weeks and see how that goes. Checked some of the other birds and their are a few live mites out there. I dusted all the birds with sulfur July 15 so almost 6 weeks without seeing any live bugs, not too bad. So dusting birds, coops and nest boxes again. Most of the straw in the coops has begun to break down and in one run is soggy wet from the rain, so no burning it.

 

[RedRidge]

Spiral leg band question for everyone...
I use numbered bandettes for my heritage birds.... but I'm wanting to start using the spiral leg bands for my production layers.
These are hatchery birds, so not quite as big as my HRIR needless to say.
I have a variety of hatchery breeds... production reds, wyandottes, orpingtons....
What size leg band do you folks most commonly use for production layers? I just hate to order 3 different sizes.

 

[aoxa]

Spiral leg band question for everyone...
I use numbered bandettes for my heritage birds.... but I'm wanting to start using the spiral leg bands for my production layers.
These are hatchery birds, so not quite as big as my HRIR needless to say.
I have a variety of hatchery breeds... production reds, wyandottes, orpingtons....
What size leg band do you folks most commonly use for production layers? I just hate to order 3 different sizes.

Those spiral leg bands: how do you put them on? I have a bunch of them, but last time I tried it really hurt the bird while attempting it.