The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[CoopChick719]

KI - I was wondering the same thing. Unless I missed something, it didn't look like there was yolk inside and the there was way more green. I thought I had read somewhere that green tint inside could also be some kind of metal poisoning and the liver not being able to detox it. Not sure though on that one.

That was the very first thing I noticed was all the green! Could it be from a galvanized waterer?

green could relate to copper salts, but unless she was inhaling pennies or eating chemicals that have copper as a primary ingredient, I wouldn't think it'd be easy to get... even then, copper salts are more blue-green not that horrid bile-green that's very distinctive.

can't photo a smell, but I dare say, if you were to cut open a fresh gall bladder, and compare, I bet she smelled 'bile-ey'...

Yes, KI, she did smell! My hubby does not have a good sniffer but when he came into the morgue aka the garage, he said Whoa I can't stay in here, she stinks!!

One thing i can say about this bird is she has serious stamina...she was very ill.
I suggest you take your next bird that dies into a test lab. This is not simple peritonitis. The cavity would have been filled with liquid too. I honestly think it was something else. Lymphoid Leukosis possibly.

please watch these videos available from the University. It lets you see the how to and what to look fors when doing a necropsy..
I do love to learn and these photos tell a story..thank you again for sharing and allowing us to learn.

http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/veterinarians/avian-necropsy-examination/intro-practical

The poor thing!! She looked fine that morning. She gave me no outward indications that she was sick. They certainly are good at hiding illness!! Thank you for your advice, Delisha! I was hoping you would comment on the photos to see if I was right in my assumptions. What I had labeled ceca at first I too thought it was the oviduct and it was behind the intestines. It was filled with what looked like grass, that's what made me change my mind to ceca. Thank you for the video link. I will definitely study it because I know there is a technique to it.

I lost 2 birds before her. 1 is still in the freezer. Do you think it would be worth looking at her? She's been in there awhile.

THANK YOU ALL for weighing in!

DH thinks I've lost my mind so it's nice to share with like-minded people!!

 

[lazy gardener]

This is my little 7 year old gardener. Double cold frame with hay bale construction north, east, west walls, cattle panel top, gate across front to keep the girls away from the salad bar.




The squash vines that took over my entire garden. Under the mountain of green is a swing set trellis... for my pole beans. 185 pounds of butter cup and red kuri from one lasagna style hill 3' x 4'. The biggest butter cup was 22.5# Tomatoes still growing well in green house.








5 girls... 5 eggs. Lacy... my prettiest and wildest girl, lays the biggest egg. She's currently challenging RIR for top of pecking order. This has been an incredible bee year in my yard. Almost every dahlia blossom has at least one bee sleeping on it in the morning.



The coop... Took me way too long to build it, was supposed to be a tractor, but ended up being way too heavy to move after it was maneuvered into it's final resting place.

 

[lazy gardener]

KI: I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting that she may have had acute pancreatitis. In one of the causes of this disease, a stone or some other issue blocks off the common bile duct, and the pancreatic duct. It can affect the pancreas which then ends up spilling digestive juices into the body cavity, burning every thing that it comes into contact with. You may also see retroperitoneal bleeding which may account for the gangrene condition around the vent, because the blood will settle at the lowest point.

 

[aoxa]

This is my little 7 year old gardener. Double cold frame with hay bale construction north, east, west walls, cattle panel top, gate across front to keep the girls away from the salad bar.




The squash vines that took over my entire garden. Under the mountain of green is a swing set trellis... for my pole beans. 185 pounds of butter cup and red kuri from one lasagna style hill 3' x 4'. The biggest butter cup was 22.5# Tomatoes still growing well in green house.








5 girls... 5 eggs. Lacy... my prettiest and wildest girl, lays the biggest egg. She's currently challenging RIR for top of pecking order. This has been an incredible bee year in my yard. Almost every dahlia blossom has at least one bee sleeping on it in the morning.



The coop... Took me way too long to build it, was supposed to be a tractor, but ended up being way too heavy to move after it was maneuvered into it's final resting place.
Wait.. tell me how this is lazy gardening?

 

[aoxa]

We had a rough night last night.. Had to tell a family that we can't let our puppy go with them. we had a bad gut feeling about them not being suited to our little runt girl, but did not say anything the night they came. We took the deposit and felt this sinking feeling like it was a very bad decision...

They did not take it well... I hate disappointing people. Chloe, the mother told us right away that it wasn't right... Mother knows best right? We met another two people last night for another puppy and Chloe LOVED them, as did we.

I get these same feelings when I sell chickens. I've only ever once made a sale I regret... We need to listen to our instincts in the first place.

 

[lazy gardener]

Just wondering. My mini fridge test run is holding well at 100 almost exactly, added about a cup of water to the bottom drawer, getting 47-53% humidity. Too high. But dry, gets down to well under 20%. Hmm... My old cabinet, which was just 3/4" plywood, dry was 30-35%. It did have some additional 1/4" holes near the bottom. I hate to drill a bunch of holes in the unit, but. Ideas?
Do hope things get better. My chickens are here partly to distract me from the rest of life.

When I did my hatch with a home made incubator, During the "dry" phase, the humidity would bounce back and forth between 15 - 40%. I would occasionally let it run dry, then add water, so it bounced around quite a lot. I forget the actual numbers, but during lock down, I worked hard to get it up to 65%. Of 6 eggs, 5 hatched, there was one quitter around 7 days, and I had 2 significant power outages, and one "oops I left it unplugged after candling" outage. What are you using for humidity? An open water source? You might have better control using a piece of sponge as it will have much greater surface area, and I found the sponge very easy to control. I cut a new sponge into 1" wide pieces, stood one piece upright in a yogurt cup which was then wired to the wall of the incubator. Filled it with a syringe attached to aquarium tubing which ran down into the yogurt cup. The sponge wicks the water, you refill when the sponge looks dry or when humidity drops. When you get to lock down, add a few more pieces of sponge until you reach the magic number. I also found that my temps went wacky during lock down. I'm not sure if the extra humidity messed with the thermostat or what. Perhaps I was over reacting, and by jumping in to micro-control the temp, I was causing the wild fluctuations. I think that you're better off with an old fashioned thermometer in high humidity situations. I used an old fashioned mercury rectal thermometer as back up, and correlated my digital thermometer with that one.

Re: drilling holes. I'd recommend that you grab that drill and drill away!!! You can always plug them. It's not natural for chicks to hatch in a closed box. And your mini fridge will have even less air penetration than the wooden box did. IMO, a lot of losses may be related to poor air exchange.

 

[lazy gardener]

Wait.. tell me how this is lazy gardening?

MULCH!!!! AND LOTS OF IT!!!!
Aoxa: you made the right decision. Any time I go contrary to what my gut is telling me, I live to regret it, and most often those gut feelings involve something pretty significant that will affect someone for a long time to come.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: you NEED air holes for ventilation... otherwise the eggs would suffocate. i'd say drill a few bottom and top on the side and you can always tape them over if it's too much. I've heard too many stories of fridgeabators killing eggs close to the end because not enough air supply.

 

[BlueMouse]

Just getting caught up again, I've been busy this week. Putting the garden to bed, doing school with my daughter, splitting wood. It's been a warm fall but winter is still coming!

LM,so sorry about miss grey. Predator loss sucks. Glad you saved the chicks though!

coopchick: Thank you so much for sharing your necropsy photos! We all learn so much from them, especially us other newbies.

anyone on here make milk keffir? I was given some grains and I haven't been sucessful yet.... it keeps starting to seperate at the top, not the bottom and it has a little discoloration on the top, yellow, trenting to slightly orange. I've fed two batches to the chickens so far (who looooove it) First one I did forget about and let sit way too long. this batch I put in the cabinet next to my tea and checked a few times a day, and it seperated at the top, not the bottom, and the top looked cottage cheesy sort of...... today I was going to try gently rinsing the grains in cool filtered water before I start a new batch....

 

[armorfirelady]

Blue mouse Leah's mom would be able to help you with the kefir