The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

My girls who are molting don't like when I check them at night for mites (no sign of them just me being overly cautious) more,so than normal. Those feather shafts are like little daggers when you run your hand the wrong way to lift their feathers up to see their skin. I try and rub them gently in hopes it makes them feel better.

I am going to up their meat protein again. They are looking so scraggly lately. Feathers falling out everywhere. I had thought with the temps dropping it would encourage them to molt faster. Guess not.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Just wanted too share Henny my black Cochin bantam =)

Beautiful!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Medic Report
Brought in the BR tonight.

-Felt crop. Felt okay to me.
-Felt abdomen. Since I've never done that before I can't be SURE, but I think normal.
-Looked at feet. Same old right foot has very large, hard pad w/large round scab. No visible infection. Left foot way smaller pad; tiny scab; not hard like the right foot.
-Put sunflower seeds down. She ate them immediately. Gave some kale; she ate it. Offered water; didn't drink. Floated sunflower seeds in water mainly so she would know for sure there was water there. She picked them out but didn't drink.
-Soaked feet in warm water w/epsom salt.
-Put icthammol ointment on both feet.
-Scales on legs looked good. Got out some coconut oil to put on her legs. Had it on a spoon and she smelled it and commenced to eat it all. ABOUT A TABLESPOON OF IT! I wasn't planning on feeding it to her!!!! Got more coconut oil and put some on legs.
-Offered her some raw hamburger; she ate it.
-She presented me with a nice poop which I examined after I took her back outside. Didn't see any visible signs of worms. It was mostly dark green slightly fiberous as fine roughage from grass.


So...
Seems to be eating quite well even though she refused the mealworms and liver the last 2 days.

Perhaps it is just the molt. Or perhaps the foot has something going on under the scab.

I'll keep watch on the foot over the next few days and probably apply icthammol at night to see if I can soften it up but I probably won't soak again unless I think I have to remove infection.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Eggland's Best is trying to create the "perfect" egg by modifying their chickens' diets...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hunt-perfect-egg-233500981.html

 

[aoxa]

I think I have a problem.

Yesterday I took out some mealworms. Noticed that one of the BR didn't rush around getting her share. Looked at them but didn't really eat.

Today took out some of the fifty cent liver (yay). Same response. Eventually she went inside while everyone else was in meat frenzy.

Both days I put some right in front of her so it was easy for her to get.


Today I caught her and looked her over.
-I didn't see mites or evidence of lice eggs, etc.
-Bottom a little messy but nothing out of the ordinary.
-She was my bumble foot girl from last winter. Looked at her feet; still a dark scab on the worst one but no sign of infection visible.
-Seems chubby enough.
-Molting. Dumped a lot of feathers even while I was holding her and has lots of new ones starting to poke through (porcupine under the old feathers; she is not bare...has lots of the old ones covering the new growth.

It is just wrong for her not to be interested in meat 2 days in a row.

Any thoughts?

They feel miserable when molting. This is all I can think of.

 

[aoxa]

LM just wanted to add that my Barred Rocks are molting and look terrible. They hunch up and just look plain miserable. Poor girls.

Try not to handle her too much. It really hurts them while they molt.

 

[aoxa]

Medic Report
Brought in the BR tonight.

-Felt crop. Felt okay to me.
-Felt abdomen. Since I've never done that before I can't be SURE, but I think normal.
-Looked at feet. Same old right foot has very large, hard pad w/large round scab. No visible infection. Left foot way smaller pad; tiny scab; not hard like the right foot.
-Put sunflower seeds down. She ate them immediately. Gave some kale; she ate it. Offered water; didn't drink. Floated sunflower seeds in water mainly so she would know for sure there was water there. She picked them out but didn't drink.
-Soaked feet in warm water w/epsom salt.
-Put icthammol ointment on both feet.
-Scales on legs looked good. Got out some coconut oil to put on her legs. Had it on a spoon and she smelled it and commenced to eat it all. ABOUT A TABLESPOON OF IT! I wasn't planning on feeding it to her!!!! Got more coconut oil and put some on legs.
-Offered her some raw hamburger; she ate it.
-She presented me with a nice poop which I examined after I took her back outside. Didn't see any visible signs of worms. It was mostly dark green slightly fiberous as fine roughage from grass.


So...
Seems to be eating quite well even though she refused the mealworms and liver the last 2 days.

Perhaps it is just the molt. Or perhaps the foot has something going on under the scab.

I'll keep watch on the foot over the next few days and probably apply icthammol at night to see if I can soften it up but I probably won't soak again unless I think I have to remove infection.

Margaret loved coconut oil. It's good for the digestive tract for humans, so I can't see it being any different for chickens.

I rub it all over Chloe (poodle), and she has a good time grooming it off LOL. She had a tick I removed and tried to use coconut oil to battle any infection it could have caused. She ate it all... Silly girl. I used it for her sore nipples too when she was nursing.

 

[armorfirelady]

LM sounds like she is just fine. No going back to being a poop watcher

My girls would eat the coconut oil to when I would change greens bandages in the run. No matter where I put it they would find it. Silly chickens, they seem no worse for wear after ingesting it.

Maybe when they molt they are like girls and have pms ? I think I would be miserable to it my feathers fell out then those pointy shafts started poking through my skin :/

 

[lalaland]

LM sounds like she is just fine. No going back to being a poop watcher

My girls would eat the coconut oil to when I would change greens bandages in the run. No matter where I put it they would find it. Silly chickens, they seem no worse for wear after ingesting it.

Maybe when they molt they are like girls and have pms ? I think I would be miserable to it my feathers fell out then those pointy shafts started poking through my skin

totally agree! she sounds healthy and happy, except for moulting.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about her feet too much, I have a 5 year old ee who always has a big hard scab pad on her foot, I used to soak, remove, treat, bandage, etc, but it always comes back. Her other foot is fine. I finally quit messing with it over a year ago, and it hasn't caused any problems. Feels like a big hard callous, has a definite black core. Might be the case for your girl, too. Now if she was limping, or if I saw her leg was swelling, or something, that would be different.

I'm going to try coconut oil on mrs murphy, could be she might eat it too!

 

[ki4got]

ok how about a moulting 'pity party' with pics?

this is 'broke leg' (2 broken legs in 2 months thanks to a stubborn bird and a blind horse...)