The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Renee97038]

I have killed my first chicken accidentally. I can't get it out of my head, and I feel absolutely horrible.

I had a hen with sour crop, and I have been trying to treat her.. I know, I should have made a good time line where I euthanized her, but she was still getting food through her system (pooping) but the crop was not going down as it should have been with yoghurt. 

Anyway... I picked her up to massage her crop like I do every time I see her, and she started vomiting. I aspirated her lungs with the crop contents and she died right in front of me. It was 30 seconds. The crop contents were coming out every orifice. 

Note.. if you have any issue with sour crop that is chronic: put them down.. If they are just starting the issue and you want to treat, BE CAREFUL how you handle them. NEVER try to get the contents out of the crop. 

My poor poor girl. She was so very friendly. I cried for a good 10 minutes. 

I'm so sorry for your loss and such a sad experience. It's never easy to see an animal die. Take care!

 

[delisha]

Quote: I have a coop with the whole bottom exposed..they lay eggs under it all the time and hatch chicks under it. I have had them get killed by predators while they were under it over night. (The Maremma will help a great deal in that manner). I do not go fetch them..lol

The March issue of Acres Magazine is focused on poultry this issue. But they also have an article on Maremma. So thought I'd let y'all know.

I subscribe to Acres but you can usually get them at Tractor Supply or other farm stores on the shelf.

I need to read that..

So my Frizzle bantam, Popcorn, was molting .... She lost feathers on her back and I saw new shafts coming in. She is a very NEUROTIC hen. I constantly see her preening those feathers and I noticed they didnt seem to be making much regrowth progress and she has more naked patches. I started to think she is so neurotic that she was plucking out the new feathers. Well today I saw my Alpha hen chase her... Her hatch mother the NERVE!!! I am wondering if the molt made her a target to be picked on and what should I do to help her grow back her feathers??? I am not sure how much bullying is going on .... this was never a problem before her molt. Oh chicken dynamics are so complicated!!

Any suggestions???

She is going through spring moult..it happens..when things like this happen in birds you need to seriously consider culling if it gets worse. It promotes other bad behaviors in the coop.

I have killed my first chicken accidentally. I can't get it out of my head, and I feel absolutely horrible.

I had a hen with sour crop, and I have been trying to treat her.. I know, I should have made a good time line where I euthanized her, but she was still getting food through her system (pooping) but the crop was not going down as it should have been with yoghurt.

Anyway... I picked her up to massage her crop like I do every time I see her, and she started vomiting. I aspirated her lungs with the crop contents and she died right in front of me. It was 30 seconds. The crop contents were coming out every orifice.

Note.. if you have any issue with sour crop that is chronic: put them down.. If they are just starting the issue and you want to treat, BE CAREFUL how you handle them. NEVER try to get the contents out of the crop.

My poor poor girl. She was so very friendly. I cried for a good 10 minutes.

Sorry Justine..

Do not panic..use it as a tool to learn from..do not shy away from it. Learning and growing and having experience in different situations help with confidence. You need to try again next time. Nothing wrong with emptying crops..maybe next time use a catheter to relieve some pressure. Have you tried baking soda?

Quote: I do not treat sour crop with anything other than:
with draw food for 24 hours
add baking soda to water
reevaluate..

 

[armorfirelady]

Aoxa sorry to hear about your hen.

I'm leaving Lucy's toes be and see what happens. She is very flighty so I can only observe her as she walks around. With her feet being grayish black it will be hard to tell if the white area turns black it will be hard to tell if its back to normal or if they are black from frost bite. I'm just observing for now. Today they do not look as swollen and bright white.

The temps went down to -8 last night and only 16 now with real feel of 0. I switched their ff into the smaller bowl and water in the bigger bowl with 2 cups in it to keep them out. Next year I will need a better set up. She didn't stand in the food in the smaller bowl today.

There is a musty smell in the coop. The DL is frozen around the perimeter so I tossed some into the area where they walk between their old run and coop. Keeps their feet off the snow & they were happily digging thru it. In the spring I will rake it up and throw in the garden. I turned all the DL in the coop & added some leaves and pine tree litter to help absorbs some moisture. When the snow around the coop melts it goes into the DL and re freezes & that is why I think I have the musty odor. Hopefully the leaves will absorb some moisture as well. The girls are busily scratching thru the giant piles of DL I left looking for snacks and mixing the leaves into the DL in the process. I also opened the coop window half way for some more air flow.

Tonight I am going to try making a chicken swing I found online. Looks pretty simple and straightforward. (Famous last words. I also am going to try to make a holder for their flock block. I'm sick of digging it out of the DL when it gets smaller.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I have killed my first chicken accidentally. I can't get it out of my head, and I feel absolutely horrible.

I had a hen with sour crop, and I have been trying to treat her.. I know, I should have made a good time line where I euthanized her, but she was still getting food through her system (pooping) but the crop was not going down as it should have been with yoghurt.

Anyway... I picked her up to massage her crop like I do every time I see her, and she started vomiting. I aspirated her lungs with the crop contents and she died right in front of me. It was 30 seconds. The crop contents were coming out every orifice.

Note.. if you have any issue with sour crop that is chronic: put them down.. If they are just starting the issue and you want to treat, BE CAREFUL how you handle them. NEVER try to get the contents out of the crop.

My poor poor girl. She was so very friendly. I cried for a good 10 minutes.

So sorry.

Is a sour crop the same as a blocked crop? I was reading in the Texas thread how to treat that with Spinach and water, maybe something else. I can look back and find it is anyone wants to know. It is what a vet recommended.

Aoxa sorry to hear about your hen.

I'm leaving Lucy's toes be and see what happens. She is very flighty so I can only observe her as she walks around. With her feet being grayish black it will be hard to tell if the white area turns black it will be hard to tell if its back to normal or if they are black from frost bite. I'm just observing for now. Today they do not look as swollen and bright white.

The temps went down to -8 last night and only 16 now with real feel of 0. I switched their ff into the smaller bowl and water in the bigger bowl with 2 cups in it to keep them out. Next year I will need a better set up. She didn't stand in the food in the smaller bowl today.

There is a musty smell in the coop. The DL is frozen around the perimeter so I tossed some into the area where they walk between their old run and coop. Keeps their feet off the snow & they were happily digging thru it. In the spring I will rake it up and throw in the garden. I turned all the DL in the coop & added some leaves and pine tree litter to help absorbs some moisture. When the snow around the coop melts it goes into the DL and re freezes & that is why I think I have the musty odor. Hopefully the leaves will absorb some moisture as well. The girls are busily scratching thru the giant piles of DL I left looking for snacks and mixing the leaves into the DL in the process.

I also opened the coop window half way for some more air flow.

Tonight I am going to try making a chicken swing I found online. Looks pretty simple and straightforward. (Famous last words. I also am going to try to make a holder for their flock block. I'm sick of digging it out of the DL when it gets smaller.

What is DL? (I'm new to this game.) Have you thought about adding straw all over the ground? Good insulator and will protect their feet.

Did you find your chicken swing idea on Fresh Eggs Daily? She made one that was really cute and super easy. I plan on building one too.

 

[Jewelwing]

I have killed my first chicken accidentally. I can't get it out of my head, and I feel absolutely horrible.

I had a hen with sour crop, and I have been trying to treat her.. I know, I should have made a good time line where I euthanized her, but she was still getting food through her system (pooping) but the crop was not going down as it should have been with yoghurt.

Anyway... I picked her up to massage her crop like I do every time I see her, and she started vomiting. I aspirated her lungs with the crop contents and she died right in front of me. It was 30 seconds. The crop contents were coming out every orifice.

Note.. if you have any issue with sour crop that is chronic: put them down.. If they are just starting the issue and you want to treat, BE CAREFUL how you handle them. NEVER try to get the contents out of the crop.

My poor poor girl. She was so very friendly. I cried for a good 10 minutes.

I am so, so sorry.

Please don't blame yourself for wanting to save her and doing your best to make that happen.

It's always worse when it happens to the good ones.

 

[armorfirelady]

Ms jellybean

DL is deep litter. You just keep adding litter (shavings, leaves, pine litter, hay) throught out the year & clean it out once a year. It's wonderful and yes there is hay in it.

I saw the swing in a magazine online. I'm curious to see if the girls will like it or not

 

[lalaland]

I wonder what you could do in this situation.. He is a danger to your birds technically, though not for sure.. I wonder if animal control would relocate him?

I wonder if wild toms don't travel in flocks? I thought they did.. Sad that he doesn't have any flock mates.

i know, he's a lonely guy. its hard because he will come for the chicken food. I have increased bird feeding with some corn up by the house in hopes he likes the easier access and doesn't bother going to the coop.

kinda scary!

 

[armorfirelady]

I have chicken guilt today. What's that you ask? It's when you make extra spaghetti while making dinner so the hens can have some leftovers on this frigid day. And when you take the leftover bacon grease & add cornmeal to it and give both to the hens. They surely didn't seem to mind the leftovers today

And of course it's now snowing so it's going to cover all that DL I threw in their walking area..........I am so done with winter !!!

 

[aoxa]

So sorry.

Is a sour crop the same as a blocked crop? I was reading in the Texas thread how to treat that with Spinach and water, maybe something else. I can look back and find it is anyone wants to know. It is what a vet recommended.

What is DL? (I'm new to this game.) Have you thought about adding straw all over the ground? Good insulator and will protect their feet.

Did you find your chicken swing idea on Fresh Eggs Daily? She made one that was really cute and super easy. I plan on building one too.

It's blocked, but not impacted. Contents will start to ferment in the crop and very little will pass through.. It's not impacted where you would offer olive oil and bread. That would just feed the yeast.

Okay so sour crop is a yeast infection basically.. I should have tried coconut oil. That works for human yeast infections. Must help sour crop too.

I am so, so sorry.

Please don't blame yourself for wanting to save her and doing your best to make that happen.

It's always worse when it happens to the good ones.

Thank you

i know, he's a lonely guy. its hard because he will come for the chicken food. I have increased bird feeding with some corn up by the house in hopes he likes the easier access and doesn't bother going to the coop.

kinda scary!

I'd like to see some pictures of him. I am not sure what you would do in this situation. We have wild pheasants on our property usually in the spring and summer. I don't worry about it, because they are the same size as our chickens. Sure they could carry something, but it's the same male year after year as far as I know. He can't be that unhealthy if I keep seeing him.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
there's always the crockpot...