The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ki4got]

ok... here's an oddity I've never seen before (or heard of?)

found one of the sfh youngsters (about 4 months old) today, looks like she went for a dunk in the water bucket, which has a layer of slush on top from the recent ice/sleet storm...

I picked her up to bring her in and thaw (the cat also went for a dunk today in the horse trough and I can't catch him!), and she feels like a balloon! she's entirely filled with air, everywhere. air sacs I guess?

she's a bit lethargic but I couldn't tell if that was related to the dunking or not, and is breathing open mouth a little, but i don't hear any sort of gurgling or anything to indicate she inhaled any water.

she's in a tote, downstairs, to thaw out, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen/heard of a bird filling up with air? it's like someone inflated her entire skin. everything but her head legs back and wings.

 

[Eggcessive]

Help I found my favorite game hen (total freeranger) with an egg half broken held by an egg shell looking stream coming out her butt 3 days ago, I couldn't catch her but saw the bottom part of the broken egg come off, I didn't find her until yesterday afternoon, netted her & pulled the 4" x 1/4" shell looking stream off of her & put her in a coop. Today she obviously doesn't feel well, can I give her a shot of pencillin-the only thing I have around for horses-how much would i give?

Procaine Penicillin G dosage for chickens is 1/10 ml injected into the breast muscle once daily for 4 days. You can give up to 1/4 ml safely, and just stick the needle in 1/2 inch or so (not sure of the length of your needles.) When they lay a soft-shell egg that breaks inside like that it can set them up for egg yolk peritonitis, so you an also use white vinegar and water to squirt into the vent with a syringe (like a douche.) One ounce of vinegar to 4 ounces of water would be a good ratio.

 

[Eggcessive]

How would I go about putting it on?

Just squirt a tiny amount of ointment into the eye by pulling the lower lid down. You probably need an extra pair of hands first time just to be safe. Eye ointments can be applied daily or twice a day since they stay in much longer than drops.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@jockeyeba

Just sent another pm with more information.

 

[armorfirelady]

ok... here's an oddity I've never seen before (or heard of?)

found one of the sfh youngsters (about 4 months old) today, looks like she went for a dunk in the water bucket, which has a layer of slush on top from the recent ice/sleet storm...

I picked her up to bring her in and thaw (the cat also went for a dunk today in the horse trough and I can't catch him!), and she feels like a balloon!  she's entirely filled with air, everywhere. air sacs I guess? 

she's a bit lethargic but I couldn't tell if that was related to the dunking or not, and is breathing open mouth a little, but i don't hear any sort of gurgling or anything to indicate she inhaled any water.

she's in a tote, downstairs, to thaw out, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen/heard of a bird filling up with air?  it's like someone inflated her entire skin. everything but her head legs back and wings.

I remember awhile back that someone else had this issue. I want to say Kassaundra maybe??

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
you can also use a leg muscle, which is sometimes easier to get to and less traumatic for the bird than flipping it over... i just feel for the meatiest part of the leg, draw back a bit on the plunger to make sure you're not in a vein, then inject.

 

[lalaland]

Procaine Penicillin G dosage for chickens is 1/10 ml injected into the breast muscle once daily for 4 days. You can give up to 1/4 ml safely, and just stick the needle in 1/2 inch or so (not sure of the length of your needles.) When they lay a soft-shell egg that breaks inside like that it can set them up for egg yolk peritonitis, so you an also use white vinegar and water to squirt into the vent with a syringe (like a douche.) One ounce of vinegar to 4 ounces of water would be a good ratio.

that makes such sense but I wouldn't have thought of it. I know culling makes the most sense but sometimes you have those hens that you want to keep going. I'm adding the idea of the "douche" to my toolkit.

And Kigot4, keep us posted on your poor SFH girl who went for the dunk. Do you think she was trying to peck through slush and just fell in? Was it a big water container?

 

[lalaland]

I'm kind of excited - someone in Missouri has offered me a sulmtaler rooster!!!! I would just pay shipping (maybe $50 or $60) and send off some hatching eggs in the future.
That would be way way more than I've ever paid for a bird, but....I've wanted to get a rooster to breed the sulmtalers because I am totally taken with the breed.

Problem is I can't take the rooster right now as it is still winter (10- " snow coming tomorrow) and the ground is frozen, so I can't construct a new run or coop. The sulmtalers are in a tiny coop, and I will need to get an area next to their run to be able to introduce him, and that would be after quarantine.

And, I can't fix up a quarantine area until the ground thaws so I can make a run, and that won't be til may probably. I don't know if this person, who is in the south, can hang on to the rooster that long. He is 7 months old.

 

[Sally8]

I'm kind of excited - someone in Missouri has offered me a sulmtaler rooster!!!! I would just pay shipping (maybe $50 or $60) and send off some hatching eggs in the future.
That would be way way more than I've ever paid for a bird, but....I've wanted to get a rooster to breed the sulmtalers because I am totally taken with the breed.

Problem is I can't take the rooster right now as it is still winter (10- " snow coming tomorrow) and the ground is frozen, so I can't construct a new run or coop. The sulmtalers are in a tiny coop, and I will need to get an area next to their run to be able to introduce him, and that would be after quarantine.

And, I can't fix up a quarantine area until the ground thaws so I can make a run, and that won't be til may probably. I don't know if this person, who is in the south, can hang on to the rooster that long. He is 7 months old.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Finally decided to cull Mrs. Black this weekend. This is the first-ever bird I've had to cull for a health issue.

Seems to have had peritonitis with eggs backing up. Weighed about as much as an empty box. I didn't do a necropsy

The symptoms were obvious... and began passing what looked like hard-boiled egg yolk with her poohs.