The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

ok, well, re: ms balloon, I popped her, and now she's gurgling some when she breathes. I'm thinking when she dunked she may have aspirated some water, which is causing the respiratory issues and ballooning.

I popped her in several spots. back of the neck, both sides of her breast and both legs. there are some areas that won't 'burp' but i feel if i can just get the worst of it and make her more comfortable... *shrug*

fortunately (in an odd way) her skin is so tight you can see the blood vessels clearly, so I missed those and actually used a turkey basting needle (something around 10 or 12 gauge, but she didn't complain much) but the skin seals itself so well that I had to re-pop a couple spots more than once in just 10 minutes. if I'd had some small gauge surgical tubing, I might have just inserted those to keep the holes open sort term, but I don't.


she's eating and drinking fine now tho. I did treat her with ivermectin, since I saw mites on her too. I do NOT want them spreading to the chicks I have in the house... I check every pen (can't check every bird) at least once a week, and hadn't seen any till now, so not sure if I should treat the whole pen or just keep checking periodically.

You are a brave woman..I could not do that..

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
it helps that I worked for a lazy vet for a few years... I would NOT bring an animal to him unless I had to, but he paid well and i wanted what he was teaching us...

the techs did surgeries for him (cat neutering primarily)... showed us how to do it, and after supervising a couple times we were on our own...

no fear, he's no longer in practice... but I lost a lot of my fears for hurting animals, when it's in their best interests. (like shots, lancing abscesses, bumblefoot 'surgery', poking holes in balloons...)

 

[gevshiba]

Turkey eggs and silkie eggs are not a good combo to hatch together IMO. They have different needs.
Since you have no choice you will need to keep everything centered.
Humidity 40% and no more or less
temp 99.6-100 no higher or lower
reattaching may take place by letting the eggs sit with out turning the first 24 hours. You need to let the eggs adjust to your home humidity and temp..and rest for 12 hours after shipping before putting in the incubator.Than setting in the incubator with out turning for 24 hours. Reattachment simply does not happen in many cases. You can stll have a rewarding and fun experience hatching eggs if you are gentle and treat them like fragile eggs. Try not to handle them..try not to adjust the incubator..make sure it is working properly before setting.
Silkies are not hard to hatch if you know how to hatch them..they are actually quite hardy. They have problems in the last few days..They can't be move until internal pip or they drowned. They hatch better in cartons or in the turner.

Thank you Delisha. I'm not sure about sitting them in egg cartons, since mine lay on their sides. The entire bottom tray slides to turn them, no rails that can be removed. I think I'll just have to let them take their chances. But I will candle the turkey eggs at 10 days and remove them if they aren't doing anything. My incubator doesn't give the humidity in percentages, it has a range to stay within. It kept rock steady near the middle both times before. It only went up once, still in the acceptable range, when we had a very rainy day. I got it right back down by removing the vent plug. The temp was also very steady with no drops or spikes. I have the eggs in a carton now, waiting for tomorrow to put in the incubator. Should I candle the silky eggs later or let them be?

 

[jockeyeba]

RIP My American Game hen Silver
3/10/2011-3/17/2014

 

[tjo804]

RIP My American Game hen Silver
3/10/2011-3/17/2014

Sorry for your loss.

 

[misbhaven]

jockeyeba sorry to hear about you loss

 

[fenwickchic]

wild turkey wants to be a flock buddy

There has been a single wild turkey hanging around for weeks. He roosts in some pines and robs the bird feeders daily. This week, he has been following my path to the coop, gets to the gate, turns around and heads back.

Friday I came home to tracks up to the run gate, and then....inside the run. He cleaned up some spilled feed, drank the water dry, and seems to have been dustbathing under the coop.

I'm not thrilled about this. Was less thrilled on saturday when he was back under the coop. I kept the flock inside saturday because of the -20's until it warmed up to about -5. Sunny day, so opened the people door and the flock started sunbathing in the doorway. I was home, so could check frequently. I'm worried the turkey will go inside the coop. Not sure what the roosters will do with a turkey either!

On a side note, windchill last night was -39. it is -22 air temp right now. I have snow up to my a** everywhere, and the snow on my roof has pushed my stove pipe over! I didn't know that was possible. seems to be still attached to the struts, but the base is off. So I can't use the wood stove til this gets fixed. Hoping the chimney guy gets here before anything melts, which might be mid next week. Guess thats what tax refunds are for, those danged expensive repairs that happen.

lala,
My sister has about 20 hens and 3 roos AND and a wild turkey. Her husband got a couple domestic turkeys to raise and they ended up gone, but this wild turkey showed up and took up residence. She has no problems with it and the chickens. The roos don't bother it and it doesn't bother them. My sister loves that wild turkey!! It shares the dog's food and water and will peck on the door for attention and food. It follows her around like a dog. She has a lab and a collie and 5 horses too. That turkey wasn't stupid...

 

[lalaland]

lala,
My sister has about 20 hens and 3 roos AND and a wild turkey. Her husband got a couple domestic turkeys to raise and they ended up gone, but this wild turkey showed up and took up residence. She has no problems with it and the chickens. The roos don't bother it and it doesn't bother them. My sister loves that wild turkey!! It shares the dog's food and water and will peck on the door for attention and food. It follows her around like a dog. She has a lab and a collie and 5 horses too. That turkey wasn't stupid...

thats funny! this turkey seems pretty skittish about people, but very fascinated by the either the food or the chickens. He will spend a couple of minutes by the run just watching. Hasn't flown over yet, probably because it is kind of tight quarters for a turkey to get in under the hawk enclosure. Glad to know the roosters won't likely try to protect their hens from the turkey.

 

[Leahs Mom]

RIP My American Game hen Silver
3/10/2011-3/17/2014

She was a very pretty girl.

 

[armorfirelady]

Kausandra the chicks are adorable someone picked the feathers of their necks tho

It's suppose to be in the 40s the next couple days. Hopefully the snow in the side yard melts enough so I can get the electric netting up. I am determined to get it up early !!!