The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[subhanalah]

she's a cream legbar. She seems a little better tonight. she is eating the soaked feed i have down for her at least some. And I made a witches brew of liver and fresh raw egg in the blender, and she drank a couple tbsp of that out of a spoon for me. she was having trouble getting the pieces of liver up so that was my compromise. Seriously gag worthy but also nutrient dense.  She's perching on the little roost I have in there, and trying to preen herself, but seems to have very little control over her neck, and her head is constantly twisted sideways. I don't know what she would have gotten into that would have given her botulism shut up in the coop/run? 

Thank you everyone so much for your advice/input.

a dead animal in a damp area of the coop? Rotting bedding under a waterer or something maybe?

Can aspergillosis cause wry neck? The ingested kind, not the inhaled kind.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Is deep little supposed to be inhabited by little black beetles and little brown things that look like roaches but God I hope they're not cause eww?

 

[armorfirelady]

Is deep little supposed to be inhabited by little black beetles and little brown things that look like roaches but God I hope they're not cause eww?

They would be dinner for my girls if they were in my coop I found squash bugs sitting on a pumpkin yesterday and I got Edie so she could have a snack

 

[hoosiercheetah]

They would be dinner for my girls if they were in my coop

I found squash bugs sitting on a pumpkin yesterday and I got Edie so she could have a snack

That's what I thought, too! I guess I'll try not to worry about it unless it starts to look like the birds are not keeping up.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Is deep little supposed to be inhabited by little black beetles and little brown things that look like roaches but God I hope they're not cause eww?

Do you have a dirt floor under the deep litter? And..have you seen your girls try eating any of them?

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Do you have a dirt floor under the deep litter? And..have you seen your girls try eating any of them?

No dirt. I have linoleum. I've mixed a lot of well-broken down compost into the pine litter, but it hasn't been there a long time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay...they could have come with the compost.

I would watch the chickens and see if they eat those bugs. If they do I wouldn't worry about it.

But if they don't eat them, you will likely be overrun with them and I'd probably consider removing them.

Have you ever seen them eating them?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Okay...you sold 3 of the hens...those were your older girls, right? The first generation? How hard was that?

I'm having to remove (at least) 2 girls from my flock this year. They do have a home to go to (and a GREAT home for that matter). But I almost feel like I'm betraying them or something. I'M SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT THESE AS FARM ANIMALS. That's what my "goal" is. But when you start out w/only 6, you know them pretty personally so it kind of changes that dynamic real quick.

And...do the other girls all look okay? Is it only Stella that doesn't look great?

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Have you ever seen them eating them?

No, I haven't. I think they may have come in from the yard. I saw a few of them around the people-door before I added the compost to the coop.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Are they "june bugs"?