The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thanks, I will watch the symptoms

The vitamins are the best you can do, hopefully she improves. The link lalaland posted has some really great information. Wishing you luck.

 

[curious chickee]

Thanks, hopefully it is just this one and not something contagious. I would hate lose our Exhibition chicks. My daughter has been working hard breeding these babies. The one not doing well will still be said to lose but just a layer not a show birds.

 

[h2oratt]

We had something burrow under the pen my Brody is in last night. They got in her cat litter box and took an egg broke it got it outside the box. The half a shell was left outside the box. I am assuming we need to move her to a more protected place. I am planning on doing it tonight. I will then inspect the rest of her eggs. I am assuming it was a rat. I wish I had a camera out there so I could see what happened. Any advice?

 

[varidgerunner]

We had something burrow under the pen my Brody is in last night. They got in her cat litter box and took an egg broke it got it outside the box. The half a shell was left outside the box. I am assuming we need to move her to a more protected place. I am planning on doing it tonight. I will then inspect the rest of her eggs. I am assuming it was a rat. I wish I had a camera out there so I could see what happened. Any advice?

My hens frequently pick out blanks. If they are not enclosed, they will sometimes carry them far away from the nest. I have found marked eggs carried 100 feet from the nest area, saw the hen walk past the window when she did it. Other times, if I have them enclosed, they will eat them. I think it is instinctive to not have something potentially rotting and giving off smells that might draw in predators.

Last year, I had a broody with chicks in a pen that a skunk dug into. I heard the dog barking and went out and smelled skunk. That little hen had whooped that skunk, had him cowering in the corner. Of course, not all hens will do this, but some are quite capable of some degree of defense.

My guess is that your hen did it.

 

[h2oratt]

My hens frequently pick out blanks. If they are not enclosed, they will sometimes carry them far away from the nest. I have found marked eggs carried 100 feet from the nest area, saw the hen walk past the window when she did it. Other times, if I have them enclosed, they will eat them. I think it is instinctive to not have something potentially rotting and giving off smells that might draw in predators.

Last year, I had a broody with chicks in a pen that a skunk dug into. I heard the dog barking and went out and smelled skunk. That little hen had whooped that skunk, had him cowering in the corner. Of course, not all hens will do this, but some are quite capable of some degree of defense.

My guess is that your hen did it.

Wow I had no idea they could carry an egg 100 feet. The half a shell was outside the box..it looked like it was growing from what I could see. About as far along as 10 day old embryo. I can't imagine her letting an animal get in and take but this is first time. We did see a burrow under the pen but they could have been just taking her pellets. We have some large rats around here. We did move her to a cement dog run after it got dark. She is in her box inside a grow out pen inside a cement run dog kennel. No dogs are around her she is very secluded but we are able to keep a good eye on her.

 

[varidgerunner]

Sometimes they rearrange their eggs and accidentally bust a thin shelled one. But it could be rats.

 

[curious chickee]

My pullet this morning

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My pullet this morning

To me it looks like Mareks, I would wait up to a week, if no improvement is seen I would cull.

 

[curious chickee]

What about the rest of the young in garage and broody raised in other coop? Should I go ahead and vaccinate them, I heard the vaccine only works on day old chicks, others say older can be vaccinated just need a larger dose. I don't like to vaccinate if not needed, but I have about 60 young brahma chicks hatched 4 weeks - hatching tomorrow and want to do what is best since these are my daughters show birds

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't know, I don't vaccinate, I cull any that show symptoms and allow a natural immunity to build up. I had a few birds a few years ago but haven't had any since. I do read now where turkeys carry a less dangerous strain that can give chickens immunity, so perhaps my turkeys have made it so my birds don't come down with it anymore, and I only buy chicks from a single source. Hopefully someone who vaccinates can help out.

Edited to add when I did have some with Mareks it was random and only a few young birds, it didn't wipe the whole batch out and was limited to a couple birds, one batch was from a swap meet, then the next year from the farm store, than nothing ever again.