The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[lalaland]

mumsy, I'm so sorry. You know you did what you could for her.

 

[Quiltslikecrazy]

Hi everyone,

I am pretty new to chicken keeping and have 10 Birds. One has been lethargic, some diarrhea/ dirty vent area, she slept on the floor yesterday,was breathing through mouth, and not eating much. I looked her over well and she has mites and possible vent gleet! Now that I am really examining they others some have crusty skin things around the vent and all have some degree of poop in there vent feathers. I have no idea what to do, Please help I really care about my chickens!

TIA,
QLC

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
N.H. , 3 Years, a little lighter but she has always been smaller.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Lethargic, Poo in Vent area, Bald Butt, Not eating much, Breathing through mouth, not going after treats.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Getting worse over a week
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No but I have seen Mites and crusty skin around vent
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Our neighbour throughs out old food and somtimes the chickens get out of the fence and are able to eat it.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Free ranging, Layer pellets, and somtimes old food from our neighbours. =(
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Very runny I have not seen any Blood or Worms.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
None.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Treat at home.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
No But I can get one if helpful.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Norm. wooden coop/ Run with hardware cloth and windows. They free range almost everyday. With hay in run and pine shavings in coop.
I was going to add I don't think she is laying but I have 4 brown egg layers so she might!

Here is my plan of attack:

Bath Chickens and cut off dirty vent feathers,
Dust each hen with wood ash and blow the ash in the coop,
Treat roots and Nest Boxs with this http://www.amazon.com/Dyna-Gro-Neem-Oil-8-Ounce/dp/B0012BGXVQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

,
I am going to put Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother in their water,
Anybody have anyother thoughts?

 

[arkansaschicks]

Ron Fogle in Arkansas. I did a lot of research online and on the Heritage RIR thread on BYC. I chose Ron's line because his breeding is excellent. His birds are magnificent. And most important to me...He is an honest and open gentleman to do buisness with. He marked his eggs out of three pens. He will give me advice which chicks to pen together when they mature. I'm also getting two week old chicks shipped from him. I will have to wait and see how that goes. His eggs are in  incubation  now.

Thank you so much! Ron is about 30 minutes from me and I have been visiting with him about his birds. He also has some HCPR's that I'm interested in seeing. I mentioned you had told me about him and that I thought Delisha might have ordered from him too.

Sorry to hear about your silkie!

 

[jlynnet]

Mumsy, you did all you could for her. Very sad to lose her, but you've also got so much to be excited about. Hugs from Michigan!

 

[Sally8]

Mumsy, I am so very sorry about your Silkie. Timing might not be great but can I ask how you perform a necropsy? Where do you start, what specifically are you looking for? I still have the hen with the scaly mites on her legs and she is very thin, never leaves her perch. I'd like to bring her in but what are the chances she'll give them to the baby chicks? They wouldn't be in the same pen but would be in the same room. Again, I'm so sorry.

sue

 

[Bulldogma]

Hi BDM, I know this is from Dec. but I just wanted to say how cute your daughter is! I remember when mine wanted to wear cute little dresses. Love your birds too!

Thank you! She was all dressed up - had a solo at the annual school board meeting. (I'm a super-proud mamma!)

 

[TeriO]

It didn't take me long once I found BYC forum. Wish I'd have had this awesome resource twenty years ago.

Thank you armorfirelady. I share what I can and glean good info here too.

Sadly, the little Grey pullet has taken a turn for the worse. The head shaking had ceased. She was moving around and eating and drinking. I moved her from the intensive care cage in the chick house and put her in an isolation pen in the middle of the barn so she could be with the flock but protected. She looked fine last night at lights out. This morning she can't stand or walk. Just a limp noodle in my hands. She is back in the intensive care cage but not eating or moving. She has poo with urates but I believe this pullet is not going to make it. She is not quite seven months old. Never layed. I fear this Silkie has something very wrong inside her. She is from the same breeder Trav got his ill fated Silkie chicks from. I don't like bad mouthing a breeder on a public forum. Especially when that breeder is not here to defend her birds. But....Something is going on and it's not good. This silkie feels like feathers over a skeleton. No weight to her at all. I will do a necropsy and hope you all can tell me what you think when I post pictures. I haven't done one on a Silkie in twenty years.

 

[cywiar merch]

I don't grind my grains because I'm able to get my feed to order from a local, old fashioned feed mill. HOWEVER... I do have a thought on that.

First - my CURRENT opinion is that the grains wouldn't need to be ground. That is why a chicken has a gizzard.

So if my birds were adults I wouldn't worry about them being coarse ground - I'd just feed it whole.

Second - I am (so far) a fan of Harvey Ussery. He has a lot in his book (The Small Scale Poultry Flock) and his website about making your own feed. He uses a grinder that he talks about. Here's a link showing what he has: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-2.html (There is also a whole list of articles at the bottom of this page about different feed ideas: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html )

Hope some of that will be helpful!

Edited to fix link.

That looks like a really interesting book. Although I am not a homesteader I think I will get it. A few weeks ago, I was looking for information on making my own feed and found the links you included.

Could I ask would that recipe work for FF?

 

[delisha]

Mumsy..hugs..I am really sorry.

I

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy, I am so very sorry about your Silkie. Timing might not be great but can I ask how you perform a necropsy? Where do you start, what specifically are you looking for?

I'm so sorry.

sue

Thanks for the emotional support to all my friends here. It's ok to ask me questions because it helps me keep focused about what it is I love about this natural chicken keeping thread. The furthering of knowledge.

I did not plan on processing this Silkie for food so didn't do the scald and pluck. Kind of wish I had. I started the necropsy by slipping the tip of a sharp knife under the skin at the neck and skinning the carcass down to the vent. By breaking the legs and wings and then cutting them through.,The skin can be pulled off easier this way. Doing this with Silkies is like skinning a rabbit only worse. The feathers are like fur. They stick to every thing and fly every where. I did my examination on a board with a five gallon bucket of water next to me. Dipping my knife, hands, and carcass often to wash the down off the surface. It didn't take me long to open the body up. This is supposed to be a six/seventh month old pullet. It has a body that looks much younger to me.

Warning! Graphic Necropsy images of a Silkie



An extremly thin pullet. Very sharp keel bone. Where is the crop? The tumor was visiable even before I removed the skin.



The first thing I noticed was that tumor on the base of her neck. About the size of a chick pea.I don't understand where the crop is.






No tumors that I could see in the body cavity. The heart seems ok. Is it large? Not sure. The gizzard looks huge in comparison to the rest of her organs. I opened the small intestines and pancreas. No evidence of parasites. The liver looked normal to me. Good color.

The gizzard was weird. Large, hard, and when I opened it, very strange green contents. No bad smell. Small grit mixed into the grassy green. This silkie has been on scrambled egg, a little FF, and Game bird chow crumble. No green fodder at all except for a small amount of Alfalfa in the FF. I cut the gizzard out, turned it inside out and rinsed it. That green was brilliant green. The gizzard was stained in that color. I thought this was strange. I don't know. Maybe it's normal. I don't remember seeing this before.





Her poo was tinged green right up until I euthanized her. I really can't say what I think was wrong with this Silkie pullet. But clearly she was sickly and had problems.

All of her pens and dishes will be disenfected and I will burn the bedding. Probably too late as my barn and property is so small, all my flock were exposed to her through dust.

Sharing my pain and necropsy results helps believe it or not. If anyone has done a necropsy on a Silkie and can explain some of what is evident, please do. Knowledge is power.

I'm still sad.