The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[loanwizard]

EMERGENCY!

Ok, here's the scoop - got some saddles for my girls because I'm still waiting for my new pullets to get big enough as I already know I have too many roos to my hens. All my other girls are just a little feather bare on their backs and a small bare spot on their heads - no wounds, no completely bare backs, yet - which is why I got the saddles. I have one big EE roo and two other little silkie roos.

Anyway, I noticed something when I was putting on her saddle and then when I pulled some feathers away and her wing, this is what I found. I feel terrible! I haven't done a full examination on them for a while and I wish I would have caught this before.

I just need help to know what to do - I am guessing she got tore open from the roos as there is nothing else that could have caused this that I can think of. Also, the rooster does not have his spurs yet.

I have her in the house right now - soaking her in warm water to loosen up the junk that's dried all over it. It's a bunch of dirt and stuff. When I try to pull some, her skin is pretty raw underneath, but I know I've got to get it all - it's like she's skinned alive right there.

I have neosporin, bluekote - maybe other things that you would suggest. What is the best way to deal with this? I don't see any big signs of infection yet.

Simmer lil Teakettle before you boil over there..... A little Blukote, or Nustock and she will be fine. Shouldn't have pulled what was on there off..... If I recall the Indians used to use poultices made out of... you guessed it.... mud to cover and heal wounds....

 

[bluebirdnanny]

All 4 of my hens used to lay a variety of light brown eggs. I know get an almost white egg every few days. I don't know who lays it but one does. And when all 4 lay they are usually brown so I know she does lay brown ones also. Theo other day I got one half brown half tan. Almost a perfect line around the egg where the color changed.

I remember reading an article on how's hens eggs get their color and meant to try and find it again to see if it could indicate a deficiency. If I find it I will post it.

Thanks Delisha for letting me know he messy hurts are normal. I wasn't overly concerned since the vents and skin are clean. My fiend suggested getting the girls the moistened wipes to use maybe they would do a better job wiping that way lol

Winds here are picking up. Forecasting gusts over 60 mph.......checked on the girls .....all is well. I did tighten the strap I have over 2nd tarp on the hoop coop that blocks my vents that aren't rainproof.......I don't know how the girls are going to sleep with the tarp flapping but I know they will be dry

Thanks soooo much to everyone who helped me out with my girl's wound - she, "Pocahontas" thanks you too.

I did end up trying to flush it with my sprayer - not sure if I got all the dirt out, but I tried. I even used a q-tip to swab out some dirt from under the skin. It appeared that after I started getting it cleaner that a thin layer of skin was already trying to form but it had so much dirt stuck on it and was such a mess, I ended up removing some parts of it. I am definitely not cut out to be a vet but I do what I have to do. She was sooo good. She sat on my kitchen counter for more than an hour while I soaked, worked, took breaks to come on here and check for answers and advice, etc. She just hung out and let me do what I needed to do. I would have never known she had the wound, she was good at hiding it from me as well as all the other chickens. And other than the wound, she is perfectly healthy.
I applied neosporin and blukote, put a new saddle on her (thought it might help hide it a little and maybe keep some dirt out), and put her back outside in a little iso pen within the run. Her best friend Mayflower (the other BR) was so happy to have her back. I went out later in the evening after everyone had went into the coop for the night to release her to go in with them for the night and found Mayflower outside - she wouldn't go in without Pocahontas! Too cute!
I put the roos in the "cock box" and let her go roost with the rest of them for the night. When I let the roos out in the morning, I will put her back in her iso cage for the day (after washing and treating her wound again).
Now I am going to check them more often!!

On another note, I tried bringing in my silkie to break her broodiness as it's driving me and the other hens crazy but it didn't work out well. She was soooo mad that she kept trying to fly out of her ENCLOSED pen and I was afraid she was going to knock herself out as she kept hitting her head. So, I just put her back outside. I locked her out of the whole run and coop today to force her out to free-range for a while. She did good for a little while and then actually started flying at the door to the run, trying to get in! Silly girl!! I'm just going to keep taking away the eggs and putting her out of the nest every time I find her in it. At least I know she eats and drinks when I kick her out before she heads back in. I don't want to cut her out of the coop completely in case she actually needs to lay. It's a good thing she's cute because she sure is being a stinker!

I think my girls are mad at me...

We had a cold front move through for the last 3 days with completely awful wind! I didn't let them out of their run to do any supervised free-ranging at all because I didn't want to sit out there - it was terrible! As a result, egg production went way down. Thank goodness my ducks kept up the good work though!

Hmmmmmm I had the same thing.... after three a day from three chickens!!! Very windy out today too after heavy rain all day yest and windy sleet the day before. Free range was limited, my eggs were too.

Here's what I know - others probably have more to add!

BlueKote is antibiotic and antifungal. It gets it's blue tint from the gentian violet which is anti-fungal and is used in medications for oral thrush in babies (among other things). It stains everything quite "purple-blue"... It's definitely harder to observe any changes in the wound due to the color it puts on. The color takes a long time to wear off, but it can also be advantageous in that it kind-of camoflages the red of the wound so it's not screaming "pick me"! The bottle I have is the consistency of alcohol - very liquid. (Blue Kote is on the list of "Banned and Dangerous Substances" for animals "intended for food"...not sure how it affects eggs.) http://www.drugs.com/vet/blu-kote-can.html http://www.drugs.com/vet/dr-naylor-blu-kote.html

NuStock is antibiotic and antifungal. STINKY! Greasy consistency. More "natural" ingredients. Does a good job on a lot of things if you don't mind the smell. Wood shavings, etc. would have more of a tendency to stick to it. Good for vent gleet, scaly leg mites, killing nits on the feather shafts, and just plain good general first aid. This link shows how some folks have made their own "home made NuStock" just so you can see the ingredients. I haven't made my own, prefer to buy it.

Vetricyn is comparable to Dakin's solution.

Thank you for the link for homemade NuStock. I may try that as I'm having a hard time getting it.

Simmer lil Teakettle before you boil over there..... A little Blukote, or Nustock and she will be fine. Shouldn't have pulled what was on there off..... If I recall the Indians used to use poultices made out of... you guessed it.... mud to cover and heal wounds....

Ma Julie (my Grandmother) was Indian heritage and always made some kind of paste from the Alabama Clay for leg injuries. Seemed to work for her. But then she also used leeches to bleed out infected spots prior to the clay.

 

[brandislee]

EMERGENCY!

Ok, here's the scoop - got some saddles for my girls because I'm still waiting for my new pullets to get big enough as I already know I have too many roos to my hens. All my other girls are just a little feather bare on their backs and a small bare spot on their heads - no wounds, no completely bare backs, yet - which is why I got the saddles. I have one big EE roo and two other little silkie roos.

Anyway, I noticed something when I was putting on her saddle and then when I pulled some feathers away and her wing, this is what I found. I feel terrible! I haven't done a full examination on them for a while and I wish I would have caught this before.

I just need help to know what to do - I am guessing she got tore open from the roos as there is nothing else that could have caused this that I can think of. Also, the rooster does not have his spurs yet.

I have her in the house right now - soaking her in warm water to loosen up the junk that's dried all over it. It's a bunch of dirt and stuff. When I try to pull some, her skin is pretty raw underneath, but I know I've got to get it all - it's like she's skinned alive right there.

I have neosporin, bluekote - maybe other things that you would suggest. What is the best way to deal with this? I don't see any big signs of infection yet.

Ouch! I've had that happen to a hen once- I have this super tiny frizzle hen who got a sore like this last summer from the rooster, and I've always had a beyond ideal rooster/hen ratio. I kept it as clean as I could and kept it covered in blukote and didn't have any problems- she healed fine, just took a while for that spot to feather back out. I would really love to rehome the poor little girl- she's so tiny and my rooster is so big, but I can't find anyone who wants her

 

[arkansaschicks]

Hey everyone I have a quick question. I have had a batch of my 6 week old chicks get coccidiosis. I am treating them right now but they are dying pretty quickly. My question is do I go ahead and treat my 8 week old chicks that are not in the same brooder but are living in the same coop with the ones that are sick. Should I just treat everyone that lives in the same coop? Thanks so much I just knew all of you would know what to do

 

[brandislee]

I have been thinking about this and we had an issue like this two summers ago when we had an awful dry summer. Someone finally caught them lighting the fire and called the law and made sure they were caught. If I have to evacuate, I will pack up the cat and load the dogs in my truck and let the chickens loose to survive until I can get home. I will put out as much food and water, also lots of land and a creek very close, as I can and hope for the best. I know that is not an optimal situation but at least they would have a chance to survive. Has anyone else thought about what they will do in an evacuation?

That's what I would do, too. Animals have the instinct to get away from fire as FAST as they can, so I would have faith that those with good instincts would get away unless the fire was moving super fast. It may sound callous to say this, but if I had a particularly valuable (monitarily or emotionally) chicken and the fire wasn't super close I would pack him/her up... and I would probably pack up my silkie hen, because I'm not very confident in her instincts. The worst, though, would be if I had chicks in the brooder- I would pack them up if I had enough time and enough dog carriers, but you can't always know you'll have that much time.

And really, if there were a fire coming but I had a few hours, I could hypothetically pack up at least most of my chickens since I have two big transport crates I use for taking the broilers to get processed. It would just depend on the circumstances. But that's why I really like these questions, because it gives me the chance to think about what I would do and potentially be more prepared!

 

[delisha]

Hey everyone I have a quick question. I have had a batch of my 6 week old chicks get coccidiosis. I am treating them right now but they are dying pretty quickly. My question is do I go ahead and treat my 8 week old chicks that are not in the same brooder but are living in the same coop with the ones that are sick. Should I just treat everyone that lives in the same coop? Thanks so much I just knew all of you would know what to do

1. why do you have cocci? Unless you know why.. you will get it again..get them off the ground. Strip the bedding out......lightly mist the ground with ammonia, let it air dry...cover it with a solid surface like wood...put new litter in. Lightly mist the new litter with ammonia. Let it dry. Stir it up, and put them back on it.


2. You need to treat everyone

 

[arkansaschicks]

I do not know why I have it these chicks have never seen the dirt. They are in a brooder box with a wood/vinyl floor with pine shavings in it. Just all of a sudden yesterday I saw very bloody poops and from then to now 4 have died. I have removed them from the brooder and have them in a box in my laundry room.i will clean it thoroughly and treat everyone. Thanks! Do you think it could be something else besides cocci?

 

[BScott03]

Glad to have you!

I'm getting a little nervous about integrating though. I ordered my Barred Rocks and I am going to order some Silkies as well. I just hope everything goes smoothly. :/

 

[delisha]

I do not know why I have it these chicks have never seen the dirt. They are in a brooder box with a wood/vinyl floor with pine shavings in it. Just all of a sudden yesterday I saw very bloody poops and from then to now 4 have died. I have removed them from the brooder and have them in a box in my laundry room.i will clean it thoroughly and treat everyone. Thanks! Do you think it could be something else besides cocci?

no..it is cocci..They should have seen dirt to help build immunities from day one.
I think everyone has recommended a dirt plug for new chicks. It really can save them. For everyone reading this...please take the time to dig up a small dirt plug for your new chicks. It takes seconds to do this.by the time you see blood they have had it for 3 days. They start dying on day 4. Signs before the bloody poop. huddling..crying, less moving and running.The smell is awful and it is unmistakeable. They do not gain much weight and crops are not bulging. That's a shame..sorry you are going threw this.

There are 7 types of cocci. Now that they have had one variety they will be susceptible to the other kinds. Build up the immunity now that you are medicating. Get them on the ground on sunny days for a few minutes every day.

 

[ramblinH]

HELP !!!

Hi All!

I've been following infrequently for awhile now...

Am a newbie flocktress & have a question...

Chickies (BO & Doms) arrived this morn. I have them settled in brooding box with fermented feed & homemade electrolyte restorative solution. We've been home for about an hour and they haven't touched either. Our local feed store owner had already given them a drink of water by the time I got there to pick them up. Is it possible they won't be insterested in my drink (honey, garlic, sea salt, etc) because of that? Also, they are pecking around, so should I just go ahead & give them some unfermented feed till they get used to the other? And, they keep getting stuck in the fermented feed! Have already had to rescue several, afraid to leave them alone with it :/

Sorry for the poor picture quality - iPhone...

Anyway, do I just need to relax & be patient?

Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts!

Kendra