The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

He is beautiful k14got

 

[Leahs Mom]

Yes! Pretty boy

 

[ki4got]

He is beautiful k14got

Quote:

Yes! Pretty boy

thanks!
I'm pretty excited to get him. if memory serves, he's only about 6 months old or so...

 

[Pozees]

the thing i'm leaning away from marek's for, is that it usually affects birds under 5 months old. not always but most often. so if she's an older bird that's been laying, I would say it's unlikely. but if she laid a shell-less egg, was it a 'leather' egg or just egg whites and yolk? if it was just the whites/yolk strewn around the nest, I'd say she has a broken egg inside and that may be causing the problems... (not a good prognosis if that's it) if it's a 'leather' egg with no shell on it, then something's upset her system. that can happen with hens new to laying or hens under some sort of systemic stress. also, hens that are lacking calcium will pull it from their own bones short term to keep laying, but that weakens the bones and can cause fractures down the road... or it could be an injury, such as coming off the perch and landing wrong. they can break a keel bone or leg/hip/pelvis when that happens. not much you can do about them for the most part, except keep them quiet, immobile and well fed.

personally, the vitamins are a good idea, but I might also mix up some scrambled egg (with milk and cheese added) and make sure she has a good supply of crushed egg shell/oyster shell available within easy reach (and water too!) I'd put her in a hospital cage (think you said you were) and limit her ability to move anywhere other than maybe to stand to poop. (aka a small cage with only enough room for bird, food and water.) if you're of a mind, you could also add some veggies she likes or bits of chopped liver, bacon or other meaty bits too. meat has a lot of good vitamins birds need, especially when the body is stressed.

I've had hens with broken bones (thanks to my blind horse) and usually they will test their own abilities a bit at a time and will let you know when she's ready to graduate to a bigger cage or back outside...

Excellent advice, as always. She may like some yogurt, which should help with calcium deficiency, and also spinach has a lot of calcium in it, as do turnip greens, kale, dandelion greens, most dark green leafy vegetables. I also just read that canned sardines with the bones in are a good calcium source, and of course also a protein source. I have never fed sardines to chickens but as far as I know they won't hurt them.

 

[Pozees]

and some good news of my own! I don't have to pray my gimp red dorking roo is able to breed any more! he'll stick around because I like him, and for 'just in case' (and it would be nice to have chicks from another line...) but I just acquired a roo of my own breeding (sold the eggs) from my red dorking roo I lost last summer (aka Thing2)...

so I introduce to you, Thing2.5.

he's a bit crowded at the moment, in a small quarantine cage, but also suffered a bit of frostbite on his comb already this year, so i'll give him a chance to heal that up before he goes back outside

Hurray! He's quite a looker!

 

[Pozees]

Totally agree, I would not have kept him, but he had a powerful protector, my husband. He (my husband) would never have believed he just "disappeared" or died of "natural causes", besides we don't lie to each other and certainly wouldn't start over a chicken!

Yep, I know exactly how that can be. I have 8 cats, I only wanted a couple, maybe three. I made the mistake of taking in "fosters" - I would find them homes only to be accused of being "heartless" - as in, "How can you raise them from tiny babies and then just toss them out the door to some STRANGER?!" LOL I love him for his soft heart when it comes to critters, and it's a good thing

 

[schimbare]

Delisha and others who replied - Thank you so much for your kind and helpful advice. My thought was to generally spread the seeds in places that they might have a chance to grow for a little while before my six girls scarf them down. I'm thinking I might make some sort of mesh frame to give the seeds time to grow a bit, then move the screening on to another area as time passes.

For now we are being buffetted with high winds and temps in the twenties. It is hard, as a first year owner, not to install a toasty heater for the coop. Truth is my roost is barely large enough for the six of them, and if you reach a hand between them, they are warm as can be. I still wish I could bring them in the house. OK, not really. Hypothetically, I wish I could bring them in the house - my hypothetical chickens would not poop all over my warm, hypothetical house. snort.

 

[Pozees]

Delisha and others who replied - Thank you so much for your kind and helpful advice. My thought was to generally spread the seeds in places that they might have a chance to grow for a little while before my six girls scarf them down. I'm thinking I might make some sort of mesh frame to give the seeds time to grow a bit, then move the screening on to another area as time passes.

For now we are being buffetted with high winds and temps in the twenties. It is hard, as a first year owner, not to install a toasty heater for the coop. Truth is my roost is barely large enough for the six of them, and if you reach a hand between them, they are warm as can be. I still wish I could bring them in the house. OK, not really. Hypothetically, I wish I could bring them in the house - my hypothetical chickens would not poop all over my warm, hypothetical house. snort.

I got such a kick out of this post - we all have those hypothetical houses and chickens I guess Chickens are so much better than we think they are at managing environmental challenges - WAY better than we are! Every year DH marvels at how the cottontails don't even seem to notice when it's cold and windy. Last spring he was SURE all the birds I moved out to the new coop (uninsulated) were going to die when we had a May overnight low of 11 degrees. All survived.

 

[fosterson]

Hypothetically, I wish I could bring them in the house - my hypothetical chickens would not poop all over my warm, hypothetical house. snort.

You know, I used to own a parrot. Which if you think about it, is pretty much a chicken in the house, give or take some DNA. They poop EVERYWHERE.

 

[Pozees]

You know, I used to own a parrot. Which if you think about it, is pretty much a chicken in the house, give or take some DNA. They poop EVERYWHERE.

LOL yeah I guess, except most of them are tropical LOL but I get what you're saying And yes they do!