The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

FAILURE to thrive, means she isn't thriving. The term means not ness. sick but a general steady decline in health and ability.

I know you don't want to hear this, but after 2 months of failure to thrive I would cull (as in euthanize)

Thank you. I understand; I agree, if she had been steadily declining for 2 months, I would have already done that. I won't let her go on like this much longer (I'm talking days). There is one other avenue I want to try before I go through with culling her.
Thank you very much for the information and advice. I greatly appreciate your honesty!!!

 

[lalaland]

Del mentioned mice.

Has anyone used these in or around the hen houses/runs?

There are a whole group of videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/earthkind2010/videos



http://www.earth-kind.com/faq/
http://www.youtube.com/user/earthkind2010?feature=watch

You can get it at Menards and local hardware stores too.
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Cab-Rodent-Repellent-Pouch/dp/B0021LWPPY

yes. smells great, is herbal....and doesn't work. tried it in my farm truck (a 1994 F150 ) and mice pooped right on top of the sachet.

Copied from a human sickness site it explains failure to thrive better then me

~~In elderly patients, failure to thrive describes a state of decline that is multifactorial and may be caused by chronic concurrent diseases and functional impairments. Manifestations of this condition include weight loss, decreased appetite, poor nutrition, and inactivity.



That ends the copied part this next part is my statement.

In my human world it seldom has a good outcome, in my chicken yard it has only one outcome. (It's just in my chicken world I have the ability to end suffering not afforded in the human world...... this is not a political statement, just an observed fact)

so absolutely true.

Thank you. I understand; I agree, if she had been steadily declining for 2 months, I would have already done that. I won't let her go on like this much longer (I'm talking days). There is one other avenue I want to try before I go through with culling her.
Thank you very much for the information and advice. I greatly appreciate your honesty!!!

teachick, I just went through something really similiar. poor Mrs Murphy. you can read the long story here:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...stions-update-20-week-old-banty-wormy-as-heck
long and short of it, I kept her going 3 weeks, feeding, worming, antibiotic, treated her for cocci, and ended up culling her as she continued to get worse. She had short intermittent periods of improvement, but in the end was so weak, and I worried about the pian thing. I didn't know about the holding by the wings and watching the feet indicator of pain then.

I think I will be ( I hope I will be) much quicker to cull next time. At the time, I just couldn't do it without trying everything even though I knew it was a huge long shot. So hard to balance what you know and what you hope.

In years of chicken keeping, I've only once successfully brought a hen back to health, and attempted to do so with maybe 5-8 others.

It is a hard decision to make.

 

[Leahs Mom]

yes. smells great, is herbal....and doesn't work. tried it in my farm truck (a 1994 F150 ) and mice pooped right on top of the sachet.

Interesting. How long did you have it out there before you saw mouse evidence?

 

[lalaland]

Remember Margaret? I prevented any such infection by the use of coconut oil. Worked very, very well. It took almost a month for her toes to come off. I did assist one that wasn't falling off and cut it off (on the dead part) she didn't flinch. The way it was out was like a claw, making it difficult for her to relearn to walk. I wanted to see her try the quickest way possible.

her death had no relation to the frostbite except maybe that she couldn't roost and would bed down in a kennel that was somehow infested in mites. I am not sure how she was the only one who had them... I checked everyone in the same barn.. but she did hang out under the baby barn a whole lot. I'm wondering if something is going on under there... The rabbits do as well.

We are in the midst of a blizzard right now. I am not letting the chickens out today. I have some young males who seem to like to stay outside no matter what the temperature. just roosting on a shovel.. So I am not letting them out when it is heavy snow or as cold as it was yesterday. Really there is nothing for them to eat outside right now, so I am not going to risk it in extremes. Anything like today without the snow would be fine. We are getting 35cm of snow up to 50cm. (FYI 50cm is 20 inches).

I'm going to be snow blowing a lot today.. I'll do it more than once because my snow blower is new (on the tractor) and I find it hard to operate if it gets to be too much...

I have my hot chocolate and for now I'm relaxing...

I'll try the coconut oil, on both roos.

I read that whole thread also....seems he/she didn't start with antibiotics until it started to smell. Gangrenous?

yeah, maybe. but... when your extremities turn black, I think that is gangrene...seems pretty common for roosters to lose their tips to their combs to frostbit by having them turn black and fall off. In this case, Booster will look like he had a very severer dubbing on the comb. and the wattles...... I'll try to get pics Wed (next time I'll see them in daylight).

 

[Kassaundra]

Black + dry = okay to continue to observe, will likely fall off on it's own w/o any problems w/o any infection


Black + wet or green = very bad, gangrene immediate antibiotics for any hope.

 

[Leahs Mom]

My "Mister" has a bit of discoloration on his comb. I haven't done anything for it as I didn't want to agravate it worse. Not dark, just kind of lighter and maybe a little yellowish tint.

Kassaundra - do you think I should just leave it alone and observe or should I put some oil on it?

 

[delisha]

Okay, my hen is not doing great. She seems to be getting a little better each day, but not a lot and she got into as bad a shape as she was in at the worst so quickly... I don't know what's going on and I've given up on figuring it out b/c she is getting a little better and it doesn't appear to be contagious.



In spite of it not being contagious, I have to keep her separate. Why? B/c my rooster "covers" her every time he sees her and she looks so ragged and doesn't move afterward. I don't know how much he does that when I'm not looking and it seems to have such a "bad" effect on her that I feel like I have to protect her from him and I don't want to do it by chasing him off of or away from her all the time.

B/c I have her separated, I have to dictate what she eats, which has been mostly whole egg scrambled, oats mixed with ecinechea and egg shells, and fermented corn; I feed all this on the ground so that she kind of has to work to get her food and she can scratch for what gets between the bedding; I'm doing that b/c she does seem up to that.

I've got her in the old coop instead of the brooder b/c she seems to move around more in the much, much more space. I put a nursery pot in there with some pine straw, so she can get in there if she's cold.

I've been putting her in the new coop with the flock to sleep at night b/c I don't want her to forget that that's where she belongs and she is part of the flock. I put her up in the top nesting box b/c that's the place in the coop where the rooster is least likely to get to her. I've never seen him "cover" (or even try to "cover") any of the hens inside the coop except her this time that she's sick.

I really want to do this naturally and let nature take its course; if there's something natural I can do to help my chickens fight something bad for them, then I want to help them. I don't want my animals to suffer needlessly and/or die if I can do something to help them fight off an ailment. If they're just weak, then I don't want them to suffer needlessly and extensively and then die anyway.

I know there's no actual question in there; that's because I don't know enough to know what to ask.
If I had to formulate specific questions, they would be:
1. What do you think?
2. What would you do?

1. I think you have tried many things..I think it is time to stop.

I have a 24 hour rule..
Improve in 24 hours or cull..It is a good rule..I want a strong flock and if you are treating for this and that you compromise the whole flock. If one bird is weak ..it brings down the vitality of the whole flock. That single bird will attract predators..illness..rodents..

2. Make a commitment for 24 hours. Stick to it.

 

[Kassaundra]

My "Mister" has a bit of discoloration on his comb. I haven't done anything for it as I didn't want to agravate it worse. Not dark, just kind of lighter and maybe a little yellowish tint.

Kassaundra - do you think I should just leave it alone and observe or should I put some oil on it?

The lighter waxy type color / texture is the beginnings of frost bite. (it should darken in color ) As long as the comb continues to look matte and dry, I would leave it. I would keep a close eye any signs of the area becoming moist, weeping, glistening, greening, or smelling will be signs of infection. Patients that I see that have black dry extremities (fingers or usually toes, usually from diabetes) the wound Dr's just leave alone and observe. I have never seen them apply oil or grease like products, and KNOW water is an absolute NO NO.

 

[lalaland]

The lighter waxy type color / texture is the beginnings of frost bite. (it should darken in color ) As long as the comb continues to look matte and dry, I would leave it. I would keep a close eye any signs of the area becoming moist, weeping, glistening, greening, or smelling will be signs of infection. Patients that I see that have black dry extremities (fingers or usually toes, usually from diabetes) the wound Dr's just leave alone and observe. I have never seen them apply oil or grease like products, and KNOW water is an absolute NO NO.

Guess I better be prepared just in case.....yuck. I've been told blistering is pretty normal, and one person said he just pops the blister to speed things up.

It seems there is as wide a range on handling/responding to blackened combs and wattles as can be - from do abolutely nothing to daily nursing care. I want to do the least in hopes of causing the least harm and letting the body do its thing. But, I don't want to cross that line into neglect either!

 

[delisha]

Quote: I slap on NuStock at first sign..I have one who has the very tips looking off and I will get at it tomorrow. I usually end up doing all of the Orps.