The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
any known causes? Was it something I did? I know her vent was fine about 10 days a go. She had been laying from the roosting bar so most of her eggs did not even make it into the house.

 

[aoxa]

Yes she is safe to eat. That is one of the big problems w/ prolapse they keep laying so no time to heal and strengthen that area to keep it from happening again. Especially w/ the really large prolapse.



In your kind of ridiculous cold I'd kill in the garage and process in the kitchen. (I do that all the time all year round anyway b/c of neighbors.)

That's what we did.

But make sure to clean up the blood right away...

Snow is too deep to walk through to get to where our killing cone used to be.

 

[Kassaundra]

any known causes? Was it something I did? I know her vent was fine about 10 days a go. She had been laying from the roosting bar so most of her eggs did not even make it into the house.

I think sometimes it is exceptionally large eggs, but usually just a problem a specific bird has weak structures in the vent area that just do not work right.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
Thanks, that makes me feel better. Dh is taking care of the gutting in the garage, as it was one of the "pet" hens and all the children are still up. normally all of the processing takes place outside so in the garage is a step up.
This week has been hard for my breeding plans. We are down a rooster and now a hen in 2 days. Almost enough to make me want to stop but I have to make it at least past the 5 yr mark before deciding. I promised Bob a full five years.

 

[Kassaundra]

Thanks, that makes me feel better. Dh is taking care of the gutting in the garage, as it was one of the "pet" hens and all the children are still up. normally all of the processing takes place outside so in the garage is a step up.
This week has been hard for my breeding plans. We are down a rooster and now a hen in 2 days. Almost enough to make me want to stop but I have to make it at least past the 5 yr mark before deciding. I promised Bob a full five years.

I have discovered breeding plans need a "B", and "C" plans b/c nature is a @#$%^ sometimes.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I started off with 2 few chicks and most turned into roos. From there it has gone downhill. I thought I had rounded the corner when last week I got a decent amount of single yolk eggs.
I have a plan B but it involves getting more chicks or a setback of 6-12 months.

 

[armorfirelady]

I know everyone's egg laying is down so I thought I would share some good news. This month from 8 hens I collected 31 eggs. Not a lot, I agree, but last month they only laid 26 so things are looking up!!! Must be those few extra minutes of daylight we are getting now. See spring is close !!!

Can't wait

And I found out today my chickens will not die if they have to walk thru the snow. I guess they got hungry & wanted the food in the dog crate so they braved the snow. They went to the old run and the a frame as well. Much better than see them in the coop all day. So glad Delisha convinced me to move it out of the coop. Took me awhile but hey know they know the snow doesn't bite lol and no dirt or DL in the food

What prolapsed vent treatments are available? Is a prolapsed vent something I should cull (not just avoid breeding but make soup cull) for?

I used preperation H last spring on 2 of my older girls a couple times. I haven't see the prolapse since. When I did some research on causes they saiid it could be genetics, to much calcium, XXL eggs or because of pinched tail. I saw you culled the hen so my answer kind of pointless but figured I would still share it in case others were curious.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

The tail was a touch pinched. I had not posted that anywhere so your post was not pointless. The pullet / hen had been laying 2 yolk eggs that were long and skinny so egg size could have been a major factor too. Too much calcium is unlikely as I feed a low calcium feed and offer oyster shell on the side.

When DH gutted the hen, he was rudely surprised by yolk being present. While I did not go out to investigate, I think an egg might have broken before it was laid making the problem worse. We did the culling tonight instead of giving the 24 hour recovery period for two reasons. DH works tomorrow and the weather will be snowing and colder tomorrow. The next feasible day for culling would be Saturday and I did not think she would make it that long. There were other signs of stress too including panting and a strange cat purring sound of a growl (as if a full growl would have been too much effort).

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I had a hen once with a small prolapse that seemed to be caused by her trying to expell a really thin shelled egg. It was one of those leathery eggs ... no shards or anything. I fished out the membrane and treated her tired swollen vent with Preparation H. I know I should probably cull her because her eggs are so thin-shelled this could happen again ... but instead I just keep an eye on her. :/

Edited to add: this hen is a hatchery Gold Sexlink that has no tail at all. She looks tiny, but when you lift her she is a lead brick. She is very sweet and shy with the other birds. I call her Button. It makes me wonder about the relationship between tails and vents.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I had a hen once with a small prolapse that seemed to be caused by her trying to expell a really thin shelled egg. It was one of those leathery eggs ... no shards or anything. I fished out the membrane and treated her tired swollen vent with Preparation H. I know I should probably cull her because her eggs are so thin-shelled this could happen again ... but instead I just keep an eye on her.

this prolapse was more than 2 inches out of the vent and would not go back in for more than a second. With the weather here being winter and snow for the next week, it was the wrong time of the yr to have a needy chicken. We were trying to set up a basement hospital for her but realized it was just going to be too much as she was only getting worse in the few hours we had brought her inside.