The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[flyladyrocks]

Was she always mean? I ask b/c I have one BR who became mean when she got frostbit and I attribute it to pain b/c now that she is healed she is her sweetself. She took in the watchful roo role this winter and did not tuck her head and her comb was bad. So if your Austrolorp was hurting or not feeling well that might make her pick on others more. The fact that you have another you think is not thriving is concerning. I'd ask your vet if they'll do the fecal test.

Ok just so it doesn't get confusing, I started with 5 australorps chicks (5 weeks) in October last year, one turned out to be a boy so sold him in January and bought two barred rock Plymouth pullets that were only a week or two younger. We have also bought 2 wyandottes last week which are quarantined which are 1-2 months younger so my pullets range from 6-8 months of age.

I do have my dead australorp in the freezer ATM, we froze her straight away as I will plant her under a new nut or fruit tree in their yard (it's autumn here).

I have thought about having a look but I don't think I am ready for that yet!

She died on our way to the vet, I know most will laugh about taking her to the vet being a chicken and I could tell she was gone anyway but I wanted to know what was wrong because I wanted to make sure this wasn't something that would go through my entire flock and I need to learn if I want to keep chickens. We took her to the vet anyway to see if the vet could tell us why she died and the vet said both her crop and vent were fine and wasn't egg bound and that she looked in really good condition. The vet was hesitant to look any further and just said that she might have had an infection.

It's interesting what you say about how they pretend to eat, I noticed that too!

I first noticed that a few weeks ago after I had separated her because she was really nasty and drawing lots of blood on one of my other Australorps. She didn't take to being on her own at all, she was very angry about it (this is a girl that used to crow when we still had our cockerel and she would compete). Anyway she stopped laying and eating and I thought she was depressed so I put her back with the others as she looked like she lost weight but I started giving her feed mushed so that she would eat it and she came good and put on weight and looked to be moulting.

With the face, I had her in the outdoor area at the time as I took her away from the others, she was standing near a wine barrel full of compost when I saw a white mite on her face which was what caught my attention. I noticed some white dry skin areas near the base of her comb. I googled it and found stuff on scaly face mite so I figured it was that. It could be possible that the mite I saw on her face she had just picked up from the wine barrel and that was why it was white and not red. I rubbed some olive oil onto the area and that looked to clear it up. Her legs were fine.

I have also started on the others combs as they have white spots just in case and they cleared straight up also. The one with the runny poo looked to have a raised scale on her legs so I am doing her legs as well.

I also washed out both coops the other day it's some Eco dog wash I have that uses tea tree and eucalyptus oil.

I have checked their feathers for lice etc and they all look good, the Plymouth with watery poos also to me looks like she's not thriving and she doesn't seem interested in pellets. She got sick when we first got her but it was hot and I think she was dehydrated, she perked up after a couple of days of keeping her hydrated and giving her some treats so she would eat. She's also at the bottom of the pecking order so the australorps just bully her.

I have another 2 new wyandottes quarantined in another area with their own yard. One of them look to have this comb problem but much worse I will take a photo today to show you. She came like this so its not something she picked up here, I have just been giving her a few days to settle before I start handling her too much. Otherwise she looks really healthy.

I found a dead mouse in the coup near the broody australorp yesterday. It looked like it may have been pecked on the side of its face, I know they can freeze of fright can they die of it too?

That spray sounds like a great idea and I will have a read up on favus, thanks

 

[SherrieC]

They're all from different places, the australorp came from a local breeder, the Plymouth came from a lady on the other side of town who decided to stick with silkies and the other two came from another lady not too far away. I was buying the last 2 for their temperament as I was told they had good temperaments as my australorps are quite bossy and bully my Plymouth but my blue Wyandotte looks to be a bully also. So far I think I like the Plymouth the best as far as personality goes, though the wynadottes sure are pretty!

I don't wear my chicken shoes anywhere else, my daughter also has her own chicken shoes. I should've checked over the wynadottes, it was all kind of mayhem, the lady was trying to catch them with a hook whilst I was holding their door shut and they were all fluttering about everywhere. The golden one was first to be caught but she kept trying to fly out the box. But I'm not too worried about her comb it should be easily fixed.

I can get some probiotics or yoghurt for them later today, I do have sauerkraut in the fridge which is full of probiotics, would the juice be okay for them? It contains cabbage, dill. Caraway seed, gynostemma tea, sea salt and l-plantarum starter culture. Otherwise I have kimchi that has cabbage,carrots, sweet potato, ginger, garlic, onion, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne pepper aswell as the same tea, salt and culture.

 

[lalaland]

kimchi or sauerkraut would be great!

 

[flyladyrocks]

Anyone have any tips for silkies and Polish (maybe houdan) chicks? We are getting some tomorrow.
I have had several people tell me Polish are more fragile, they lose more Polish chicks, you HAVE to put them on medicated feed (not happening). So I'm a little nervous about Polish but really want them. I am a sucker for crested birds! My best friend never had issues with hers until raccoons got them. She uses natural methods.
So if anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them!

 

[SherrieC]

might be nervous as she's older and it's a change, stresses them out, make sure she has plenty of water. Especially when I bring a new bird home I put some of the reg feed with them and a little mix of seeds,oats and meal worms, gives them a good choice and see what they are willing to eat, but I do leave at least 2 choices for them all the time as that seems to keep them happier too

She's a very pretty hen by the way

Hello Slordaz, that's what I'm hoping. If she doesn't settle by the time I can put them with the others I may sell her as I really don't want to leash another bully on my one Plymouth whom hasn't been thriving since she's been with the australorps.

ATM they have some organic pellets, oats, mash and I gave them, half of one of my butternut squash that didn't grow very big. I've also got some water with acv and I will make up something for them all later with some raw garlic etc through it. I offered them grated carrot yesterday but they weren't keen.

I am in awe of how pretty they're, the blue one is my favourite in looks I do hope she settles otherwise I won't keep her. The blue one looks to be laying already as her comb and wattles are much more pronounced but I haven't seen her lay yet. I'm only getting one egg a day now from my other Plymouth, the others are either broody or I assume moulting, it's getting cold and wet here now.

 

[SherrieC]

Was she always mean? I ask b/c I have one BR who became mean when she got frostbit and I attribute it to pain b/c now that she is healed she is her sweetself. She took in the watchful roo role this winter and did not tuck her head and her comb was bad. So if your Austrolorp was hurting or not feeling well that might make her pick on others more. The fact that you have another you think is not thriving is concerning. I'd ask your vet if they'll do the fecal test.

Hi Sherri

Yes she was a week older then the others and was always top of the pecking order, when they got somewhere in the teens she started becoming much more aggressive. She actually was the first to try to crow and it used to be this awful squark sound. They consisted of 3 black pullets, a blue pullet and a black cockerel. She seemed to hang out with just the blue pullet and the other two black pullets would hang out with the cockerel who was really sweet, I would've loved to keep him but my neighbours were not impressed with him. She used to really pick on the black pullet that was the most friendliest with us. Sometimes I wasn't sure if she was just defending the blue one who was bottom of the ladder. The blue one use to always hang out with her for protection. The blue one is the one that is broody so I don't know if that had an effect on her or not.

Ok I will see if I can get one of her droppings. She seems to be thriving less since sharing space with the Australorps. When my Plymouth first started laying and I separated my bully I put them in with the other australorps at night and they started laying shell less or soft Shelled eggs during the night/early morning, one of my australorps tries to stop them for roosting with them. When I put them back into the smaller coop they settled down except the healthier Plymouth would do it again if she laid a big egg the day before, her big eggs got up to 91g but now she's consistenly laying 60g eggs and is our only layer for the past week. The other Plymouth stopped laying last week. I have introduced them into a veggie garden a couple of weeks ago hoping they will help clear it out, unless something there is causing digestive issues.

 

[slordaz]

flyladyrocks, I can't help you we were given a bantam silkie and it died on us, but in the short time even though it was small it was really mean to the other chicks we had in there, barred rocks and blue Swedish duck.

SherrieC, stressed and in a new place they may not lay for a bit even if they were, fermented feed might help earn bonus points with the bird too, just put the reg feed in a glass or plastic jar you can and add water, takes 4 days to ferment but will give some benefits to them after being started for 24 hours, I back fill when it gets about half way gone

 

[SherrieC]

I have given fermented feed before, I wasn't sure it I was taking it to far as it smelt yeasty so I stopped plus I was making a mess, I put too much feed in to begin with. Do you think adding a little kimchi juice to start it will help?

 

[slordaz]

I never used a starter, it will smell yeasty the longer it has grown but that is normal if it is getting to strong you can always add a bit of apple cider vinegar, i keep mine on a more watery side

 

[Jessimash]

I have sa2 week old chick that I believe has started sneezing about 3 days ago. I wasn't too worried about it until today. I only have 2 at t hi is age. They were both resting. The one that is sneezing seems to breathe at a faster rate than the other one. Is it normal for them to breathe at different rates? is there anything I should look for to make sure nothing serious is going on?