The New Flock 2021: Back to Basics

[speckledhen]

Luna has lost sight in her right eye, it's clouding over now. She cannot see at all out of it now. She was always closing it, looking out the left side except occasionally, she'd open it. I checked the eye repeatedly, saw nothing, and thought it was just lethargy. Day before yesterday, I saw that the eye was becoming cloudy and seemed a tad swollen, so I guess she got an injury (dirty beaks would do it, certainly). I pulled out a tube of Terramycin antibiotic eye ointment and began treating it two times each day. She now opens it a lot more, but unless she uses her left side, can't see her food. I'm not sure if that was the cause all along-remember, I did check the eye several times and saw nothing alarming until this last time.
Could it be something other than an injury, like something neurological? Or should I just treat as an injury, which is the most logical cause? I can't find my Vetericyn Opthalmic gel so I am ordering another bottle.
Phoebe is also injured, but is getting better. She is living in one of the extra pens with Luna at this point. I think the boys hurt her, was not standing up fully, squatting when she walked, acted a bit dazed. She'll be back with the flock in a day or two, probably.
Today, Forrest did something that Bodie didn't like and the battle started, just went on and on and it's still going. Bodie is head rooster, Forrest in next to last place. Even Axel has bypassed Forrest in rank now. Forrest just will not quit and Bodie keeps trying to make him cry uncle, but he won't. Forrest will have a heart attack in this heat if he doesn't bow like he ought. Crazy boys. My own back is not good today because I was digging and hauling 5 gal buckets of garden soil from one place to the other and I can't babysit those idiots all day long.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think they are too old to show signs of Mareks. Hopefully the eye clears up. This is a rough time of year for chickens. I always like when fall comes and everyone starts to molts and calm down from all those hormones.

Sorry about your back Cynthia. Mine has been giving me problems lately. It's no fun.

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, I can't see it being ocular Marek's, never had a hint of it here. I think it's likely an injury, which would be the most obvious cause. I've had chickens hatch blind once or twice and Tiny had terrible eyesight, but it was still there in both eyes, sort of a depth perception issue. Have seen eye injuries a few times, Suede's hen Dusty got hurt on a fence and Atlas was poked in the right eye and squinted the rest of his life. It's especially hot here, too, worse than usual, so fans are going all the time and I worry a bit about the older ones.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You have the worry in the hot summers and I worry in the cold winters. Although you have gotten some colder weather where you are at, so I guess you gotta worry year round.

We've been lucky this year as it hasn't been too warm. Just won't stop raining. Got some hay made, but need more dry days and they never seem to come this year. It's like a swamp here.

 

[speckledhen]

I don't like prolonged rainy periods any more than ultra hot ones. We generally don't have temps reach 90*, but this year is a bear! And humidity added to that is miserable. Thankfully, we had a new heat pump installed at great expense and it has not added much at all to our electric bill. Every summer, we're generally miserable with a window A/C that could only cool the main living areas with a lot of noise, could not run our 30 year old heat pump because it jacked up the bill horribly. This June, it only added about $20 to the bill to run it every day

 

[getaclue]

It was a few years ago, when we had a new AC, and all new duct work, etc. put in. The unit we replaced was very old, so it was not energy efficient by today's standards. The codes, and way they do duct work now, is different from how it was done back then too.

Before, the front of the house was cold, but by the time the air got down the hall to the back bedrooms, there was a noticeable difference in temp. The last bedroom was the worst.

They ran the new duct work differently too. The original way was to run one main duct from the AC unit, then connect the vents in each area in a series, (think soaker hose). That too, was a big part of the reason the temps in the back of the house were somewhat different, than in the front of the house, which was closer to the AC unit.

When they ran the new duct work, they used 2 main ducts. 1 from the AC to the back of the house, and 1 from the AC to the front of the house. Now we have uniform temps throughout the house. That alone made it worth it. OH, it uses a lot less electric that way. At first, we actually saved money, then electric prices went up, so that we are not seeing an actual savings, BUT I hate to think of what our electric bill would be, had we kept going with that old unit, and duct layout.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My central air works well. It's the 6 dogs in our bedroom that heats it up a few degrees at night. I just turn it down extra degrees to compensate. I really work our central air. The trade off is in winter I keep the house cooler so price ends up being about the same for electricity usage. I would like to run an extra vent to the bedroom, but than it would be extra warm in winter.

 

[Goldendreams]

Yeah, I can't see it being ocular Marek's, never had a hint of it here. I think it's likely an injury, which would be the most obvious cause. I've had chickens hatch blind once or twice and Tiny had terrible eyesight, but it was still there in both eyes, sort of a depth perception issue. Have seen eye injuries a few times, Suede's hen Dusty got hurt on a fence and Atlas was poked in the right eye and squinted the rest of his life. It's especially hot here, too, worse than usual, so fans are going all the time and I worry a bit about the older ones.

Do you know why chickens feather shaft tip turns yellow and the feather falls out

 

[speckledhen]

Do you know why chickens feather shaft tip turns yellow and the feather falls out

hmm, turns yellow? Maybe an older feather ready to be shed. Are they in a molt now? Sometimes, one feather will just fall out, maybe get pulled by another bird.

 

[getaclue]

My central air works well. It's the 6 dogs in our bedroom that heats it up a few degrees at night. I just turn it down extra degrees to compensate. I really work our central air. The trade off is in winter I keep the house cooler so price ends up being about the same for electricity usage. I would like to run an extra vent to the bedroom, but than it would be extra warm in winter.

Try an extra fan in the room at night, when you and the dogs are all collected in there. I have ceiling fans in all the rooms, but Dh has a smaller fan that sits on his night stand, which he runs at night, when we're all in there, including the cat (who is a hot box). That little bit of extra air circulation makes a difference.