There is always something wrong

[SarahGfa]

Right now I am tube feeding a hen with wet fowl pox, I think. Last month there was another hen with wet pox. Before that, a different chicken had a bumblefoot, and before that someone had tapeworms and someone else had coccidiosis. Basiclally there is always some chicken with a disease or injury that needs attention. It never ends. I have 15 chickens, which is not that much compared to many other flocks. Is it normal for someone to always be sick or hurt? I am feeling so tired.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

It seems you've been in the chicken life longer than myself but I've not had many issues. I got my flock as chicks in May of 2020. Sure things happen & it seems they happen when you are already dealing with something else but hopefully the incidents will slow down for you.

 

[SarahGfa]

It seems you've been in the chicken life longer than myself but I've not had many issues. I got my flock as chicks in May of 2020. Sure things happen & it seems they happen when you are already dealing with something else but hopefully the incidents will slow down for you.

thanks. the incidents are more frequent now that my chickens are getting old, I think. but i'm not sure if that's normal.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes, I think that older birds are much more likely to become sick. It is pretty true of all animals. How old are they? One of the ways to keep a healthier flock is to keep a younger flock. Adding young and subtracting old would help.

We each do things differently. I have never tubed a bird. I do think the quality of life is decreasing at that point. But a lot of people on here doctor their birds quite a bit. To each his own.

Mrs K

 

[SarahGfa]

Yes, I think that older birds are much more likely to become sick. It is pretty true of all animals. How old are they? One of the ways to keep a healthier flock is to keep a younger flock. Adding young and subtracting old would help.

We each do things differently. I have never tubed a bird. I do think the quality of life is decreasing at that point. But a lot of people on here doctor their birds quite a bit. To each his own.

Mrs K

My chickens are all different ages from 1-7 years. If a bird stops eating, do you cull it right away or let nature take its course? I feel like I would be euthanizing someone every month if I did that. I know we do things differently but I want to do things more like you.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My chickens are all different ages from 1-7 years. If a bird stops eating, do you cull it right away or let nature take its course? I feel like I would be euthanizing someone every month if I did that. I know we do things differently but I want to do things more like you.

I generally try to let nature take its course if the bird seems 'content'. If she has bright eyes and can keep her balance, I let her be. If she's dull eyed, or cannot stand on her own or is being tormented by healthier birds, I'll step in and put her down.

 

[Mrs. K]

This ^^^is me too. If they are active, eating then I don't treat. If they are not, then I cull.

It is always a bit wretched when you loose something, but then you have space for new chicks - as my granddaughter says -"the circle of life".

If you replace your flock regularly, you will have healthier birds, and you won't have to as often. Don't want you to think that I enjoy dispatching them, and Gramma feathers who has raised a lot of chicks for me and looking squarely at 5 years of age. She was giving a pullet an ear full this morning, but I will not let her suffer, I will help her over the divide when I sense it is time quickly. I won't try and treat her. That would just add stress to her life.

Mrs K

 

[SarahGfa]

I will help her over the divide when I sense it is time quickly. I won't try and treat her. That would just add stress to her life.

Mrs K

That is my problem, I think. I don't have a "sense" for when it is time. There are some birds that got very sick and fully recovered. I don't trust myself to make the right call, so I do everything to try to save everybody.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

That is my problem, I think. I don't have a "sense" for when it is time. There are some birds that got very sick and fully recovered. I don't trust myself to make the right call, so I do everything to try to save everybody.

I think doing your best to care for your birds is a good thing. I would do the same. They're relying on us, especially as they get older, to be there for them

 

[Mrs. K]

A lot of time, it is in your outlook. I keep a flock. And I want to keep a healthy flock. The individual birds, whom I enjoy, come into my flock and leave, but the flock goes on. I have kept a flock for years, and I have had disasters, with predators and other calamities.

I love to watch my chickens, but I don't pick them up. In the beginning, I worked with them until they would get up on my lap, but I found I really didn't like it. Again, to each his own. I watch the flock and how they all interact, and I will solve for peace in the flock.

The thing is, if I do have to handle my birds, that is very stressful for them. So I don't. I don't tube feed them, I don't give them calcium pills, I don't treat them for being egg bound, which I a pretty sure I have never had. However, my chickens have a huge run with a lot of clutter, and I think move and fly, jump quite a bit, and I think that helps with egg laying.

This is just my opinion, my own way of doing things, but when you treat sick birds, you expose the rest of your flock to that illness. This causes stress in your flock. In a natural setting, they would leave the sick, most flock and herd animals do so. It is for the protection of many over the value of one.

In my world, if you would treat the bird, I would cull. That IS the right decision for me. I would cull and replace with a chick. It keeps the flock young and strong. It is an old fashioned, but in my opinion, a realistic animal husbandry. Nothing is going to live for ever, even me.

I don't feel guilty, I feel matter of fact. I don't like doing it, but I don't like washing the floor either, it just has to be done. It is done quickly and with respect, and I enjoy the flock again. I think that might be part of treating everything until the bitter end that you might not realize, is that you don't enjoy being with your flock because something is always wrong.

Mrs K