What did you do with your flock today?

[PopoMyers]

Haha she doesn’t get to use that excuse anymore, she’s 3 years old I think she might either be a bit spoiled…or a bit slow She’s very sweet, but she doesn’t chicken very well. Being with a big flock seems perplexing to her. Pecking scratch doesn’t appeal to her…she and Daisy both seem to not quite know what to do out there. Poor sweet girl. She stood like that in the middle of the run in the dark for over two hours. Then finally seemed to decide to find a better spot to sleep

The fence was a big bummer, but not at all unexpected. I’ve wanted to replace it since we moved in 7 years ago. Husband just keeps putting it off…so here we are haha.

Wait, do you have a rooster to round them up at bedtime? Mine like to get the girls in earlier than I expect, but when I go out there to close up before it's dark, the girls come running out again. Treats must be written across my forehead.

 

[kurby22]

Great reason to not delay anymore. Silly chickens!
Is it the breed?

I’m wondering if it is due to her role as a breeder for the lady I got her from. I’m not sure but I’m thinking free ranging or having large runs wasn’t in her upbringing. I could be wrong, but she comes from a top d’Uccles breeder who happens to live here in CA, and top breeders have a lot of pens and limited space for them all. They are silly birds but generally pretty smart and capable. These two seem particularly dingy though

 

[kurby22]

Wait, do you have a rooster to round them up at bedtime? Mine like to get the girls in earlier than I expect, but when I go out there to close up before it's dark, the girls come running out again. Treats must be written across my forehead.

Yeah and he tries, but they haven’t taken to him totally yet. He’s a very polite boy and not very pushy, but they’re pretty new to our flock and haven’t totally said yes to his advances. Tonight was better but she needed a small nudge still.

 

[Shetland lover]

Remember, it’s “give your rooster a kiss day” today!

Every day is "give my roosters a kiss day"

 

[Shetland lover]

I've never given a whole pill. I do sometimes crush a pill and add it to a wet mash. If you want to make sure just Daisy gets it, I'd separate her with the wet mash.
Hope her leather eggs are very temporary!

I have given whole pills by wrapping them in a piece of cheese or butter. Maud used to love wheatflour tortillas so I'd make a pill pocket with a tiny bit of tortilla. She'd swallow that with no issues. I've also hid them in grapes or blueberries.

 

[Shetland lover]

@PopoMyers ! Your back and alive and well-ish. Good to see... read you!
So glad and impressed you are doing bags! Terrific ♡♡♡! It gets easier as you go because you teach yourself something every bag.
So much to respond to... amazing job @kurby22 . Nothing like pretty chickens in a pretty (and clean!) coop!! I hope you are onto something and continue on.

Good thinking with the individual viles Going to store that away in the good idea files.

@ChicksnMore Love bag 1 and 3. I have never seen them b4. Have plenty 2's. Scratch and all flock are the burnt orange bag w/ barn art. Very simular to each other and no one buys those lol. Sad I know these things haha.

I actually have an order for 7 dozen eggs on March 10th as my customer is sailing to the Marquesas and needs my fresh and unwashed eggs to take with him. How cool is that?! And who wants to sneak on board with me and how many chickens should we try to smuggle on with us?! What an amazing adventure!! I'm so happy for him.

We also have a new family member. It's official.View attachment 3411307Everybody meet Mele... feeling very much at home.

What a beauty! Such a stunning colour too. I'd have let him make himself at home too! Mind you, DH says I'd let a 3 legged, deaf, blind, toothless, hairless cat move in. Damn right I would!

 

[Shetland lover]

Thank you for the advice. I will need to have her inside for the next freezing days so her bum tissue doesn't get frostbite, and keep an eye on her. She is lower in the pecking order. I saw Cock E peck at and chase her today, don't know what that was about. Maybe she'll end up liking me, or hating me more. Time will tell.

Sorry, a bit late but I've been out with a migraine for 2 days. I'd keep Pepper in too. It might help her to insert a bit of hemorhhoid cream as it will help reduce swelling. If it keeps prolapsing she may need a stitch or two.

 

[Shetland lover]

Your kitty is adorable I think to feral kitties trust is love . I always said I wouldn’t marry a man who hates cats. If you can’t love a cat despite all their unique characteristics, you won’t ever understand a woman I very much relate to cats—want love when I want love…like to sleep all day and be pampered…mostly want to be left alone but not alone. Hehe. Good thing my husband secretly likes cats…

That picture of my daughter hugging her pile of tickets is just the epitome of 9 year old joy she was SO excited! She won 2505 tickets in a jackpot spin!

I told my DH having cats was non-negotiable when we got together - even though he's allergic. He can't say he wasn't warned....

 

[PopoMyers]

Sorry, a bit late but I've been out with a migraine for 2 days. I'd keep Pepper in too. It might help her to insert a bit of hemorhhoid cream as it will help reduce swelling. If it keeps prolapsing she may need a stitch or two.

Thanks. I'll check her when we get up. What can cause prolapses? Could a too large egg?

 

[Shetland lover]

That is a really great article! Especially since they included pictures. Not nosy at all! I appreciate your thoughts! Ms. Pretty didn’t have the little white bumps…it was more like random tumors. I looked all over her skin and it was only around her head like swollen bites or something like that. She was legit ill, fluffed up, no appetite, and I found her half dead in the run with her face half pecked off by the others it was my first chicken issue and I was very traumatized by it all so I didn’t really pay close attention to the end.

All of the birds presenting with paralysis of some sort have come from the same coop and they’ve all been Polish chickens or lavender colored chickens. They all had ravenous appetites but lost weight, and none of them seemed sick or fluffed up, just all the sudden couldn’t stand.

Nohope is probably the most confusing of the deaths, because he shows no outward signs of illness anymore. He is 10 months old, and vaxxed for Mycoplasma gallispticum, but nothing else. If I go back to November when he first showed signs of issues, he had a wet, mucousy mouth, runny nose, yellow crap in his beak I was anble to remove, and pox on his comb. This all came after big rain storms that left things wet and muddy. He was given Amoxicillin first for 10 days, then Veta-all in 1, which has Doxycycline, Ronidazole, Enrofloxacin, and Diclaziril. He also got Myconazole in case it was yeast, anlong with a yeast essential oils drop, colloidal silver, poultry cell, forsythia extract and activated charcoal, B-Complex and Vitamin E. He had normal to greenish poo, and seemed to be walking precariously. From the time he was very young, I would see him eat sitting on the ground. He also walked a bit funny/stiffly in comparison to other chickens. Nothing extreme, just my eye picking up a slight difference.

Anyway, after 2 weeks of meds, the mucousy mouth went away, the runny nose, the pox…he was eating and drinking completely normal but his walking was getting progressively worse. He went from standing to sitting more, then getting around using his legs and wings, then moving only when he reallllly wanted to, then eventually falling forward when trying to walk and get around. He has always had full strength and range of both legs, juts cannot stand on them. He can launch himself off the coach with his legs and he’s sooo strong I can barely hold him when he gets out of the sink bath. He has always had a healthy appetite, still to today eats and drinks…he has no more outward signs he’s sick except the no walking and his comb is getting progressively bluer and floppy and now his head sits off to the side of his body. His poops are greenish but normal but he has occasional black tar like poops that stink something AWFUL. Baths to clean him up massively stress him out and it takes hours for him to recover. He has never been sick until November, but he has always walked a bit funny. All of the male Polish went thru something similar except Spider, my only strong and healthy Polish to survive. Spider has been outside since day 2 and was raised in the Death Coop. The pullets went from fine to sick and dead within 48 hours. I would have assumed Mareks long ago based on the Polish pullets, except that I have had a bunch of chickens in that coop and only these chickens have shown ANY signs of issues and died. It has served as my grow out coop and broody Silkie coop, so I’ve had chicks born in it and raised by my broody silkies, teenagers, new birds, and old birds. All the baby chicks that weren’t Polish or lavender have grown up fine, symptom free, healthy and are now laying eggs. All the lavender birds and polish except one have gotten sick and died. Asha my Lav Orp pullet and two of the Polish boys that died had a black skin crust under their wings and down their leg that looked very much like gangrenous dermatitis and I treated it that way. This cleared up with fungicide and iodine baths. Asha was in that coop with a black Silkie and two other Orpington pullets two weeks younger—they are chocolate and mauve—and all vaxxed for MG—Asha and the Silkie for MG and Mareks. The Silkie and two Orps are healthy, laying eggs, and eating fine. They are now 6 months old. None of them have weird pupils or changing eye colors either. Wouldn’t a PCR test analyzing blood be pretty accurate for the viruses? And if they are all presenting the same way shouldn’t more of my birds show something? And being so contagious wouldn't my birds in other coops also be dying? Especially the ones sharing the same run? I have susceptible bantams that are only divided by a gate. They would most certainly be exposed to any virus in the big run? I just don’t know anymore!

I'm thinking Nohope actually has two separate issues. I think he definitely had diptheric  and dry fowl pox simultaneously back in November, which he's recovered from. The fact you said he's always been a little unsteady since he was a chick is making me think that he's always had some sort of central nervous system problem and that's what's affecting him now. It could be down to any number of causes e.g. viral, genetic, protazoan? Or maybe something like infectious tensynovitis? It seems to fit some of his latter symptoms. You said he's tested negative for Mareks and other ALVs?
Did you say JoJo had Mareks? Mareks is very contagious but does have different levels of virulence.
In view of the variable nature of the viruses involved and the factors limiting birds showing symptoms, it is possible for birds to present in different ways. Mortality in flocks can also vary, anything from 20% to 80%. Not all infected birds will even show any signs of illness, let alone symptoms. Presentation of Mareks in individual chickens is dependant on:

• strain and dose of virus
• age at exposure
• maternal antibodies
• host gender and genetics.
• strain and dose of vaccine virus, if birds are vaccinated
• several environmental factors, including stress.
  
  It's now consided ubiquitous in the environment and all flocks are now assumed to have been exposed to the virus. Given that Polish chickens are highly susceptible to Mareks, it would make sense your Polish birds have been more adversely affected. What doesn't make sense is that your Silkies weren't, as they're considered highly susceptible to Mareks infection too. I don't know of any inherent problem with lavender genes in terms of Mareks either.
  
  My only other thought at the moment is the environment of the coop itself, specifically the poor drainage. With that we're back to things like aspergilliosis, botulism, Clostridium septicum, C perfringens type A, and Staphylococcus aureus, e.coli, and heavy metals leaching up through the wet soil.
  The gangrenous dermatitis often occurs as a secondary condition when a bird is immunosuppressed by something like infectious bursal disease, chicken infectious anemia, reticuloendotheliosis and reovirus. It has also been noted after systemic fowl pox outbreaks.
  Is there any old lead paint anywhere on or in the coop? Zinc hardware cloth fragments they might have ingested? Can you get a blood test done for heavy metal poisoning, perhaps?