What did you do with your flock today?

[ChicksnMore]

Perhaps soon. Then we can go out in the yard for playtime. She still has trouble staying level. Maybe next month. I'll have to either look into it, or build one. Doesn't look too hard.
So today, when I went out to check on girls for the evening, my count was off by one. Looked around, and the door was about 12 cm from closed. Ginger was not seen inside. Looked around, and she had gotten behind the netting, and was roosting on a lower branch in the apple tree. I took her down and put her inside.
Compared to Olena, she is heavy.
How can I get Olena to gain weight a little faster? She seems light compared to her sister. More protein? Just cat food @ 30% protein? Meat bird food? Anyone else please chime in. @kurby22, @ChicksnMore, @TropicalBabies

For birds with bad weight loss I usually add kitten formula to make a wet mash once or twice a day with normal food available free feed. Brewers yeast also adds a good deal of protein and nutrition and I'll add a little of that sometimes, but mostly the kitten formula wet mash. Anything that's calorie and nutrition dense since the weight loss means they're not eating enough for full nutrients either. Bottle baby formulas have all that and I find the powder convenient stored in the freezer so I can always have some around. I buy it on Amazon for cheaper than I can buy locally.
For Olena I'm not sure since she might need it for the rest of her life. The kitten formula wet mash will definitely put some weight on her fast, but I have no idea if it's a healthy life time diet. Shetland might know. The meat bird feed might be the best bet for long term, but again I'd worry about nutrients too since weight loss means she's eating less.

 

[ChicksnMore]

DH took me to the feed store, he's my Uber loader. Came back with layer pellets., now that I don't have roos anymore, and Game bird grower, which is 30% protein.
Got all the feed and birdseed switched around into totes and a plastic garbage can so they should stay dry and pest protected, namely rodents. It's been so damp lately that some of the wood in the coop is molding. Maybe some hydrogen peroxide would kill it? I don't like using bleach. Ideas?
Also raked up the gravel and rocks the chickens have unearthed in the run, and raked out the unused coop/brooding house. My yard is looking like a moonscape.
We have was observed that we grow rocks in our county. They seem to multiply.

The rocks are like that here too...they seem to reproduce faster than rabbits

 

[Shetland lover]

He seems pretty content to just sit and I’m worried he’d get mad about a splint, but I may try it this weekend. He needs a bath first, poor boy. I have checked his hips, his joints, and palpated where I can. He definitely doesn’t like me fiddling with his hip joint, so I’ll keep an eye on it I guess! He’s still crowing and eating but not doing much else

Ferdy has gone backwards in his lameness too. He's limping badly again, barely putting his left foot on the floor. I examined him closely and found a slightly split toenail so that's now trimmed and covered in antibiotic powder. I doubt that's the problem though.
I've examined both his legs thoroughly (chiefly to see if I could feel any difference) but he's not reacting with any pain or discomfort. My bet is that he's sprained it again before it was fully healed. He's getting it strapped up with some wadding and a support bandage today. Not sure how he's going to react but he's generally tolerant. I trimmed his spurs yesterday and ground off the sharp edges with my dremel. He just laid on his back like a baby

Sounds like Willy's hip could be the problem. Definitely a case of monitoring it, like you said. You could try upping his vit C and omega oils. It won't do any harm and if it's a soft tissue injury, the vit C will help.

 

[Shetland lover]

I think cat food is good, meat bird food might work too. Are you feeding her a wet mash or normal dry food? When Nohope was sick, I was mixing a wet mash for him and he ate a lot that way. I made the chicken feed wet and stirred in the water. Then I added egg yolks, vitamins, hemp hearts, and occasionally Greek yogurt. See if she will try that!

I'm alternating between scrambled egg, moist cat kibble (it's like a softish food pre-shaped into kibble), a protein powder with spirulina and meat/tofu scraps for her protein boost each day. She's also getting live mealworm and morio worm as treats throughout the day. She's still eating her normal food and most veg. I'm also giving her live yoghurt twice a week.
It seems to be working, she’s gained 42g since Thursday.

 

[Shetland lover]

She'd been getting mash, some cat food, vitamins, black oil sunflower seeds. She does eat and poop quite a bit. Seems they may lose weight faster than they can gain it back. What is your experience and observations?Wish that was so with me. I'm going to the feed store today, so hope to get a smaller bag of high protein, instead of 40#, but then again, I can mix it with the layer food as needed. Some girls are being gradual molters, just had one do a full blowout a couple weeks ago. Same breed, too.

After my experience with Alice and weight loss, where she lost so much before we even realised, I weigh all my birds every month. I do think they lose it more quickly than they gain it when there's underlying problems. Could it be muscle loss with Olena that's making her feel light?

 

[Shetland lover]

I think he's loving the good life, as does any house chicken, right? @Shetland lover

Absolutely! Since Penelope's stint indoors, she is now last out of the coop (she's waiting to be carried into the house for breakfast ) and sneaks in at any opportunity. I find her sitting on my chair! And Ferdy just let's himself in when he feels like it. He's mastered the stairs now so you never know where you'll find the little bugger

 

[Shetland lover]

Here's how she stands. Mostly leaning to the right. Having trouble keeping her vent centered over the hole, so have to find another solution, short of putting a band around her and clipping it to the left side of the box.View attachment 3739731View attachment 3739732Hello, cheering fans!View attachment 3739733

Given how she was, I think she's looking amazing!
Is she standing unaided there? Or in her sling?

 

[Shetland lover]

I wonder what dilution of ammonia would work, as we can buy plain ammonia for cleaning and such.

I'll try to find out. If it doesn't say on my bio-oocyst bottle, it'll be available somewhere.

 

[fuzzi]

While working on the raised beds I dug out early springtime weeds, then tossed them into the run. Happy chicks!

 

[Smokerbill]

I was outside working on the garden, so I let the girls out to forage for a while. Let 'em out at 4, they'll probably be back into the run by 5:45.