I am new to chickens and have two ill birds. Three weeks ago one of my 2 month old chicks developed a gross yellow growth of some kind on her neck. I thought the feathers had come out from sticking her head thru the fencing too much or something I recall the affected skin to be mostly dark yellow but with two dark purple bumps. The baby chicken never seemed to act any different so I did nothing. Then it seemed to get worse. The skin on the back of her neck became thick yellow and wrinkled with pre-feather spikes sticking up. It's now been 3 weeks and the growth is even more yellow, harder and more wrinkly looking and there are still odd spikes. There is no more red or purple anything. I've tried first-aid ointments but it obviously didn't do anything. My chicken is still just as happy and healthy seeming as the others but the growth is slowly getting bigger I think. What is it? What do I do?
My other concern is for my 3 or 4 month old guinea hen. A week and a half ago she broke her right foots hind toe. It's lay flat sideways against her ankle. She's been limping quite dramatically and prefers to lay down and just munch what is within reach then to hop about with the rest of the critters. Now I see the affected foot's outside tow is also broken. The foot with the two broken toes is causing her a great deal of discomfort. She can't open her toes properly, she's limping, laying down a lot, etc. She's even shaking/shivering. I have tried to manipulate the bone but it's clear that unless I can brace the bones back in place there is no point in my touching the foot. Meanwhile the poor hen is easily stressed. If I put her up she struggles like crazy and eventually screams like crazy. She makes such an awful racket that my neighbors must wonder if I'm committing murder! Despite all these issues she is eating and drinking okay. So ... what do I do?
Also - I know this sounds silly, but is chicken poop supposed to smell like human baby diarrhea? These are my first chickens and I guess I was expecting a different smell then diaper stench.
Last but no least I just wanted to share my experience with my 5 month old chicken "Elphaba" Elfy belonged to a friend of mine. She was one day found huddled against the side of the cage with all the other chickens pecking away at her bloody flesh. Her back was all torn up, plenty of raw bone showing, etc. She had one broken tow and another toe who's claw was missing. I put her in a cardboard box and I brought her home and spent maybe five minutes blotting up what I could with clean paper towels and applying vet antibiotic/pain reliever ointment. I gave her food and water and a heat bulb and left her alone. A few days later she was shockingly still alive so I put her cage near my cage of new baby guinea hens so she'd have company, I also applied more medication to her back and reexamined her toes. Shock was a greater concern to me then her toes so I handled her very little. After a week I was able to put her cage right next to the cage of the other chicks and this seemed to calm her greatly. Her back looked really gross and everyone assumed she'd die but she was always eating and drinking ok. She was also walking fairly normally. After two weeks I put her in with the guinea hen chicks. Now she's a happy healthy chicken. She walks all right despite the injured foot she's very friendly.
My other concern is for my 3 or 4 month old guinea hen. A week and a half ago she broke her right foots hind toe. It's lay flat sideways against her ankle. She's been limping quite dramatically and prefers to lay down and just munch what is within reach then to hop about with the rest of the critters. Now I see the affected foot's outside tow is also broken. The foot with the two broken toes is causing her a great deal of discomfort. She can't open her toes properly, she's limping, laying down a lot, etc. She's even shaking/shivering. I have tried to manipulate the bone but it's clear that unless I can brace the bones back in place there is no point in my touching the foot. Meanwhile the poor hen is easily stressed. If I put her up she struggles like crazy and eventually screams like crazy. She makes such an awful racket that my neighbors must wonder if I'm committing murder! Despite all these issues she is eating and drinking okay. So ... what do I do?
Also - I know this sounds silly, but is chicken poop supposed to smell like human baby diarrhea? These are my first chickens and I guess I was expecting a different smell then diaper stench.
Last but no least I just wanted to share my experience with my 5 month old chicken "Elphaba" Elfy belonged to a friend of mine. She was one day found huddled against the side of the cage with all the other chickens pecking away at her bloody flesh. Her back was all torn up, plenty of raw bone showing, etc. She had one broken tow and another toe who's claw was missing. I put her in a cardboard box and I brought her home and spent maybe five minutes blotting up what I could with clean paper towels and applying vet antibiotic/pain reliever ointment. I gave her food and water and a heat bulb and left her alone. A few days later she was shockingly still alive so I put her cage near my cage of new baby guinea hens so she'd have company, I also applied more medication to her back and reexamined her toes. Shock was a greater concern to me then her toes so I handled her very little. After a week I was able to put her cage right next to the cage of the other chicks and this seemed to calm her greatly. Her back looked really gross and everyone assumed she'd die but she was always eating and drinking ok. She was also walking fairly normally. After two weeks I put her in with the guinea hen chicks. Now she's a happy healthy chicken. She walks all right despite the injured foot she's very friendly.
