What did you do with your flock today?

[kurby22]

Wow, the storm rolling through today brought some crazy winds!! We’ve had to go fix tarps and pick up furniture every hour or so when the nasty gust blows thru! Broke our pool umbrella, put patio cushions in the pool…our neighbor friends now have their neighbors patio cover on their roof…it isn’t even raining, just blowing crazy hard! Then the power went out and I had a massive panic attack because I have some very important eggs incubating and they’re like 2 days from hatching And I have another 30 or so due over the next three weeks at varying stages. Only one of our generators was working so I moved all the lockdown babies into the one incubator that was running on the generator…and then the power came back on 10 mins later So now I don’t know what to do lockdown needs better humidity than the first week eggs…sooo I might keep them there for tonight and mover them back after the worst of the storm passes. I have 5 Watermaal eggs that 4 of them came from Alfredo. I want them to hatch so badly! So please think great thoughts for them! The draw down just started happening today So now I’m all stressed out and worried. I had to up the humidity to 60% so I’m hoping it doesn’t do too much to the new baby eggs that just started and should be closer to 45%. Dang winter weather!

 

[ValerieJ]

Some girls are being gradual molters,

I'm happy to hear this! I have had a lot of feathers all over the place lately and thought maybe it was pretty late to be molting. Haven't seen anyone featheless yet, so not too worried.

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

She is looking so good! And she is such a beauty! She is one lucky bird to have you for a care taker. You have done an amazing job with her.

 

[Smokerbill]

One of my girls was acting sick today and I found out she has an impacted crop. I set up her isolation chamber (the chicken coop) with fresh water for drinking but no food.

When I felt her crop it was full and hard. I gently massaged the crop for 10 minutes or so and it loosened up into more of a doughy texture. I put her in the coop where she took several drinks of water.

I rendered the fat out of some beef trimmings I saved and have a small bowl of it chilling in the freezer. I'll feed her small chunks of chilled tallow today in hopes it will lubricate things and get the blockage moving.

Hopefully the crop will be emptied by tomorrow morning.

Edited to add:

I checked her crop again and it's much looser now and smaller, so the contents must be working their way out into the gizzard. I fed her some of the beef fat, then massaged her crop again for another 10 minutes.

I didn't feel any foreign object in the crop contents, like a nail or screw or piece of wire. I'm hopeful her crop will be empty tomorrow morning and I can start feeding her layer pellets again.

 

[kurby22]

One of my girls was acting sick today and I found out she has an impacted crop. I set up her isolation chamber (the chicken coop) with fresh water for drinking but no food.

When I felt her crop it was full and hard. I gently massaged the crop for 10 minutes or so and it loosened up into more of a doughy texture. I put her in the coop where she took several drinks of water.

I rendered the fat out of some beef trimmings I saved and have a small bowl of it chilling in the freezer. I'll feed her small chunks of chilled tallow today in hopes it will lubricate things and get the blockage moving.

Hopefully the crop will be emptied by tomorrow morning.

Edited to add:

I checked her crop again and it's much looser now and smaller, so the contents must be working their way out into the gizzard. I fed her some of the beef fat, then massaged her crop again for another 10 minutes.

I didn't feel any foreign object in the crop contents, like a nail or screw or piece of wire. I'm hopeful her crop will be empty tomorrow morning and I can start feeding her layer pellets again.

If you have papaya enzymes, my vet recommended giving them some orally by syringe, crushed in water. It should help breakdown the stuff that’s impacted. Hope it gets better soon!

 

[kurby22]

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.

Oh no! What is up with our banty boys?? Why they gotta keep hurting themselves? :-( Willie has been crowing a lot and has a decent appetite so I will try upping his Vitamin C and Omegas and see if that helps, thanks! I’m sorry Ferdy is hurting

 

[kurby22]

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.

Growing rocks is not the best crop unless you like building rock fences Rocks in the soil are the reasons I did not pursue a double major in soils in college

 

[Smokerbill]

If you have papaya enzymes, my vet recommended giving them some orally by syringe, crushed in water. It should help breakdown the stuff that’s impacted. Hope it gets better soon!

I can vouch for the effectiveness of papain (papaya enzyme). When I was in high school I used papain to dissolve the flesh from animal skulls in order to clean them up for display in my biology class.

I need to get a syringe one of these days so I'm better prepared for chicken medical issues. Might get a tube for tube feeding, too.

 

[kurby22]

I can vouch for the effectiveness of papain (papaya enzyme). When I was in high school I used papain to dissolve the flesh from animal skulls in order to clean them up for display in my biology class.

I need to get a syringe one of these days so I'm better prepared for chicken medical issues. Might get a tube for tube feeding, too.

Wow! That’s a lot more serious effectiveness than I even imagined! Oral syringes are a god send for chicken ailments!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Aloha flock!
Good to see you all clucking about ♡♡♡ Where's @LTAY1946 ? I only went back loosely so many pages. Don't have the bandwidth to do a deepdive catching up yet.
Life is good. Glad you all are well

I got a new paper weight, or Tally is relieving Forest of his job for a bit.

All much the same here. Shuffling and caring for cats and chickens and people. Finally worked my way back into sewing and more normal chores, also got a great ride in yesterday.

Sorry to hear about all of the wild weather. Hope all stays well and warm and dry-ish. We have been getting back to back weather too and I guess pineapple express, sending it your way. Been windy the last few days but dry, looking forward to the trades calming down. Feel free to send the rain back our way 🌧🌧 I want to be spoiled a little while longer Just digging the green of the isle and cool weather.

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

@TropicalBabies, uhh, gee, could y'all please keep some of the pineapple expresses to yourselves for a few days, so California can come up for air a little bit? The rain's been relentless, especially in places that really aren't good at handling so much at once (since they're usually so dry, or not recovered from huge wildfires yet). My previous stomping grounds in the LA area are getting swamped.

Here on the Redwood Coast, it's a return to what used to be normal and is mostly soaking in or running off like it's supposed to -- though the chooks and I are looking forward to a little break in the deluge so we can play outside in the squishy weed jungle tomorrow!