Recent content by 505Chooks

We have two younger hens (apparently bantams) that started off laying strong this spring and have slowed and are pairing up in a nesting box much of the day. One seems maybe broody - like irritated when I pull them out. They are behaving seemingly normally once out, though often will get to the...

Aww, man, after getting better for several days, our hen has been pretty despondent today, mostly stopped eating, and by this evening her breathing is labored and she isn’t quite holding herself up evenly. pretty sure she isn’t going to make it through the night. :(

Can you provide a bit more detail on diapering? She is perkier today so we think she may be ready for some outdoor time soonish. What size diapers (she's a 5# buckeye)? And any tips on how one should arrange the diaper in relation to anatomy and get it on her with minimal stress?

Update: She’s doing better today—stronger, eating more and interested in treats, and drinking well. She doesn’t feel as warm, so I think she probably was running a fever. She still has diarrhea, with mostly water coming out. The wound looks much better and is getting smaller. So we are hopeful...

That sounds like a great approach for *not* having to keep her in the house once she is on the healing path and wanting to move around but not totally healed up.

Yeah, she has had a couple of other issues lately like scaley leg mites. She's about 9 years old and I think things are winding down. We did have a 12 year old hen that lived happily for several years after we spent a few weeks nursing her back from paralysis.

Looks like my update didn't save. We were able to get in to see the "chicken vet" yesterday afternoon. They did a betadine irrigation to get the last few critters out and flush the wound. There weren't many maggots left, so that was good. It did have some deeper pockets. They were not able to...

So I learned what flystrike is yesterday :( We have an older hen that has been having some health problems. We treated her for scaly leg mite a few weeks ago and she still has a fair sized leg lump that may be an infected area. Yesterday I saw she had diarrhea covering her butt and was acting...