Our birds have the run of our large fenced yard during the day. Lots of grass and greenery to peck and scratch at.
For the past couple weeks I noticed that a young Polish hen (6 months old or so) has been very sluggish. She comes out of the coop and seems to move around but in the afternoon...
Wow, that certainly didn't go well. The last time a female yelled at me that much it was my ex-wife in the midst of the divorce. Didn't know a hen could swear in that level of profanity. She's really really upset with me.
Yesterday I discovered that the lid of the plastic box was light...
Our buff Polish has parked herself deep under the patio deck, directly adjacent to the wall of our home, and is sitting on about a dozen eggs.
It took days of her disappearing and showing up again to eat before vanishing like a ghost before I was able to hang out long enough to observe where...
Thank you. That makes me feel a little better. I just wanted to know if there was anything I needed to be doing differently. But it sounds like it's just a sad but normal part of life (and death) with chickens.
We have a hen sitting on a clutch of eggs. Three have hatched but two full termers died before making it out of the shells. Momma hen pushed them out from under her shortly before or just after they died. Why is this happening? It's pretty hot today (90). Are they drying out too fast? They...
On of our Auracana's had a prolapsed vent a while back, and after cleaning/prep-h/shoving it back in 3 times it stuck and she was good.
We have a polish whose vent is prolapsed as well, but we can't seem to resolve it. We've cleaned her up 5-6 times now, and kept her isolated for a week in a...
We gooped her up with Prep H, and shoved the whole mess back in. She wasn't very happy with us messing around back there but it looks like a vent again. Don't think I ever really wanted to know what it looked like with an inverted butt.
What about the diahrrea? Suggestions?
This is just so disgusting. Poor girl...
Wife is headed for store to get Preparation H, she thinks it is what you suggested - a prolapse. Brutal. How does this happen?
Our Auricauna has had the runs, now it's turned to bleeding. She runs around the yard with everyone else, walks a bit uneasily, and she is gradually losing weight. We put her in a plastic tub at night with water and medicated chick feed.
What else would be appropriate help for her at this point?
ya, the black one was sitting for a few days and the buff got the idea that she didn't want to be left out of the deal. Should be funny when the chicks end up being twice the size of "mom".
ok, cool. thanks. I almost fell over laughing when I discovered that the little buff silkie had horded 8 eggs and was sitting on them. Little piggie. Silly girl.
2 of our silkies became broody a few weeks ago. Each are sitting on a combination of standard and silkie eggs. Is the gestation period still 21 days? They have been sitting, I'm certain, for more than that. Is it possible that those tiny little bodies are too small to warm 4 eggs? Do I...
If she is sitting on eggs, take them out. Let her sit. My experience has been that the harder you try to break them, the more determined they become. Let her sit and warm the shavings. Eventually she will give up. I read a bunch of posts on the forum, some of which seem to come down to...
Imagine the surprise when my client asked if I knew of backyardchickens.com (yep, I told him, I know it well!) - when he discovered that the site (madcowcutlery.com) I built for him was mentioned here. I've suggested that he contact Rob and become a sponsor.
Our roosters, at least those who have made themselves obvious, are a white silike and a golden laced polish. Both are very cute, very noisy, but very safe. I really like them.
Buster, the polish, is a riot. I go out there and he does this little shuffle. I shuffle back and he dances a bit...