She could get to food and water when she was with the flock. However she is on the "bottom rung" in the pecking order and does get bullied by the others--even before she became ill, but never severe enough to cause injury. I have her isolated in a large dog crate away from the flock. However...
Fern is an Easter Egger. Thanks for the info. I'll try soaking the foot with Epsom salts and go from there. Her appetite seemed to decline since she has been isolated.
Thanks for the info and the links. It does look similar to the pix that are linked. I hadn't thought about scaley mites. Here are pictures of the front of her feet--they look normal to me.
I have a 2 year-old hen who has developed a limp and reluctance to walk. She has reduced appetite, stopped laying, and is producing green, runny poops. This has persisted for a little more than a week. She has no other symptoms (no nasal, eye, mouth discharges/no sneezing, coughing). She does...
I've never given meds to a chicken before. Does calcium citrate come in pills or powder form? How do I administer--dissolved in water? I am certainly willing to treat her with anything that might help, I've just never done it before. She does have consistent access to crushed oyster shell...
After I got home from work I checked on her and she still had some of the membrane protruding from her vent. I was able to gently pull and I'm pretty sure the rest of the membrane came out. It certainly looks like it was a rubber egg that had collapsed inside. I've seen rubber eggs/no shell eggs...
last night I discovered that our black Australorp (about two years old) had what appeared to be the remains of a egg shell membrane protruding from her vent. She was already roosting with her sisters so I removed her from the coop and have her isolated. About an hour earlier, I had observed her...
LOL...That sounds like our girls! We have 5 hens and 3 next boxes. All of them use the same box. One time I found both of our Rhode Island Reds using the same box at the same time. Funny creatures...
I wonder why some turn their nose (beaks?) up to the pellets. I've seen several posts saying that their hens prefer pellets vs. crumbles (or vice versa) but I've feed both forms to our girls and I've not noticed any real preference.
What's the latest time of the day your hens lay eggs? We have 5 laying hens. One of our Easter eggers is usually the first, usually before 9:00 am. But our black Australorp is usually the last, sometimes not until after 3:00 or 4:00 pm. It doesn't really matter to me, but I had read someplace...
Thanks! That's good to know. I do supplement crushed oyster shell. I just started using Purina All Flock 20% but the Kalmbach is a bit cheaper so I may switch to that when the Purina feed runs out.
I almost picked up a bag of this, but read the feeding instructions on the bag that said it was for "... pullets up to laying age...". I took this to imply that it isn't intended for adult hens. Am I wrong? Is it okay for laying hens?
We have been feeding our hens Kalmbalch All Natural feed (17% protein). Is this a good feed? I am just curious what others are feeding their birds. Ours seem to be doing well on the Kalmbalch, although I suspect they are feather picking which some have suggested may be the result of a protein...
I couldn't find this in stores so I ordered on-line through Tractor Supply. We administered the first application today. I'm also going to supplement their feed with dread mealworms every other day. Keeping fingers crossed that the girls will start getting some of their fluff back soon!