Same, except make it 10 years for me.
Actually, one of my EEs did kind of get the broody attitude, but she just wanted to grumble and cluck for 2 days, no actual sitting. And then she went immediately into molt. 
But she is the one hen in my flock who mounts the other hens, so I think she's confused to begin with.
feeling pretty sad...Dealing with a goose injury tonight. Doing my regular daily rounds and noticed Gracie, my adult Buff American goose hen was missing. Finally heard her in the unclaimed portion of the property. I saw her neck looked dark. When I got to her, I just cried. Gracie appears to have caught her neck in something. She has her neck completely bare to the flesh, no skin. I have only seen an injury this severe one other time in all the years I have kept birds. Will not post pictures its very upsetting. She is in the spare bathroom tub now. We have started baby aspirin, oxytetracycline and electrolites. Blukote on her neck. I know she's in pain, and am checking on her hourly. She is drinking but will not eat. Just sick over it. My American Buff are timid, wary with people so its been a big challenge already trying to care for her. She is drinking the water at least so the medication is getting into her. I try to human imprint every bird I own for this very reason.. emergencies. The ones I take in as adults are so much more a challenge.
Oh my goodness, how awful! Keeping my thoughts with Gracie and you! Hope she gets to feeling better really soon!
I think I posted this the last time you mentioned this, but there are many experts that believe it's in as many as 80% of backyard flocks. In fact, I know of someone now who was told that it's rare to test negative for it. I wouldn't feel bad for not catching it sooner or anything, chick rookie. After all, my flock has likely had it for 6+ years (if the birds who I suspect brought it in are the ones that did) and I didn't have any clue about it until about a year ago. :/
My girls are just a little spoiled, too.
They pretty much get a sample of anything I eat, as long as I know for sure there are no ingredients that are toxic for them! They also get any leftover veggies and fruits from what I cut up for my conure. They seem to particularly like cucumbers, squashes, tomatoes (which is why we end up fencing our garden every year!), apples, wild grapes, bread (but never white bread!), cheese, and various lunch meat slices (I just don't have the heart to feed them chicken, however...). They also get plenty of scratch grains, the occasional scoop of coconut oil, and I'm working on grazing frames to give them some grass in their run this summer. I also planted some dandelion seeds in an old window box, because they LOVE dandelion greens! And, like Leahs mom posted, they go nuts for raw ground beef!
Margie has a tendency to go broody before her body stops producing eggs, too. She's always been so desperate to be a mother that she jumps into it too fast! Nice thing with Margie and the chicks is that she's been pretty docile as well, like you're describing. She grumbles and growls, but I still can pick up her babies without any skin being removed.[COLOR=8B4513]Lacy is still being broody. However, she laid an egg today! I didn't think broodies laid. I guess she wanted something to actually sit on although I took it away to discourage her broodiness. She was more fun before she hunkered down! I guess it's good that she rests more, though. Although she does the broody warning screech, she lets me move her around when needed. The vet said if all goes well, she can join the rest of my flock in a week! [/COLOR]
I know, isn't it the sweetest thing?!@pipdzipdnreadytogo [COLOR=8B4513]I'm so jealous! I want Marge and her babies![/COLOR]
I don't have much experience with broodies (and my only other experience has been with a bad broody who raised her children up to be flighty and like playing in the road!), but watching Margie with her babies is just melting my heart! I had to mark the baby in that picture because I couldn't tell it apart from the first one that hatched, so it now has a drop of purple food coloring rubbed into its head. I managed to get it off center, but you can just see some purple on its head in this picture from this morning. (Baby was telling Mama Margaret how abused it had just been!) 
One reason is that CAFO raised animals carry a higher contaminant load - especially antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Animals raised on grass without antibiotic input are much safer in that respect. This is my main concern in feeding raw....it is just much safer.
My two go-to broodies are silver phoenix. Reliably broody, great moms. Seem to do well in the flock, but nowhere near the top of the pecking order. I also have two chanteclers that go broody multiple times a year, but I haven't had the chance to allow them to raise chicks yet. This year, I've got my broody pens ready, so hopefully I'll have broodies cooperate when I'm ready to start hatching my own eggs. I plan to try to keep the incubator for hatching out eggs for others this year.
I have 1 that will but I'm pretty sure she is an Americana ( all white w/slate legs and lays a pretty blue egg ) and she is at lest 3 years old.
O thats terrible!!feeling pretty sad...Dealing with a goose injury tonight. Doing my regular daily rounds and noticed Gracie, my adult Buff American goose hen was missing. Finally heard her in the unclaimed portion of the property. I saw her neck looked dark. When I got to her, I just cried. Gracie appears to have caught her neck in something. She has her neck completely bare to the flesh, no skin. I have only seen an injury this severe one other time in all the years I have kept birds. Will not post pictures its very upsetting. She is in the spare bathroom tub now. We have started baby aspirin, oxytetracycline and electrolites. Blukote on her neck.
I know she's in pain, and am checking on her hourly. She is drinking but will not eat. Just sick over it.
My American Buff are timid, wary with people so its been a big challenge already trying to care for her. She is drinking the water at least so the medication is getting into her. I try to human imprint every bird I own for this very reason.. emergencies. The ones I take in as adults are so much more a challenge.
x2Gosh Janet! I hate to hear that! I can only imagine how difficult all of that must be. They surprise us in so many ways, recovery being one of them! Big hugs and high hopes she pulls through!
Keep us posted and if a helping hand is needed please ask!
As if you don't have anything else to do!
Glade you found out what it is and that it is treatable, will have to watch my flock. Lacy has tried 2 times to raise chicks. She has bad luck and they end up getting killed ( Falcon and dog )@jchny2000 I'm so sorry to hear about Gracie! Poor girl! I just did some searches about goose injuries, and it sounds like you know what you are doing. On an avian veterinary site, she says that an aspirin dose for a goose follows the same guidelines as chickens: 25 mg per pound of body weight. I'm sure you already know that, but it may help others who have geese. I wish there was something I could do!
I brought Lacy to my veterinarian today. He "suspects" CRD and prescribed Tylan for her and for the rest of my flock.
@chick rookie ~ It doesn't matter if Lacy had it when I got her from you because Screech had "indications" of CRD, which means the rest of my five girls surely have it.
Dr. Lossie from Purdue recently sent me this info that I posted before, but doesn't hurt to post again...
Mycoplasma (MG) or Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD), is very common in backyard flocks, and birds can harbor the bacteria without showing clinical signs. They tend to show signs during periods of stress. The bacteria can never really be completely removed from the birds (it just hangs around in the sinuses and respiratory tract), but it is treatable with antibiotics (Tylan is the treatment of choice). Unless you are selling hatching eggs or plan on trading the birds with others (making it possible to spread to other flocks), I would not worry much unless other birds begin to show signs.
Anyway, hopefully Lacy will improve. She has the occasional rattle and yesterday started occasionally sneezing. Other than that, she's eating and drinking—oh, and I've tried three different natural brands of dry cat food that I've broken up into smaller pieces. She is not interested, and neither are my outside flock! I've tried cat food in the past, and they've turned up their noses! Lacy and the others had a snack today of little pieces of chicken and mozzarella cheese shreds, so that provided some extra protein. They eat their all-flock food, and the usual treats they receive daily (I rotate) may include sunflower kernels and safflower seeds from TSC—they don't like the ones from RK!, freeze dried mealworms, chopped mixed nuts with no salt, flaxseed, chopped grapes and blueberries, chopped romaine, kale, spinach, mozzarella cheese shreds, and sometimes cooked chicken or scrambled eggs. They also like salmon (my DH's grilling specialty). If anyone has other ideas for afternoon snacks -lol-, please post. Despite their menu of treats, many times they look at me like, "You're giving us this same ol' stuff again?!"
Lacy is still being broody. However, she laid an egg today! I didn't think broodies laid. I guess she wanted something to actually sit on although I took it away to discourage her broodiness. She was more fun before she hunkered down! I guess it's good that she rests more, though. Although she does the broody warning screech, she lets me move her around when needed. The vet said if all goes well, she can join the rest of my flock in a week!
I'm still pitching all eggs from worming, and now I have to add at least another week of pitching eggs because of Tylan! I don't like meds that go in daily water because there's no way to know who gets it and how much. And with all of the rain we've had, it's impossible to get rid of puddles.
It's fun to see all of the spring baby photos!
@ellymayRans ~ You must be in heaven with all those adorable ducklings!
@pipdzipdnreadytogo
I'm so jealous! I want Marge and her babies!
@Mishlerfarm24
I love this photo of your girls on the perch. They look so nice and orderly, but I wonder how much time they spent bickering before settling on a spot!
@Leahs Mom
I have a lone Blue Silkie, Smalty, since my other was murdered by a raccoon. Smalty holds her own with the others even though she's at the bottom of the pecking order. She's been broody several times, but just lasts a week or so —not reliable. And she doesn't do well in extreme cold, especially since she doesn't have anyone to cuddle up with. Silkies like to cuddle so you need to get a pile of silkies! Haha
One reason is that CAFO raised animals carry a higher contaminant load - especially antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Animals raised on grass without antibiotic input are much safer in that respect. This is my main concern in feeding raw....it is just much safer.
In general...
Fatty acid profile is also different in grain-fed vs. grass-fed (when fed "species appropriate", the fat they produce is a fat that is "healthy"; when grain-fed the fat produced is "not-so-healthy".)
This is a quick answer in "layman's terms". I could give a more detailed answer with foot notes to back up later on if you'd like!
Wow, I am so sorry to hear this! i hope shes feeling better and everything works out. i know you are doing everything you can!feeling pretty sad...Dealing with a goose injury tonight. Doing my regular daily rounds and noticed Gracie, my adult Buff American goose hen was missing. Finally heard her in the unclaimed portion of the property. I saw her neck looked dark. When I got to her, I just cried. Gracie appears to have caught her neck in something. She has her neck completely bare to the flesh, no skin. I have only seen an injury this severe one other time in all the years I have kept birds. Will not post pictures its very upsetting. She is in the spare bathroom tub now. We have started baby aspirin, oxytetracycline and electrolites. Blukote on her neck.
I know she's in pain, and am checking on her hourly. She is drinking but will not eat. Just sick over it.
My American Buff are timid, wary with people so its been a big challenge already trying to care for her. She is drinking the water at least so the medication is getting into her. I try to human imprint every bird I own for this very reason.. emergencies. The ones I take in as adults are so much more a challenge.
