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My chickens have always molted in fall and early winter. An occasional winter molt, but only once or twice. This year I had 3 hens only molt half their feathers this fall and they're now molting the second half. 2 other hens didn't molt last fall and are now in a full molt. The only hen with an...

This started a couple of months ago when it looked like Popeye had scaly legs mites. It looked bad at the base of his legs, so we treated with ivermectin and several Epsom salt baths. His toe was also bent so we thought maybe a broken toe. We kept it wrapped up to stabilize it, changing the...

I just performed my second necropsy in 2 weeks for dead hens. It turned out to be very different deaths (1 cancer, 1 heart failure), so this is a theoretical question. I was ready to give my entire flock a round of tylosin injections if the 2 had the same cause of death. The question is...

First, it's not cold enough for frostbite here. My rooster, Popeye, was treated for scaly leg mites in late January. At that time, his middle toe was bent awkwardly. We thought it was broken, so we splinted it for 1 week. When taking off the bandages, a large area of skin/scales peeled off...

About 2 months ago, one of my Buff Orpingtons comb & wattles started getting darker. It's almost purple when the rest of the flock is their normal rosy red. Obviously she wasn't choking, or had a blocked away, so I thought a respiratory infection. I gave her a round of antibiotics about 6 weeks...

One of my young hens, a 15 month old Buff Orpington, has been laying a shell-less egg every other evening, just before bed. I've been out there to see her squatting most nights. They are perfect, except no shell at all. It's been about a month. I orally fed her calcium supplements for the last...

Usually, red tailed hawks don't bother my flock because my 10lb. Buff orpington rooster is bigger than them, and very vigilant. One must have been very hungry, and able to hide well in the tree. He flew down and attacked one of my hens. I heard a lot of commotion and ran outside. What I saw was...

With spring hatches coming up, I'm thinking about who's eggs to hatch. In the past, I picked my hens that are big, healthy, and lay well throughout the year. I recently got a camera in my nesting room to check who is laying, mostly to head off any issues with an egg bound hen. I have Buff...

I'm putting a dosage chart together for everything in my chicken first aid kit. I'm set with corid, permethrin, and all the dewormers. My problem is the antibiotics. If I read 15 threads, I get 15 different amounts, times per day, etc.. Does anybody have correct info for the meds in the title...

One of my 1.5 year old Buff Orpington hens is sick, and I'm stumped. She came back from her molt just fine, started laying for about two weeks. She has since stopped laying. She's only eating if I bring her inside, she'll eat some, not much, from my hand. She's not egg bound, unless it's so far...

My current flock consists of my original Buff Orpingtons, 5 pullets and 1 cockerel, that we hatched from our hens, earlier this year. I was over at my brother-in-laws farm today, and noticed how vibrant red his Buff Orpingtons combs/wattles are. His came from our hatch in March, which we kept 3...

A week ago, I watched one of my hens slurp down a foot long garter snake. I've seen them eat smaller snakes, just fine, but never one this large. Well, her crop is impacted with what I assume is a snake. I've gone through the normal crop clearing techniques, with no success, obviously. Is there...

One of my 7 month old BO pullets has been laying, consistently since early August. I've noticed, the last three days, she's sitting in a nest box for about an hour a day, without laying an egg. She's not egg bound and has no symptoms to worry about. Just curious what she's doing? I have a nest...

My current rooster started his high-pitch donkey crow at 4 weeks old. It was hilarious, and adorable. I should have taken that as a sign, because he's now a loud mouth. :D. I had the garage door open, yesterday, and his crows could be heard in the brooder. To my surprise, one of my 1 week old...

My BO hens are all molting. The first, Patty, is almost finished. Before the molt, her feathers were the classic, golden/yellow, BO color. Her new feathers came in much lighter, in color. I've never had this happen before. Is it common?

My flock currently consists of 1, 7 month old cockerel, 6, 1.5 year old hens, and 5 pullets of different ages. A few weeks ago, my alpha rooster, and 1 hen, died suddenly from illness. I'm waiting on necropsy on the rooster to find out the cause, but we had two other sick hens that got better...

My flock is currently getting a round of Corid, which I have had to do in the past. This time, one of hens is not drinking on her own. I've given her doses by syringe, per @casportpony 's great reference thread. It states to drench dose for 1-3 days. Why is it only 1-3 days, when the corid water...

I had 7 hens (18 months) 5 pullets (6 months), 1 rooster (18 months), & 1 cockeral (6 months). Last Thursday, while out in the run, one of my chickens had diarrhea in front of me. I saw a couple of worms, I believe roundworms, moving in the stool. All birds were acting fine. I wormed them with...

My alpha rooster acted fine yesterday morning and by late afternoon he was laying in a nest, away from the flock. He was extremely lethargic, but no other symptoms. This morning, I just found him dead in the coop. We are sending him for a necropsy, to make sure it wasn't something that will...

One of my 1 year old, Buff Orpington hens, has been lethargic for 3 days now. She barely moves, hasn't eaten more than a couple bites from my hand in three days. Since she was first laying, she's has problems with soft shelled eggs and becoming egg bound. Usually once a month, we have to help...