The past few days it has been very hot here in NJ, and I've had 2 mysterious deaths. One was a dark brahma hen, an year old, who died on Saturday. Nothing was wrong with her, just her one eye was closed and she was hiding. I found her dead on the ground sprawled and she was fine in the morning...
I noticed my pekin girl was limping a little, and when I checked her feet, I found that her foot pad was the size of a golf ball and had a huge scab on it. I immediately did surgery on it. First I soaked her feet in warm water and epsom salt for about 15 min. I then peeled off as much as I could...
Spurs aren't always a telltale if a chicken is a male or female. Some of my ladies have spurs too. Both male and female chickens get spurs, females are just less likely to grow them