Chicken Moma chat thread. Share, Q&A, all things chicken! <3 October <3

[Happy Mommax4]

Well it's a sad day here, I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a wonderful chicken provider. One of my faves is gone. Chicca, one of our originals our buff orpingtons. I thought she was molting bc she was loosing some feathers but otherwise seemed normal.

Went out this am to feed and water she was fine, when I went out this afternoon she was laying by the feeder she was gone! Wth! I have no idea what could've happened.

I feel like I did her wrong somehow?

Just venting sorry, we've also been keeping our border collies tied/penned up because they've been the demise of a few of our girls so just thinking of all this makes me sick.

They're way more then egg layers to me;(

[waterisntsomething]

Originally Posted by 3lilbubs Holy heck this thread is hot this morning! To answer some questions, Fodie we have been working with the Roo and he does not attack me or dh.. he doesn't BLATANTLY attack the boys, he sides up to them slowly and raises his hackles and then chases them. To which they kick at him and then he tries to flog. I would say it's 1/2 the boys being little brats to him and doing things intentionally to irritate him and 1/2 him being a butthead. So I'd feel completely irresponsible if I culled him based on that. he is a good protector and he's gentle with the girls. He saw three turkey vultures in the neighbor's pines this am and shooed all the girls under our patio set and stood guard. Sarah I guess the beak trimming is the same? I didn't even think about it, maybe I should have. I just trimmed it the same way I would do my Cockatiel's years ago. I guess my coop could be described as barn-style. It's a stall with a wide door over most of the front. We did do the 2x4's on side so that they could warm their little feet and so far they really like that. While we do not see much snow we do get frost most every morning from Nov-Dec so the heat lamp is something I'm going to have to think hard about. I wasn't planning on using it all the time, just maybe if we were due for a really cold windy night or a snow. Here's the coop, new boxes. That's Greta there, she's acting funny this am. This is the most interested she's been in the nest boxes so FX for a egg this am! The white stuff on the wall is Sevin I haven't brushed off btw. See how the roosts run the entire length of the coop though? It's great, but that means everything under gets pooped on. So if I put straw under there wouldn't it get nasty and stinky in there fast? I generally rake out all the poo daily. I'm having the same hesitant thoughts about power, our coop isn't far from the garage but that means I have to run a extension cord out the garage window. I hope when we move we can do a permanent set up with power. I'd like to have somewhere to brood chicks outside too.

I love that Idea for nesting boxes, I have got to show SO!!

Originally Posted by Happy Mommax4 Well it's a sad day here, I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a wonderful chicken provider. One of my faves is gone. Chicca, one of our originals our buff orpingtons. I thought she was molting bc she was loosing some feathers but otherwise seemed normal. Went out this am to feed and water she was fine, when I went out this afternoon she was laying by the feeder she was gone! Wth! I have no idea what could've happened. I feel like I did her wrong somehow? Just venting sorry, we've also been keeping our border collies tied/penned up because they've been the demise of a few of our girls so just thinking of all this makes me sick. They're way more then egg layers to me;(

Aww, I'm sorry mama. That sucks.

I finally found my good camera so I'm going to take some great pics of my flock tomorrow. I was looking at "Twisty Beak" (original name ) and I can't believe she survived! Her beak is so twisted. She's one of my fattest hens too!

[igotmywings]

Originally Posted by Happy Mommax4 Well it's a sad day here, I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a wonderful chicken provider. One of my faves is gone. Chicca, one of our originals our buff orpingtons. I thought she was molting bc she was loosing some feathers but otherwise seemed normal. Went out this am to feed and water she was fine, when I went out this afternoon she was laying by the feeder she was gone! Wth! I have no idea what could've happened. I feel like I did her wrong somehow? Just venting sorry, we've also been keeping our border collies tied/penned up because they've been the demise of a few of our girls so just thinking of all this makes me sick. They're way more then egg layers to me;(

aww im sorry i usually dobn't comment since I don't currently have chickens but I am so sorry =(. Have you tried some hot wire around where your chickens are? My dog use to terrorize my chickens until i put that around them..one zap and he stopped (of course if they are free range that definently won't work...even though ours were free range they never left the wire area hahaha

[3lilbubs]

Originally Posted by Happy Mommax4 Well it's a sad day here, I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a wonderful chicken provider. One of my faves is gone. Chicca, one of our originals our buff orpingtons. I thought she was molting bc she was loosing some feathers but otherwise seemed normal. Went out this am to feed and water she was fine, when I went out this afternoon she was laying by the feeder she was gone! Wth! I have no idea what could've happened. I feel like I did her wrong somehow? Just venting sorry, we've also been keeping our border collies tied/penned up because they've been the demise of a few of our girls so just thinking of all this makes me sick. They're way more then egg layers to me;(

I'm so sorry. How old was she and when was the last time you wormed everyone and checked them over for mites?

[Happy Mommax4]

She was 18mo, no mites. I've never wormed. I don't know anyone who does that? Now I feel horrible, ill have to look into it.

What type of evidence of parasites would there be?

Btw thanks everyone, oh and our previous collie episodes happened when the girls were free ranging. Now that the dogs have gotten after them they are horrible w it.

We have one EE who's a little quirky, she's always out and if I let my dogs loose for a little run they are rt on her. So sorry to say pups must be tied at all times now, so sad.

[Happy Mommax4]

Ok I just read abit on the web, recs for worming?


What does everyone use? How often? How do you administer it? Maybe I can run to the store tomorrow and get something, ugh I feel so bad now.

My Grammy who's always had chickens never mentioned this!! She helps me all the x, darn it.

TIA

[sarahannecloud9]

Bless your heart hun! I'm so so very sorry!

AFM-I worm my new chickens when they come home, and I worm my org flock every 6 months because parasites are just crazy bad out here. I get a lot of issues with diarrhea and someone keeps getting bloody stool.
Antiparasitics I have found to be the bast!:
Wazine 17-covers a good broad spectrum-label gives directions.
Ivermectin-covers mites, parasites the wazine won't cover(and vice versa), flies, mange, lice, mites, many parasites and will protect for 6+ months. Be sure to get alcohol based pour on and mix in syringe with baby oil for best absorption. It evaporates fast! I'm 100% parasite free, haha. .5 cc for smaller foul, pullet size and up get 1 cc and mix to double with the baby oil. Place liquid between sholder blades under fluff directly on skin. Some people say no eggs for 2 weeks but we eat them. I have found debateing info and scientific studies on this. The Ivermectin will cover some big issues too like the gape worm, where Wazine won't. Sometimes there just isn't any signs you may see. You did nothing wrong hun!!!!!!! Oh you will have to retread with both. I forget the length, something like 14 days?

For coci-Corid. amprolium. Only thing that will work.

I only know all of this because the flock showed signs of gape worm early on and then we has the bloody stool crap. I had to cover all the bases because the meds only cover certian things and the symptoms can be just about dang identical for all these issues.

I follow up with blue ribbon electrolyte mix in the water for a full week after tx. I also follow up with Goats prefer Probiotic powder to help heal the gut and replace all the good bacteria lost. They always seem so lively after! I mix the prob powder with bread in a baggie and mush around so it sticks and scatter it well so everyone gets some. I do it for a cpl days.

HTH.

Gotta get ready to head to nashville!

[3lilbubs]

Well, fall has come and it's time to worm my girlies for the first time. None are symptomatic so I have mixed feelings on the matter but I think the benefits outweigh the risk. Was thinking I'd use ivermectin. Supposedly this one you can still use the eggs? How do you all dose? Water would probably be the easiest if I could do that, no chasing everyone and stressing them out. I'm also concerned because I read Ivermectin is a crawling parasite treament as well and my girls have already been frontlined. Thoughts?

[3lilbubs]

Originally Posted by Happy Mommax4 Ok I just read abit on the web, recs for worming? What does everyone use? How often? How do you administer it? Maybe I can run to the store tomorrow and get something, ugh I feel so bad now. My Grammy who's always had chickens never mentioned this!! She helps me all the x, darn it. TIA

I'll be doing this the first time too, don't feel bad a lot of people don't ever worm their chickens. Live and let live approach. Their thinking is that wild animals are almost certainly affected at all times and they're fine. Which is true to an extent. Those animals have access to plants in nature that help them keep an infestation in check through diet. There is some suggestion that pumpkin seed may help chickens accomplish a similar thing but not in the case of a major infestation, which can be deadly if it's bad enough.

That's only ONE thing that it may have been though, so don't beat yourself up about it. Birds are tough to treat. They generally aren't symptomatic until they are very, very sick which is why prevention is so important. If you've never done it, I would worm the flock just to be on the cautious side and then follow up with a treatment for lice and mites which can also be deadly and cause feather loss. Don't forget to clean the coop and change all the litter and bedding since you had one pass of unknown causes. I know you've probably done this but give everyone a good pick up and look over, check for bright clean eyes and noses, no mites or lice on vent or belly, clean vent, nice weight to them and the bottoms of the feet for foot problems.

Is there any way you could build your girls a enclosed run? They would adapt to it quicker than you'd think, which would give you some peace of mind that they are safe and allow your dogs the freedom they need. Chickens are simple creatures. Not fair to the doggies to chain them up b/c of the chicks. I saw a simple, cheap chicken yard that can be made from pallets on pinterest that just about anyone could do:

http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com...8_OHPsdvl8.jpg

[dangerbunny]

Anyone else have Silkies? I just hatched out our last batch of chicks this year and am really tempted to keep the silkies that I got for my mom

Here's the blog post if you wanna see pics, they are so cute!
http://thelittlemamablog.blogspot.co...hickchick.html