|
"If a vet isn't nearby, you should probably kill it instead of trying to take care of it" doesn't really sound reasonable to me, either, though. Yeah I'm aware of what happens with using antibiotics and stuff too much but it seems like a poor attitude toward a person's pet to say "Oh, well, you aren't a vet and you can't reach a vet, better grab the axe!".  Surely there's something better.
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 19:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:55 |
|
|
Fluffy Bunnies posted:"If a vet isn't nearby, you should probably kill it instead of trying to take care of it" doesn't really sound reasonable to me, either, though. Yeah I'm aware of what happens with using antibiotics and stuff too much but it seems like a poor attitude toward a person's pet to say "Oh, well, you aren't a vet and you can't reach a vet, better grab the axe!". There should be a distinction between pet animals and production animals. If a pet animal gets sick, you take it to a vet. If a production animal gets sick, you really should be worrying more about the implications for the herd/flock than for the individual animal. That's where people get into trouble IMO, this grey area in between. It's not a rare problem and my opinion is by no means the only "right" one, but to me, the issue is pretty clear.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 19:36
|
|
|
Fluffy Bunnies posted:"If a vet isn't nearby, you should probably kill it instead of trying to take care of it" doesn't really sound reasonable to me, either, though. Yeah I'm aware of what happens with using antibiotics and stuff too much but it seems like a poor attitude toward a person's pet to say "Oh, well, you aren't a vet and you can't reach a vet, better grab the axe!". Do you have other ideas? When I finally do get my flock going, I’m going to pretty much follow Topoisomerase’s advice. Before I grab the ax I will isolate her, do some research, try some supportive therapies that will not do harm. If that time comes, I hope I have as strong of a stomach as Chido does. But the solution may be an ax.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 19:48
|
|
|
Topoisomerase posted:Also again in my opinion, if you have a problem in your flock, and these are production animals, the best course of action if you can't reach a vet who will see chickens is to cull and send to a path lab or something. Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but flock/herd health problems are not really something that people should be diagnosing from the internet and treating themselves, especially with antibiotics. That's also rolling with the assumption that you're simply keeping chickens for eggs and meat instead of, y'know, as pets. Which is sort of the problem. If we're addressing the care of a flock, say a dozen birds, that are treated more as pets than as animals simply kept for production... well... then the notion of "kill the bird with the cough and be done with it" doesn't really work. Of course, if you're keeping a large flock simply for the purposes of production, your behavior will be different as will your outlook. Your concern will be for the future productivity and health of the general population instead of focusing on the well being and longevity of a single animal. That's the problem, though. Chickens are treated in the vast majority of the veterinary field as solely animals of production and not as pets. This means that if you have three pet hens and one gets egg bound you're unlikely to be able to go to a vet to help the poor girl out. Since it's a pet, it's not going to be in your best interest emotionally to kill her because she's got an egg hung up. No, more likely you're going to treat the problem and try to save the bird. This will probably follow through, reasonably enough, for treating other common ailments or illnesses that crop up. Since the majority of people in this thread seem to skew towards keeping a few birds as pets with bonus yard snacks, it's a little unreasonable to expect the behavior and treatment of a flock to be akin to that of the commercial breeder.  Edit: Zeta Taskforce posted:Do you have other ideas? When I finally do get my flock going, I’m going to pretty much follow Topoisomerase’s advice. Before I grab the ax I will isolate her, do some research, try some supportive therapies that will not do harm. If that time comes, I hope I have as strong of a stomach as Chido does. But the solution may be an ax. Isolation, research, supportive therapies, etc. That's pretty much the norm. My first response will never be to kill the bird rather than investigate and attempt to treat the illness, though. tokomon fucked around with this message at 20:22 on May 31, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 19:52
|
|
|
meriruka posted:I read this and was curious - how many of you chicken owners have a vet that will treat chickens? I have been unable to find one here in VA despite the fact that I live in farm country. It doesn't help that the attitude around here is that chickens are disposable. I've had to do a lot of research and stock up on meds so I could at least try to save a sick chicken. I'm very lucky in that the clinic I use treats pretty much everything-they have doctors who treat dogs and cats, do livestock house calls, and treat exotics. When our horses got out and ended up at a house up the road, the vet not only came out to check our mare's injured leg, he helped me walk them home safely. We've brought our Minis to their office, the same vet mentioned above let me help him do a necropsy on one of my other horses, and he sexed my ducks for me. The vet who sees my dog is very good with him, even though he's a nervous little wuss.  I am exceptionally lucky to have them.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 20:47
|
|
|
Topoisomerase posted:There should be a distinction between pet animals and production animals. If a pet animal gets sick, you take it to a vet. If a production animal gets sick, you really should be worrying more about the implications for the herd/flock than for the individual animal. That's where people get into trouble IMO, this grey area in between. It's not a rare problem and my opinion is by no means the only "right" one, but to me, the issue is pretty clear. Yeah, the gray area is more what concerns me. With vets saying pet chickens are just something to eat, it's hard to find a way to fix a pet up in this case. Obviously if one of my dogs is ill, I can just go to a vet. If my quails are sick (  when I have quails), it seems like you should be able to take your pets in or have a farm vet come out and take a look. I realize farm vets are usually 'large animal' vets, though. I mean, if we're talking pets, what would you even do to find a vet? Is there an online resource for this kind of thing? I dunno if you'd have that in front of you, but hey, honestly, it seems like something that'd be out there. After all, there are pages and pages of reptile, small animal and other exotic vet referral sites. Zeta Taskforce posted:Do you have other ideas? When I finally do get my flock going, I’m going to pretty much follow Topoisomerase’s advice. Before I grab the ax I will isolate her, do some research, try some supportive therapies that will not do harm. If that time comes, I hope I have as strong of a stomach as Chido does. But the solution may be an ax. Isolate, research, supportive therapies, yeah, pretty much. What tokomon said. If the animal can be fixed up, why axe it? And I thought that's what Topoisomerase was saying but I guess not. Ideally there'd be a vet, but a cursory call of the local ones here finds me a single one that "might" be able to see a sick chicken if I called ahead. This seems like a really big oversight. I realize you said you weren't taking your chickens to the vet when you get'em (how goes getting that rear end in a top hat out anyway?), but for people who do want to you'd think somebody would want them to be able to, at least in more populated areas. I'm not exactly in a little podunk town. Maybe it's because this whole "backyard chickens movement" or whatever is really just starting (in the past 5-ish years or so) to make headway? I dunno. The idea of having a pet and not being able to provide care for that pet makes me sad.  That's not saying I wouldn't be able to axe a hopeless chicken or whatever, but the idea that I can't even have the option is depressing.E:  That was a lot of words about chickens. sorry.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 21:06
|
|
|
Fluffy Bunnies posted:Ideally there'd be a vet, but a cursory call of the local ones here finds me a single one that "might" be able to see a sick chicken if I called ahead. This seems like a really big oversight. I realize you said you weren't taking your chickens to the vet when you get'em (how goes getting that rear end in a top hat out anyway?), but for people who do want to you'd think somebody would want them to be able to, at least in more populated areas. I'm not exactly in a little podunk town. Maybe it's because this whole "backyard chickens movement" or whatever is really just starting (in the past 5-ish years or so) to make headway? I dunno. The idea of having a pet and not being able to provide care for that pet makes me sad. I'll flat out admit that what I was reading Topoisomerase as saying was "KILL THE BITCH SALT THE EARTH" in relation to any sick bird. v vAs for the vet thing... I've tried. Oh man have I tried. I've wound up having to do a lot of research and self-treat injuries simply because there's not a viable veterinary option. The sad part is, I'm currently in an exceedingly rural area and pretty much everyone around here has chickens or has had chickens to some extent. You would think there would be a regular veterinarian who'd see to chickens, but no, no. There isn't. I've been relying on a lot of group knowledge, published material, and the experience of someone who has kept chickens for around 50 years. Of course, not all of these people and sources are going to be completely knowledgeable, which is why I compare data and see if I can find commonalities between anecdotal experience, documented materials, and research.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 21:24
|
|
|
Chido posted:I think giving them layer feed might cause some problems from the extra Ca the chicks don't need yet. I know there is a grower or developer feed for chicks up to 12 weeks of age, so I'd use that just to be safe. Thanks Chido. Does anyone know anything more substantive? My problem is that I've gotten advice that runs from "your chickens will take care of themselves" to "your chickens will die of horrible organ failure if you give them the wrong feed". Ideally I'd like to know what I'm doing to them with the feed they get. Also, here, have a bribe: 
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 21:27
|
|
|
I just went outside to check the hens' water and refresh their bedding and my favorite hen, Lucille, the lavender Orpington, was doing everything in her power to stay right under my feet and leave with me. I'd driven my car up near the gate to the hen yard to unload stuff, and she ran out right in front of me and hopped up into the open trunk and just started kind of purring at me. Silly chicken, you don't go for car rides. Just kept giving me this look of "Well? When are we going?". Protested like hell when I put her back with the others.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 22:13
|
|
|
At six weeks, you should have them on either flock raiser, or you can even keep them on chick starter until they are ready to switch over to layer feed. Putting them on layer feed too early most likely won't cause them to drop dead, but the calcium will put strain on their kidneys, which could cause them health problems later on. The fact that they are growing rapidly isn't a problem, its a good thing. Chickens will fill out a bit in the first year or two of their lives, but for they most part, they reach adult size somewhere between four and six months. That kind of rapid growth needs a lot of protein to sustain it, and you aren't doing them any favors by putting them on lower protein food during their peak growing months. Of course, if they're on grass, they might be getting enough bugs to offset it, and if you give them meat or scrambled eggs as a treat that will help with the protein as well. As far as the vet issue goes, there are a couple of vets in my area that will see chickens. It isn't something that I've had to deal with (knock on wood), and personally, my willingness to treat depends a lot on the disease. Injury, sure, I'll do my best to help the chicken recover, ditto parasites. On the other hand, a lot of the respiratory illnesses become chronic, or can spread to other flocks and into the wild bird population, and in those cases, I'm personally in favor of culling a sick chicken. In other, happier chicken news, I've found a home for the last Icelandic roo. I'm so happy, because he's a real sweetheart, and very handsome.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 22:28
|
|
|
hey santa baby posted:Thanks Chido. Does anyone know anything more substantive? My problem is that I've gotten advice that runs from "your chickens will take care of themselves" to "your chickens will die of horrible organ failure if you give them the wrong feed". Ideally I'd like to know what I'm doing to them with the feed they get. I’m not an expert here, but why wouldn’t you buy grower feed and give them that for now, but keep the layer feed dry and enclosed so mice and other vermin won’t get to it and feed it when they start laying? It won’t go to waste and that day is only a few months away.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 22:30
|
|
|
tokomon posted:As for the vet thing... I've tried. Oh man have I tried. I've wound up having to do a lot of research and self-treat injuries simply because there's not a viable veterinary option. The sad part is, I'm currently in an exceedingly rural area and pretty much everyone around here has chickens or has had chickens to some extent. You would think there would be a regular veterinarian who'd see to chickens, but no, no. There isn't. There's an inherent problem here in that poultry med is a pretty unique area of vet med. They're not the same as commonly kept pet birds - they get totally different diseases and have totally different management issues and there's the added production bent. And they're obviously different from ruminants, horses or companion animala. Most vets who do poultry have to be located where there is enough production to be able to keep their heads above water, and if they're not in one of those areas it's probably not worth it to undergo extra training to be comfortable with poultry. Your little flock and all of your neighbors little flocks, particularly if everyone has the very typical DIY mindset, are not enough to keep a poultry vet afloat. So I'm not surprised that you can't easily find a vet that will see your animals.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 22:44
|
|
|
There are actually several chicken farms in the area. I know that they are serviced by veterinarians, but these same people also do not evidently handle individual cases. There is someone at the other end of the county who will roll by for a substantial fee and check out your chicks if you're selling them. This I know for sure since he checked my mom's chicks out when she purchased them locally last year. I also know that the step-father threw a fit that she blew that much money on them. Basically, this is a poor area. There's numerous old family farms that do subsistence-style farming which, predominantly, is what my neighbors do. They're farmers and they have been for generations. Hell, right now I'm living on a converted farm that's transitioned to growing trees rather than crops. Yes, there's a DIY mindset with certain things simply by necessity but I also know that it's generally uncommon to find a veterinarian who will take on your small flock regardless of where you live. You're free to drat the local populace for not attracting a veterinarian who is willing to handle noncommercial flocks if you want to, but I don't really see a reason to do so. I turned to courses of action other than a veterinarian due to the lack of local availability in reasonable veterinary care. My mother tried to locate one when she set out to start a flock. I've tried to locate one on my own since. No dice. I'm not doing it because I'm some dumb hick railing against the veterinary Übermensch and screaming about bootstraps, I'm doing it because I have been charged with the daily care of a group of animals who I want to provide the best possible care for that I can given the resources available. Edit: I will also add that I typically stand by the idea that if you can't provide proper care for an animal you shouldn't have it to begin with. I'm not arguing that point at all. On the other hand, when it comes to something that is only recently re-emergent, the idea of keeping a few chickens in your own yard, you can't fully expect there to be a full battery of readily prepared specialists on board until it begins to become the norm. tokomon fucked around with this message at 23:50 on May 31, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 23:38
|
|
|
tokomon posted:You're free to drat the local populace for not attracting a veterinarian who is willing to handle noncommercial flocks if you want to, but I don't really see a reason to do so. I turned to courses of action other than a veterinarian due to the lack of local availability in reasonable veterinary care. My mother tried to locate one when she set out to start a flock. I've tried to locate one on my own since. No dice. I'm not doing it because I'm some dumb hick railing against the veterinary Übermensch and screaming about bootstraps, I'm doing it because I have been charged with the daily care of a group of animals who I want to provide the best possible care for that I can given the resources available. I'm not damning anyone. You might be taking this a little too personally here. I'm just saying it doesn't surprise me. But you can't say nobody in your area wants to/can afford to spend money on veterinary care in one breath and then in the next complain about the lack of availability of a veterinarian.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2012 23:56
|
|
|
Topoisomerase posted:I'm not damning anyone. You might be taking this a little too personally here. I'm just saying it doesn't surprise me. I might be taking it a bit personally, yes. You're wholly correct and I apologize on that front. I'm not saying that nobody wants to/can afford to spend money on veterinary care. I'm simply pointing out that in my area it's not three or four people who decided to suddenly keep chickens. It's a fairly stable population of people keeping birds in a noncommercial(although obviously for both food and possible companionship) sense who, like most people who keep noncommercial flocks, don't have access to veterinary care for them. Therefore, in the interests of maintaining the health of the birds, they turn to taking care of the animals themselves. What I'm attempting, and was attempting to state earlier, is that the desire for certified veterinary care for a flock isn't always going to be met. The lack of availability of that care will lead to owners treating their own flocks one way or another. The natural following supposition would be that since people are engaged in their own medical care of chickens that there is unlikely to be a veterinarian to come to the area who knows the ins and outs of taking care of chickens because people generally take the position of doing it themselves. Since there is unlikely to be a veterinarian who is familiar with chickens in the area, people will turn to treating their own flocks medically... It's self perpetuating tokomon fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jun 1, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 00:53
|
|
|
Topoisomerase posted:Your little flock and all of your neighbors little flocks, particularly if everyone has the very typical DIY mindset, are not enough to keep a poultry vet afloat. So I'm not surprised that you can't easily find a vet that will see your animals. Which is why some learn to treat common diseases that may affect their flock. I spent a lot of time browsing BYC and asking VS for help when Rusty had her infection last year. VS recomended me to call the vet she used to see when she was living in california and ask for a referral because his practice was too far from my home. That was after I called 7-8 vets in my city and the neighboring city and none would see chickens. Then I got referred to a rather expensive vet in Pasadena, but 2 visits and 600 dollars later I finally got rid of Rusty's tongue infection. However, while I was doing my research and calling around, I found out that I was not the only one who had trouble finding vets that would treat chickens, which I think is stupid since a lot, and I mean really a lot of people in my city alone has chickens, yet no vets available. LA county allows to have poultry, and yet very few vets do treat them. I'm not surprised that backyard chicken keepers had to learn to treat certain diseases on their own because there just wasn't any vet who would treat poultry. Still, I'm not advocating that everybody should administrate medications indiscriminately. VS has had chickens for years and she also took them to the vet whenever necessary. My guess is that she knows about how to treat these illnesses from her vet, and she's followed his instructions whenever there's an outbreak in her flock. I guess this is the problem of keeping animals that have the status of food as pets. You wanna do what is right, but when you find out the help you need isn't available, does that mean we gotta get rid of the animal? There is right or wrong answer for this question, but rather how we would individually act. Zeta Taskforce said I have a strong stomach, the truth is I'm a crybaby. I can deal with wounds, but I couldn't deal with cutting Roo's scab off because seeing him bleed from the small cut I made made me feel like poo poo (and also it made me wanna throw up). I wouldn't be able to give one of my chickens the ax solution because I'm already too attached to them. I would probably have somebody else do the deed for me since it seems to be relatively easy to dispose of a chicken with minimum to almost no pain, or just take it to a vet for that. who would've thought that having chickens could be this complicated?Sorry for the wall of text XD
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 04:22
|
|
|
Oh, by the way Hey Santa Baby, if you are getting so many conflicting answers about the feed, just go safe and keep giving your chicks grower feed until they start laying, then switch to layer feed.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 04:23
|
|
|
Wow! Chido, you spent $600 on Rusty? That's true dedication to a pet! I'm glad you did though because Rusty makes such a super-cute broody hen. I love the video you shot of her being all broody and grumpy and fluffed up. I guess that now you know what to do if an infection like Rusty's occurs again and perhaps it won't cost so much to find a vet who will just prescribe some antibiotics for a pet bird. How did Rusty's tongue get messed-up anyway? I don't understand why only some birds are considered treatable by vets. IDGI. They're birds and they're pets. What difference does it make that it's a chicken rather than a parrot?
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 05:50
|
|
|
Well this vet in Pasadena is the only one I found that would treat chickens, . Spending 600 dollars really hurt my savings, specially now that I'm still trying to pay off my credit card and save some money for school, and I need a new computer. I've been trying to save money to pay for driving lessons and buy a car or at least a scooter, but things keep coming up. That's why I'm trying my best to learn to take care of my chickens if it's something I can treat on my own, chicken vets are scarce and very, very expensive . I'm probably gonna have to sell my kidney and half my liver if any of them gets sick like that again . Although if it's something life threatening and there isn't a high chance of recovery, well, I'll do the best for the chicken...In other news, Roo's scabs are better and better. Today my younger niece helped me with the princess' manicure, and she could remove part of the scabs with a toothbrush. The remaining scabs look thick, but that kind of thick that means it will fall soon, if that makes any sense
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 05:56
|
|
|
There are a few places to look. One is here: http://resource.abvp.com/index.php/component/sobipro/?sid=2:Avian&Itemid=0 These are folks certified in avian medicine. If there's no one on that list near you, you might try local large animal or exotic vets. If you're in California, you might try calling the state veterinary diagnostic lab. There's an amazing chicken pathologist (Dr. Shivaprasad) who may be able to recommend someone. Also, sending animals who die to your state's diagnostic lab is an excellent idea. And, while I frown on people diagnosing and treating their own pets without any medical guidance, I also acknowledge that it may be necessary. What I DO NOT want is for PI to become the place to facilitate that. There's also a pretty big line you cross between looking something up online and treating your pets, and specifically telling someone "Treat your pets with xxx.", which is what I edited out. That's called prescribing, and it's illegal to do in every state in the US I know of without a license and a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship. Since that's impossible online, it should not be here.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 06:53
|
|
|
WrathofKhan posted:At six weeks, you should have them on either flock raiser, or you can even keep them on chick starter until they are ready to switch over to layer feed. Putting them on layer feed too early most likely won't cause them to drop dead, but the calcium will put strain on their kidneys, which could cause them health problems later on. Zeta Taskforce posted:Im not an expert here, but why wouldnt you buy grower feed and give them that for now, but keep the layer feed dry and enclosed so mice and other vermin wont get to it and feed it when they start laying? It wont go to waste and that day is only a few months away. Chido posted:Oh, by the way Hey Santa Baby, if you are getting so many conflicting answers about the feed, just go safe and keep giving your chicks grower feed until they start laying, then switch to layer feed. Alright guys, thanks. The confusion came from lots of sources emphasizing production and being light on actual health effects. So I'm going to go ahead and take your advice and get a flock raiser type of feed and store the layer crumble for later. I tried to give those ingrates scrambled eggs yesterday but they turned their beaks up at it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2012 21:30
|
|
|
Princess Roostroyer's pedicure update: We soaked the princess' footsies in warm water and scrubbed them well. My niece was helping me, and she could remove part of the lower scab in the picture. The other big, ugly scab is thick, but it looks like it is healing well because it has that thickness I notice when scabs are about to fall soon.  The other foot looks well too, the scab isn't infected or anything, and seems to be healing well. Now if Roo would learn to walk like a proper princess and stop the skin off his back toes when he's running around chasing hens and sitting on hem, he'd make my life easier   His missing spur is healing well too.  And just because I can, I'm posting a couple of videos of the princes post pedicure. He like omg totally loves figs  
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2012 01:53
|
|
|
Princess Roo's feet look a lot better now. Are you still wrapping his feet with the bandages and neosporin? Or are you just giving him a footbath a few times a week? Man...from the video, Roostroyer has really filled out. He's massive now. Do you know how much he weighs? His feathers are really beautiful.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2012 03:35
|
|
|
Last tie we weighted him he was about 10 pounds. I still wrap up the foot with the bigger scabs, and soak his feet and scrub them every other day. Roo isn't nearly as fat as he looks, I'd say a third of that body is fluff.His neck is very skinny but you can't tell because of his huge bulky hackle feathers.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2012 03:44
|
|
|
Yaaay! Princess Roo!  It really is striking how dandy he is. You've really just done so fantastically great with him, Chido. It really is the big roosters like him that always strike me the most dinosaury.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2012 03:46
|
|
|
 Is the chicken in the center a rooster? They're all 6-7 weeks old according to the guy we got them from. As much as I hope it's a slightly bigger hen with a slightly bigger comb, I can't imagine it's not a rooster. What the heck am I going to do with a rooster?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2012 16:20
|
|
|
hey santa baby posted:What the heck am I going to do with a rooster? Dress it up in Build-a-bear workshop clothes? Worked for Chido!
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2012 16:50
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure that's a rooster. You could try to give it away on craigslist if you don't want it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2012 19:01
|
|
|
It could easily just be a hen with a big comb; there's no external way to tell until they develop further. Take it into a feed store or a vet to sex it. Many hens develop big crowns, it's not necessarily a roo until it starts crowing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2012 21:43
|
|
|
These are the pictures I took the first time I scrubbed Roostroyer's feet. You can see how ugly the scabs are.  These are his feet now. The scabs look different, thicker, and we've been able to remove tiny pieces of them with a toothbrush after soaking them. I think they are healing well, and the skin between the two large scabs is soft. However, I'd like second opinions from you guys since you have more experience in treating animals. Does it look like his bumblefoot is getting better?   Also, bonus picture of Roo with one of his footies bandaged  And this is what Roo does every single time we give him his spa treatment  Anyways, that's my photobomb of the week. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2012 07:03
|
|
|
Its looking pretty darn rooish to me, but its a little too early to be positive. I don't suggest putting the rooster up on craigslist, there is a really good chance that he'd end up with someone who is involved in cockfighting, and wants a roo for their fighting cock to beat up on. Really, your best bet is to either process the guy yourself, or find someone else who will do it. Its sometimes possible to find a home with someone who needs a flock-husband, but that is hard to do, and best done through somewhere like BYC.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 00:05
|
|
|
Well, a raccoon came and got my Americauna. It's my fault. I didn't close the coop door. RIP Frankie. I heard the whole thing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 05:32
|
|
|
I'm so sorry Maximusi 
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 06:01
|
|
|
:/ Do you think my remaining chicken will be OK alone? She was so scared, she didn't want to go back inside the coop. Poor thing. I live with my folks and they weren't really keen on the chickens in the first place. I doubt I will be able to convince them to replace the chicken.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 06:06
|
|
|
Is she the only one left? If she is, I've been told chickens don't do well when they are alone since they are flock animals. I hope they let you get a replacement so you hen isn't lonely .
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 06:39
|
|
|
Yeah, I only had two chickens. Well, lesson learned. Close the drat door.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 06:43
|
|
|
Maximusi posted::/ Do you think my remaining chicken will be OK alone? She was so scared, she didn't want to go back inside the coop. Poor thing. Perhaps there's a chicken rescue or a place in town (like a feed store) where people try to rehome chickens? You have to be careful not to get a rooster though...or some hen that's got problems (like being an egg eater). I feel badly that your hen is all alone. Be sure the coop is all closed up tight and can't be broken into or dug into. I'm afraid that 'coon will be back for a second helping.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 07:20
|
|
|
I am going to be moving to a house without a yard in 2 weeks. I have 2 Australorps I raised by hand who currently free range for most of the day. I'm not very willing to give up my chickens, so we've got a spare bedroom in the new house and we've bought a huge (6 foot by 4 ft by 2 ft) parrot cage and are modding it with some shelves for the birds to explore as well as nesting boxes. I use swheat scoop litter now and simply scoop their poop which I was planning on doing in the cage as well. I also will put a nesting box in. We've got a small bit of land across the street where I was thinking I could build a moveable run for the ladies to go into during supervised time. Do any chook experts think this going to be an acceptable set up?
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 08:10
|
|
|
sellotape posted:I am going to be moving to a house without a yard in 2 weeks. I have 2 Australorps I raised by hand who currently free range for most of the day. Are you renting? Would the landlord be upset about chickens in the house? Many people think of them as dirty and smelly. I'm no chicken expert but it seems that 4x6' vertical cage isn't much room for two chickens to move around in, especially if there's nothing for them to scratch in (aren't chickens more horizontally-inclined, grazing birds since they can't fly very well?). I wonder if the chickens might like the cage better if you flipped it on its side and slide in some large pieces of wood to create a floor. They're still gonna make a huge mess by kicking stuff out of the cage. And won't they be bored just kept in a room most of the time? Would you consider getting them some chicken diapers so that they could at least roam the house for part of the day? I'm not sure if you've seen Velvet Sparrow's Chickam chicken cam, but she's currently keeping 12 two-month-old chickens in her dining room (at least they've got a sliding glass door they can look out of and they can also watch their owners in the kitchen/living room area). The chicks are making a huge mess but they seem happy enough (the chicks were really upset when they were first put in the dining room area because they wanted to wander the house and hang out with the humans). I think that this weekend, the chicks are going outside to the large coop, but check out the Chickam web cam while it's still running. Inveigle fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Jun 7, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 12:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:55 |
|
|
Ugh don't keep chickens indoors. They're really really dirty and make a giant mess. They produce a lot of dust on their wings any any room you put them in is going to end up filthy and your whole place will likely just smell like chicken. Even if you did turn the cage over, 6ft x 4ft x 2ft isn't even that much room for 2 chickens to be in most of the time. Definitely not turned the other way. Chickens aren't vertical animals and prefer to be on the ground than sitting up on perches all day.
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2012 14:33
|
|
