uBuilder Plans

Q - My chickens are badly injured...Help Please?
I just came back from a week's trip, and I have 4 chickens. Now, this sounds really wierd, but my chickens are like babies to me, and I came home and just started screaming because one of my chickens were limping and had a big gash on it's back with tons of feathers missing, and my other one had a slight limp of other feathers missing. My other one of unharmed but there was one totally missing, and there was no feathers anywhere of hers. We think it was a cat and I know how everyone says that the cat doesn't come back once they try to go after a chicken because they fight back, but we also have a dog and she barks a lot and usually goes out at night and checks out the chicken coop and she's been gone at a friend's. I was wondering if ANYONE has ANY INFORMATION on how I could get my missing chicken back or how to treat the wounds and hurt legs. Thank you for any information, it means a lot to me.
A- Not a CAT a Raccoon or a Dog. Most cats will just pick on chicks and very small chickens. Then they take one away and eat it a Raccoon is your most likely predator. They can reek havoc. A very secure pen is your best answer.
As far as treating the injured ones. Just use some antibacterial ointment and keep them in a clean place for a couple of days. Chickens heal FAST. The one without feathers should be protected from too much sun or she will sunburn.
We had a one-legged hen when I was a kid. Survivor of a similar trauma. Her tendon was severed completely and she could not use one leg at all it stuck out straight in front. This was made even weirder by the fact that she was a modern game bantam and had those LONG legs. She lived many years as a pet after her trauma.
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Q - About my chicken?
Hey, I have a am curious about my chicken. She always sleeps and when I let her out she sometimes sleep on the cement. Is there something wrong with her? Her comb used to be red now it’s turning light orange. A little red now, but not that much, it’s still kind of orange. She sometimes doesn’t eat her food I feed her grains. Is there anything wrong with my chicken? She’s always napping. She is at her molting stage. I’m very curious.
A- Chances are very good that she has a disease called coccidiosis or another bacterial disease. At this stage it is possibly fatal. Chickens get these types of diseases by contact with wild birds or by wild birds eating out of their feeders or drinking out of their water dishes.
Your hope is an antibiotic called Terramycin. It is given in the chicken’s water. You will probably have to contact a vet to get some or our local Tractor Supply Store also carries it. At first I would mix some up and either stick the chicken’s beak into the solution a few times to make sure it drinks or give some slowly by an eye dropper.
Remove this chicken away from any other birds. Thoroughly clean everything in the hen house and start the other birds on the antibiotic as well. The pale comb color is a sign of anemia and usually means the chicken is very sick.
Get a good book about chickens as well. I recommend
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow.
Good luck. I hope you get this information in time.
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Q - Why would my turkeys eyes start swelling shut and look like a big ball on the side of their heads?
Please help me with this question!!! I am afraid they will die. It is pitiful. They just act mopey. I think they have growths on their head or something. Thanks in advance. Please no dumb answers.
A- I believe that they have an infested sinus. This is caused by a bacterial disease called Mycoplasmosis. This can sometimes cause their eyes to swell.
See the information I found online at michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153.. below:
"Domestic poultry display respiratory symptoms such as coughing, sneezing and nasal discharge. They are lethargic, stop feeding and undergo severe weight loss. In turkeys, the sinus under the eye becomes swollen.

Treatment

There is no recommended treatment of birds exhibiting clinical signs consistent with mycoplasmosis. The concern in prescribing antibiotic treatment of the birds is that it may result in further spread of the disease and an asymptomatic carrier state, with the potential release of birds with organisms that have acquired antimicrobial resistance. This has often resulted from the treatment of domestic poultry. Some rehabilitators have treated M. gallisepticum infected birds and have successfully eliminated the infection, but long term topical and systemic antibiotic treatment was necessary. Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis is highly transmissible and it is possible that the infection could be transferred to other bird species housed nearby.

If treatment is given, 3 antibiotics must be administered simultaneously:

1. Oxytetracycline hydrochloride with polymyxin B sulfate eye ointment daily in both eyes.
2. Tetracycline systemic antibiotic given orally twice daily for 14 days.
3. Tylosin tartrate in the drinking water until release.

Control

If mycoplasmal conjunctivitis is observed in birds in a residential area, there are various methods of control which need to be instituted immediately. Infected birds should be collected and humanely euthanized. If it is not possible to collect the diseased birds, encourage them to disperse and minimize contact with other birds by eliminating feeding sites. Bird feeders prolong the life of infected birds that otherwise would be unable to feed. Bird feeders need to be cleaned with a 10% bleach solution and not be put back up for at least 2 weeks. Fecal droppings and old wasted or moldy seeds and hulls should be raked and removed from under feeders. Tube feeders should not be used because of the ease with which surfaces can be contaminated by infected birds feeding. The best way to prevent overcrowding birds is to not supplementally feed them. Availability of food will result in birds congregating and make disease transmission easier. Restricting contact between wild birds and domestic poultry by excluding free-flying wild birds from farms is an effective measure and should be part of any farm's biosecurity policy.

Significance

Mycoplasmosis is not a threat to human health. In house finches, dramatic drops in populations have been observed within 2-3 years following the beginning of an epidemic. The

population stabilized at approximately 40% of its previous abundance. In domestic poultry and captive reared game birds it can be a significant mortality factor."

Hope this helps even though it is not good news.
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Q - Is it ok to keep chickens around horses? People have been telling me that chickens have a type of lice that is not good for horses and so I was just wondering is that true
A-Most Avian (bird) diseases are not transmittable to Equines (horses).

Actually, free ranging chickens can be very beneficial to you horses! Chickens love to scratch through the manure piles left by the horses. By doing this little thing they find maggots that would turn into flies and other worms and grubs that would be picked up to re-infest the horse with internal parasites. Of course you should be using a de-worming program with your horses to prevent these parasites in the first place. During the course of their scratching they also spread out the manure pile allowing the sun to quickly dry it out, which lessons the oder. The spreading of the manure pile also helps to fertilize the pasture. A non scattered pile will smother the grass under it.

In addition chickens and other poultry, especially African Guinea fowl, eat lots of insects that can damage pasture grasses, like lawn grubs, locusts and grass hoppers. They love to eat weed seeds, like foxtail, dandelion, and burdock, that compete with pasture grasses.

They also love to eat ticks. Which will not only benefit your horses, but might also be a health safety hazard for you.

If you want chickens just for these reasons, you should choose a breed of chicken that is good at foraging and able to take care of themselves. Some of the heritage breeds like the Dominique and the game birds like the Asil, the Old English and the "fighting birds" like the Hatch or Kelso, would probably be your best choices. These birds can are more wary, have better flight abilities, and will actually fight off some the smaller predators. They are also quite active and good foragers. Guinea fowl also make an excellent choice for this as to Muscovy ducks which can fly quite well and eat mosquitoes, but are not much help spreading the manure.

You will need a very secure house and pen with a top to provide a place for your birds to eat, nest, and sleep at night. Provide them with a hanging feeder of good scratch grain, hanging it helps prevent rodents. Also provide plenty of fresh water, oyster shell and granite grit free choice in the coop. For the first few weeks keep your flock shut in their pen, so they realize it is home and learn to roost there. Then for a week or so open the pen in the evening only for a while and shut them in securely every night after they go to roost. (Remember predators are most likely to strike at dusk!) Once they are trained to go to bed in the coop each night you can open the door in the morning allowing them to go to work and lock them up each night for their safety.

Another note. When birds are kept free range like this it is VERY important to train your rooster. DO NOT make a pet of him and never let him forget YOU are the boss. If you were the alpha rooster in the flock you would ALWAYS chase him away and NEVER let him mount a hen when you are around. If you establish your dominance in this way your rooster will fight and violently protect his hens, but duck and cover when you show up. A far better solution than having him attack YOU when you come to feed or handle the hens.
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Q - We have Black Sex-Link chickens that are 12 weeks old. Some of the girls have very red faces while others have more pale coloring. When I hold the ones with red faces and pet them, they get calm and make sweet noises but the color in their faces lightens up. Once I put them down the deep red color comes back. Is this normal and why do they have different coloring in the flock?
A-This is a really interesting question to me. I have not really noticed the fluctuation in skin color that you are noticing upon handling, but I may have some answers for you to consider.

As far as the different coloration within the flock Black Sex links are a hybrid bird. They are the high producing, sturdy result of mating a Rhode Island Red male to Barred Rock hens. They are called Sex link because all of the males in this cross will look like the hen's coloration white with spots or barring only the white is usually more pronounced and the black bars far fewer. All of the females in this cross will be black with some red gold flecking. This sex-linked color makes in possible to separate male from female at hatch, which is especially important in commercial production areas.

Since these are mixed breed birds (hybrid) they will have higher laying rates and fewer health problems than either parent strain. They also will have a wide variety within the "normal" coloration. I personally have had Black Sex link hens that were almost completely flecked with red, as well as birds that were almost solid black, and everything in between. This is just a result of the wide genetic diversity between the two parent birds.

Black Sex links are great little birds. They are quite calm and can make wonderful pets. They also are very fine producers of large brown eggs. Being a large bodied bird they can also be turned into a fine stew hen (if you are so inclined) when they begin to slow in production at about two or three years old.

As far as the facial coloration in your birds I believe it is due to slightly different rates of maturity in the flock. Some of the birds are simply maturing faster than others. The fluctuation that you are seeing is probably due to a nervous response. Even though they are singing happily they are probably still slightly more tense when you hold them.
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Q - I have read quite a bit about the "deep litter method" to cleaning out the coop and pen, and frankly it sounds pretty appealing to not have to do it very frequently. What is your opinion on this method, and does it work with a City Biddy?
A-I prefer a litter type system to the alternative systems of a wire floor or dropping pit. Studies have proven that chickens on a litter system are usually far more healthy. This is believed to be a result of a process called pseudo-rumination. As we know cows ruminate by re-chewing cuds that have been partially digested with the help of certain bacteria and micro flora in their rumen. This allows them to extract more food value from a meal than would other wise be possible.

Rabbits also practice a form of rumination called refection. This is when the rabbit consumes a "special" portion of their own droppings that are called, cecotropes. These droppings which are usually passed at night, are the result of processes in the cecum where microbes and bacteria perform the same type of operation for the rabbit as they do for the cow.

It is believed that chickens who are allowed to scratch and dig in their litter pick up small bits and pieces of litter that contain these same beneficial microbes.

As far as "deep litter", this is a system of simply adding fresh litter on top of used litter to allow a certain level to build up. If this level gets thick enough a certain amount of composting will take place. The City Biddy is a very small version of a regular chicken house, so really any litter system can be used. Personally I maintain clean fresh litter at all times during fly season, and I allow a deeper litter system in the winter months. This is the best of both worlds as far as I can tell. It is also possible to use deep litter system in the exterior pen if you desire. I however usually use bark
type mulch in the summer months, to prevent mud and straw in the winter months because my hens are wintered in the garden. I find that the straw keeps them up out of the snow better and rots down into the garden soil by spring.
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