Pets chickens

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I ended up having to throw half that fruit on the compost heap for the chooks. She made me take so much there's no way I could get through it before it started going bad.
 
"KEPT TWO YEARS WITHOUT FOOD. It is perhaps generally not well know tenacious the life of a fowl tick is and in consequence it is often assumed that a place that has been kept clear of poultry for many months the ticks will have died out. This is a popular fallacy that needs to be dispelled, because it is known that the ticks can survive not only months but years without access to fowls, or, in fact any other means of supplying them with food. As a practical exemplification this writer kept 2 fowl ticks in a tin box for 2 years with no possible means of sustenance, and at the end of the period they were found alive and apparently little the worse for their long fast. So much for their chances of dying out in old buildings.."

This is from part of a Sydney newspaper article from 1938, but it describes exactly what I'm up against in completely wiping them out. Seriously how can a creature survive that long without food???
 

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They cottoned on now that there is a supply of food next to the back door.
 
Teriyakicat said:
Lol. I have 2 old reds and a Silkie rooster that hang around my back door. The hens are pretty dumb- they rush inside when I open the door and attack the kitty litter! :rolleyes: :D
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They also like eating foam packaging for some reason..
 
Teriyakicat said:
I never thought of them as 'dopey' but more as 'flighty', if that makes sense ;) A shingle short of a roof, perhaps, but more just a bit ADHD and a bit skittish.
Cute, though- are they still lovely?? :)
I meant to warn you to watch out in warm weather for any poop that might get stuck to their bum. If you don't notice it and cut it off, they can get flyblown and that can be fatal. I just turn them upside down and clip the pooey feathers off with nailscissors but you can always prevent it happening by cutting the feathers off around there before it happens. Doesn't always happen- just sometimes.

Poor pekin, hey? But at least he has a lovely home.
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What, have they actually got flyblown before? That one we put down recently was only second the second time I'd seen it and both those were due to injures. The old bloke has been keeping chooks for over 60 years and my one was the first time he had ever seen one get attacked.

The little Pekin is hilarious, just the silly way he runs makes us laugh.

The Silkies are just very, very quiet at least here, hardly even know they are there, don't hide now but they just generally hang in the same spot but seem happy enough. Good to just have a couple for something different but not something I'd bother to breed or anything though.
 
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Kram81 said:
What, have they actually got flyblown before? That one we put down recently was only second the second time I'd seen it and both those were due to injures. The old bloke has been keeping chooks for over 60 years and my one was the first time he had ever seen one get attacked.

The little Pekin is hilarious, just the silly way he runs makes us laugh.

The Silkies are just very, very quiet at least here, hardly even know they are there, don't hide now but they just generally hang in the same spot but seem happy enough. Good to just have a couple for something different but not something I'd bother to breed or anything though.
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One of the silkie roosters was flyblown a few years ago. gunky poop hanging off his butt feathers- flies got in. Don't even think it was really fly season so it really surprised me.

What I did was: 1. Clip off the poop. 2. I washed the flyblown parts under warm running water, then hung him arse down in a bucket of vinegar plus water and washed the rest of the maggots out of his skin- they'd done a bit of damage and it took a while to wash them all out .... and it was smelly! 3. put dilute Betadine on the sores where the maggot had eaten his flesh. 4. when that had dried, I sprayed his sores with Cetrigen- that purple spray that I think I told you about once before. It's a fly repellent plus it's antibacterial. It's also great for cuts or other injuries.

I then separated him from the others and had him in a cage for about a week- that way I could catch him easily to check his progress daily and repeat any of the above stages, if necessary. He healed up beautifully. The only problem was that he had been great mates with my big laced Wyandotte but, when I went to put them back together, the Wyandotte picked on him so I had to keep them separate after that. :(
 
Any one have a way of getting my two chickens to lay earlier? Some days they lay later in the day, and not in their lay box, we have come home to eggs broken outside of their chicken run, I can only assume a crow or something drops them after stealing them.

If I could get them to lay earlier I could collect them before heading off to work, or at least they will be in their coop and maybe not so viable to the crow/thief.
 
JohnW said:
Any one have a way of getting my two chickens to lay earlier? Some days they lay later in the day, and not in their lay box, we have come home to eggs broken outside of their chicken run, I can only assume a crow or something drops them after stealing them.

If I could get them to lay earlier I could collect them before heading off to work, or at least they will be in their coop and maybe not so viable to the crow/thief.
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Mine always go back into their laying box during the day when they want to lay. Have you tried the old fake eggs trick?
 
No, I will give it a shot.

Maybe 5 our of 7 days I get at least 1 egg in the lay box, rarely two. The second is normally on the floor or up near their perch.

2 out of 7 days neither egg is in the lay box.
 

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Kram81 said:
Ones broken in the yard definitely sounds like the work of a crow.
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Yeah, I have the same problem. Can check for eggs 10 times a day- nothing has been laid. I go out for half an hour and find a broken egg on the ground when I get back :( cheeky buggers!
Apparently magpies also can snatch them.
I was never sure if the chooks were not laying or if the eggs had been stolen as usually there was no evidence nearby. Have found a couple of empty shells over 20m away in the past but, in the last week, the birds have got lazier and just drop the egg a few metres away from the nest.
 
Juggalo Balla said:
Seems a bit weird. Chickens aren't shy about attacking birds they don't want hanging around their territory.
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Maybe it's worse now i only have one one-eyed rooster in that pen and 4 little bantam chicks.
You've just reminded me that I meant to check my big rooster. One of the red hens was pecking his feathers near his beak and I meant to go and see if there was a problem. I know they can attack chooks that have sores. He is massive but he just let her do it! :eek:
 
Kram81 said:
Oh ffs, one of my Sussex hens doesn't quite look 100% and is making a 'croaking' sound from its mouth like it has some respiratory issue. Has anybody seen anything like this?

Teriyakicat
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I would isolate that sick chicken in case it's something contagious, Kram.
Just googled to see if there's anything recommended- try reading here:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/855082/hens-making-ratlley-croaking-noises-then-dying-please-help
You can ask at your local pet shop if they sell antibiotics. Use a syringe or eyedropper thingie - available at a chemist if the pet shop has none) to give your hen medicine. Be careful to not squirt liquid into her throat too fast as it can go into her lungs.

Otherwise ask your vet- ring them for advice, you might get that free.


Good luck!
 
Teriyakicat said:
I would isolate that sick chicken in case it's something contagious, Kram.
Just googled to see if there's anything recommended- try reading here:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/855082/hens-making-ratlley-croaking-noises-then-dying-please-help
You can ask at your local pet shop if they sell antibiotics. Use a syringe or eyedropper thingie - available at a chemist if the pet shop has none) to give your hen medicine. Be careful to not squirt liquid into her throat too fast as it can go into her lungs.

Otherwise ask your vet- ring them for advice, you might get that free.


Good luck!
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http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25423&start=0

It's making a sound like the chook in the video in this thread. Already got it isolated on its own.

Certainly nothing I've ever seen before see how it goes today and if it's not better by tomorrow ring the vet, problem is she probably doesn't know that much more than us.
 
Kram81 said:
http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25423&start=0

It's making a sound like the chook in the video in this thread. Already got it isolated on its own.

Certainly nothing I've ever seen before see how it goes today and if it's not better by tomorrow ring the vet, problem is she probably doesn't know that much more than us.
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Oh yuk! That sounds terrible, doesn't it? I haven't heard that before.

Just realised I gave you an American site earlier. You might like to join the Backyard Poultry forum and search through there for Aussie advice.
If you can find the medication that might work I'd call the vet today and try and get the medication in if she doesn't already stock it. Or maybe your stock food place may carry it. Meanwhile garlic in the water could help, as they have advised in that link.
If the vet doesn't know, maybe get her nurse to ring an avian vet in Perth, describe the symptoms and see if they can recommend a medication. My vet is good like that- i had a problem with sour crop in my young chickens and took one of mini me's young fancy chicks to an avian vet. Cost an arm and a leg but was given antibiotics. The chicken died anyway but others also got it. When that bottle ran out, I gave the name of the medicine to my vet and she got me another bottle.
 
Teriyakicat took it down the vets.. lady said it's got some virus and an infection, gave it an injection and another needle for me to give it in another couple of days. Not sure what it is but it could have it for life, and not even sure if it gets better about putting it in with the others. Said isolate it from the others because it's often very contagious especially the chicks which I did but I bloody forgot to shut the laundry when I took it to the vets and got back and they were eating its wet food near and where it had gone to the toilet :oops::oops:

Half thinking it may have been to just cull it which did cross my mind initially.. Wonder how it got in, only thing I can think of is it came in on the ones you gave us as they can be carriers but not actually get sick. But then again they haven't really mixed with the Sussex, only very briefly in the backyard maybe a couple of times when let out.
 
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