Lost Chickens
- Thread starter Independence
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ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
Yes they are. The "chicky daddy" is mostly Tolbunt and his name is Prince, and the mommies are Buffy the Golden Laced, and Princess the Tolbunt Frizzle from Gretchen's breeding.
I'm not sure how the "frizzle" gene works so I'm not sure whether to expect any frizzle-feathered babies or not.
I lost JoAnn my Barred Plymouth Rock hen the other day due to old age (as best I could tell). I looked up her records and she would have turned 5 in September this year. The 2 oldest ones I have are the eldest rescue Buff Orpingtons that are 6 or 7 years old.
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ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
I noticed last week that JoAnn had a messy back end, so I cleaned her off and noticed her breast bone protruding (she had lost weight). She also had started roosting lower to the ground lately. So when I saw her just sitting there a few days ago, and not walking around, I pretty much knew it was time. So I let her stay in with her buddies that night. The next morning she was dead.
In a perfect world I would weight each chicken weekly to track its weight. Had I done that, I would have noticed the loss of weight over time. So I would have known sooner she was declining. I know Big Momma is going downhill, she is bigger then her Sister but she weighs less. So it could be any time for her. I keep an eye on her feet since she's the one who gets the bumblefeet problem. Vet said I'll likely have to keep treating that condition the rest of her life as it doesn't usually go away, you "manage" it.
Princess is a girl, and she's a frizzle <G>. She's a prissy little thing! I pick her up and she usually gets fussy and wants down. I'll ask Gretchen about the frizzle particulars. So out of the 10 chicks, let's say 5 are girls, and of those 5, I may keep 2/3 girls for breeding. So that leaves at least 2 girls for you, if you want 2?
I must say, I worry about the frizzled chickens keeping warm in the Winter. If the overlapping feathers is what holds heat to the body to keep them warm, how can frizzles stay warm? Another question for Gretchen.
Roman
Active Member
Yes Ark, I would love to have the Girls if you need to re-home them! I would think that Mother Nature would have provided the Frizzles with an extra layer of feathers? That is definitly something to ask Gretchen. What is Bumble Foot? I have a Chicken that has these little pockets in between her toes, that I have to clean poo & dirt out of. It's only on one of her feet. If I don't do this, she limps. :Edit: I looked up Bumblefoot, and my Chick doesn't have that.
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ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
That's how I knew she had a problem, she started limping and only wanted to stand in the sand box.
The vet said it can come from a chicken injuring a foot by roosting perches that are too high (harder impact onto ground from a high perch), splintered wood or other sharp area that could cut a foot. Then once the cut is there, the foot gets infected and develops black infection crap that has to be cleaned away periodically. If left untreated, the infection gets into the bloodstream and kills them. I think he called it a staph infection?
He told me to use latex gloves and rinse her feet with warm water to run loose the black crap to get it off, then treat the feet with betadine every day and keep her in a separate place that is clean so her feet can heal. He also said I could use antibiotics to help along her recuperation, but that it wasn't necessary based on the level of her condition, and he said it was maybe best NOT to use antibiotics due to some staph bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.
Bumblefoot (infection) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Staph Infection (Cellulitis) Contagious, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Staph Infections
Roman
Active Member
These pockets on Henrietta are in no way infected, because I clean her feet all the time, and the pockets are a normal pink color, with no inflamation present. It's just weird though. I have some perches that are about 4' high. The ones in their Nesting Shed are about 3'. It sounds reasonable about the impact when they jump off, but she is the only one that has a problem with her foot. CRAZY!! Thanks for the information Ark!!
ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
oh well Momma gets black spots in her pockets, so you must be doing a great job at keeping your hen's feet clean. Momma stopped laying a year or more ago (I know what her eggs look like). She was only laying about once a week the year prior to that. So her life is winding down. I wonder sometimes if her former family reads about her on here.
I also got Tyrone the bad boy rooster from them (he was an award willing Rooster in 4-H). He was a bad boy to the bone and would spur you every chance he got. Tyrone bred with some of the Buff Orpingtons (before I got them all) and spawned 2 devilish hens I named Ty-rese and Ty-rhonda. Those hens would beat up all the other chickens. So I re-homed them to a neighbors place that had hens that could hold their own. They live happy there with no problems.
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ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
nah, if she was egg-bound she'd be dead by now. They generally only last a couple days at the most if they are egg bound, from what I've read.
Yes Tyrone is beautiful ! He went to live on a farm in Newburg a few years ago, along with Don King. They were going to live on a large farm to be free range, so I have no idea if either is still alive now.
A local artist did a painting of Tyrone. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of it.
ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
yet MORE chicken chasing LOL
So last Friday I'm at WaWa in Brandywine and I park over by the grass on the side. I see a chicken ! So a guy who saw me trying to catch the chicken told me the chicken had been around a month or so. I go back later with my net and some bread to distract the hen - no go - she runs way faster than I can LOL. So at sunset I go back (yes the 3rd trip to WaWa in 1 day) and can't find her anywhere. Obviously she has a good roosting spot?
Next day in the morning I show up at WaWa with a helper, we both have nets. We chased that chicken all over the place and ended up with an audience of people cheering for us. SUV or Minivan load of people with children all cheered when we caught the hen. They wanted to let the children pet the chicken, so we let them. When I was asked what I was going to name the chicken, I said WaWa of course.
BTW - we are running our Annual Spring Yankee Candle Fundraiser. If you see anything you like in the online catalog, send us your order by 4/20. We can meet you or mail it to you for a small fee. We find due to the cost of gas, it's usually cheaper to mail it unless we cross paths at some point that we can meet up. Here is the link to the online catalog
So last Friday I'm at WaWa in Brandywine and I park over by the grass on the side. I see a chicken ! So a guy who saw me trying to catch the chicken told me the chicken had been around a month or so. I go back later with my net and some bread to distract the hen - no go - she runs way faster than I can LOL. So at sunset I go back (yes the 3rd trip to WaWa in 1 day) and can't find her anywhere. Obviously she has a good roosting spot?
Next day in the morning I show up at WaWa with a helper, we both have nets. We chased that chicken all over the place and ended up with an audience of people cheering for us. SUV or Minivan load of people with children all cheered when we caught the hen. They wanted to let the children pet the chicken, so we let them. When I was asked what I was going to name the chicken, I said WaWa of course.
BTW - we are running our Annual Spring Yankee Candle Fundraiser. If you see anything you like in the online catalog, send us your order by 4/20. We can meet you or mail it to you for a small fee. We find due to the cost of gas, it's usually cheaper to mail it unless we cross paths at some point that we can meet up. Here is the link to the online catalog
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Funny- I saw some guy chasing that same chicken last week when I was getting gas there, he gave up when it ran across the street to the horses.
mamatutu
mama to two
ICit
Jam out with ur clam out
cricketmd
Member
RPMDAD
Well-Known Member
ArkRescue
Adopt me please !
As always Ark, good job, i salute you.
I'm sure there are a few predators around that would be upset that I am getting in the way of them having an easy meal. I'm sure the escapees around the farmer's market in Charlotte Hill get picked off regularly by predators. I've never seen a loose chicken when I've been there, but I am pretty sure there are some.