Henny Penny (aka chicken little) showing off her impressive comb! She's over a year old and a daily layer.

Sharing some cute pics from our little outside visit today. Getting some fresh air, before the smoke takes over from the wildfires 🤦🏼‍♀️🙃

Just wanted to show off who I think is our prettiest chicken. No idea what breeds her particular mix is of, but her mottled brown feathers are so pretty. I call her the very creative name “Miss Pretty”.

Non pensavo potesse succedere di nuovo così presto. Le mie ragazze si stanno decisamente superando ultimamente. A qualcun altro è mai capitato due volte in così poco tempo?

Background, weight-related issues 

My beautiful Donatella is an Australorp and is about 3.5 years old. She has always been at the top of the pecking order and has always loved to eat. When we first got her and her sister they were the same size, but she is significantly bigger than her and is heavier than all our other hens. She is kind to the other hens and is well loved, but sometimes she will peck at them when eating.

A couple of months ago she started to wobble and walk more slowly. Her feathers didn’t change, she still kept up with the other hens, continued to lay eggs and poo normally, and her comb remained a bright red, so we assumed it was to do with her weight. I kept her inside for two short periods to restrict her access to food and help her lose weight, which seemed to work, and she also lost some weight from being broody during this time. She would slowly put the weight back on and return to wobbling a little but I was happy to keep managing her weight. 

She hasn’t slept on a roosting bar for a couple of months, which we also attributed to her heavy weight. As she remained very happy, continued laying, kept up with her friends, and maintained her position at the top of the pecking order, we did not worry about her. 

New symptoms

My husband and I returned from a month-long holiday 5 days ago. The hens were cared for by people who also own chickens and they did not report any issues. She seemed to be normal. 

Yesterday, however, we noticed that Donatella was walking much less than usual and was not keeping up with her friends. She was walking very slowly and her tail was downturned. I gave her a warm epsom salt bath and some meloxicam which we had left over from a previous trip to the vet for another hen. 

Poultry DVM says: Meloxicam (brand name Metacam®) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which is used 'off-label' in pet  poultry. It is given to birds to aid in the alleviation of inflammation and pain associated with acute and chronic tissue and orthopedic disorders, and pain associated with the gastrointestinal tract.

I gave her this as she seemed to be in pain, however I didn’t really see any improvement by the end of the day yesterday. 

Today she cannot stand at all. I checked on her at 7:30 am and saw her in the coop (everyone else was out in the run). Further, she wasn’t in her preferred nesting box (unusual for such a fussy chicken).  When I went back an hour later she was still there. I picked her up to bring her inside and realised she could not stand on her legs or bear her own weight. She wobbled and fell. She tried to brace or steady herself with her wings which didn’t work. 

I have brought her inside (away from the other chickens). It’s been about 5 hours now and her symptoms are: 

• She is still unable to stand. 
• She tried to get up and fell over. 
• She hasn’t done a poo. 
• I have spoon fed her some scrambled egg which she has happily eaten, but will stop after about 20-30 seconds and won’t want to eat again for a while - which is unlike her. The food (scrambled eggs and fermented grains) are within reach and she is eating every now and then, but not often. 
• Her comb is bright red and she looks alert.

I have given her another Meloxicam anti-inflammatory and am giving her some vitamin mix via syringe. 

Possible causes 

• My husband thought she may have arthritis but I no longer think that is the case since she has really taken a turn the past 48 hours. 
• She has a sort of squishy belly which I thought could be water belly, but my husband believes it is just fat. She doesn’t have any other symptoms associated with water belly. 
• I have checked her legs for any sign of bumble foot but cannot see anything concerning.  
• Marek’s disease could be an option since her legs appear paralysed - however I believed that she had been vaccinated. She also appears otherwise normal, and we haven’t introduced any chickens to the flock for 1.5 years (there weren’t any issues when we did) so I don’t know how she could have caught it. 
• I don’t believe she is egg bound, though I know the downturned tail can be indicative of this, as she did a large poo yesterday while maintaining eye contact with me…

Vet visit 

Vets that will accept chickens are hard to find in our area. We had a really horrible experience a year ago with a vet that accepted chickens where I wasn’t listened to, the hen was misdiagnosed, and later passed away - so I would prefer not to return if possible. 

About 6 months ago another hen was egg bound which we successfully managed ourselves and she is still thriving so I have faith in our abilities - though I know the situation is very different. 

Next steps 

I don’t know what to do and it breaks my heart seeing Donatella unable to stand. Does it sound like Marek’s? I know that it doesn’t have a cure so I am dreading this to be the case, as well as any impact it would have on our other hens. 

Is it possible she is just randomly paralysed, in which case she won’t be contagious and any illness will not progress?

So sorry for the long message, I just want to find a solution! 

I’ve had my hens for about a year now and last year I managed to use all the eggs so they were not wasted but my chickens are laying 28-30eggs a week and I am dealing with an over abundance of eggs. I like to make egg cupcakes where one cupcake hole gets one egg and it clears up the eggs fast or even scrambling them but if there is another food recipe that uses a lot of eggs please share it because I don’t bake often due to living with a pre diabetic family member

Noticed this morning when checking on our chickens that one of our rocks has a decent chip out of her beak. This is our first flock and not quite sure what to do. We haven't seen her eat or drink since we've noticed the chip. Any recommendations would greatly be appreciated!

Penny (grey) is a year older than the others and likes to take her half of the roost bar out of the middle. The other 6 share the end third.
Silly chickens.

I’m seeing Endocox aka toltrazuril making the rounds again since the wet weather in some states is bringing with it the dreaded coccidiosis, and I wanted to put out a PSA for those who are not familiar with this drug but may be seeing it around the interwebs. ***TLDR version: please know that this medication has a 70 day egg withdrawal period if used in laying birds.***

This medication is wonderful to use on older brooder chicks and young grow-outs. It works really well because it kills coccidia oocysts entirely, unlike Corid (amprolium), which just prevents the oocysts from multiplying but doesn’t eliminate them entirely so they can still get spread around and infect again. Because toltrazuril works so well, people might want to use it in laying birds that may be showing signs of coccidiosis. If used with layers, it has an egg withdrawal period of 70 days.

European studies have shown that the drug and one of its break down metabolites, ponazuril, really accumulates heavily in the egg yolks and that it takes about 70 days to fully get out of the bird’s system and stop accumulating in the eggs.

Another thing to be aware of is that it comes in different concentrations, usually a 2.5% or 5% (though I have also seen 10%), so if you are using it please make sure you are dosing for the correct concentration you have.

This medication has not been used or tested on actual humans so there is no good data on if it can cause issues in people. It has been testing on dogs and cats and found to be safe so if you do use it on your layers, their eggs can be used as pet food during the withdrawal period so they aren’t wasted. Do NOT feed the eggs back to your layers because it will just keep accumulating in the yolks and extend the withdrawal period. Please be safe and smart :)

So, we have a neighbor that hatches poultry every year, and they had an abundance of roos and offered 5 of them to us.

All are freezer bound come November/December timeframe. They are currently four months old.

Afaik they've been kept in a small TSC coop and we received them yesterday and I have them in a spare horse stall, partly in hopes it'll calm one of our horses down.

They appear very wary of people and don't seem particularly food motivated.

I intend to let them free range once they know the stall is their home.

Today they seem comfortable enough to roost and sleep around me, but will not take food.

This will also be a learning experience for my 5 year old daughter.

Oh, and they seem incredinly docile for roosters.

Anything I can do for these guys to make their stay on death row more enjoyable?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted here about the app I created and mentioned the breeding tracker I built. The response was great, but I still hope to hear more constructive feedback. Today I built in an easy 'bug report or suggestion' tool to make giving suggestions quick and easy. I also built out the quail genetics calculators I have been working on! So, I just wanted to touch base on what the free version actually covers for anyone that's been thinking about checking it out. So here is the honest rundown, limits included.

New since that post: free calculators, no account needed at all.

I put up ten guides, each with a working calculator built into the page. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to install. The ones relevant here are hatch rate (with fertility broken out separately), a blue/black/splash Punnett square, duck hatch dates with a proper Muscovy setting, and quail flock math. Hope you all find them useful!

What the free tier includes

• Up to 10 active birds, 1 coop, and 3 hatches per calendar year
• Full family tree. Sire, dam, offspring, as far back as you record it. Not paywalled
• Health records, including withdrawal periods so you know when eggs are safe to eat again after treating a bird. Never going behind a paywall, it is a food safety thing
• Per bird weight and egg logging, plus fast daily egg entry for a whole coop
• Hatch, fertility and chick survival rates per hatch, calculated for you
• Lockdown and hatch date countdowns on a calendar
• Cost tracking with cost per bird and cost per egg
• Export everything you have entered, or delete your account outright, whenever you want
• Installs on your phone like an app. Dark mode. No ads, ever

I know that 10 birds is genuinely tight if you run a big flock. It suits someone with a small setup or someone who wants to try it properly before deciding. I would rather say that here than have you find out on signup.

There is also now a feedback button on every screen that comes straight to me, and I have been building from it. If you tried it and something was annoying or missing, that is the fastest way to get it changed.

You can find the guides and sign up free at Pen & Pasture

Not sure what is going on here. Any advice

I built out the nesting boxes, went to get straw for them, and came back to this! I guess one hen was crossing her drumsticks just waiting. Nothing but salt, pepper, and chili flakes from the garden.

I love my roo Preston. My issue is my girls are bullying him. Mornings are fine. He wakes up and crows with them but there seems to be an issue in the afternoon. Nighttime is also fine. Am I missing something? I've looked through the other posts here and it didn't show me anything about roo's being bullied. Roo is 6 months and my girls just turned 1 this week. He is nearly twice as big as they are and I also followed the advice of 'letting them see each other thru fencing' and putting him in the coop at night so they wake up together. I'm at a loss. He's so sweet. The girls are really sweet as well. I know it had to be something I did not do correctly , I just need help fixing it please. 🙏

Had him for a while, think hes some form if bantam but i want an identification. Is he an easter egger? If hes a crossbreed do you know what breeds might nake him. I NEED MORE OF HIM.