She has been losing a lot of weight out of nowhere. I didn’t quite understand how to feel a bird to tell if it’s underweight until recently, but she’s definitely extremely skinny, frighteningly so. She also just seems lethargic, if she stands still in a spot for more than a few seconds, she starts to fall asleep. She’s been doing this more and more these past few weeks. I used to think she was just tired from being one of my more timid birds, but it’s a constant thing now.

I’ve tried making her special meals that would give her some extra calories and separating her from the other birds to eat in peace since she’s near the bottom of the pecking order, but she doesn’t seem to be putting on any weight. She also eats very slowly for some reason, she’s super picky about everything except bugs.

Can anyone tell me what may be going on with her? I love her so much and I’d hate to see her go.

Post molt head feathers

We have somebody coming over every other day to check them while we are gone but I was so shocked the water was absolutely filthy moldy from me putting Hydro hen in their water 2-3 days ago.

They need probiotics to prevent sour crops since they got treated with antibiotics.

What should I use? ACV? Hydro-hen but put it in their food? A straight probiotic in their food? (I think the layena crumbles I get them has probiotics but I don't know if it will be enough?

My girl Eclipse was attacked by a hawk this morning. She’s molting. No puncture wounds, no blood. Her left leg/foot is hurting and she’s trying to not put wight on it. Other than that and being shook up she seems ok. We have her isolated in the living room so we can keep an eye on her. She’s eating clover and mealworms and has had some water. Any advice for a hurt chicken leg?

hi! i'm really struggling with one of my silkies. we just hatched about four silkie eggs, and three of them hatched on time. we moved them to live with a couple of our other still young chicks. this chick, (her name is French Fry), hatched late. she is really small and has a case of spraddle leg, so i didn't think it would be safe to move her out of the incubator yet. seeing as my chickens have a history of being bullies. but she won't eat or drink, and she has not stopped loudly chirping for longer than twenty minutes. when she's sleeping is the only break from the loud chirping. i tried socializing her with the eight other chicks, but she still wouldn't stop the loud chirping. i watched her closely to make sure she wasn't pecked at, but no matter how close she was to the other chicks, she would not stop the chirping. i'm going crazy and i don't know what to do for her. she's back in the incubator, and while i give her as much company as i can, she starts chirping again the second i leave the room.

I have only 2 chickens. Last week, my chickens laid an egg that didn't have a proper shell. Next day they had a good egg. But now, they have not laid eggs for a few days. Are they calcium deficient? Why don't they lay eggs? Is it because of molting or something else?

They're not stressed, and have some dirt to play in. Their food is also a blend food that I guess has dirt in it for them to consume.

So my two pet chickens have always gotten along for many years. I've had them since I was very young and I'm 26 now. As of recent my one chicken started getting sick and we noticed it's feathers disappearing but we didn't know why we figured it was cuz she was sick and pulling them out herself. As someone myself with trichotillomania disorder this made sense to me. So I left it alone. Only to find today my chicken screaming in pain and we couldn't find her and by the time we found her we saw our one chicken pecking her to literal death. Now I'm blaming myself for not realizing it was the other chicken that did this and I didn't know to seperate them. Of course we got her off of her only to find our baby dead. I am so beyond confused on why she would do this when they got a long so well for years together. I mean they were friends :( can anyone explain to me why this happened why our chicken killed the other chicken? I've had other pet chickens in the past and this has never ever happened to any of them they died of old age but even then none of them bullied each other when they were sick. So this .... I've never seen this before and I am just completely distraught and I'm looking for answers to make sense of this.

r/chickenhead for headshot photos. Thank you.

Title.

I have 13 girls. One started laying. At what point do I switch them all over to big girl food?

Thanks.

We recently invested in a Janoel 24 egg incubator and put around 20 fertilised chicken eggs in. Yesterday was hatch day and we had a couple of eggs start moving. However by the end of the day no movement and none had hatched. I’m feeling quite deflated!

I suspect it has something to do with the humidity.

The instruction manual says to add 250ml of water to channel 1 when setting up the incubator, then add more water every 3 days or more often if needed. What I need help with is - how much water?? The manual indicates channel 1 only needs 250ml. However it also says to fill channel 1 until it starts to spill out, which took around 750ml of water to achieve.

My partner and I couldn’t agree on what to do but I agreed to do what he thought was right - we added 250ml of water every 3 days.

However I think the incubator needed more water - I was tempted to fill it until water spilled out (ie around 750ml).

We have no idea what the humidity was as the bloody incubator doesn’t come with a humidity monitor!

Anyone able to shed some light on this?

I was telling a friend of mine who works in ag research that my chickens love eating the fly larvae I buy at the feed store, and he told me that those black soldier flies are insanely easy to raise and they speed up the composting process, he suggested I just raise them to save money, has anyone tried this? Does it make financial sense to start a little larva growing operation? Worth the trouble?

My fiancée noticed this on our Polish. Seems unusual? is there anything we should do about it?

I've been spending time with my chickens since they were a day old, but they never liked me and once they moved to a coop outside they run away from me. They only approach if I have food and if I move a muscle they all run away. How can I bond with them and build trust?

Edit: They are ISA browns and have been outside for about a year.

Hi All!

I wanted to share a list I made for friends of things I keep on hand to help with all that seems to go wrong with our adventure poultry. This is not an exhaustive list, but simply what I have found to be most useful with my health challenged flock.

Caveat, I am not a vet, but I spent years as an animal rehabber, with a big chunk of time specializing in birds. I have excluded anything you can only get with a veterinary prescription, though there are a number of things I keep on hand that fall into that category.

1 hospital pen- kennels can be used, but I've found that the folding zip top puppy play pens work best, and can be stored easily. I also recommend having a small dog bed to go into the pen, or making a nest with towels and covering it all in an old sheet. This helps prop up a bird that might not have the strength, and sheets are an easy and quick way to visually check for passed egg material and poop, which can be harder to see in mixed substrate like wood chips. Towels will also work, but are not preferred due to the small thread loops. These can catch toes and also some chickens think they're delicious.

1 heating pad- sunbeam makes one without a safety shut off. I prefer this, as it allows me to keep it on for as long as I need, though of course please choose the heat source best suited to the safety of your home and availability to supervise. An old pillowcase makes a great washable cover for this.

Chickens who are ill don't eat, and a bird who doesn't eat quickly loses the ability to properly thermo regulate. They should be monitored when on a heating pad to ensure they aren't overheating, particularly if they aren't strong enough to move themselves off of it. Signs of overheating are splayed wings and panting. This is different than sprawled out. Many chickens will start "sunning" when put on a heating pad.

Kwick stop or corn starch- these are used to arrest bleeding. If the bleeding is heavy, it's likely you will need to keep applying it to the site. Please remember this is essentially a small bandaid. If the bleeding exceeds what you would reasonably cover with a bandaid, it's likely too much trauma for this method.

Calcium powder- this can be added to favorite foods for a hen that's having trouble passing an egg. Calcium not only builds shells, it's vital for muscles to properly contract. Being low on calcium can cause issues other than thin shells.

Epson salt- this can be added to a warm bath for bumble foot. Adding to a bath for egg binding is unlikely to help or harm. The warm water is the part that helps for egg bound birds.

Electrolytes- sick birds should have the option of both electrolyte water and plain.

Rescue Formula- I keep Harrisons rescue formula in my freezer. It's an exceptionally calorie dense powder that can be mixed to needed consistency. This is what I use when I need to tube feed a bird. Please do not attempt to tube feed unless you have been taught how, have the proper tools, and are confident in doing so. Unless my bird is extremely ill, I will make this and add just enough water to form small pea sized balls. These can be placed midway into the beak, and most birds will willingly swallow them. You might get lucky and have a bird that eats them on their own. Please ensure that your birds crop is emptying properly before force feeding. Force feeding should be a last resort. Always try things like scrambled egg, hardboiled egg yolk, and warm oatmeal first.

Chicken caloric requirements are ~250 kcalories per day for a non bantam rooster or non laying hen and ~300 for a laying hen. Do not expect to get that many calories into them. If they're getting ~150 while sick, I find that's typically enough to keep them alive and their body temperature up.

Blu-Kote - antiseptic spray combined with a dye. This is to discourage the flock pecking at an injury. It works, it's so blue. Please apply to the bird when you are outside, wearing clothes you don't care about, and gloves.

Saline wound wash- Do not use peroxide, iodine, alcohol ect on a bird to clean wounds. Use this instead.

Gauze pads- for wound cleaning.

Antibacterial ointment- this can be helpful in some cases, but is easy for a bird to groom off or a great way to stick dirt to an injury. Please apply with these things in mind. Never ever use the kind with pain relief, it is poisonous to birds.

Nutri-Drench- can be helpful, particularly for chicks who show signs of a vitamin deficiency. Has a fair amount of molasses in it, so doubles as chick saver to perk them up if you have a few that aren't doing well from shipping.

Eggs- this seems like a silly one, but try to keep eggs on hand. Egg yolk has all the things a chicken needs, and helps a great deal with calorie intake.

Compression tape, self adhesive- I use this for everything from wrapping perches to wrapping foot injuries. I typically have a large box of it, but a couple rolls in the emergency box is good.

Tools- sharp sterile scissors, a razor, equipment for tube feeding if qualified. Gloves.

Antibiotics- you can keep powdered antibiotics on hand, but understand that some bacteria will not respond unless treated with the correct antibiotic. It is a much better idea to have the illness properly diagnosed and antibiotic prescribed if needed by your vet. This can save your flock, and helps to reduce the amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria we deal with.

De-wormer- I feel this is self explanatory. There is some debate on whether to use this regularly or only when you find signs of worms. As my chickens are strictly house chickens, this is not a debate I will weigh in on.

The most important thing- if these are your pets and you plan to take them, know the location of the nearest avian vet, and avian emergency vet. Having that information beforehand is massively helpful. There is a huge difference between a vet that will see a chicken and an avian vet. Avian vets typically work under exotic pet classifications and can be found that way. They are rarely cheap, and are also the ones most equipped to save your bird.

If you do not plan to provide veterinary care to your birds, understand the most humane way to euthanize, or know where the nearest vet is that will euthanize a chicken.

Apparently, a young plymouth rock got out of the fence yesterday unnoticed and did not return to roost at night. We found her this morning in the tree line at the complete opposite end of our property. We had eyes on her, and all of a sudden it was like she disappeared. We lost sight, and haven't been able to find her since. We have been walking around the property all morning, and even went to a nearby neighborhood in case she managed to make it all the way there. We cannot find her. We're checking high and low. It's a pretty large property, so theres a lot of room to look. Ive been checking periodically and she has not returned to the coop to get food or anything. I think she prefers it out there, she's probably finding grub. What do we do? She's not responding to shaking the food. There is a busy county road and we're worried she's going to get hurt. Any advice is appreciated.