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@hens101
Bumblefoot: Lessons Learned
After reading (nearly) every post on bumblefoot I strongly NOT recommend doing surgery on your chickens' feet. It was traumatizing for me and my chickens and I'm not sure it did any good. Instead buy antibiotics from a farm supply store and give them a series of Tylan. All four of my girls with bumblefoot cleared up this way. Good Luck!
Three Chickens Lost in Three Weeks
Sadly I lost three girls in August.
The first passed from ascites
The second is a gruesome mystery. We came back from a weekend in the Adirondacks and Chicken Little was in our garden, beheaded...
The last, Paisley, suffered from a health issue. She had always been the most skiddish so I wasn't surprised when I hadn't seen her for a day. I found her hiding in a corner of the garden and picked her up. Her belly was super swollen and I felt it to see if an egg was stuck. A large amount of brown putrid liquid squirted out of her and she died within minutes.
Rest in Peace my lovely girls. I love you.
Little awkward chick
Adorable!
What I learned from treating ascites aka. water belly, swollen belly in my chicken
Inspect your chickens at least twice a week. My girls appear to be very healthy, take themselves for walks around the yard, and no longer venture across the street to the neighbors. So I was feeding them and keeping their roost clean, but only occasionally picking them up to check them out. Thankfully I caught my first case of ascites early but now I'm on a checkup routine.
A full watery belly= ascites A treatable, but apparently non-curable disease that stems from untreated bumblefoot Thank you Backyardchickens.com it's an amazing community resource.
Treatment starts with draining excess fluid. Get a syringe and DIY. I got my first syringes as Target and Walgreens but the best I found were at Tractor Supply. They have a plethora of syringes and needle gauges.
After the first draining leave her be. If her belly is still swollen it may just be inflammation and you don't want to exacerbate her uncomfortable situation.
Get antibiotics STAT. Tylan seems to be the most reliable and recommended kind. You can get it at Tractor Supply. This page has a complete list of dosage.
Check for bumblefoot and treat ASAP. Bumblefoot is a whole nother beast. I'll post a separate post all about what I learned from treating that.
Soak her in warm epsom salts before draining. It will calm her down. Wrap her in a towel to calm her and keep her from squirming. Hold her under your arm at an angle so the blood rushes to her head, it's calming.
Assemble a chicken first aid kit. I'll post what I got but after treating these sicknesses I can't believe I didn't have one before!
I think that's it! If you have any suggestions/questions/arguments please reach out. I'm always trying to improve my chicken care and only want the best for these ladies.
This link is a REALLY nasty case of ascites but helpful to learn from
This thread was also really helpful
Another great first aid kit list
I had to do this like 20 times!
Draining swollen chicken belly part III (by Alison DaltonSmith)
This is insane. I took a Farm Fresh pasture raised chicken egg (the darker one) and I compared it to a Factory Farm Egg (the lighter one). I was shocked about the color difference in them.
This is so cool! I'm going to do it with my girls' eggs.
Swollen Belly Chicken Part II
In this video you can see how much fluid she has retained in her belly. I stuck a small syringe that I got at Walgreens into her belly.
Swollen Belly Chicken Part I
This pretty lady had a serious case of swollen belly. I did a bunch of research and found that most likely she is either "egg bound" or has "ascites."
To help with the discomfort first I have her a warm bath. This loosens up all of the muscles in her body and she was very relaxed. I put some salt in the water to draw out any impurities.
This link from BackYard Chickens is a wealth of information
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/68731/laying-hens-with-water-belly-or-ascites
NYC Chicken keeping rules from Just Food.
No limit on the number of hens, no roosters. Keep them clean and happy and you won't have problems.
roosting a noche
Our girls as babies! So funny they're so big now a year later.
Someone likes to nest on the chicken feed bag. Guess it's comfy.
When i want to make them a treat I cook rice and hamburger.
Katniss was getting pecked by the other hens and I didn't know what to do about it.
First- I got a dog crate and separated her
Second- I got BluKote from Tractor Supply. It's an antibacterial spray that's supposed to help the wound and camouflage the red of the blood/skin
Third- I let the girls free range more. The more bored they are the more they go after one another.
In the last picture you can see (with the purple feathers) she mixed well with the group post-rehab.
Some shots of a broody hen. I had no idea what to do but backchickens.com is an AMAZING resource!
The yellow hens are really good mamas. Which means that they tend to go broody easily. Last summer in the hottest days of the year one hen passed away because she was so broody.
Broody: when a hen thinks she is incubating her eggs
during this time they drink only enough to stay alive, don't eat, and their temperature rises as they try to hatch babies.
To break this
-dunk them in a bucket of cold water to bring temperature down
-put a bunch of ice cubes in a plastic bag and she will try to hatch the cubes. This will bring her temp down.
- block the nesting spot by putting something in the space. Sometimes if she can't access her favorite spot she will break her broodiness
- keep getting her up from her spot. Put her outside, try to distract her.
- put her in a dog crate and elevate the bottom so she can't lay down. After a few hours of this she should snap out of it.
