#chicken help

[smiley-chickens]

Does anyone have suggestions for good leg bands to help me identify my chicks? I want to be able to tell the 6 individuals apart until I can tell by looking at them. I keep seeing colored zip ties but those make me nervous somehow? Or are they ok? And I know whatever I use I'll have to keep going up in size until they're fully grown. Which hopefully by that point I won't need the bands anymore.

[brighthawksflight]

Okay so today there was a falcon outside the chicken run today and thankfully the falcon couldn't get inside and nobody was hurt and I scared the falcon away but I'm worried now it might come back? Does anyone know if once a falcon knows where your birds are they will remember and come back and try to get to them again?? I'm just really freaked out and worried.

[medusolo]

i had a dream last night where my mom and i got a rooster that had iridescent black feathers that would be a green-purple sort of color in the right light, and it had white wattles. does anyone know if this breed actually exists or if my head just made it up??

(we named the rooster Big Man)

[velxciraptxrs]

hey so one of my chickens seems a bit down tonight. my sister said the other two were pecking at her feet so she separated them, then she noticed the chicken’s voice was sounding off and she’s being weirdly calm (not actively running away, pecking us, etc). can anyone help figure out what’s happening and what to do? symptoms and more info under cut

-heavy breathing while outside (kept opening mouth wide and lifting wings) -voice weird (lower pitch, more rough) -wattle seem fine, maybe pale -acting strange -not drinking on her own

-while we were outside she kept opening her mouth, at the time i thought it was because she needed water but my dad has been thinking dehydration or over heating (she was also holding up her wings a bit like she was hot) so he suggested bringing her inside to cool down. once inside this stopped.

-she didn’t poop for a long time in the beginning, and since i fed her so much water, when she did finally poop it was diarrhea. inside, i stopped giving her so much water and just left a bowl there. i don’t think i’ve seen her drink the water by herself and now her poop is a lot more solid

-i was giving her a lot of soggy chicken feed to eat, also a little bit of toast (sometimes soggy, sometimes not), and half a strawberry. she seemed to really like all this and ate most of what i gave her.

-my sister and i noticed it looked like there was dirt in her nose, and i eventually got most of it out

-lately the chickens have taken a liking to the swampy area in our backyard with a lot of brush and tall grass, idk if that might have anything to do with it. most of the time there’s no water, but it’s muddy and there’s poison ivy so it’s always difficult to get them out. we live in southwest ohio, the temperature lately has been around the 80s (Fahrenheit)

-at the beginning she let me hold her very easily, but she’s been getting progressively worse with being held

-overall she seems to have more energy (though sleepy since it’s night), eating more, getting rest, pooping, but still her voice is off and she’s not drinking much and just seems kind of uncomfortable

-currently we’re keeping her separate from the other two chickens, indoors (air-conditioned) in a cage with wood chips, chicken feed, and water

[zukana13731]

So one of the chicks I got has fluffy legs and they keep getting super dirty. Is there any health hazard in letting them stay like that?

[zukana13731]

One of the cats figured out how to open a round doorknob and I found 1 of them asleep on the chicken eggs. (It's not an enclosed incubator). What are the odds that this clutch of chicken eggs are ruined? They're on day 3.

[zukana13731]

@chickenblr

I have a hen that lays almost exclusively double yolked massive eggs. She's a Rhode Island Red and is less than a year old. Are there any health concerns I should keep an eye out for?

[marrow-bone]

Hey, chickenblr, I got a bit of a problem and I want to see if any one has experience with it.

So I have a 2 day old chick that I just got today. She has some sort of leg problem. The knee joint is swollen, and she keeps the leg tucked in. She can only flail around a little bit. She has had a bit of water, but has only shown the briefest interest in food. I think she may have twisted in the shell or been attacked/sat on by another chick (possibly her broodmate Dio. He's kind of a jerk.) I have it wrapped in vet tape, with a hobble as well. I've been doing stretches with her. I tried the cup chair thing but she's so small she falls into my smallest cup.

Anyone have any more suggestions on how to treat her?

Edit: We did bandaging, hobbling, therapy, and hand feeding/watering but it wasn't enough. Little one passed in the night. Such is life. But I miss her.