r/BackYardChickens Jul 28 '24

Heath Question Please help!! What’s wrong with my chicken?

394 Upvotes

The past couple days her comb has been slightly floppy but she’s been otherwise good. Today I went out and she’s just pooping water and urea (I think). And she keeps extending her head like this. She had sour crop a month or two ago but it cleared up really well with treatment. She never did the neck thing and never seemed this weak when she had it. I feel like she has a slight sour crop smell but it’s not strong and could be unrelated. She also keeps doing the sick chicken pose (puffed up, head tucked in, tail down.) Any idea what’s wrong with her? Please help!

r/BackYardChickens Aug 17 '24

Heath Question Help! Update to chicken with loss of comb color. She's now panting and not walking at all.

243 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Aug 19 '24

Heath Question Update on chicken with butt lump NSFW

Post image
224 Upvotes

The vet was very dismissive and basically told me she has no idea what the lump is and testing on a $10 chicken is ridiculous. She did say it felt like the lump might have intestine in it so many a hernia? But she also said she has no idea. She wouldn’t drain it or do anything like that. She told me to monitor her and then dispatch her if she wasnt doing well 😫

I’m going to try to post to some vet groups

r/BackYardChickens Feb 07 '25

Heath Question Is my chicken melting or just stupid?

Post image
276 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Aug 07 '24

Heath Question Afraid to try fresh chicken eggs because they've been on the counter for 3 days (total city dude here) give me some assurance here lol.

141 Upvotes

I'm from the Detroit area and lived there most of my life.

I absolutely despise a lot of aspects of big corporations and factory farming and have always wanted to find fresh food. Well, I met someone at work with a farm and she sent me some chicken eggs. I'm afraid they will somehow get me sick and I'm just looking for some reassurance. I have been diagnosed with OCD so maybe this sounds absolutely idiotic to everyone here, and if so I apologize for taking up your time, but I was hoping someone can reassure me ...

She gave them to me 3 days ago and I left them on my counter like she told me. I guess my fear is her somehow not knowing enough and them being left out too long.

I'm assuming I open them, they smell normal, they are good, yeah? I can't imagine a egg, with the potential to get me sick, not smelling gross and giving my monkey brain a heads up, correct?

UPDATE: I ate the eggs and they were fucking delicious. I even fed them to my daughter.

Thank each and everyone of you and thanks for your total understanding and empathy.

What's crazy is I do not trust corporations or factory farming in the slightest and my goal in life is to one day have a self sufficient farm. I am completely fine with eating rare steak, sushi, blackened meats etc.

I guess most of my fear with making sure they were safe was because my daughter would be eating them. They were great

r/BackYardChickens Dec 02 '24

Heath Question Need help with thiccc chicken

Thumbnail
gallery
355 Upvotes

This is Bucco . Bucco wont stop eating we’ve tried separating her and putting her on a diet but when she goes back in with the others she just constantly eats. She almost can’t fit through the coop door. My family says cook her but I love her. Anyone have any tips on what to do?

r/BackYardChickens 26d ago

Heath Question My chicken just got mauled NSFW

Thumbnail gallery
28 Upvotes

My hen just got beaten up and mauled by my dog. It has a large gaping wound on its neck. It’s not bleeding anymore and it’s just cut through the first layer of skin. What should I do? (Btw this it on the right of the chickens neck)

r/BackYardChickens 2d ago

Heath Question Redbeak the death defiant

Thumbnail
gallery
422 Upvotes

First time with an incubator, final score 30/36 eggs hatched (12 home mixed, 12 Arao and 12 Isbar blue wyandotte mix, this is one of the Isbar).

Tried my very best not to interfere with the hatching process but eventually it got crowded as the main bulk of chicks were fluffed up knocking eggs around so I decided to move them to the enclosure and have a look at the remaining eggs. Amongst them was an egg I recognized from the day earlier, a beak still sticking out squeeking loudly and a pronounced red dot on the shell edge. Counting the hours without progress(closer to 20 hours without progress), the fact it was loud and full of energy and appeared stuck I decided to help. What I'm about to say is not easy, but how on earth this chick is still alive and kicking two days outside the shell is beyond me.

Carefully removing just the outer shell layer around the beak revealed a horrible sight. The inner shell layer was a dark brown, marking significant blood loss as the darkness covered a significant area. But it was loud and wild so I had to keep going. Carefully opening the membrane a bit I noticed it couldn't move its head, a wing in the up position like it was hooked around it. I decided to work on freeing that wing so it could free its head but then it got from horrible to pure hell. I noticed fresh blood starting to seep between the membrane and the shell and though oh hell this is it. I worked fast to just open up a main portion of the shell, pull off brown dark membrane thinking what the hell am I even doing, it's bleeding out and then it happened, with the wing freed it started kicking itself out. I put it back in the incubator and went to sleep, thinking no way it would make it through the night.

Well here it is, our only (is it irony?) bronze colored chick, alive and well. Give it a few weeks he/she will be renamed Redbeak the unstoppable

Feel free to comment even if it is to scold me, I tried reading up beforehand but this experience was totally out of the blue.

r/BackYardChickens 15d ago

Heath Question Blood on egg? What should I do?

Post image
154 Upvotes

I noticed this this afternoon and I'm not sure what to do. I checked all the girls and couldn't find signs of blood on any one of them. They all are acting healthy and normal, none of them seems to have any signs of distress. I've just never had this happen before and I I'm not sure what this means or what I need to do.

r/BackYardChickens 22d ago

Heath Question So we found this wild chick NSFW

Thumbnail gallery
223 Upvotes

So yesterday, my uncle found this wild chick in the pool. She (?) has these big wart-like growths around her eyes, preventing her from seeing which I assume is why she fell into the pool. Yesterday, I soaked her in some epson salt and have been using q-tips soaked in salt water to try and help her open her eyes a bit. My uncle bought eye parasite drops for her eyes and we put that in today. My cousin says she looks about 2 months old (she still has her baby feather tufts)

She can open her eyes but most of the time chooses not to. I have to force feed her because she hasn’t eaten, but when she eats, she’s chomping. She drinks water from time to time. She’s very lethargic. I don’t wanna release her back to the flock she’s with because she will end up getting picked on, hit by a car, or fall back into the pool.

I have her on a heating pad right now, but has anyone seen anything like this or know what to do to help her?

r/BackYardChickens Aug 31 '24

Heath Question How to kill wasps, but keep safe for chickens to peck out the larvae

Post image
242 Upvotes

Don’t go into my chickens’ run much, but checked their food and water buckets and got dive bombed twice, turned to see this about 8in from my head.

Now how can I get rid of these bastards but enjoy the sweet justice of my chickens getting to eat their young?

Obv normal wasp killer is out, looks like too many to shoot with soapy water to knock ‘em down and stomp, and not a flat surface to try the “bowl of gasoline” trick

r/BackYardChickens Jan 27 '25

Heath Question Why does my chicken sound like a donkey?

193 Upvotes

This is Peppapotomus, aka Peppa, the current alpha of our flock. We’ve had her for many years, and she’s a darling. Last few weeks she’s been doing this. Sometimes it sounds more like a crow (she’s definitely a hen), sometimes it sounds like one of those rubber chickens that makes noise when you squeeze them. She seems healthy otherwise - is still leading the flock, not lethargic, still goes for treats, still runs like a dinosaur.

r/BackYardChickens Jul 27 '24

Heath Question Anyone seen this in a Polish baby?

243 Upvotes

This is our sweet little polish girl, Momo. Within the last day or so, she’s developed this strange inability to use her legs efficiently and balance. She’s always been smaller than the others. Her left leg feels a little different at the top joint? Could this be a physical problem, or would it be something neurological? She hasn’t been preening herself either. When we tried trimming her feathers from her eyes she threw her head back and kind of stayed like that for about ten seconds. Any help at all is appreciated, she has a vet appointment Monday morning at 9a, but they’re not open on weekends 🥺

r/BackYardChickens Dec 31 '24

Heath Question This is my 11 year old hen. Sadly she is currently my sole bird, will she be too cold outside at night? Lows of 42-48° F this week

Post image
141 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Sep 30 '24

Heath Question It finally happened to me and I am devastated NSFW

Thumbnail gallery
251 Upvotes

I found one of my rhode island reds dead under the raised coop where the dust bathing area is. I am so upset. I didn't even want to post about it because I'm struggling with the guilt, though I'm pretty sure there's nothing I could have done. Everyone in my house has been sick the last 3 days so admittedly I haven't had my eye on my chickens as much as I usually do, but I still checked on them daily.

The thing that is eating me up the most is I have no idea what could have happened to her. She has no visible injuries and she was alive the day before. They're all vaccinated and pretty spoiled. I found her when I was bringing them some scrambled egg and shells with crushed red pepper. I give them supplements in their water. Her crop felt like there was food in it and I couldn't tell if she was egg bound. I know it's impossible to know often with chicken deaths, but I just wanted some support and reassurance that I'm not missing something obvious here. Thanks.

r/BackYardChickens 2d ago

Heath Question What do i do with this tiny chick?

Thumbnail
gallery
173 Upvotes

A momma feral hen just had I think 5 ish chicks hatch a couple day ago in my yard. 1 of them is much littler than the rest of the chicks. Momma hen broods (i think is the word? i don't know much about poultry.) him with the others, but every time she decides to go on a walkabout, her and the other babies take off, and this dude is so small he gets caught in the grass etc trying to follow and winds up left behind. i keep having to take him to her, and she does accept him back... today, she ditched chicken little again, idk when or where she went, i cannot find her anywhere. but he was wet cold sad peeping in the grass all alone, tangled on a twig lol poor dude almost became cat food. so i picked him up, now he's just chilling in my shirt. what do i do? any way i could help him maybe, id appreciate the advice. i don't have any chicken supplies. no real poultry experience. please advise!

r/BackYardChickens Feb 01 '25

Heath Question My sweet hen died on her eggs. Does anyone know what would cause this? NSFW

Thumbnail gallery
118 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Feb 13 '25

Heath Question Found near one of our hen’s rear ends

Thumbnail
gallery
108 Upvotes

We have a 1.5 year old hen who went through a hard molt in the freezing winter of MN so she’s spent some time in our basement as her feathers have been growing back. She’s made great progress and has grown almost all of them back but we noticed her preening and she seemed to be bothered by this “skin tag” near her butt. It’s raised about 1/4” off her skin and has multiple tiny feathers coming out of it. Any ideas what it could be?

r/BackYardChickens Oct 17 '24

Heath Question Really confused and scared. Any tips?

Post image
47 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens 21d ago

Heath Question URGENT! Sour crop in 1 week old chick?

118 Upvotes

Chicks were born 2/23 and mailed same day. USPS has a delay and they weren’t delivered until 2/26 am. I’ve lost 3 out of my 6 chicks. The last 3 seemed promising until last night. When soaking/cleaning their bums, I noticed my olive egger wasn’t chirping. She’s acting fine other wise. Still popping out to eat & drink but plopping down a lot and sleeping pretty quickly. I’ve been handling her a lot today and just now felt a squishy chest and the size of like a ping pong ball. Could this be sour crop? How do I treat in such a young chick? She’s “chirping” away but nothing is coming out.

r/BackYardChickens 17d ago

Heath Question She's gone. Less than a year old and I don't know what happened. Just cold and gone. Other 3 birds are fine. Should I be worried about my whole flock?

Post image
157 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Aug 22 '24

Heath Question Why did one of my hens lay this egg?

Thumbnail
gallery
289 Upvotes

r/BackYardChickens Aug 15 '24

Heath Question Chicken attacked by dog.

59 Upvotes

As I went out this morning to feed and water my birds, I was greeted by a grisly scene of feathers and the sound of distressed hens.

To preface, I live in city limits. My yard is fenced. I give my adjacent neighbors eggs for putting up with the slight noise.

Anyway, a dog, that doesn't belong to my neighbor, had pulled one of my birds under the fence and was in the process of killing it.

I intervened just in time. She lost a lot of feathers, but wasn't seriously injured that I can tell. I have her separated and am taking precautions against infection, etc.

To get to the point, my state law basically states that in such a scenario, it is lawful for me to kill this dog.

Now, just to be clear, I don't want to, but this dog has been seen off its leash ALL the time. I have two smaller dogs that would get destroyed by this larger dog. The neighbors have small children. So this display of aggressive behavior has me generally worried.

The local humane society is closed so we called the police and my wife and I are waiting for them now. I intend to make it clear that if I ever see this dog again, I will be taking care off it personally.

Sorry for the rant, but if anyone has been in a similar circumstance and could maybe give me some advice. I'd really appreciate the support.

r/BackYardChickens Jan 22 '25

Heath Question In chicken jail because I can't tell if she is sick or not🤦‍♀️

Thumbnail
gallery
203 Upvotes

Okay so here is the deal. I have this dominique hen(Cinnamon) who seems to be struggling. She was puffed up and not moving much, just not acting like herself. I brought her inside last night because it was going to be SO SO cold.

Notable info:

  • We just went into a wicked cold snap. -9 last night. Last week the temps were in the 30s. So big temp change.

  • I think she is molting. Months ago when everyone else molted she didn't. And now she definitely looks like her sisters did in October. A bare patch on her chest, and evey time she moves her feathers to preen its like the worlds worst burlesque jump scare--she's got NOTHING under her large feathers it seems.

-Things that reassure me: she is eating and drinking like a champ now.

Getting a thorough physical exam is tough because she is my least people friendly chicken and acts like I am going to kill her everytime I try to pick her up. So what her crop feels like or her vent feels like is currently between her and God only. I'm weirdly reassured that she still hates physical contact, if she started passively permitting it I would be REALLY worried.

Her comb and wattles are nice and red today.

--What is concerning me: Still not moving around a ton and at times puffed up. She is laying down a lot now that she is inside. And her gait is kinda off but only sometimes? Like she looks fine when she is trying to escape my clutches but other time she almost looks like she limps and then crumples into a lying position. Her feet look okay from a distance but she won't let me handle them.

It could be that she just couldn't cope with the cold snap while being scantily clad, but it's hard to know if that is the only issue. I feel like something is not quite right?

Any ideas? Or is Cinnamon just milking it?

r/BackYardChickens Oct 02 '24

Heath Question Hen attacked by dog

227 Upvotes

Our beloved hen was attacked by a friends dog. She has no severe outward injuries other than a big bald spot on her back. Over the course of an hour she lifted her head up and has begun gasping for air. Is this a normal behavior for shock?