New mum with chest infection - what to do?

[kathyd]

Hi. 4 out of 6 eggs hatched so far, but mummy hen seems to have developed a rasping breathing sound during the afternoon... seemed fine until today, but was panting a lot with her beak open earlier, I thought it was just the heat and possibly stress as the eggs began to hatch (first timer)? What do I do? In the past, when I've tried the 2 antibiotics they seem to offer over here for respitory problems, neither seems much use, if I can even get the bird to take them in the first place. But the hen is already trying to teach the babes to eat from the same dish of food she's nibbling at, and presumably dribbling all her germs into. Is this just a case of crossing fingers and hoping for the best?

[marchogaeth]

I'm sure someone who knows something about chicken will be along in a minute to reassure you. In the mean time based on my animal experience (I know how worrying lambing/calving/foaling can be), tell yourself you won't check every five minutes/seconds. You don't say where she is but give her as much ventilation as you can without creating draughts at chick level. If you are adding heat, make sure both she and the chicks can choose cooler areas if they need to. Provide her with cool, fresh water at least twice a day. Change the food and wash the bowl out twice a day and remove all the droppings you can.

If I have taught you to suck eggs (no pun intended) I apologise. In the absence of more knowledgeable people, I advise steady as she goes and probably not to stress her by trying to give antibiotics if she doesn't like taking them.

Good luck.

[kathyd]

I'm sure someone who knows something about chicken will be along in a minute to reassure you. In the mean time based on my animal experience (I know how worrying lambing/calving/foaling can be), tell yourself you won't check every five minutes/seconds. You don't say where she is but give her as much ventilation as you can without creating draughts at chick level. If you are adding heat, make sure both she and the chicks can choose cooler areas if they need to. Provide her with cool, fresh water at least twice a day. Change the food and wash the bowl out twice a day and remove all the droppings you can.

If I have taught you to suck eggs (no pun intended) I apologise. In the absence of more knowledgeable people, I advise steady as she goes and probably not to stress her by trying to give antibiotics if she doesn't like taking them.

Good luck.

Hi Marchogaeth, thanks for your reply. The bird is in a big outhouse, locked up for the night, so no more checking until the morning! There is plenty of ventilation, but it's still very hot and muggy and heavy in there at the moment. There's a chick drinker in with them, and food, but I'll wash the bowls out each day as you suggest, and clean up droppings as and when I can get to them without disturbing everyone. I'm not giving the antibiotics unless I get desperate, but I do worry about the chicks and whether they're likely to pick it up or not . On the plus side, they're so sweeeet at the moment!

[Scarlet]

Hi Kathy how is she doing this morning? I'm not much help either I'm afraid. If you're not happy with giving antibiotics, just keep up with cleaning as March has said. It may well be stress fingers crossed the little ones don't get it. Good luck!

[kathyd]

Hi Scarlet

Well all 6 eggs have hatched, which is lovely. We have one obvious girl, not sure of the others (cream legbars) so assuming 5 boys lol . Mum seems much better, but looks shattered. She just started opening her beak again though and looking hot and panty as I left them for lunch, but won't drink at the moment, I think she just wants to sleep for now. I'd give her antibiotics if a) I thought I could get them down her b) I could do it without the chicks getting any of it and c) if they'd ever done any good in the past, but to be honest they don't ever really seem to have helped at all, so it seems a bit pointless to add to the stress and excitement. I've managed to remove most of the eggshells this morning, but she's not budging from the nest so I can't get in underneath her properly yet to do the rest. I assume now they've all hatched, and when she's had some sleep, she'll be keen to get up and stretch her legs... Can't see the chicks staying put for long anyway, and she'll have to shift herself to keep tabs on them .

[BertieFox]

"the hen is already trying to teach the babes to eat from the same dish of food she's nibbling at, and presumably dribbling all her germs into. Is this just a case of crossing fingers and hoping for the best?"

YES. Don't anthropomorphise and worry about 'germs' and so on with hens. We have always found that the chicks raised naturally and surrounded by all the other muck and grime of the other birds grow up stronger and healthier than those raised in sterile conditions in an incubator. They are highly unlikely to succumb to whatever the mother hen has, if she has anything at all.

In the hot weather is quite likely she is just hot and gasping, though there is a disease called 'the gapes' in domestic chickens caused by a parasite. Take a look at Home remedies for gapes! and see if this fits the symptoms.

The warm weather doesn't always agree with hens and cockerels and one of ours is currently crowing with a very high pitched squeaky voice which suggests he has some kind of respiratory problem. He does seem better now the weather is a little cooler.

The mother bird will almost certainly follow the chicks out if they start to wander. Hens are usually wonderful mothers and teach the young how to forage as well as looking after them and guarding them well from predators. We have a bantam with eight chicks, now around six or seven weeks old, and she has not lost a single one of them despite roaming over a couple of acres of overgrown scrub and track.

I'm sure your hen will recover the chicks will be fine.

[marchogaeth]

^^^
Knew someone would be along who knew.

[kathyd]

Thanks all. Pleased to report they're all going on fine today, and have got as far as leaving the safety of their cage to explore the space outside, but mum is super cautious and hasn't let them go into the garden yet. Going to have to contain them in a small run though to keep the cats off, so their little world will be a bit limited until they get bigger... BertieFox, I'd already read up about gape worms and dismissed it, but thanks for the suggestion anyway. I think you're right and it's just the heat causing her problems - hopefully she'll be better now she's on the move and not stuck in the box in the cage all the time. Plus, if I hadn't had a poo for 3 days, I think I might be panting and gasping a bit too .

Can anyone tell me what's an appropriate age to give the 'spare' cockerels away please? Last time we hatched eggs I returned the chicks to the egg-owner at 8 weeks, but I knew they'd be going into a separate enclosure for young birds. If they're going to join existing adult birds, do they need to be older? I don't want to keep them too long because I'll only get attached to them, but I don't want to give them away too early on either.

Thanks again for your help and reassurance . xx

[Scarlet]

You've managed to get someone to keep the boys? Will they all be going to the same flock?
Ideally introduce birds when they are a similar size.
My new girls aren't introduced until around 18/20 weeks, when they are a similar size to the older birds. Traditional birds lay much later than hybrids and I feed grower pellets until they start to lay. I'll put them together when they get put on to a layers feed. Until then they are run in a separate pen alongside them.

[BertieFox]

The spare cockerels will be completely independent as soon as they have feathers and are able to keep warm without the mother. They will need/prefer chick crumbs for a while until they can forage for themselves. As somebody said above, the main problem will be integrating them into any existing flock, as the 'main man' won't be too happy at any young pip squeaks suddenly turning up. But we run four of five cockerels in the same flock, as they are completely free range in a large field, so establish a clear 'pecking order' and the weaker ones can easily run away. That's much harder to do in a smaller penned area where several cockerels will fight and could injure each other.

[kathyd]

OK thanks . I'm going to keep one here with us, along with his sister. I have a friend who's already said she'd like one to run with her girls, but they're adults and already laying, and they live in quite an overgrown space so I'm not sure how he'd cope while still very small! Not sure about the other 3 yet - same friend said she'd 'take anything you have that's spare', but this friend does tend to eat her animals, and I can't help feeling it's a bit of a waste to eat a 'pure breed' (if they are in fact pb ), even a cockerel, if I can find a more useful role for them! Someone else will be re-starting a flock shortly and may like one I guess, depending on their plans, but I'm not sure yet about the other 2 - I'm sure I can find a home somewhere, even if it's someone else's freezer (as long as I don't know about that part!). So no, they probably won't all be going to the same place, and I'm fairly sure the people I know wouldn't want to be keeping them separate for very long either, although I'll ask them about it. So looks like they might be with me for a while then.. * sigh *. I assume they won't cause problems here for a while, since they'll be immature and we don't have a cockerel at the moment?

[Scarlet]

Well, if you put him in with your friends layers I wouldn't introduce him until at least 12weeks, he should be big enough then. As Bertie has said, they are independent from a young age but I think at 8weeks he will be much too small on his own.

If you haven't got homes for the others I would really think twice about growing them on. I only keep traditional breeds. Most of my boys are for the freezer but they aren't a cheap option to fatten for the table.
Cockerels are easy to come by and are very difficult to find a home for. It's easier to cull them now if they haven't got a home.

Though FYI my "young boys" are usually kept together until they are big enough for the pot which is usually around 26weeks- they don't run with the hens. If they are with the girls they may well start fighting at 18weeks.
Although as every set up is different it will often depend on space and temperament of the bird. If you have the space you could always keep a pair? Though I never breed brother and sister...

[kathyd]

OK thanks Scarlet, 12 weeks it is then . I'll ask around for anyone who might want to give a boy a home, but if I can't find anyone I'm going to let my friend have them if she wants them - if she chooses to eat them that's fine, at least I won't have to cull them myself - still squeamish I'm afraid. In fact this friend has offered to do the deed for me if I ever have a hen which needs putting out of its misery, which is good to know.

I'm planning on keeping one cockerel myself, just waiting to see what their personalities are like before I choose which one. I just want a nice gentle bird who's kind to the hens and doesn't attack me either - I've heard some real horror stories about nasty cockerels, and also seen bald birds where the cockerel is too rough, and I want to avoid that if possible. I won't breed him and his sister no - I'm sure inbreeding was the reason for my special needs bird and her brother's problems, so I've learned from other people's mistakes on that one (they were bought-in). But I do have a couple of birds I'd quite like to breed from at some point in the future, before they go to that great big free range chicken run in the sky, so it'd be good to have a cockerel around to help things along! Lol .

[Scarlet]

If your friend is having all 3 and they are going in with all girls tbh you could probably get away with earlier.

As for keeping one boy, I'd pick him now and handle him as much as possible. I've had good and bad cockerels, one was fabulous until he had his little flock. I couldn't go in to collect eggs without a dustbin lid, needless to say he didn't last long.

[Scarlet]

Oh, and where's the pics???

..and was it 5 eggs and only 1 girl? Unlucky!