Jaistraw
In the Brooder
I need advice on this asap.. Our hen seems to be having some issues. She is believed to be a brahma, maybe 8 years.(Minimum? Not sure.) Seeing as we know that is fairly old for a chicken, we suspect she may be dying of old age, but we aren't sure.
She won't move at all except for her head/neck, and maybe her wings a tad if she tries to move.(She hasn't for a few hours now..) Her breathing also seems a bit labored..(You can see her expand with each breath.)
She still seems alert and aware of her surroundings though despite this, looking around occasionally, going between letting her head hang a bit and peeking it up to glance about. But she seems weak, and was tired earlier. She slept for a while, and woke, now she hasn't fallen asleep again. But the whole time, since this morning when we were letting all the chickens out, she just wouldn't move her legs. My brother(Who was letting the chickens out at the time) tried to pick her up to get her to stand, but she would just lay back down. That is when we knew something was wrong.
I went outside to check what was happening, and he informed me that she would not move. She was old, so our first thought was that she was dying. We set her down in her favorite sun bathing/dust bathing spot,(It was a surprisingly sunny day today, no clouds.) And tore up a bit of hot dog buns that were going to go stale as a treat, and some water beside her. She ate quite a bit with her most recent chick who just started laying eggs, drank, then lost interest in the food. She then fell asleep like I said before, and we just arrived home from ukelele lessons.
I didn't think she would be alive when we got home. I assumed she would have just passed away in her snooze, but apparently not. We kept checking on her, she wouldn't move, and when we picked her up, instead of letting her legs hang, she kept them tight to her belly. I tried moving the legs, which werent stiff in place or anything, but she will not move them on her own will.(Almost seems paralyzed) Her tail is also very droopy. She doesn't appear to be in pain, but I don't know.. At first, she had tried to jump down from a chair we had put her on to inspect/keep her away from the roosters and join her flock in garzing, but after landing rather poorly, she laid back down, then stood again a second later, took a few steps,(Chick by her side) then settled back down again.(I noticed how droopy her tail was when she was standing)
She has not made to move for a while now. My brother just now put her and the rest of the chickens away. Something else odd was that she had made a few kind of sneeze-like jerks accompanied by a weird sound, not quite like a sneeze or cough, but kind of honk-ish?
She had her several generations of chicks around to keep her company, and her favorite rooster--Quite the gentlemen, this one--made no move to mate with her, instead kept very close to her and his chick.(He had helped raise her most recent hen.)He guarded his hen, keeping watch and standing by her, seemingly worried. I found this sweet. He's a white and grey painted silkie. The other rooster, also her chick, had accidentally been let out and attempted to mate with her while she was helpless. I ran to get him off, though.
Now she is laying in her pen on a fresh pile of straw with her rooster and chick, with food and water right by her. She also had drank ate ate the bun before we arrived home, evident by the missing bun chunks and water that had gotten on her chin/neck.
Is she just passing from age? Or maybe she's sick or injured? Any advice would be great!
She was our best chicken, perhaps even more egentle/tame then all of her chicks we hand fed and raised. She hatched out four generations of chicks.(That we are aware of.) She was always very good with other chickens and roosters, but maintained her dominant spot on the too of the pecking order. She would put a chicken in their place if they tried to test her, but otherwise she would never harm a single feather of any of her companions. A great broody. Never failed to be a mother all four years we had her with us. She was four years old when we got her with her first three chicks, two of which unfortunately passed away. One of heart attack during thunderstorm, one by an owl.
Get well soon Mrs. Tenders.
She won't move at all except for her head/neck, and maybe her wings a tad if she tries to move.(She hasn't for a few hours now..) Her breathing also seems a bit labored..(You can see her expand with each breath.)
She still seems alert and aware of her surroundings though despite this, looking around occasionally, going between letting her head hang a bit and peeking it up to glance about. But she seems weak, and was tired earlier. She slept for a while, and woke, now she hasn't fallen asleep again. But the whole time, since this morning when we were letting all the chickens out, she just wouldn't move her legs. My brother(Who was letting the chickens out at the time) tried to pick her up to get her to stand, but she would just lay back down. That is when we knew something was wrong.
I went outside to check what was happening, and he informed me that she would not move. She was old, so our first thought was that she was dying. We set her down in her favorite sun bathing/dust bathing spot,(It was a surprisingly sunny day today, no clouds.) And tore up a bit of hot dog buns that were going to go stale as a treat, and some water beside her. She ate quite a bit with her most recent chick who just started laying eggs, drank, then lost interest in the food. She then fell asleep like I said before, and we just arrived home from ukelele lessons.
I didn't think she would be alive when we got home. I assumed she would have just passed away in her snooze, but apparently not. We kept checking on her, she wouldn't move, and when we picked her up, instead of letting her legs hang, she kept them tight to her belly. I tried moving the legs, which werent stiff in place or anything, but she will not move them on her own will.(Almost seems paralyzed) Her tail is also very droopy. She doesn't appear to be in pain, but I don't know.. At first, she had tried to jump down from a chair we had put her on to inspect/keep her away from the roosters and join her flock in garzing, but after landing rather poorly, she laid back down, then stood again a second later, took a few steps,(Chick by her side) then settled back down again.(I noticed how droopy her tail was when she was standing)
She has not made to move for a while now. My brother just now put her and the rest of the chickens away. Something else odd was that she had made a few kind of sneeze-like jerks accompanied by a weird sound, not quite like a sneeze or cough, but kind of honk-ish?
She had her several generations of chicks around to keep her company, and her favorite rooster--Quite the gentlemen, this one--made no move to mate with her, instead kept very close to her and his chick.(He had helped raise her most recent hen.)He guarded his hen, keeping watch and standing by her, seemingly worried. I found this sweet. He's a white and grey painted silkie. The other rooster, also her chick, had accidentally been let out and attempted to mate with her while she was helpless. I ran to get him off, though.
Now she is laying in her pen on a fresh pile of straw with her rooster and chick, with food and water right by her. She also had drank ate ate the bun before we arrived home, evident by the missing bun chunks and water that had gotten on her chin/neck.
Is she just passing from age? Or maybe she's sick or injured? Any advice would be great!
She was our best chicken, perhaps even more egentle/tame then all of her chicks we hand fed and raised. She hatched out four generations of chicks.(That we are aware of.) She was always very good with other chickens and roosters, but maintained her dominant spot on the too of the pecking order. She would put a chicken in their place if they tried to test her, but otherwise she would never harm a single feather of any of her companions. A great broody. Never failed to be a mother all four years we had her with us. She was four years old when we got her with her first three chicks, two of which unfortunately passed away. One of heart attack during thunderstorm, one by an owl.
Get well soon Mrs. Tenders.
