My grandmother kept hens, I grew up with them so have many years of experience. This one has me stumped:
We have a 4 year old Blue Orpington hen, flock leader. First - she still eats, drinks and lays so she's not on death's door. My grandmother would say dispatch her but since she does not appear to be in pain or uncomfortable physically I'm not inclined to do it just yet.
Her symptoms which manifested about 3 months ago are:
We suspect one of two things:
Anyone have any ideas?
We have a 4 year old Blue Orpington hen, flock leader. First - she still eats, drinks and lays so she's not on death's door. My grandmother would say dispatch her but since she does not appear to be in pain or uncomfortable physically I'm not inclined to do it just yet.
Her symptoms which manifested about 3 months ago are:
- Weight loss. She's not a cadaver by any means but she's lost body mass to the point of being very lean.
- Mobility issues. She stumbles around. She cannot scratch like the other hens. She's unbalanced and flaps/extends her wings to balance and then takes a few steps and sits down and pokes around in the dirt with her beak to find tidbits. She DOES NOT have the penguin type of walk but she is a touch more upright than the other birds are. Her tail is down as she walks along.
- Her eyes are bright and not runny in any way.
- Her nasal passages are dry and she has no mucus flowing.
- Her breathing is fine, no coughing, sneezing or wheezing.
- On days she does not lay she's better, on days when she does she's not so good, still not 100% but more mobile.
- When challenged by one of the other hens she still keeps them inline - a few good pecks on the offender's head and they back off. So no major fights, they're sort of "testing the waters".
- She's still laying every other day or so, the eggs are rather elongated and very light in color. The shells are only marginally thinner than the others.
- Scrambled egg, greens, some fruit (grapes or berries), ground up oatmeal and ground up eggshells.
We suspect one of two things:
- Stroke. This is our top suspect. Her balance issues, and when she stands she seems to be determining what she needs to do next. She has a 'Frankenstien' stumbling walk. She oversteps where her food is and winds up directly over it most of the time so her depth perception doesn't seem to be right
- Cancer of some sort. This is not our top suspect but it's considered. She's reached a plateau and her weight is stable and she's been like this for longer than cancer would probably allow her to live. Also she's still eating/drinking/laying, and cancer usually stops one or the other of that during it's course..
Anyone have any ideas?