These are my foods for an unwell chicken, they may work for you too:It's 5am on Sunday and I can't sleep because I have been worried about my first sick hen all week. She started limping and stopped being able to walk. (You can find several posts from me earlier on this across forums trying to puzzle this out). We took her to the vet last week, and the vet said, she is malnourished, she has nothing in her crop. She gave her a B vitamin shot, told us to get Rooster Booster, test her stool (to make sure it isn't parasites). So, being new at this, we though, YAY she will pop right back up and be fine. Days went by and nothing changed. I still have a hen that won't walk, is still laying, and the occasions when she does try to walk she acts like one foot is painful. I kept calling the Vet back saying, she still can't walk. Friday the vet finally got a chance to call me herself and set my expectations, saying 'this is going to take weeks to rehab her'. But yesterday, Zoe stopped eating all together.
But we are wondering WHY, what did I do wrong to get to this point? I have free fed our chicks from the beginning... and given supplemental veggies, cooked cracked eggs, some fermented feed. ... mealworms. I just want them happy and healthy. We have noticed that the birds are pulling their feed out of the bucket and leaving a good portion of it on the ground.
And yesterday - Zoe would not touch the feed. At all, I watched her all day on the camera, and thought she was surely going to die. I went down to try to coax her to eat something and got a pile of mealworms which she went after voraciously. ... huh? ... she has food right next to her and has ALL DAY. but would not touch it. I wanted to encourage her to eat it so she would get the rooster booster she needs (they did not have liquid version - sold out at all the stores nearby!)
Finally, it dawned on me.. it is the damned feed.... I went and cooked two eggs for her and she ate those up. I gave her another dose of calcium. And I am praying she will be okay until I get to the store for new feed. I think I will cook her a few eggs before I go to church and come back with that.
I will cook some eggs up for my others as well, because I know they very well might be on the same road as she is.
It's been a saga... and as a new flock owner, it has been heartbreaking to see this happen to a lovely bird. You all have been AWESOME helping me through all of this - I have learned so much this past week. (How to check for egg bound, how to pill a hen, what to give for calcium when you don't have any, what things to consider when a hen stops walking...how to keep a sick hen safe... on and on). This community is a wonderful resource and I appreciate every person who has helped me get this far... and the history of posts to look through and learn from.
So - hopefully with 2 more eggs today - I think I will put some rooster booster IN those eggs.. and new feed in just a few hours, she will be back to at least EATING... even if she is not walking, if she can just eat now, she has a chance to survive.
I have contacted the manufacturer to see if they want some of the feed that is left to test, because right now I am convinced that is the the problem.. (Kalmbach Feeds - Henhouse Reserve, out of OH). But I will be moving back to the brand we were using as grower feed - LOTS of treats -anything they will eat. I want them FAT and happy.
Thank you everyone - I hope this post helps someone else in the future.
Live mealworms, banana, yogurt (plain natural live type), milk-soaked bread, scrambled egg, mashed sardines (tinned), currants. I try each in turn and let them eat as much as they want of any, if the aim is just to get some food into them, which seems to be where you are. Good luck.
