Two-year-old EE (the sweetest and friendliest girl)
stopped laying several weeks ago - got some wind eggs from her for a few weeks but nothing in the last two weeks. She seemed otherwise normal until yesterday when I noticed she was moving slowly. I don't think she ate anything last night or this morning and would not eat scratch from my hand, which is unheard of!
She didn't want to come out of the coop this morning and when I brought her out she just stayed put in the spot where I put her.
Dropped her off at the vet; they say there is definitely something wrong but they don't know what. I will assume they are ruling out infectious disease and anything obvious upon examination if they don't have a clue what's wrong. They have decided to keep her for the weekend so they can give her IV nutrition. This does not sound good. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?
She free-ranges but we long ago told our gardeners and pest control people that they can't use anything toxic to animals in our yard. I have one other hen who is currently mothering five new baby chicks - the broody and the chicks are all fine, although they are confined to the pen and coop so if she got into something they would not have been exposed.
The broody has been pecking at the EE a bit to keep her away from her chicks this past week, but I can't imagine that this would cause the EE to stop eating and moving.
One other relevant fact: I have lost two others of the initial flock of four, all of which came from the feed store via Belt Hatchery. One - a Delaware- keeled over dead at about 6 mos - was fine in the am and found her dead in the afternoon. The vet receptionist just mentioned that it could have been "egg stroke", which I've never heard of. The other, a Light Brahma, died eight months ago after a month of going downhill - not moving being the main presenting symptom. The vet never really figured out what was wrong with her; she surmised it might have been a spinal cord injury, which seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
I'm sorry this is so long. This is my favorite of all my chickens. Our family will be devastated if we lose her.
Yes, I will ask for a necropsy in that event.
She didn't want to come out of the coop this morning and when I brought her out she just stayed put in the spot where I put her.
Dropped her off at the vet; they say there is definitely something wrong but they don't know what. I will assume they are ruling out infectious disease and anything obvious upon examination if they don't have a clue what's wrong. They have decided to keep her for the weekend so they can give her IV nutrition. This does not sound good. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?
She free-ranges but we long ago told our gardeners and pest control people that they can't use anything toxic to animals in our yard. I have one other hen who is currently mothering five new baby chicks - the broody and the chicks are all fine, although they are confined to the pen and coop so if she got into something they would not have been exposed.
The broody has been pecking at the EE a bit to keep her away from her chicks this past week, but I can't imagine that this would cause the EE to stop eating and moving.
One other relevant fact: I have lost two others of the initial flock of four, all of which came from the feed store via Belt Hatchery. One - a Delaware- keeled over dead at about 6 mos - was fine in the am and found her dead in the afternoon. The vet receptionist just mentioned that it could have been "egg stroke", which I've never heard of. The other, a Light Brahma, died eight months ago after a month of going downhill - not moving being the main presenting symptom. The vet never really figured out what was wrong with her; she surmised it might have been a spinal cord injury, which seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
I'm sorry this is so long. This is my favorite of all my chickens. Our family will be devastated if we lose her.
