Recent content by jrabbit

I was just googling it and found this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100504124740.htm

necropsy revealed that Beatrix had cancer - ovarian. We are medicating remaining hen for the clostridium spores then going to get 2 more chickens after her 2 weeks on the medicine. All 3 hens will be going to a new home in a month or so. thanks for all the help! --janis

Sadly, Beatrix died during the night. I gave her a bath yesterday, and she seemed perky enough. While inside, she devoured the yogurt I gave her and pecked at the chicken feed. She seemed in good spirits. Her comb had started to look dry and less bright on Friday - so my layman's opinion is...

the med is metronidazole ... the vet ended up being able to do a once daily dosage, and it was fairly easy to give it. They didn't enjoy me holding their beaks open, but they did ok I put her in the coop, and the first thing she did was eat ... always a good sign in my book. thanks again

Well - an update. My vet is a specialist, and she always has interns at the clinic, who do random things in the spirit of extended education. Anyway, they did a fecal on Beatrix and found: sporulated rods. They are a cause of clostridium - which is an intestinal disease related to (not...

thanks. the irony is that over the summer, we decided we need to sell our house and move. One of the hardest parts of that decision has been knowing that I had to re-home my chickens. We found a new home for them, and I've been stalling because I love my girls. But now that there will be...

vet thinks it is neurologic - possibly an abdominal mass/cancer? (she is thin, so the mass could be normal intestines) the fact that she has gone so long without laying gives credence to disease theory. sadly, she is worse today. we have elected to do no further testing or treatment...

Vet called. She is stumped, but she does have experience with backyard chickens, so I'm taking her tomorrow. sigh. thanks for all the advice y'all! --janis

I went to feed store today - got a vitamin/electrolyte supplement. She is sipping it very very slowly. The feed store guy is perplexed, too. He did say that 2-3 years is the max laying potential for a lot of hens, which is disappointing to me, but I have to be realistic: she hasn't laid an...

I didn't bathe her today. My husband got a children's vitamin that has some iron in it ... anyone know if that's an issue? I don't intend to go out again tonight, and I won't give anything to her til tomorrow, since she's in her coop already for the night. She is just in the hay, not on the...

well, he ended up getting a children's vitamin that has some iron in it ... anyone know if that's an issue? I don't intend to go out again tonight, and I won't give anything to her til tomorrow, since she's in her coop already for the night. She is just in the hay, not on the perch.

Is there anything we could find at grocery store for an undiagnosed but generally-something-is-wrong-with-her hen? We can not figure out what's wrong, but she seems lame but has an appetite. She is 2.5 years old. See post below "2 year old barred rock limping" - for more details.

Same today. She seems a little more alert, if anything, but she's still slow and just sitting mostly. She seems spooked by me now - she runs when I come near. That *did* start before the bath, but she really doesn't want me near her now, hah. I gave them leftover fruit/yogurt home made...

no poison. not even ant or weed control. no mold in the feed. She did look like she was walking better this evening, but she still seemed VERY sedentary and cautious. Maybe it was some type of sprain. When I bathed her, I felt her legs and feet, and they seemed "ok" - but I don't have a...

Newcastle just doesn't seem logical. There has been no gasping or wheezing. Poop seems normal - definitely not green. (except her wet feathers did seem to have something yellowish dried in them ...) She was outside of her coop short time ago and tried to walk to me. Seemed marginally...