rosiehenfeathers
In the Brooder
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Rosie is a serama hen, 1 year old, and she weighs 0.595 pounds. But she I think she was 0.64-0.67 when I last weighed them. She is the smallest, the others are 0.75 to 1.4lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She is perching during the day. And I think she has been doing it over the past week. Today she's been all hunched up and her feather fluffed out when perching. She doesn't seem to move to eat except for when i move her to the ground, she ate early in the morning and went back to perching. She goes back to perching after a few moments of eating/drinking. The other birds Also seem to be chasing her off food/pecking her. She runs from them a goes back to perching.
She shows reduced enthusiasm/competition for treats.
Her crop was relatively full yesterday when I shut them in for the night, but is pretty empty tonight.
Her feathers are messed up, but the roosters have been overly amorous with the hens since they are stuck inside this winter. But she looks fairly normal in her posture and how her feathers sit when she's grabbing a few bites of food on the ground.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
For at least a week. A few weeks ago she was running around, showing interest in treats and the peck block they have. She's always been at the bottom of the rung when it comes to food competition, but now she's really struggling. But the extensive perching and notably low appetite has only been in the last week, at least.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Not that I can tell. They have had some diarrhea off and on that improves with antibiotics. But it's sporadic and difficult to know who since it mostly seems to be at night.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Not that I am certain. She has struggled more with the roosters destroying her feathers since she is so much smaller than them. All the hens looked great before they got cooped in with the roosters. Now only the roosters have nice feathers. But I'm not sure if they are hurting her. Just that she avoids them when they come near her. Sometimes she sounds distressed at night, but I'm not sure if that's just being jostled by her perching neighbors or genuine distress.
She holds one wing strangely when roosting, but holds it fine when she's walking around and can hop/fly her way up to the highest perch without obvious
problems.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I'm not sure. My sister has sick birds off and on. And I try to be very careful when I visit, but I'm worried something tracked in on my outdoor shoes or my dogs paws.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She's been eating her regular feed, some. I alternate rooster booster and durvet poultry probiotics in their water. She seems to be drinking some, too. I've seen her do both.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
shes been pooping multiple times today. it is solid, not super dry or runny, some white urates in greenish-brown poo.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I isolated her for a while in a crate with water with rooster booster, her regular feed, and raw egg yolk with crushed shell. She ate a bit of the egg and food. But was very distressed looking for the other birds. She ran back and forth trying to escape, even when I set the crate in their pen so she could see them. Her energy was high then. But as soon as I let her back out she went right back to hunching and perching.
I check her for an egg (very easy to feel at her size) and haven't felt one all day. But she laid one within the past few days.
I ordered parrot feeder/water cups that I can clamp to the roost to see if she'll eat/drink more, where she's perching, to see if it's a bullying issue(?).
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I haven't had much luck with finding a poultry vet in my are, so I am likely to need to treat it on my own. But I have a big poultry medical kit and access to a livestock supply store with a very decent medical supply selection. And I've given injections, oral meds, and dosed by water before with smaller issues.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
My birds are wintering over indoors in finished basement in a large plastic windowed greenhouse lined with a heavy duty tarp (neither show signs of destruction/consumption) at room temperature. Pine shavings that I change weekly and a heavy duty air filter to keep up with dust. And I let them wander out on old sheets while I clean it. So exposure and eating strange things shouldn't be the biggest culprits.
They did live outside prior to this, but I had a failure with their coop that made it uninhabitable for the winter.
Thank you for any advice you can offer. I greatly appreciate it. I know my situation isn't ideal. But I've got improvements lined up for once the weather gets better in my area.
Rosie is a serama hen, 1 year old, and she weighs 0.595 pounds. But she I think she was 0.64-0.67 when I last weighed them. She is the smallest, the others are 0.75 to 1.4lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
She is perching during the day. And I think she has been doing it over the past week. Today she's been all hunched up and her feather fluffed out when perching. She doesn't seem to move to eat except for when i move her to the ground, she ate early in the morning and went back to perching. She goes back to perching after a few moments of eating/drinking. The other birds Also seem to be chasing her off food/pecking her. She runs from them a goes back to perching.
She shows reduced enthusiasm/competition for treats.
Her crop was relatively full yesterday when I shut them in for the night, but is pretty empty tonight.
Her feathers are messed up, but the roosters have been overly amorous with the hens since they are stuck inside this winter. But she looks fairly normal in her posture and how her feathers sit when she's grabbing a few bites of food on the ground.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
For at least a week. A few weeks ago she was running around, showing interest in treats and the peck block they have. She's always been at the bottom of the rung when it comes to food competition, but now she's really struggling. But the extensive perching and notably low appetite has only been in the last week, at least.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Not that I can tell. They have had some diarrhea off and on that improves with antibiotics. But it's sporadic and difficult to know who since it mostly seems to be at night.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
Not that I am certain. She has struggled more with the roosters destroying her feathers since she is so much smaller than them. All the hens looked great before they got cooped in with the roosters. Now only the roosters have nice feathers. But I'm not sure if they are hurting her. Just that she avoids them when they come near her. Sometimes she sounds distressed at night, but I'm not sure if that's just being jostled by her perching neighbors or genuine distress.
She holds one wing strangely when roosting, but holds it fine when she's walking around and can hop/fly her way up to the highest perch without obvious
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I'm not sure. My sister has sick birds off and on. And I try to be very careful when I visit, but I'm worried something tracked in on my outdoor shoes or my dogs paws.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She's been eating her regular feed, some. I alternate rooster booster and durvet poultry probiotics in their water. She seems to be drinking some, too. I've seen her do both.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
shes been pooping multiple times today. it is solid, not super dry or runny, some white urates in greenish-brown poo.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I isolated her for a while in a crate with water with rooster booster, her regular feed, and raw egg yolk with crushed shell. She ate a bit of the egg and food. But was very distressed looking for the other birds. She ran back and forth trying to escape, even when I set the crate in their pen so she could see them. Her energy was high then. But as soon as I let her back out she went right back to hunching and perching.
I check her for an egg (very easy to feel at her size) and haven't felt one all day. But she laid one within the past few days.
I ordered parrot feeder/water cups that I can clamp to the roost to see if she'll eat/drink more, where she's perching, to see if it's a bullying issue(?).
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I haven't had much luck with finding a poultry vet in my are, so I am likely to need to treat it on my own. But I have a big poultry medical kit and access to a livestock supply store with a very decent medical supply selection. And I've given injections, oral meds, and dosed by water before with smaller issues.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
My birds are wintering over indoors in finished basement in a large plastic windowed greenhouse lined with a heavy duty tarp (neither show signs of destruction/consumption) at room temperature. Pine shavings that I change weekly and a heavy duty air filter to keep up with dust. And I let them wander out on old sheets while I clean it. So exposure and eating strange things shouldn't be the biggest culprits.
They did live outside prior to this, but I had a failure with their coop that made it uninhabitable for the winter.
Thank you for any advice you can offer. I greatly appreciate it. I know my situation isn't ideal. But I've got improvements lined up for once the weather gets better in my area.
