Hi guys,
I have 2 ISA brown hens (2 of 5 hens in total), and about a month ago, one was ill. Thanks to the help received in this forum, I discovered the symptoms sounded like worms, so we gave her a dose of worming meds and nursed her back to health.
She is now absolutely fine, behaving normally, eating, drinking, pooping, scratching around, hanging around with the other hens, and even re-started laying yesterday after recovering from her worm bout, BUT, her tail feathers, which were white tipped as with the ISA hens, have turned grey?? At first I thought it was dirt, but it isn't, they have just turned grey. Being a little paranoid after her first sick spell, should I be worried about this at all?
I had read that nutritional defecits can cause feather colour change, so have been adding extra vitamins and minerals in some hen spice for the last week and a half to their feed (an complete layers pellet), which she gets ample of every morning with the other girls, but no change. The other ISA hen's feathers are still white tipped, and no colour changes in the rest of my flock, so what could this be, and should I worry?!
Food wise, my girls get round the clock layers pellets, topped with "hen spice", a handful of corn between the 5 of them twice a day, some grass cuttings, a cabbage leaf each once a day, and the occasional bio-yoghurt as a treat. They also get grit and oystershell mix scattered around their outdoor run once a day.
If you need the other info, such as bedding etc, I can provide this, but wasnt sure it was needed on this occasion!
Ellie
I have 2 ISA brown hens (2 of 5 hens in total), and about a month ago, one was ill. Thanks to the help received in this forum, I discovered the symptoms sounded like worms, so we gave her a dose of worming meds and nursed her back to health.
She is now absolutely fine, behaving normally, eating, drinking, pooping, scratching around, hanging around with the other hens, and even re-started laying yesterday after recovering from her worm bout, BUT, her tail feathers, which were white tipped as with the ISA hens, have turned grey?? At first I thought it was dirt, but it isn't, they have just turned grey. Being a little paranoid after her first sick spell, should I be worried about this at all?
I had read that nutritional defecits can cause feather colour change, so have been adding extra vitamins and minerals in some hen spice for the last week and a half to their feed (an complete layers pellet), which she gets ample of every morning with the other girls, but no change. The other ISA hen's feathers are still white tipped, and no colour changes in the rest of my flock, so what could this be, and should I worry?!
Food wise, my girls get round the clock layers pellets, topped with "hen spice", a handful of corn between the 5 of them twice a day, some grass cuttings, a cabbage leaf each once a day, and the occasional bio-yoghurt as a treat. They also get grit and oystershell mix scattered around their outdoor run once a day.
If you need the other info, such as bedding etc, I can provide this, but wasnt sure it was needed on this occasion!
Ellie
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