Hi,
I have an interesting case here, and can't find anything about what this may be...
Mara is one of my original hens, is only less than a year old, yet has looked old and grizzled since she was about 20 weeks.
1. She has a dull feather coat, brownish rather than the black and white cuckoo pattern the rest of her Maran sisters have.
2. The left side of her head looks malformed, as if the bones of her upper and lower jaws had over developed. (I palpated the enlarged area and it doesn't seem to be the soft tissue at all, rather the bones underneath.)
3. When I bring scratch grains, she is usually one of the girls eating out of my hand. This is where I have seen that she has to swallow quite deliberately... perhaps the malformation makes it hard to swallow?
4. Her muscle tone is poor... I can feel the vertebra in her neck and she's very light for her size.
5. I'm also sure there is no egg production, because there is very little space between her pin bones and just as little space between the keel bone and the pins. (I'm assuming because of the poor nutritional state she has.)
This "syndrome" appears to not be present in the rest of the flock. I'm wondering if anyone knows what this may be... nutritional, genetic, or ?? I have pictures attached.
Thank you! Jenn
I have an interesting case here, and can't find anything about what this may be...
Mara is one of my original hens, is only less than a year old, yet has looked old and grizzled since she was about 20 weeks.
1. She has a dull feather coat, brownish rather than the black and white cuckoo pattern the rest of her Maran sisters have.
2. The left side of her head looks malformed, as if the bones of her upper and lower jaws had over developed. (I palpated the enlarged area and it doesn't seem to be the soft tissue at all, rather the bones underneath.)
3. When I bring scratch grains, she is usually one of the girls eating out of my hand. This is where I have seen that she has to swallow quite deliberately... perhaps the malformation makes it hard to swallow?
4. Her muscle tone is poor... I can feel the vertebra in her neck and she's very light for her size.
5. I'm also sure there is no egg production, because there is very little space between her pin bones and just as little space between the keel bone and the pins. (I'm assuming because of the poor nutritional state she has.)
This "syndrome" appears to not be present in the rest of the flock. I'm wondering if anyone knows what this may be... nutritional, genetic, or ?? I have pictures attached.
Thank you! Jenn
