Bantam polish...humped back with tail down and wings out.

[Krysea79]

It has been a little over a month and peach was doing better. Seemed normal for the most part. However about a week ago I noticed some of the hens pecking at her and she had her head and tail down again. I shooed them and fed them and she seemed fine. She has been fine since that point until tonight....

Tonight she was head down wings down and tail down coming out of the run ( I let them free range under supervision for about an hour a night. Otherwise they have a 9x20 foot run they are in...thirteen bantam chickens so not overcrowded though they move as a flock). When I went up to her I noticed both of her legs were trembling. She had no interest in food or water. Crop was empty and she is not egg bound but could see some runny poop by vent so assuming diarrhea. I am going to give her a bath as that perked her up last time. I have her separated again. Last time at vet was told she looked fine but maybe something neurological. Does anyone have any ideas? I can not find any injuries on her but could it still be a result of hen pecking? Your help is truly appreciated!!

 

[azygous]

Is she being bullied? If you don't know, you need to spend a little time observing how the flock interacts with her especially when food is involved. She has the symptoms of starvation. To test this theory, give her a cup of water with one teaspoon sugar in it. If she perks up and stops the leg shaking, then it indicates she's starving.

 

[Krysea79]

I have never seen crazy bullying going on. Just a peck here and there when they move past (no chasing or pinning etc) she is one of my smaller hens but not the smallest by far. She is also not starving. Even the vet commented on how she is definitely not a starving chicken . You can not feel her breastbone at all and they always have food available in multiple areas of the run. Vet thought maybe she had a peck to the head or something else that causes neurological issues. I keep hoping she will bounce back like last time but I don't think that is the case. Her crop is empty and she has meal worms and scrambled eggs right next to her that she is not touching. She didn't eat last time she did this either...

 

[Krysea79]

I thought maybe a calcium deficiency before as her eggs were a little thin. I have now mixed oyster shell with their layer feed and am offering them lots of meal worms as treats to up calcium. Hard to tell which eggs are hers as all 13 lay in one of two areas and I have mostly polish hens. That being said I have not noticed any thin shelled eggs recently.

 

[Krysea79]

So I talked with a friend that watches our chickens and she was remarking on the fact that our chickens ignore the layer feed when i put it out and always wait for the treats i tell her to throw. I usually give them (13 chickens) a half scoop of black oiled sun flow seeds and a handful of meal worms (or black soldier flies depending on what I purchased). Their layer feed goes into two little dishes we have by the doors as they do not eat it as quick and I like to take it and dump anything left over at night to discourage rats. Usually there is only a tiny bit left over but we do have squirrels that will enter the run and help themselves to some as well. I give a large scoop in the morning and a half scoop at night of the layer feed. As we had a few cold snaps in "winter" (South Florida) I did buy some scratch grains as I heard it helps generate warmth. I have been giving this to the birds instead of the black oiled sunflower seeds for the past few months. I am wondering if Peach is just not eating the layer feed and only eating the treats and now has a vitamin imbalance. If she gets healthy enough I am going to seperate her and a few of our other lower on the pecking order birds and put them in the other coop and only offer layer feed.

Right now she is still alive. Looks a little perkier this morning. Her poop was runny last night. I hope she will make it until I am home from work.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Omit all goodies for a week or so and see if that makes a difference.

I love to give mine a little treat most days, mine also "expect" something, they start "calling me" (roosters crowing, hens squawking and fussing) about the same time every single day (treat time!). Some days they don't get anything extra so they have to eat their feed, but I do provide feed free choice for the day, so they do have plenty available, they just want a bit of treat like scratch, eggs, sprouts, etc.

 

[Krysea79]

So when I got home from work she was completely normal again . I let her out to free range for an hour and put up the run divider. I now have her and two other smaller polish and two seramas in a coop and half the run together. I'm going to cut all treats and I know she is higher on the pecking order than those 4 so she can be head chicken for a bit in that coop. Hopefully this doesn't happen again

 

[DeborahDi]

Oh dear, I have a 6 year old (past egg-laying) Royal Palm Turkey with the same symptoms, and no avian vet in the area. I'll try Calcium citrate, salt and an egg yolk (!!!) for her. She eats a bit of yogurt (with maple syrup). Any other tips, any wisdom from the vet?