Beloved perhaps slightly touched hen ate way too many rocks and afraid she'll die... now what?

tomcam

In the Brooder
Sep 14, 2021
7
20
31
We have 5 easter eggers that just turned 6 months old. They have been laying for about 1 month. They live in a 4x8 coop inside of a beautifully built, fortified 30'x6' chicken run, which is enclosed because here in Seattle there are predators every damn where. Patience, the least strong and lightest of them, collapsed two weeks ago. We took her to the vet and $1,400 later learned.. she ate a lot of rocks, as shown by one of the X-rays below (although I have no idea if that is atypical for a hen; I assume it is). Blood work showed nothing else. No viral infection, Marek's, etc. They gave her Clavamox and Metacam. We put her in a bathroom and she's been improving every day. After a week she was indistinghuishable from normal. We're keeping her in the bathroom for another couple weeks because a) her eggs will be medicated until then since we stopped meds only yesterday, and b) we're slightly worried about putting her back with the others.

No one knows why she ate all the rocks. One assumes stress? She does not appear to be badly bullied at all by the other hens. She's lighter, and tends to keep her head down when we scatter food on the ground. She isn't missing any feathers, or explicitly bullied. Observing her here in the house for the last 2 weeks (we let her out of the bathroom often for walks in the house), she's.. different. She'll eat food the food we deliver her (crumbles, mealworms, fresh basil, salad mix). But when she gets out she resolutely tries to eat everything BUT food. We're remodeling so there's some drywall dust and she tries to eat that even if I've put fresh basil or mealworms near it. If we scatter food she likes when she's hungry she often sort of misses it when she pecks, yet somehow she unerringly finds pieces of drywall or grit from remodeling. Yes, of course I'm vacuuming up all the bits of non-food as I discover it but the point is, I'm afraid she'll just eat too much grit again, and yet somehow manage to eat the wrong stuff when she goes back out with her mates.

This is our first batch of chickens, and I must confess I am absolutely devoted to them. It surprised me TBH. I thought they'd be livestock, but they've become something close to family members. I adore them, and she the most. So the fact that she could very well end up like this again is heartbreaking. If I create another coop for her it will be small because we can't create another giant chicken run. Plus they're pack animals. It is not clear to me that if she had her own personal coop that she would be happy away from the others. I'm not even sure that the others are causing her that much trouble.

A little relevant background about me. I have endured a fair amount of hardship, maybe a bit more than normal (one of my kid calls my childhood "a quaint horror story"). Two weeks after we bought these easter eggers (originally 6) one died a horrible death from a staph infection and it was one of the worst experiences of my life, despite having gone through the deaths of many, many friends and family. Yet her death sent me into a tailspin. These creatures just captured my heart. It's dumb and unexpected. I'm not proud of being so attached to them because I'm normally a super practical guy, but... there you have it.

Any suggestions? I'm at a loss and way more attached than I should be. Thanks!


patience-xray.png
 
I think this is kind of a chicken version of pica - like dogs and cats who eat non-food items. I had a hen who fixated on ANYTHING she could get her beak on- her specialty was stuffing her crop full of hay, weeds, straw, grit, oyster shell - just whatever she could get. No matter how hard I tried she'd always find a way to block her whole digestive system We did crop surgery on her multiple times because nothing else would work in clearing the blockage. During surgery - she would stand there with her crop cut open, and try to eat the stuff I was pulling out ... yep.

She ate real food too - but it was a non-stop problem.

Since your girl is apparently addicted to grit/rocks- Technically chickens whose diet consists of chicken crumble or pellets, for example, don't need grit for digestion as long as that's all they eat. Mealworms should be fine without grit. Grit stays in the gizzard for a little while so you don't have to have it available 24/7- you could remove her for a bit while everyone else gets their grit, then take it away so it's not there for her to gorge on.

If you don't already have 2ft (or taller) hardware cloth attached to your chicken run fencing along the bottom, do that as soon as possible. It will prevent the chickens from reaching through their fence to get outside items - and also keeps them safer as some nasty predators will grab them by the head, decapitate them and - sorry. It really does happen.

Adding hardware cloth, ideally 1/4" - 3ft tall hardware cloth (Amazon has good pricing compared to the big box hardware stores) (wired to your existing fence) should keep most exterior things from ending up inside your hen. Most of us use 1/2" hardware cloth - but given your problem, may as well make the openings even smaller- and this will add another measure of predator security around your birds. I'll leave figuring out the best price for your situation to you, but this is the stuff I'm talking about:

https://www.amazon.com/Fencer-Wire-...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

For the area by your current remodel project, you could consider using a tarp - just the cheapest variety - attach it to the top rail of your fencing, and then stake it down to the ground with tent stakes about 1-2 feet from the fence line, so any drywall and other debris never makes it into the run.

Its a game of prevention. I kept my girl going for quite a while, but it did eventually claim her - in her case I think she also had a narrowing along the digestive tract because even after I separated her, took away anything that could turn into a blockage requiring surgery- she still managed to get backed up on crumble only.
 
Thanks for an amazing and detailed answer that also made me cry, because I think ours is probably similar to yours with the pica or whatever it is.

The remodeling is happening inside our house, not the chicken run, which came first on our list of priorities ;) It is very low-key so tarps aren’t needed at all. It just so happens that we are housing the chicken with us until she recovers. The chicken run is outside the house, already secured with hardware cloth as you described.
 
Like humans, some animals don't know what's best for them, even if we guide them. They're cute and sweet, but after 6 years of farming and committing to chickens, I learned that sometimes it's best to let the little dinos go and work towards having a strong flock. You can't put a price on a personality, but you certainly will come across more cool chickens, remember there's always one in a batch who outshines the rest.:)
 
Like humans, some animals don't know what's best for them, even if we guide them. They're cute and sweet, but after 6 years of farming and committing to chickens, I learned that sometimes it's best to let the little dinos go and work towards having a strong flock. You can't put a price on a personality, but you certainly will come across more cool chickens, remember there's always one in a batch who outshines the rest.:)
I love your answer, which is wise and heartfelt. And yes, this precious creature outshines the rest. I just think she is not long for the world. It hurts so damn much. Wasn’t ready for that,
 
I love your answer, which is wise and heartfelt. And yes, this precious creature outshines the rest. I just think she is not long for the world. It hurts so damn much. Wasn’t ready for that,
Life is precious, beautiful, and tragic all squished into one - save some of her feathers - in the meantime before we lose hope for your shooting star, check those feet, SLM sucks but can be managed with love and time, mostly time. I soak my girls in soapy water(DAWN + Bronners Tea Tree) in a bucket for 10-15 min, use a tooth brush and my fingers to scub/knock loose scales off(repeat as needed). This will help with bumblefoot too, which will look like a dot on the bottom of her foot. Best of luck!
 
I'm a biologist, I fully subscribe to the theory of natural selection, I've witnessed very hard-to-see things regarding animals, and I've dealt with the deaths of my most beloved companions.

My first batch of ducklings included a little guy that developed a severe beak deformity. He just wouldn't grow or feather out, but he was the most awesome little spirit you've ever seen. As it happens all too often with failure to thrive, he just passed away in the night sometime. He was only a couple of weeks old, and I'd already had to bury a few chickens killed by predators or their own stupidity, but when I dug that little grave at the base of a tree next to the creek and I placed him in it, I hadn't cried that hard in so long that I felt the back of my mind contemplating whether there was something medically wrong with me.

The pain was love and the realization of failure; that I couldn't fix it, that life is wonderful and fragile and precious, and only by living it with everything we've got can we truly appreciate everything it gives us. Sometimes I believe that only those of us who have endured a "quaint horror story" and come out the other side can truly feel the depth and power of the universe around us. Or, I could just be an incurable control freak, probably at least a little of that....

Putting my lab coat back on, Pica (in animals) is thought to be related to an unmet need for specific nutrients. Perhaps in this case a mineral, since rocks and drywall are the chosen targets. You might try a "multivitamin" like Rooster Booster Poultry Cell and some feed-grade limestone to see if that makes a difference. Also make sure that grit, oyster shells, and a sand bath are available. (I would go with chick grit, it might be easier to pass if needed.) A quick search points to Phosphorous, Calcium, and Methionine as the top candidates for deficiency. I don't suppose you know what type of rock is prevalent in your area? (I listened to a lecture that mentioned the importance of methionine just the other day, but damned if I can remember the specifics.) I think if you give her free choice of everything I've listed above, you'll cover all but the most obscure mineral needs. Also provide some un-boosted water for her to choose, along with her regular feed, and the extra goodies you mentioned feeding her as treats after a couple of days, the bugs and greens being the most useful.

In the event that she goes completely bonkers with the pica, perhaps a pair of rooster (blinders, goggles?) IDK what they're called, could prevent any weird visual fixation she might have.

Being away from the flock for that long has surely knocked her down to the bottom of the pecking order. You'll probably have to put a dog crate or fence in the coop to keep her and her diet safe from the others for a while, then stay with them as they go to bed for a week to ensure that she doesn't get bullied off of a roost.
 
I'm a biologist, I fully subscribe to the theory of natural selection...
I appear not to have answered this in public. Thought I did. Thank you. I have studied it many times while trying not to be a crybaby and am following these directions. Getting her ready to reintroduce to the flock next week and have reviewed it multiple times. You're a treasure and I am truly fortunate that people like you have my back.

I'm in Seattle and the soil is... godawful. All the soil around her is just clay or something. The chicken run is 70% concrete and 30% soil. We imported some topsoil when we completed the run about 6 weeks ago.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom