Asking if she had ever laid an egg was a good question, in my opinion. Sometimes a hen may become egg bound which can lead to a temporary nerve paralysis. Also the pullet just recently became lame, and some birds lay as early as 16 weeks.
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I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your other pullet. She may have been beaten by the cockerel, you never know, but I would have expected to see some blood - any ripped neck feathers, bloody comb, etc. I've had a hen beaten up a bit before and it's evident.I think it is the one young, large cockerel who is the problem. She had no blood on her I could see, I think she was just beat to death.
Well, comparing her to one that has not been sick...the BA looks like she could be ready to lay or is laying.View attachment 1670305 View attachment 1670304
If you compare this pic of the hen with the one from a couple weeks ago, you can see her comb is now very pale. I think the bits of black are frostbite from when she was still in the coop. And the other pic shows the rooster (black and white one in the front) who I think could be the problem. He is quite large, and very rough with the girls. The black hen right next to him is a full size black Australorp. The smaller roo behind him is closer to a full size roo, but a bit younger.
I'm sorry she is not improving. Making the decision to put her down, I'm sure is hard, but you are taking her quality of life (and yours) into consideration.I have made a decision after talking to the vet tech again that I am going to end this hen's life since I cannot do it on my own after caring for her for 6 weeks. I talked with the tech about Marek's, and she said they do see cases of it up here (central NY) but it costs $300 for the necropsy and I am not willing to pay that. I will have them feel around her legs and back end and see if they can determine the cause, but I don't think it's worth getting an x-ray either because I am not going to do anything if there are broken bones, or dislocated parts.
After finding the dead hen in the coop on Sunday, and then yesterday finding my Buff Orp rooster with a bloody head, I am convinced that the Barred mix roo is the problem. I tried to catch him yesterday to separate him but was unsuccessful. Winter ice/snow storm, grumpy me and hub because we both had to work, the best I could do was lock up the Orp roo in the crate he was hiding in to keep him safe overnight.
I will make another effort today to lock up the bad guy, but I think I know now that he is the source of all my woes.
My thanks to all of you for talking me through this. I truly appreciate it!