I'm hoping the pictures might help to explain the symptoms. When we resorted to taking one of the chickens to a vet we were given false hope and she was given antibiotics without our permission, meaning the eggs were then no longer edible.
In 27 May 2012 we homed three hens from a hatching project of red hens (Tilly, Milly and Lilly), we think they're ISA Warrens, or something similar. Lilly died on 22 May 2013, the vet said she had respiratory problems, she couldn't walk and wasn't very interested in food on the day she died (unless it was meal worms). As they were a hatching project, we don't think these were vaccinated at all. The vet we spoke to said not to worry about vaccination as we had such a small flock.
We did get a photo of Lilly in her pet carrier on her final day, although I can't work out from the internet if blue eyes are required for her to have Mareks.
In fear of Milly or Tilly being left on their own we bought two hens from a seller who provided details of their vaccination programme. Dolly, a Reverse Sussex and Dotty a Plymouth Rock. Eventually they got along.
On 30 July 2013, Milly died, and the following day Tilly died. There were some photos taken on the 24th of Milly (first, second) and Tilly.
On 21 April 2014 I noticed something was wrong with Dotty, I found her in the garden but not moving very well. She had some blue spots on her leg that I'd not seen before and struggling to move. I thought she'd fallen off something and broken her leg. What we could find on the internet said not to splint it as that can add problems with swelling and not to give her pain relief as she needs to know to keep pressure off.
During the following days I began to wonder if the problem was further up her leg as she started to stick it out to the side, rather than in front, as she strides, it would end up in the correct position as she put her foot down, more or less.
Over the last seven days it seems she cannot keep her foot steady when she stands. It will slowly (or quickly) slide out in front and she'd end up doing something like the splits. Her foot often curls up as this happens. To make matters worse she seems to have gone very broody and doesn't leave the nesting box very often. When I do get her out in the morning and stand her up, she does a large poo but struggles to keep herself up. She doesn't seem able to dust bath anymore and doesn't appear to be able to preen her feathers.
I'm struggling to think what's going on here, as its roughly around the same time of year that Lilly died, could this be poisoning? If so, what could they be eating in such a quantity to do this? Our garden is generally wild, we don't know all the various plants that are growing. I really need to know if we should continue to keep hens as this will be the fourth fatality of roughly a year old hybrid.
Today I thought she may have been getting better but a little later I found her in the garden standing up almost straight and closing and opening her eyes very slowly. Almost like she was about to go. Once I put her back in the coop she seemed to be eating, or it might have been that fake eating.
Do you have any ideas what may be going on here?
In 27 May 2012 we homed three hens from a hatching project of red hens (Tilly, Milly and Lilly), we think they're ISA Warrens, or something similar. Lilly died on 22 May 2013, the vet said she had respiratory problems, she couldn't walk and wasn't very interested in food on the day she died (unless it was meal worms). As they were a hatching project, we don't think these were vaccinated at all. The vet we spoke to said not to worry about vaccination as we had such a small flock.
We did get a photo of Lilly in her pet carrier on her final day, although I can't work out from the internet if blue eyes are required for her to have Mareks.
In fear of Milly or Tilly being left on their own we bought two hens from a seller who provided details of their vaccination programme. Dolly, a Reverse Sussex and Dotty a Plymouth Rock. Eventually they got along.
On 30 July 2013, Milly died, and the following day Tilly died. There were some photos taken on the 24th of Milly (first, second) and Tilly.
On 21 April 2014 I noticed something was wrong with Dotty, I found her in the garden but not moving very well. She had some blue spots on her leg that I'd not seen before and struggling to move. I thought she'd fallen off something and broken her leg. What we could find on the internet said not to splint it as that can add problems with swelling and not to give her pain relief as she needs to know to keep pressure off.
During the following days I began to wonder if the problem was further up her leg as she started to stick it out to the side, rather than in front, as she strides, it would end up in the correct position as she put her foot down, more or less.
Over the last seven days it seems she cannot keep her foot steady when she stands. It will slowly (or quickly) slide out in front and she'd end up doing something like the splits. Her foot often curls up as this happens. To make matters worse she seems to have gone very broody and doesn't leave the nesting box very often. When I do get her out in the morning and stand her up, she does a large poo but struggles to keep herself up. She doesn't seem able to dust bath anymore and doesn't appear to be able to preen her feathers.
I'm struggling to think what's going on here, as its roughly around the same time of year that Lilly died, could this be poisoning? If so, what could they be eating in such a quantity to do this? Our garden is generally wild, we don't know all the various plants that are growing. I really need to know if we should continue to keep hens as this will be the fourth fatality of roughly a year old hybrid.
Today I thought she may have been getting better but a little later I found her in the garden standing up almost straight and closing and opening her eyes very slowly. Almost like she was about to go. Once I put her back in the coop she seemed to be eating, or it might have been that fake eating.
Do you have any ideas what may be going on here?
