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Hello ladies, it's sure been a while since I've been online: everything has been so busy! However, recently one of my buff orpingtons has been exhibiting odd behavior. Over the last 3 months I have kept an eye on her and watched her become less and less active, choosing to puff up and sun herself when the others are wandering around doing their thing. Her feathers aren't as nicely kept as the others, the ends have the frayed look they get just before a molt. And this morning when I went out to feed them, she was laying in the run with one of her wings not quite right. I attempted to just put my hand under her and see if she would stand on her own, immediately noticing that she was too light and she actually fell over and ended up on her back, unable to stand. I rolled her over and noticed that her left toes weren't splaying properly for her to walk, so I gently spread them out and she seemed able to slowly wander around pecking at the scratch.

I put her up on the ladder to the coop to see what she would do. She walked down the ladder to a point (just fine) and then flew off of it and landed poorly, causing her to lay down with one wing out again. And she didn't get up until I went over and set her to rights.

Do you guys have any thoughts? She is 3.5 years old, her vent looked fine, her crop wasn't huge, I'm not seeing anything strange around her nose or her eyes.
 
I recently lost a hen that had similar issues. No solution sadly. About all you can do is remove her to a quiet space and keep trying to get feed into her.

Mixing wet mash (simply wet chicken feed) with scrambled eggs usually works to get them eating.

The one I lost was under a year old. The most similar thing to yours is the being on her side. Mine was fine at 3:30 pm and bad by 5 pm then gone by 8 pm.

I hope what ever is going on with yours is something that can be fixed.
 
jgurshtein said:
Hello ladies, it's sure been a while since I've been online: everything has been so busy! However, recently one of my buff orpingtons has been exhibiting odd behavior. Over the last 3 months I have kept an eye on her and watched her become less and less active, choosing to puff up and sun herself when the others are wandering around doing their thing. Her feathers aren't as nicely kept as the others, the ends have the frayed look they get just before a molt. And this morning when I went out to feed them, she was laying in the run with one of her wings not quite right. I attempted to just put my hand under her and see if she would stand on her own, immediately noticing that she was too light and she actually fell over and ended up on her back, unable to stand. I rolled her over and noticed that her left toes weren't splaying properly for her to walk, so I gently spread them out and she seemed able to slowly wander around pecking at the scratch.


I put her up on the ladder to the coop to see what she would do. She walked down the ladder to a point (just fine) and then flew off of it and landed poorly, causing her to lay down with one wing out again. And she didn't get up until I went over and set her to rights.


Do you guys have any thoughts? She is 3.5 years old, her vent looked fine, her crop wasn't huge, I'm not seeing anything strange around her nose or her eyes.
Click to expand...

Wish I could help, but I have no idea what is ailing your hen. I did have a hen who displayed a lot of your hen's behavior and condition, but she had a messy vent area as well. She started not going into the coop at night, so I isolated her, wormed her, and gave her my best nutritional support.. She seemed to improve, but she never laid an egg and did not cadge for treats as my other hens did. Eventually I partnered her with one of her nicer sons, but there were no eggs despite their compatibility. She died, her only remaining symptom being a lack of vigor. She was one of a group of grown birds I purchased from a breeder, not one of the hens I raised from chicks, and I never mixed the two. I had little information about her group and their history, and at the time, I had no idea why she failed to thrive. Today I would suspect respiratory and/or intestinal disorders. Two others from her group died. I did not do anything heroic to save them, as I am breeding for vigor and good immune systems. I did not take them to the vet or have them necropsied, but I am now more conscientious about the respiratory and intestinal health of my birds. I have a microscope and can do fecal exams.

There are others here who have a lot more experience than I; I look forward to hearing from them. Good luck with your Orp, hope you can get her to recover.
 
Yes, scrambled eggs, including crushed shells, along with mash and/or scratch soaked in milk, create wonderful healthy appetites in the hens I am trying to condition. Makes 'em happy, too.
 
21hens-incharge said:
From what I know of Guinea hens they do not like to be confined. I think if the pen is large enough and has some tall things for them to get on they would be ok.

We got some wind yesterday and last night. Everything is holding together here now. The wind this fall took the metal roofing shelter in the run and moved it to the ground. It is much more secure now.

We are supposed to get a lot more wind in the next few days. Not a huge fan of the snow that is coming our way. Clearing the run is a real chore. With tarps up to block wind I have to take the snow out the run door.

Inconvenience of ranging lol I bet they are loving it. Mine are itching to get digging in my flower beds.
Click to expand...

I just now got my "freerangers"' coop back together, and it is nice and dry and airy - no need to clean it out or refresh or disinfect or anything. What is funny - and why I said inconvenienced - is that, apart from their Dogloos, they have had practically no shelter at all this winter. The mutts from last summer could be seen roosting on their roosts on even 12* days, and I thought for sure that they would come to an ignominious ends. Ha ha, they are the only cocks of all my single-combs that don't have frostbite. They have the Dogloos, though, and that has been enough. I filled a 32 gallon trash can feeder with 3bags of feed, and a 20 gallon heated vessel with water last fall, and the maintenance for the 10 or so birds has been minimal. They just finished the feed down to the last pellet about two weeks ago, just in time for the good foraging weather (soon to end), and they are out all over, even as I type. The other coop, anchored like Ft. Knox, is another story. While it remains impervious to the wind, the earth floor has become muddy and wet from all the snow melt seeping in from the high side, and it needs some serious cleaning. I opened up the coop door to encourage free ranging and to give the coop some time to air out, but there are not many takers of this opportunity today. I need to get more straw for their floor.

One of my little hoop shelter thingies got blown free from its moorings two days ago, and it wasn't until I started looking toward Kansas that I found it in my neighbor's tree. Arrgh I got it back home again, not too much worse for wear, but it demolished my pen fence and did serious damage to the perimeter fence on its way east. Must have looked like a UFO. The only things that seem unfazed by all the high wind are my chickens. At least 4 of the free ranging SS cockerels - the nice ones - attacked me yesterday. Relentlessly. So I cut a few switches today and they learned some respect. They attack from behind while I'm filling feeders and have my hands busy, and it just makes me mad. They team up. They could easily become someone's soup.

I still want to rant some more, but will save my energy for the roos and the fences. These winds must have gusted here at 70 mph; they were horrible. I had nightmares. Hope y'all are doing a lot better and getting ready for the snow.

Hmm, the only guineas I've seen have been penned up - I suppose because they were being bred and raised for show? or sale? I can't imagine them sticking around here, unconfined, with a dog who has a penchant for rounding up and herding all things of a feather. I'm interested, though.
 
Snowing here pretty hard now. Just got home from the hospital. Hubby fell at work and has a bad concussion. He will be fine.

The itty bitty cochin has gone broody and this time in a bad place. She made a hole and got UNDER the coop. No sign of her at lock down tonight. If she comes out in the morning I am filling her hole.

I thought I had simply missed her in the run last night and she spent the night there. Turned out she was under the coop. No chance of reaching her either.

Ornery little monster.



This is her. Kinda mad at her right now. Making me worry more like I did not have enough worries.

Just realized you can see the curled toes on the SS in this pic too. Both of the SS have this same malformation.
 
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It snowed hard enough here for a couple of hours that when I went to pick up my daughter from her work a couple hours ago, the roads were slushy and slippery. While getting her, it slowed down and by the time I got home the roads were clear and just wet. I guess we're not supposed to get much tonight... It's the one starting tomorrow night that's gonna pile up. Impression I'm getting is they still aren't really 100% sure where it will go... north or south route, which will determine how much snow we get and where the heaviest snow ends up. Hope everyone fares well through it.
 

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