Our five year old Speckled Sussex, Peach, hasn’t been doing so well the last couple of weeks. We have a flock of eight and Peach is (and always has been) top hen. They have a coop that’s approximately 4’x16’ with a wood pellet floor. The attached run is about 222 sq.ft. with a dirt ground. They are fed Nutrena layer crumble 16% and are given kitchen scraps/scratch.
We noticed Peach not getting around as well as she used to, and chalked it up to her being the size she is and getting a little older. She was still out exploring with the rest of the flock when free ranged. Fast forward a couple weeks ago and she started not walking as much. The end of last week she started to not roost at night, she would try and lay in the corner of the coop (under the roosts) but I would pick her up and put her in a kennel. I should have removed her that night, but she was fine during the day with the rest of the flock so I wasn’t too concerned.
On Tuesday I noticed her legs were really splotched with red patches and her toes were also curled. I soaked her in an epsom salt bath and then put coconut oil on her legs. I also used DE on her to treat for mites (and the rest of the flock). She seemed to really perk up after her soak.
Wednesday I gave her another soak in the morning and coconut oil on legs. That’s the day things got worse. She would just lay on her side and was very unstable on her legs. Had pretty much given up on even trying to walk. I started giving her Poultry Cell (3ml) on Wednesday and I picked up some vitamin B complex to give her as well (1/2 tab).
We noticed Peach not getting around as well as she used to, and chalked it up to her being the size she is and getting a little older. She was still out exploring with the rest of the flock when free ranged. Fast forward a couple weeks ago and she started not walking as much. The end of last week she started to not roost at night, she would try and lay in the corner of the coop (under the roosts) but I would pick her up and put her in a kennel. I should have removed her that night, but she was fine during the day with the rest of the flock so I wasn’t too concerned.
On Tuesday I noticed her legs were really splotched with red patches and her toes were also curled. I soaked her in an epsom salt bath and then put coconut oil on her legs. I also used DE on her to treat for mites (and the rest of the flock). She seemed to really perk up after her soak.
Wednesday I gave her another soak in the morning and coconut oil on legs. That’s the day things got worse. She would just lay on her side and was very unstable on her legs. Had pretty much given up on even trying to walk. I started giving her Poultry Cell (3ml) on Wednesday and I picked up some vitamin B complex to give her as well (1/2 tab).
