- Apr 18, 2009
- 90
- 0
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Hello, I am a first time chicken owner. I have 6 pullets, 3 Bard Rocks and 3 ISA browns, they are about 18 weeks. One began laying at about 15 weeks, another laid 4 days ago. This girl is a Bard rock and I do not think she has laid yet, I am fairly confident about that actually. she has always been a peppy bird, who runs for attention, will jump in my lap, pecks at everything and is definitely one of my favorites. We were gone all last week and left the girls in the hands of a neighbor who has had chickens before. All did well, one day she fed them a yellow straight squash from my garden that had been partially eaten by another animal. I would not have done this but found out way too late to stop it. This chicken was fine yesterday afternoon, now she is not. Last night, after bringing them in from their enclosed outdoor run, she was very snuggley so my DD brought her in and held her for a while, she sweetly laid in her lap and went to sleep, it did not seem unusual for her. Later in the evening my DH went out to the coop and said she was roosting on top of the nest boxes,,,I guess he did not give them enough slope...but I told him to just leave her for the night and we would do something about this in the morning. Noone has ever roosted in this place, so she clearly separated herself, this has never been seen before.
This morning we found a bit of pooh that was all green with a tiny bit of white, it was soft, but not terribly abnormal, Then there was another pile that looked more like bile filled vomet, it was foamy, yellowish, and green grass was in it. This was very unusual as we have not seen that before in the coop. This is described by my DD as I am blind and DH is out of town and the neighbor who has had chickens before is on vacation. We look at the link on pooh and she thinks it looks most like the one 25 week chick but nothing matched exactly. There has been no pooh from the chicken since about 10 this morning for sure as she is right here with me. She is currently in a pet carrier in the room with me, she does not move much, will not go get food water even though it is only inches away, she just preened her feathers but her eyes were closed while she did it and it was only a half-hearted effort. When this girl was found this morning, she was perched with head hanging, eyes shut. She only responds to touch and she will lift her head and make little squeeky like noises. She does not seem to notice food water in front of her as she does not open her eyes, if I dip her beak in water she will use her tongue but does not really drip. She is refusing food completely now. I picked her up and she did not even really flap as usual. I brought her in the house and held her in my lap. Her eyes stay mostly shut, head tends to droop, she can stand but usually gets in a perch stance. She does not really walk. When she is standing, as in right now, she is still, stiff, sometimes tale feathers are down, but not always, she does not look like she is straining and there is nothing around her vent area. She sort of groans when I touch her at all. I have felt around her vent, abdomin, ribs and she does not seem to be tender, she feels like the other birds upon conparison. She is very still. She feels warm but this may just seem so because I have held her for hours and because she is huddled down, but her beak feels warm and I have never noticed that. I have gotten her to drink a few sips of water, a few bites of water and medicaded layer mash mixed to soft consistancy, and she ate about a teaspoon of plain yogurt which she ate pretty well. There is no discharge from the nose or eyes, the feathers seem to be firmly in and none pull out. I can not feel any bugs on her but will have DH look when he gets home...if that is not too late. I do not have transportation to get electralites or other meds and would not really know what to get. What can I do to maybe help until I can get someone here to get supplies and what would we buy first. They are kept in an inside coop with pine nugget shavings, scoop very well every day, perch and scrape board are cleaned daily and washed weekly. Water is changed daily and food container is emptied and washed weekly. The bedding is dry, clean, and topped off 12 days ago. They have an outside suspended fresh air/covered run until they lay each day so this is a wire flore so they are not ever standing in old pooh, food or other yuck. When they are done laying, I let them out of the coop/suspended run to an outside run, they are out for about 8 or more hours per day, they are in an inclosed pen, on the lawn with access to grass, weeds and bugs naturally in the lawn, no standing water, compost, or garden access. And, no other birds/animals can get to their food/water/area. I move the outside run when the grass is eaten and the ground is full of pooh, about every week to 10 days. We use no chemicals on our lawn or garden. but, the neighbor had a hornet problem and a bug man was there, the outside pen is about 50 ft from the fence plus another 10 feet to where the hornet nest was, could something have drifted over, this was yesterday afternoon? She is so still, sleepy, it is so sad I can hardly stop crying, the kids are sad and I feel helpless. Please give me any suggestions. DH will be home in about 2 hours, I hope that will not be too late.
Beth
This morning we found a bit of pooh that was all green with a tiny bit of white, it was soft, but not terribly abnormal, Then there was another pile that looked more like bile filled vomet, it was foamy, yellowish, and green grass was in it. This was very unusual as we have not seen that before in the coop. This is described by my DD as I am blind and DH is out of town and the neighbor who has had chickens before is on vacation. We look at the link on pooh and she thinks it looks most like the one 25 week chick but nothing matched exactly. There has been no pooh from the chicken since about 10 this morning for sure as she is right here with me. She is currently in a pet carrier in the room with me, she does not move much, will not go get food water even though it is only inches away, she just preened her feathers but her eyes were closed while she did it and it was only a half-hearted effort. When this girl was found this morning, she was perched with head hanging, eyes shut. She only responds to touch and she will lift her head and make little squeeky like noises. She does not seem to notice food water in front of her as she does not open her eyes, if I dip her beak in water she will use her tongue but does not really drip. She is refusing food completely now. I picked her up and she did not even really flap as usual. I brought her in the house and held her in my lap. Her eyes stay mostly shut, head tends to droop, she can stand but usually gets in a perch stance. She does not really walk. When she is standing, as in right now, she is still, stiff, sometimes tale feathers are down, but not always, she does not look like she is straining and there is nothing around her vent area. She sort of groans when I touch her at all. I have felt around her vent, abdomin, ribs and she does not seem to be tender, she feels like the other birds upon conparison. She is very still. She feels warm but this may just seem so because I have held her for hours and because she is huddled down, but her beak feels warm and I have never noticed that. I have gotten her to drink a few sips of water, a few bites of water and medicaded layer mash mixed to soft consistancy, and she ate about a teaspoon of plain yogurt which she ate pretty well. There is no discharge from the nose or eyes, the feathers seem to be firmly in and none pull out. I can not feel any bugs on her but will have DH look when he gets home...if that is not too late. I do not have transportation to get electralites or other meds and would not really know what to get. What can I do to maybe help until I can get someone here to get supplies and what would we buy first. They are kept in an inside coop with pine nugget shavings, scoop very well every day, perch and scrape board are cleaned daily and washed weekly. Water is changed daily and food container is emptied and washed weekly. The bedding is dry, clean, and topped off 12 days ago. They have an outside suspended fresh air/covered run until they lay each day so this is a wire flore so they are not ever standing in old pooh, food or other yuck. When they are done laying, I let them out of the coop/suspended run to an outside run, they are out for about 8 or more hours per day, they are in an inclosed pen, on the lawn with access to grass, weeds and bugs naturally in the lawn, no standing water, compost, or garden access. And, no other birds/animals can get to their food/water/area. I move the outside run when the grass is eaten and the ground is full of pooh, about every week to 10 days. We use no chemicals on our lawn or garden. but, the neighbor had a hornet problem and a bug man was there, the outside pen is about 50 ft from the fence plus another 10 feet to where the hornet nest was, could something have drifted over, this was yesterday afternoon? She is so still, sleepy, it is so sad I can hardly stop crying, the kids are sad and I feel helpless. Please give me any suggestions. DH will be home in about 2 hours, I hope that will not be too late.
Beth
