Egg break inside / soft shell

[Skibum]

Mmmmm donuts.... Glad she is still kickin! She is a pretty girl. What breed is she?

She’s an accidental mix from what I could tell. My first batch of chicks I got from feather lover farms I won’t do that again. They’re so overpriced and I lost two cream legbars early to what I assume was genetic issues bc all my other hens were fine. Also got a bunch of roos and my area you can’t really find anywhere to rehome. Culling was not my cup of tea so looking at Meyer for this spring so I can get females only. Hopefully they vaccinate for Mareks I’ll look into that.

I digress. She looked like my Double Silver Laced Barnevelders as a chick but the colors were muted. Additionally her legs are grey not yellow. She laid gorgeous green speckled eggs. Therefore I deduced that she is a DSLB mixed with an Isbar.

 

[Skibum]

I don’t eat meat. I feel if you eat meat you should be able to face the reality of where it comes from. I did feed the culled rooster to guests in thanksgiving which made me feel better about it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her comb is not as red but it’s sort of hard to say because she does have some healing frost bite at the top which was discolored before all this. Ugh. Biggest concern is the floppiness of her comb which has never happened before this (suspect dehydration).

I think she looks pretty good.

Having frostbite and currently not laying, her comb may be a bit droopy, but overall, I think she's looks fine.

They do like to be spoiled at times. Since she seems to want the food held, try raising it up off the floor onto a block of wood and putting the food in a bright colored bowl.
If you have a chick feeder and water station, try those. Odd as it sounds, I've had several poorly hens that showed great interest in those tiny little feed and waterers and they were keen on using them so now I just try those first if I have a sick hen.

 

[Skibum]

I think she looks pretty good.

Having frostbite and currently not laying, her comb may be a bit droopy, but overall, I think she's looks fine.

They do like to be spoiled at times. Since she seems to want the food held, try raising it up off the floor onto a block of wood and putting the food in a bright colored bowl.
If you have a chick feeder and water station, try those. Odd as it sounds, I've had several poorly hens that showed great interest in those tiny little feed and waterers and they were keen on using them so now I just try those first if I have a sick hen.

Her water is in a chick feeder now. I’ll clean out another one and try some regular feed in one I can figure out a way to raise them up. I’m going to the grocery store tomorrow and I’ll get some sweet potato and tuna to try some more snacks for her. Today she ate some rice, pomegranate and meal worms. She also drank some water. She seems to only eat and drink when I’m giving her attention. She wouldn’t eat or drink much before work. I was getting pretty close to feeling it might be time to call it but then tonight she ate quite a bit of the above things listed and drank about 10 mouthfuls of water. She also was very alert and looking around the laundry room when I let her out and flew up on top of the crate. Poop is still watery and a milky yellow color with some green in it. Doesn’t make me feel great about the situation but I have 2 days off now to give her more intensive care. I’ll see what the vet says back about switching antibiotics.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Chickens are used to mostly eating as a flock or group, so she may just be naturally eating better when she has a buddy (You) with her.

Do you feel she's able to go outside with her flock for limited periods of time? She may eat better when she's with them, but then again, she's been separated out, so they may not be quite so keen on her being there either.

 

[Skibum]

Chickens are used to mostly eating as a flock or group, so she may just be naturally eating better when she has a buddy (You) with her.

Do you feel she's able to go outside with her flock for limited periods of time? She may eat better when she's with them, but then again, she's been separated out, so they may not be quite so keen on her being there either.

I was thinking I’d bring her out a few times over the next two days and see how it goes.

 

[Skibum]

ugh I really wanted to do my chicken chores today and get Genny out with the other chooks for a minute but it’s blizzarding so bad even the dog doesn’t really want to be outside. Alive and alert with good tail carriage today but still limited interest in eating or drinking. She seems to be more interested in both in the afternoon/evening. I’m discouraged.

Feeling like my top priority now once the weather calms a little will be reintegrating her and hoping that helps with the eating and drinking. I’ve stopped giving daily baths because it’s a hassle and didn’t really seem to help. I’ll probably give her one more bath tonight because her tail feathers are a little dirty. I’m a little worried about it being harder to get her meds done when she’s outside but it will give me more time to be with the other chickens if they aren’t separated and Idk it doesn’t really seem like Genny is getting much better or much worse inside so perhaps it’s for the best to try to get her back with her friends sooner than keep trying to baby her inside.

Edited Update: vet said I can try Amoxicillian must be given with food. Luckily I went to the store and got some yummy snacks to try to get her to eat more. Yogurt, winter squash baby food, sardines in olive oil no salt and tuna in water no salt. Will try to sardines and winter squash tonight and give her the new antibiotics they said to continue Tylosin.

Second Update: today was not a good day for me. Genny looks about the same but she wouldn’t eat or drink much and she’s being a pain with meds. She shakes her head so dramatically when I’m trying to do the antibiotics I’m not sure I got more than half the amoxicillin down. I’m really frustrated. My path to the chicken run got completely blown over by the blizzard and I had to dig out for a while to get into their run. I’m about at my wits end. Walked through knee deep snow to get there. Didn’t have time to do all my snow work before dark because I spent hours today trying to get Genny her meds and to take some food. Felt like giving up today we will see hopefully tomorrow is better.

 

[Skibum]

Thankfully some good news today. The sun was out which I think is what I needed and let me get Genny out with the flock. I did have to mitigate some pecking order stuff but she was soooo happy. She had a nice long dust bath and my rooster was so cute helping her dig the hole. She ate some with the other girls and they really loved getting as much of her sardine snack as they could get their beaks on. Genny didn’t really drink from the waterer but she was eating snow. Then later when she was back inside she was drinking and eating on her own! She didn’t have a giant food boob like her sisters but she did eat enough to have enough food in her crop to be able to feel.

I really needed some Genny miracle today. Not out of the woods but much better. 3 more days of prescribed amoxicillin. I’ll have to wait til my next days off to get her back in with the flock I think but if she makes it til then that’s my plan.

 

[JoeCT]

Hope all is well!

 

[Skibum]

I wish I had something big and miraculous to share with y’all but sadly I just don’t. Genny has been better about drinking on her own but probably still not enough. On our field trips to the flock she mostly eats snow and occationally some chicken feed but still not much. Limited to no interest in the yummy higher calorie snacks I try to give her. Today she loved some finely chopped red cabbage so that’s what she got. Unfortunately it feels like I’m waiting for her to starve. She’s still alert with high tail. I will try to get her back with the flock W/Thurs more permanently if she makes it that long but I’m also worried about her being picked on to the point of injury.