chickens29
In the Brooder
1. So simultaneously, two of my hens have had problems. First I will start with my hen who has the "egg" (I think) hanging out her vent.
I have a red crosslink hen who is four years old, and today I discovered a weird yellow blob hanging out of her vent. It's about the size of an egg, and I showed it to my mom and she thinks it's an egg. I haven't touched it, but it has a red spot on it and looks like it's peeling kind of. Her vent seems sort of puffy but I am unsure. She has the same diet as the other hens, with cracked corn, water, bugs in the yard and table scraps, and none of my other hens (ages 2-4) have had this problem.
She is near the top of the pecking order, so I don't think it's an injury done to her. She has had no noticable weight change. I put her in a cage so she isn't hurt, and I haven't seen her poop since the yellow thingy.
2. Then I have my blind hen, this isn't as much as a problem as the other one though, so you can skip over to part 3 for details. Over the past five months or so, one of my red crosslinks who is four years old as well, has become increasingly blind. I think it is simply aging because I looked at her eyes, and they're still normal and don't look like Marek's disease eyes. Her eyes are bright orange like they've always been, and her pupils are black, with no other colors. It takes her about 8 tries to eat food if your holding it right in front of her, but she can find her food and water bowl.
Now she's sick, and she kind of eats. I give her corn and bananas, but she only has a little bit of it. I also give her fresh water twice a day, but I rarely see her drink it. She's always in that hunched, sick position with her eyes kind of droopy, but they aren't completely closed. I'm not sure what I can do for her. I leave her in the coop now, because her tail doesn't droop as much as when she's outside. When she's outside she's usually confused and doesn't seem to like the movement of other hens. I don't believe she is extremely sick because when I touch her, she will move so that I can fill her water bowl. None of the other chickens have access to her food and I usually replace it after a day. It is usually full when I replace it..
I have 5 other four year old hens, and none of them have became blind, so I think it's some genetic thing. She has laid an egg a week ago. She used to lay an egg every day when she was young, but she's old so I don't blame her. Her poop is normal.
3. The coop these hens live in is a shed, with ventilation at the top. The poop is cleaned once a month or so and there is no problem with smell. I don't see particles in the shed and only a small percentage of hens have ever become sick. The blind hen has become sick five times over the last year, and the hen with the yellow blob I think has not been sick previously. I have no idea why my blind hen gets sick so easily, my other chickens are only sick for a day or two, then they're back to normal. I have 16 chickens and no rooster. We have not had any deaths due to sickness in the entire time I've had the chickens, four years.
I might put pictures up tomorrow, I'm not sure where my camera's USB cable has went but I'll go looking for it.
Thank you for reading!
I have a red crosslink hen who is four years old, and today I discovered a weird yellow blob hanging out of her vent. It's about the size of an egg, and I showed it to my mom and she thinks it's an egg. I haven't touched it, but it has a red spot on it and looks like it's peeling kind of. Her vent seems sort of puffy but I am unsure. She has the same diet as the other hens, with cracked corn, water, bugs in the yard and table scraps, and none of my other hens (ages 2-4) have had this problem.
She is near the top of the pecking order, so I don't think it's an injury done to her. She has had no noticable weight change. I put her in a cage so she isn't hurt, and I haven't seen her poop since the yellow thingy.
2. Then I have my blind hen, this isn't as much as a problem as the other one though, so you can skip over to part 3 for details. Over the past five months or so, one of my red crosslinks who is four years old as well, has become increasingly blind. I think it is simply aging because I looked at her eyes, and they're still normal and don't look like Marek's disease eyes. Her eyes are bright orange like they've always been, and her pupils are black, with no other colors. It takes her about 8 tries to eat food if your holding it right in front of her, but she can find her food and water bowl.
Now she's sick, and she kind of eats. I give her corn and bananas, but she only has a little bit of it. I also give her fresh water twice a day, but I rarely see her drink it. She's always in that hunched, sick position with her eyes kind of droopy, but they aren't completely closed. I'm not sure what I can do for her. I leave her in the coop now, because her tail doesn't droop as much as when she's outside. When she's outside she's usually confused and doesn't seem to like the movement of other hens. I don't believe she is extremely sick because when I touch her, she will move so that I can fill her water bowl. None of the other chickens have access to her food and I usually replace it after a day. It is usually full when I replace it..
I have 5 other four year old hens, and none of them have became blind, so I think it's some genetic thing. She has laid an egg a week ago. She used to lay an egg every day when she was young, but she's old so I don't blame her. Her poop is normal.
3. The coop these hens live in is a shed, with ventilation at the top. The poop is cleaned once a month or so and there is no problem with smell. I don't see particles in the shed and only a small percentage of hens have ever become sick. The blind hen has become sick five times over the last year, and the hen with the yellow blob I think has not been sick previously. I have no idea why my blind hen gets sick so easily, my other chickens are only sick for a day or two, then they're back to normal. I have 16 chickens and no rooster. We have not had any deaths due to sickness in the entire time I've had the chickens, four years.
I might put pictures up tomorrow, I'm not sure where my camera's USB cable has went but I'll go looking for it.
Thank you for reading!
