I've got a 1 yr. old BLRW who has gone broody. She started sitting on eggs Friday and I figured I'd give it a day or two to see if she was a true broody (some of my girls seem to just enjoy sitting there for a whole day, and the next day they have no interest).
When she was still there on them Sunday night, I thought about seperating her from everyone else, but figured I'd just do it on Monday. Last night when I put everyone to bed I decided I'd move her and realized that while she had been sitting on those eggs, everyone else must have been picking on her - her comb was bloody and pretty much nonexistent. I moved the whole box into the coop's "entry"way - nobody else can get to her, but they can all still see each other. I put her own food & water in the box, pulled her out for a bit to count & mark the eggs she had, put her back on and she seemed to be fine. [She's extremely tame and growls when the other hens get near her, but doesn't growl at me
].
I went out this morning to let everyone else and wanted to check on her head to see how it was doing. What I didn't see last night, because of the dark was that one of her eyes was completely shut & she could not open it. I cleaned her comb and eye off with warm water, which she tolerated for quite some time.
Has anyone had an eye problem like this? It looks like her eye is just closed. After cleaning, there's no bleeding, seeping, leaking, or anything else coming from the eye and I can see her moving her eye underneath the closed lids.
*** This hen, Gimp, is apptly named - as this spring she had a major fungal infection in one of her feet that caused her to lose the nails. The infection has since been treated, has not gotten worse & she is good spirits, but the foot is permanantly disfigured. I figure after spending over $100 on her foot, her going broody is her way of paying me back and hopefully giving me some chicks this summer....but now look at what's happened to her!! **These pictures are prior to treatment of the foot**
At this point, my course of action is to keep washing with warm water for as long as she'll let me. I'm nervous that if I push it too much, she'll leave this batch of eggs [her health is far more important to me, but after what this poor girl has gone through this summer, I think hatching some chicks would really cheer her up!].
When she was still there on them Sunday night, I thought about seperating her from everyone else, but figured I'd just do it on Monday. Last night when I put everyone to bed I decided I'd move her and realized that while she had been sitting on those eggs, everyone else must have been picking on her - her comb was bloody and pretty much nonexistent. I moved the whole box into the coop's "entry"way - nobody else can get to her, but they can all still see each other. I put her own food & water in the box, pulled her out for a bit to count & mark the eggs she had, put her back on and she seemed to be fine. [She's extremely tame and growls when the other hens get near her, but doesn't growl at me
I went out this morning to let everyone else and wanted to check on her head to see how it was doing. What I didn't see last night, because of the dark was that one of her eyes was completely shut & she could not open it. I cleaned her comb and eye off with warm water, which she tolerated for quite some time.
Has anyone had an eye problem like this? It looks like her eye is just closed. After cleaning, there's no bleeding, seeping, leaking, or anything else coming from the eye and I can see her moving her eye underneath the closed lids.
*** This hen, Gimp, is apptly named - as this spring she had a major fungal infection in one of her feet that caused her to lose the nails. The infection has since been treated, has not gotten worse & she is good spirits, but the foot is permanantly disfigured. I figure after spending over $100 on her foot, her going broody is her way of paying me back and hopefully giving me some chicks this summer....but now look at what's happened to her!! **These pictures are prior to treatment of the foot**
At this point, my course of action is to keep washing with warm water for as long as she'll let me. I'm nervous that if I push it too much, she'll leave this batch of eggs [her health is far more important to me, but after what this poor girl has gone through this summer, I think hatching some chicks would really cheer her up!].
