Fist Time posting.. I have a few questions.

[DY83]

My wife and I started having chickens to get eggs. We started 2.5 years ago. With Four pullets. As they got older one of them turned out ti be a rooster so we traded the rooster for another pullet. We brought her home and she is a Buff. I started calling her Henny Penny just being playful. So the other two ended up with names as well/ Red and Winnie. Penny was special though. She would jump up on my shoulder for a ride when I would bend over for whatever reason.

Winnie was smartest though she would always find a way to get out of the chicken run I made. It's been fixed since. But she ended up being killed by our German Shepherd. About 10 months after we got her. So it was just Red and Penny. For the longest.

Anyway, long story short Penny is the only one of the original three we have left. (we have three Rhode Island Reds plus penny now) Penny is about 2.5 years old. The other morning I went out and checked on them before work like I always do and she wasn't on the perch like always she was on the floor of the coop and when i shined my flashlight in she cocked her head at me but it was like it was twisting all away around the wrong way. She kept twisting her head at me and It freaked me out I grabbed her and put her out into the chicken run and woke my wife up. When i came back out she was walking around and was her head wasn;t doing that thing anymore. She kind of walked around looking around but wasn't at full speed. I quickly pulled up on my phone and typed in what it appeared she was doing and Mereks( sp) disease showed up. That, and a vitamin deficiency.

I went in an mixed a new batch of water with a vitamin packet and gave her some. later that day I gave her vitamin E. But before I get too far ahead of myself. While we were standing there with her she let out a poop and it was watery with a pale yellow look to it. This scared me because red had died after I saw this kind of poo from her. I did'nt know what to do I truied everything i knew but it was too late for RED.

Anyway, when i saw that i was scared we were going to lose her too. I went to work and told my wife to update me. She said she was out with the other chicks all day. And seemed to be fine. This was last Tuesday so 6 days ago. Since then she has stayed on the roost all night and her poops have been back to normal. Maybe I'm being paranoid. And I hope so.


Sorry this is scattered but i remember stuff as i go. My wife had read about a sour crop and thought maybe that had something to do with it. So I felt her crop it was full and felt the normal size and she didn't seem like it hurt her for me to touch. The next day she really didn't eat much at all. I felt her crop and it felt empty. And she pecked around at the food but didn't really get into it much.

But since then she has stayed with the younger hens. They are all just starting to lay. About 7-8 months old I believe. She seems to eat when I throw scratch out for them. But she no longer eats frantically like she doesn't want any of the new girls to have any. Also when I hold a bag of meal worms up she would jump up and peck the bag. She doesn't that.

So she is eating and drinking normally. And she has no swollen eyes or discharge from eyes or nose. I do not however know if she is laying. They are all on crazy cycles I get three eggs a day then I get two eggs a day. yesterday I Got one. And their eggs all look alike. One of them has laid an egg overnight the last two nights . i have no clue which one that was.


So am i just being paranoid and worrying for nothing? Her little personality has changed as far as pecking feed bag and trying to hog all the food. Other wise she is doing fine.

Sorry this is so long but I have been worried about her for a week now.

 

[chickens really]

She sounds normal so far...?

Sometimes, what we think are good for Chickens to eat are actually causing more harm than good......Bread is not good for Chickens, either is yogurt.....To much snacks each day causes poor health....You never mentioned these things so I just did.......

Chickens do better on Chicken feed.......Grit, and oyster shell and 5% other types of snacks daily....1 Tablespoon per day if that?


Best of luck


Cheers!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Maybe it is for nothing. I would be concerned she isn't doing normal behavior, like jumping down off the roost first thing in the morning cause she should be hungry and thirsty then. That's all I read that indicates anything very wrong. Chickens have a near sighted eye and a far sighted eye so as you move closer or farther away, they'll twist their head around to see better. Perhaps that's what you witnessed.

Rhode Island Reds tend to be the bullies of a mixed flock. She was probably to dominate them when they were younger but now that they are nearly full grown, they may be dominant now. She is also likely still missing her friend. You said buff, but buff what? Is her breed Orpington, Cochin, Brahma, Ameraucana, Chantecler, Minorca, Plymout Rock, etc.? Her breed will have a bearing on how she relates to the RIRs.

Your older bird's eggs should be much bigger than the 7 month olds' so perhaps she has molted and is taking her winter break.

Chickens Really makes good points about food.

 

[DY83]

Buff Orpington.

Their coop is on one end of the chicken run and the run is about 18 feet long and when i come out of my door they all come running to the end closer to me. This includes her. And as far as picking I havent witnessed any of this.


She was alone in the coop for about 5 months after her buddy died. and she was fine. We had a hard time finding Pullets and found two pullets at a menanite farm They were having a sale. This was august of this year. We got another Buff Oprington and a Rhode island. She did not appreciate that. LOL. It took her about 4-5 weeks to behave around them. Then out of nowhere the little Buff I noticed standing all alone and and she kept closing her eyes while she stood there and had that watery and pale yellow poop that my other chick showed before dying. And I gave her vitamin water and that night she was still outside after the other two had gone up into the coup she died about 30 minutes later.

Anyway we got two more RIR's from a friend who was moving and they were actually already laying when we got them but they told us they were born in last may. The menanite pullet started laying about two weeks ago. She is just a tad younger than the other two.

The menanite RIR and the buff always hang together and the other two hang together but they all congregate with each other a lot and i have seen no bullying going on.

 

[DY83]

You said something about not running out of coop. i go out and check on them at 6:30 in the a.m. She wasnot on the perch she was on the pine shavings sitting and that is unlike her. When daylight hits she is out of there with the rest of them She doesn't stay in. So like i said I may be just being paranoid. Because when it was just her if she stayed in the coop or out in the run that was how she was.

i fear I'm doing the web md thing where you read symptoms and convince yourselfyou have something fatal but its just a snotty nose.LOL. I have been readin this forum for months now whenever I want to find out if something is good bad etc for them. And if one stands by itself for a minute i thinks she is separating herself because she is sick etc. Penny is a sweet heart. And I miss the shoulder rides but she is too big now. But she always runs up to me when Im close by.

Just dont want her to be sick

 

[bobbi-j]

How long is your roost? Could it be the others are crowding her off of it? If it were my chicken, I wouldn't panic if she's acting normal in every other way.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You said something about not running out of coop. i go out and check on them at 6:30 in the a.m. She wasnot on the perch she was on the pine shavings sitting and that is unlike her. When daylight hits she is out of there with the rest of them She doesn't stay in. So like i said I may be just being paranoid. Because when it was just her if she stayed in the coop or out in the run that was how she was.

i fear I'm doing the web md thing where you read symptoms and convince yourselfyou have something fatal but its just a snotty nose.LOL. I have been readin this forum for months now whenever I want to find out if something is good bad etc for them. And if one stands by itself for a minute i thinks she is separating herself because she is sick etc. Penny is a sweet heart. And I miss the shoulder rides but she is too big now. But she always runs up to me when Im close by.

Just dont want her to be sick

Well a snotty nose is a problem. I missed that in your first post.