Thank you everyone. I have my sick girl some sugar water last night and this morning she is eating her layer feed like skew hadn't eaten in days. I made her oatmeal with egg layer supplement added and she ate just a bit of it but really ate the scrambled egg and crushed shell I provided this afternoon. I believe she is the one that laid a shellless egg this morning. I've always put oyster shell out for them but I'm thinking about also providing crushed egg shells. They seem to eat the egg shells better than the oyster shell. They also like to eat dog food so I believe I'll get done cat food next time I'm in town to put out for them. I have recently gotten done new birds from a swap meet and also from an individual off of Craigslist. My sick girl is a Bovan Brown. I bought 4 Bovan Brown hens and got a free one winged RIR mix rooster with them in the middle of the summer as 2yo. My swap meet girls I've had for about 2 weeks. One is a Gold Laced Wyandotte and is supposed to be around 2yo, the 2nd is supposed to be an Americauna, I'm sure she is an Easter Egger instead, that is also supposed to be 2yo and was in very poor shape. She was missing most of her back feathers and the feathers she did have look very dull. She is very timid and is a nervous wreck most of the time. She is finally starting to perk up, gain some weight, grow her feathers back in and her other feathers seem more healthy. I've not gotten any eggs from either of these 2.
Just last week my husband bought me 4 Americauna, probably Easter Eggers, hens and a light Brahma pair off of Craigslist. All these are supposed to be under 1yo but reportedly recently started laying. They are nice big healthy looking birds. The rooster has not crowed yet so I believe they are really young. I built them a separate coop to give them a separate area. I've not gotten any eggs from these hens yet! I do provide supplemental light but i leave it on 24/7 to help detour predators as both coops are in my horse barn and we have problems with skunks and snakes out here. If anybody has any tips for me I'd love to hear them. Thank you! I'm so glad my girl seems to be doing better.
