Help! My flock sick and fighting

[CowboysAngels]

Had three Bantums that I inherited with the coop. I got 7 chicks from Tractor Supply and they grew up and lay now. One large chicken got Merack's disease and was paralzyed. She also had tape worms. We gave tape worm medicine to all chickens after we put the sick bird down. Then alot of bottom pecking started that left the chickens bottoms bare. At the same time, another bantum got very broody and was pecked almost to death. I took her to lab and had a necropsy. She had this...

General Results
Sections of the heart, liver, kidneys, crop, small intestine, pancreas, thyroid glands, and the mass in the wall of cecum
were examined. The crop showed thickening of the surface epithelium, with very mild mycosis (likely caused by
Candida sp.). One liver section had two foci of necrosis with infiltration of heterophils and lymphocytes. The mass in the
wall of the cecum was found to be a caseous mass with numerous intralesional bacteria and with fibrosis and lymphoid
cell infiltration. No lesions were found in the other sections.
Page 1 of 2 - Final (12/27/2013)
Accession No: R1334795

Diagnosis
A caseous mass in the wall of a cecum, with compression of the wall of the other cecum and of the ileum between the two
ceca by the mass.
No roundworms or tapeworms were found in the intestine.

Now I have have another Bantum that went super broody and they are pecking her head a bunch. I pulled her for four days and put back in and they attacked again. I thought it was the only big hen that had a full feathered bottom (meaning she is probably the one that is doing all the pecking), but it was actually all of them to her.

Do you think this one is sick as well? They can tell when a hen is sick and I know that is part of there survival mechanism.

Help! If I have this bantum put down, I will only have one left and that one is my absolute favorite! She is like a dog that follows me around.

Julie Hansen

 

[kubota girl]

if she is sick(hopefully not) try to feed her water with a dash of sugar in it... if she wont drink than get a kitten bottle with a long nipple and drop into her mouth. By what you were saying i cant tell if she is sick though .

 

[cafarmgirl]

How much space do you have these birds in? I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the broody is sick just because they are pecking her. You'll have to determine if her behavior is broody or if she's sick. If this flock has a pecking habit they are going to do it whether a bird is sick or not. Being sick or broody or just low on the totem pole makes any bird an easy target.

Space is always the first consideration when trying to deal with a pecking problem, though sometimes once a flock gets into the habit it can be almost impossible to stop it. Sometimes there is a bird who is an instigator who gets all the rest going too and pulling that bird out sometimes helps the others settle down, sometimes not. Otherwise, make as much space available to them as possible, give them plenty of distractions like a flock block, hay to scratch through, anything to keep them occupied.

Sometimes bantams just don't always do well in a flock of standard birds either, especially if there are only a couple of them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Good luck, tough problem, hope you can figure them out.