LizzyWhimsy
In the Brooder
- Nov 6, 2016
- 12
- 1
- 19
Hello,
I just got twelve new hens that I rescued from a difficult situation. One had a severe case of bumblefoot which I had to surgically repair and some have mites, which are being treated. HOWEVER, there is one hen I am extremely concerned about, who we've named Hazel. When we were bringing her home with the others we noticed that she fell on the floor of the cage and didn't get up while others sat on her and trampled her. We pulled over and got her out of the cage and I held her for the rest of the commute. We thought that maybe she was just stunned from this happening but the next day I noticed she has coordination issues and she tripped and would just sit there without trying to get up. She is extremely underweight and has no muscle strength. She can barely fight when we pick her up and running is difficult for her. She is tired, and falls asleep a lot. I've observed her droppings, which appear good. Her poop has urates and she doesn't have diarrhea or signs of worms. We did notice she had white mites or lice in her feathers but I didn't think that the infestation was severe enough to explain this weakness and lack of muscle and weight on her (we are still treating them though). We gave her a bath, applied DE and light drops of tea tree oil to her feathers. She has perked up a little bit and she is beginning to get up if she trips, which was a great improvement (today she gave me a fright when she tried to fight and caught me off guard and fell out of my arms onto the ground with a thud... but she got up this time... a few days ago she would have just laid there... omg it was a scary moment). We're giving her raw red meat, molasses, apple cider vinegar water, electrolytes and vitamins (especially B-12) on top of a high protein feed, sunflower seeds, corn, and whatever she finds while free ranging in our 5000 sq. ft. enclosed garden, where we put a coop up to keep her and the others in quarantine (she has all the tomatoes and peppers and squash she wants... and frogs and bugs in abundance). She is ravenous and eats very well. There are a couple of other underweight chickens as well but they have great coordination and a lot of fight in them and I know they'll improve with the diet we're giving them. This girl, however, has no fight or strength in her. I'm giving her special one on one attention. I don't know if she's an older chicken. She may be geriatric, she appears to be older but I highly doubt she's more than 3 years old. She has NO breast muscles. I can feel her heart when I hold her. It's terrible. I have a feeling the people we bought them from did not feed them enough. They kept them with goats and they had no grass or dust bathing area. There are a few hens who are heavy and strong and healthy and I'm not worried about them too much. I'm just keeping an eye on them (I'm also ensuring they all get enough food... as I'm noticing these girls were probably hogging whatever food they were given).
I was worried about Merecks disease but I'm not seeing much lining up with that diagnosis. Her eyes are bright and she is alert, when she is not napping in the garden. She isn't paralyzed. She isn't having diarrhea, etc. Again, I'm not sure that her weakness and low weight is because of mites. I'm also pretty darn sure she doesn't have worms from what I've observed (however, would one treatment of wazine hurt her just in case?).
I need advice. She is extremely sweet and loves to sit in my lap and sleep. I want to see her gain weight and muscle and get healthy. I want her to have a good life, so any advice is welcome.
I just got twelve new hens that I rescued from a difficult situation. One had a severe case of bumblefoot which I had to surgically repair and some have mites, which are being treated. HOWEVER, there is one hen I am extremely concerned about, who we've named Hazel. When we were bringing her home with the others we noticed that she fell on the floor of the cage and didn't get up while others sat on her and trampled her. We pulled over and got her out of the cage and I held her for the rest of the commute. We thought that maybe she was just stunned from this happening but the next day I noticed she has coordination issues and she tripped and would just sit there without trying to get up. She is extremely underweight and has no muscle strength. She can barely fight when we pick her up and running is difficult for her. She is tired, and falls asleep a lot. I've observed her droppings, which appear good. Her poop has urates and she doesn't have diarrhea or signs of worms. We did notice she had white mites or lice in her feathers but I didn't think that the infestation was severe enough to explain this weakness and lack of muscle and weight on her (we are still treating them though). We gave her a bath, applied DE and light drops of tea tree oil to her feathers. She has perked up a little bit and she is beginning to get up if she trips, which was a great improvement (today she gave me a fright when she tried to fight and caught me off guard and fell out of my arms onto the ground with a thud... but she got up this time... a few days ago she would have just laid there... omg it was a scary moment). We're giving her raw red meat, molasses, apple cider vinegar water, electrolytes and vitamins (especially B-12) on top of a high protein feed, sunflower seeds, corn, and whatever she finds while free ranging in our 5000 sq. ft. enclosed garden, where we put a coop up to keep her and the others in quarantine (she has all the tomatoes and peppers and squash she wants... and frogs and bugs in abundance). She is ravenous and eats very well. There are a couple of other underweight chickens as well but they have great coordination and a lot of fight in them and I know they'll improve with the diet we're giving them. This girl, however, has no fight or strength in her. I'm giving her special one on one attention. I don't know if she's an older chicken. She may be geriatric, she appears to be older but I highly doubt she's more than 3 years old. She has NO breast muscles. I can feel her heart when I hold her. It's terrible. I have a feeling the people we bought them from did not feed them enough. They kept them with goats and they had no grass or dust bathing area. There are a few hens who are heavy and strong and healthy and I'm not worried about them too much. I'm just keeping an eye on them (I'm also ensuring they all get enough food... as I'm noticing these girls were probably hogging whatever food they were given).
I was worried about Merecks disease but I'm not seeing much lining up with that diagnosis. Her eyes are bright and she is alert, when she is not napping in the garden. She isn't paralyzed. She isn't having diarrhea, etc. Again, I'm not sure that her weakness and low weight is because of mites. I'm also pretty darn sure she doesn't have worms from what I've observed (however, would one treatment of wazine hurt her just in case?).
I need advice. She is extremely sweet and loves to sit in my lap and sleep. I want to see her gain weight and muscle and get healthy. I want her to have a good life, so any advice is welcome.
