Hello.
I have a one year old buff Orpington hen who has been sick for about 3 months. I’m hoping someone can help me with some advise, I love her very much...
3 months ago she was happy and healthy laying good eggs pretty much everyday when she suddenly stoped laying. Over the next couple weeks she laid 2 very soft eggs then stopped. After a while she got lethargic and then started losing feathers on her neck ( falling not plucking). Our other 4 chickens have remained healthy during this whole thing with no issues. No bullying. I inspected her for mites and she was clean. A gentle finger confirmed no egg bound in the cochlea. Her lethargy got worse and I took her to the vet. The vet said she didn’t know what was wrong with her but that it didn’t look good. She didn’t seem to have any mites or bugs and she wasn’t egg bound which I already knew. She sent me home with oxytetracycline in hopes it was an infection. She did the round of meds and perked up a bit but not much. We put her back in with the flock and she just continued to not lay and be lethargic. Her feathers started growing back. That was a month ago. Now she is still lethargic, eating minimally, normal sometimes runny poops, no egg of any sort. Her comb is pale. She developed a bad limp in her right foot overnight and upon inspection she has the beginnings of leg mites. No bumble.
I feel overwhelmed and can’t seem to make her better and she is deteriorating. We’ve done baths/soaks from the start and now she is getting foot baths and Vaseline daily for the mites. She is separated from the flock.
Could it have been leg mites all along but she is just starting to show now? (She has only 1 or two scales rising/crusty) is she just lame?is the fact that she stopped laying the key? Could she have lowered immunity from something else and was more susceptible to the mites that our other chickens don’t have? Any help is appreciated
I have a one year old buff Orpington hen who has been sick for about 3 months. I’m hoping someone can help me with some advise, I love her very much...
3 months ago she was happy and healthy laying good eggs pretty much everyday when she suddenly stoped laying. Over the next couple weeks she laid 2 very soft eggs then stopped. After a while she got lethargic and then started losing feathers on her neck ( falling not plucking). Our other 4 chickens have remained healthy during this whole thing with no issues. No bullying. I inspected her for mites and she was clean. A gentle finger confirmed no egg bound in the cochlea. Her lethargy got worse and I took her to the vet. The vet said she didn’t know what was wrong with her but that it didn’t look good. She didn’t seem to have any mites or bugs and she wasn’t egg bound which I already knew. She sent me home with oxytetracycline in hopes it was an infection. She did the round of meds and perked up a bit but not much. We put her back in with the flock and she just continued to not lay and be lethargic. Her feathers started growing back. That was a month ago. Now she is still lethargic, eating minimally, normal sometimes runny poops, no egg of any sort. Her comb is pale. She developed a bad limp in her right foot overnight and upon inspection she has the beginnings of leg mites. No bumble.
I feel overwhelmed and can’t seem to make her better and she is deteriorating. We’ve done baths/soaks from the start and now she is getting foot baths and Vaseline daily for the mites. She is separated from the flock.
Could it have been leg mites all along but she is just starting to show now? (She has only 1 or two scales rising/crusty) is she just lame?is the fact that she stopped laying the key? Could she have lowered immunity from something else and was more susceptible to the mites that our other chickens don’t have? Any help is appreciated
