My near 3 year old Buff Orpington hen, Buffy, is cowering by herself all day, very withdrawn.
When I picked her up this afternoon, she seemed light as a feather, her crop was completely empty, and -- when I was picking her up, she was kind of tilted as I was lifting her, and when tilted, alot of water (and I mean alot of water -- enough to leave a wet spot six inches in diameter in the soil below) just poured out of her beak. I mean, it was like watching water from a faucet flow, except that this wasn't a faucet, it was her beak it was flowing out of.
She had isolated herself in a makeshift shelter I have constructed in a special 8 foot by 5 foot, fenced in area in the chicken yard that I use to separate babies when I have baby chicks that need special protection. Best we can tell, she stayed in the back of that little shelter all day, voluntarily separated from the flock. When my wife threw some Boss inside the fenced in pen for her enjoyment, she made no move whatsoever to peck any of it off of the ground.
So this evening, rather than let her go to bed with the rest of the flock, my wife took her to a special dog cage that we keep in a well insulated shed, so that she could observe Buffy from time to time during the night.
She scrambled Buffy a couple of eggs, and gave her some chopped egg and sunflower seeds, along with clean water.
Buffy immediately ate a few bites of the egg, but then stopped, and best we know, did not eat much if any more.
Right now, Buffy's sleeping.
Do any of you know what might be wrong with Buffy? Other than her empty crop and the fact that she has lost weight, and seems to be staying to herself, there are no other signs of illness or injury that we can see.
But if she was just being bullied away from the food and water (which is possible, given the fact that she is low in the pecking order), wouldn't she have pigged out on the sunflower seeds my wife gave her when she was alone in the special fenced in area? Wouldn't she have pigged out on the scrambled egg and BOSS that she was given when we moved her to her own private quarters this evening?
When I picked her up this afternoon, she seemed light as a feather, her crop was completely empty, and -- when I was picking her up, she was kind of tilted as I was lifting her, and when tilted, alot of water (and I mean alot of water -- enough to leave a wet spot six inches in diameter in the soil below) just poured out of her beak. I mean, it was like watching water from a faucet flow, except that this wasn't a faucet, it was her beak it was flowing out of.
She had isolated herself in a makeshift shelter I have constructed in a special 8 foot by 5 foot, fenced in area in the chicken yard that I use to separate babies when I have baby chicks that need special protection. Best we can tell, she stayed in the back of that little shelter all day, voluntarily separated from the flock. When my wife threw some Boss inside the fenced in pen for her enjoyment, she made no move whatsoever to peck any of it off of the ground.
So this evening, rather than let her go to bed with the rest of the flock, my wife took her to a special dog cage that we keep in a well insulated shed, so that she could observe Buffy from time to time during the night.
She scrambled Buffy a couple of eggs, and gave her some chopped egg and sunflower seeds, along with clean water.
Buffy immediately ate a few bites of the egg, but then stopped, and best we know, did not eat much if any more.
Right now, Buffy's sleeping.
Do any of you know what might be wrong with Buffy? Other than her empty crop and the fact that she has lost weight, and seems to be staying to herself, there are no other signs of illness or injury that we can see.
But if she was just being bullied away from the food and water (which is possible, given the fact that she is low in the pecking order), wouldn't she have pigged out on the sunflower seeds my wife gave her when she was alone in the special fenced in area? Wouldn't she have pigged out on the scrambled egg and BOSS that she was given when we moved her to her own private quarters this evening?
