Gisborne Chic
Hatching
Hi all,
I am an Australian newby, both to this forum and with chickens! I have turned to this forum before though, and your posts helped me with an issue. I know very little terminology and very little about keeping chooks. My partner is the country boy!
A few months ago, one of two of our chooks, maybe 6 or so months old, escaped the chook house as my son was entering, and was attacked by our Jack Russell. She was rescued by my partner, and was very sad and sorry for herself. I was away so didn't witness the attack or know what her injuries might have been although a few days later I did see one puncture/tooth mark. The next day my partner decided it was a good day to buy two more chooks!
When I returned home from my weekend away, I saw the injured chook sitting on her own near the little entry to the chook run, getting trampled on by the others. One wing was not sitting quite right and she sat slightly to one side. After researching online for a day or so, I did as suggested on a post here, and separated her so she wouldn't get picked on by the others, and to give her a chance to recover. She was kept in a large cardboard container for about 4 days until she seemed to be better recovered. During that time, I cleaned her bottom which was messy with droppings. It looked like her bottom had prolapsed. I clipped some feathers around the area to help keep it cleaner as some feathers were also matted from the droppings. That seemed to improve her prolapsed condition (possibly the dried droppings on her 'anus' was preventing it from returning to normal), and when I returned her to the flock, it looked normal. Only her wing never seemed to sit right anymore.
More recently, she is being bullied by one of the very assertive new chooks, which are only slightly younger than her. I accepted that it might happen due to her injury. For the last few weeks, she has been listless, staying separate from the other three, sitting in the dog kennel we have in the open run, pretty much all day, and in the last week or so, sitting in the corner of the kennel so you barely see her, sometimes at the back even. She has lost lots of weight, she is so light compared to the others. Her comb doesn't seem to have grown/changed much, and is nowhere near as red and bright as the others. She does eat when it's not stolen from her (scraps) and I am not sure about what she was getting of their feed. I tried separating the bully chook for a few days of solitary confinement to try to change the dynamics, thinking she was being bullied and not getting good access to food. I returned the bully and there doesn't seem to be any more picking on her, they to pretty much just ignore her, but she's still just not interested in life it seems.
After reading more here, I decided to separate her from the group but closed off an area right next to the run so she is still seen and can see them, while she has her own food and water and I have put the kennel which she has been spending her days in, for day time shelter for her. I only have to move her into the chook house with the other 3 at night time.
So, some points I have picked up here are... she is walking/waddling, very slowly and not moving around much really. She loses her balance very easily, she's unsteady on her feet, putting her wings out sometimes even when she's sitting. She often sits more to one side and kind of more forward sometimes too, than the others, so her head is low. She mostly positions herself in a corner.
She seems interested in food, mainly her layer pellets. I don't really have any idea what is a normal amount for a chook to eat so I don't know if she's eating well or not, and am assuming she isn't, given she's so skinny. She drank when I was with her giving her water the other day. I think her droppings seem normal. What I thought you were calling the keel, but I think now is her clavicle as I see on a diagram it's higher than the keel you refer to in other posts, feels quite prominent and sharp. (edit- After moving her back to her little pen today, I think it is her keel not clavicle I can feel that is sharp. What does this mean?).
She may have come into contact with some feed affected by water and mould several weeks, maybe a month ago. However, the others had the same opportunity and all are well and are laying. We have had a lot of rain and their run is muddy but I haven't noticed puddles. We put out dog away and let them wander the yard regularly in the grass and the ground can be quite squishy in spots (my partner says may be an underground spring, the ground is noisy!). There are lots of holes in the ground so I am assuming there are worms that perhaps they have had access to. I mention that due to reading another post from a few years ago... No pond/dams. They have dirt baths in our undercover area, it is made of dirt and small pebbles, but our sick chook hasn't shown any interest in any of that for quite a few weeks, I think she did a little while ago but the bully chook would shoo her away. Her eyes look like the others' eyes. All of the other birds are fine, healthy, social. She isn't very vocal at all now, just a little squeak really. she doesn't have much left in her if I can't work this out. My partner won't let me take her to a vet, he thinks I am wasting my time trying to help her but I just want to give her a chance, I just need to know how to help her.
Yesterday I made a mash after I read your forum, recommending a boiled yolk, yoghurt with the bacteriums, her feed (but no grains) and some water. I didn't have the apple sauce to add. She had some of that enthusiastically today, not much yesterday but she may have already eaten enough for the day (unfortunately I had fed her some bread and have been giving her some other veggies to give her extra nutrition she may have been deprived of when in with the others). I really don't know how much to expect or hope for her to eat, so I don't know if she was satisfied or not. What and how much should I feed her?
I have tried to inspect for lice etc, I can't see anything obvious but it wasn't a thorough inspection as I can only get my 7 year old son to help, so it's tricky and my partner won't help as he thinks we should just cull her. As she has poor balance at the moment, I have for the last two nights, put her in one of the nesting boxes with straw instead of on the perches, which are quite high up, around my shoulder height), as I thought it might be easier for her. One of the others also looked like she was trying to make it difficult for her when I did put her on the perch, coming over and turning her bottom to her (there are two perches and one is slightly lower so the hens bottom was above sick chooky's head), which was why I decided to put her in the nesting box which is close to the perches anyway. I don't know if she stayed there overnight or not but tonight it looked like she was going to settle in there, with her head in the corner of course.
I would like to treat her, my partner won't let me take her to the vet (vet will cost more than to cull and buy a new bird but I can't live by that attitude, I don't want my kids learning an animal's life is easily replaced) but he might let me buy something to treat her. Would be grateful for any suggestions. I don't know if I imagined it or not but she did seem a tad more animated this afternoon although when she sat on the grass next to fence adjacent to the chook run, she still positioned herself in the corner! I am so sorry for the length of this post, I hope it has provided adequate information for anyone to assist. Thanks in advance!
PS- Please use both proper terminology and layman's terms for me to understand but also get more educated!
I am an Australian newby, both to this forum and with chickens! I have turned to this forum before though, and your posts helped me with an issue. I know very little terminology and very little about keeping chooks. My partner is the country boy!
A few months ago, one of two of our chooks, maybe 6 or so months old, escaped the chook house as my son was entering, and was attacked by our Jack Russell. She was rescued by my partner, and was very sad and sorry for herself. I was away so didn't witness the attack or know what her injuries might have been although a few days later I did see one puncture/tooth mark. The next day my partner decided it was a good day to buy two more chooks!
When I returned home from my weekend away, I saw the injured chook sitting on her own near the little entry to the chook run, getting trampled on by the others. One wing was not sitting quite right and she sat slightly to one side. After researching online for a day or so, I did as suggested on a post here, and separated her so she wouldn't get picked on by the others, and to give her a chance to recover. She was kept in a large cardboard container for about 4 days until she seemed to be better recovered. During that time, I cleaned her bottom which was messy with droppings. It looked like her bottom had prolapsed. I clipped some feathers around the area to help keep it cleaner as some feathers were also matted from the droppings. That seemed to improve her prolapsed condition (possibly the dried droppings on her 'anus' was preventing it from returning to normal), and when I returned her to the flock, it looked normal. Only her wing never seemed to sit right anymore.
More recently, she is being bullied by one of the very assertive new chooks, which are only slightly younger than her. I accepted that it might happen due to her injury. For the last few weeks, she has been listless, staying separate from the other three, sitting in the dog kennel we have in the open run, pretty much all day, and in the last week or so, sitting in the corner of the kennel so you barely see her, sometimes at the back even. She has lost lots of weight, she is so light compared to the others. Her comb doesn't seem to have grown/changed much, and is nowhere near as red and bright as the others. She does eat when it's not stolen from her (scraps) and I am not sure about what she was getting of their feed. I tried separating the bully chook for a few days of solitary confinement to try to change the dynamics, thinking she was being bullied and not getting good access to food. I returned the bully and there doesn't seem to be any more picking on her, they to pretty much just ignore her, but she's still just not interested in life it seems.
After reading more here, I decided to separate her from the group but closed off an area right next to the run so she is still seen and can see them, while she has her own food and water and I have put the kennel which she has been spending her days in, for day time shelter for her. I only have to move her into the chook house with the other 3 at night time.
So, some points I have picked up here are... she is walking/waddling, very slowly and not moving around much really. She loses her balance very easily, she's unsteady on her feet, putting her wings out sometimes even when she's sitting. She often sits more to one side and kind of more forward sometimes too, than the others, so her head is low. She mostly positions herself in a corner.
She seems interested in food, mainly her layer pellets. I don't really have any idea what is a normal amount for a chook to eat so I don't know if she's eating well or not, and am assuming she isn't, given she's so skinny. She drank when I was with her giving her water the other day. I think her droppings seem normal. What I thought you were calling the keel, but I think now is her clavicle as I see on a diagram it's higher than the keel you refer to in other posts, feels quite prominent and sharp. (edit- After moving her back to her little pen today, I think it is her keel not clavicle I can feel that is sharp. What does this mean?).
She may have come into contact with some feed affected by water and mould several weeks, maybe a month ago. However, the others had the same opportunity and all are well and are laying. We have had a lot of rain and their run is muddy but I haven't noticed puddles. We put out dog away and let them wander the yard regularly in the grass and the ground can be quite squishy in spots (my partner says may be an underground spring, the ground is noisy!). There are lots of holes in the ground so I am assuming there are worms that perhaps they have had access to. I mention that due to reading another post from a few years ago... No pond/dams. They have dirt baths in our undercover area, it is made of dirt and small pebbles, but our sick chook hasn't shown any interest in any of that for quite a few weeks, I think she did a little while ago but the bully chook would shoo her away. Her eyes look like the others' eyes. All of the other birds are fine, healthy, social. She isn't very vocal at all now, just a little squeak really. she doesn't have much left in her if I can't work this out. My partner won't let me take her to a vet, he thinks I am wasting my time trying to help her but I just want to give her a chance, I just need to know how to help her.
Yesterday I made a mash after I read your forum, recommending a boiled yolk, yoghurt with the bacteriums, her feed (but no grains) and some water. I didn't have the apple sauce to add. She had some of that enthusiastically today, not much yesterday but she may have already eaten enough for the day (unfortunately I had fed her some bread and have been giving her some other veggies to give her extra nutrition she may have been deprived of when in with the others). I really don't know how much to expect or hope for her to eat, so I don't know if she was satisfied or not. What and how much should I feed her?
I have tried to inspect for lice etc, I can't see anything obvious but it wasn't a thorough inspection as I can only get my 7 year old son to help, so it's tricky and my partner won't help as he thinks we should just cull her. As she has poor balance at the moment, I have for the last two nights, put her in one of the nesting boxes with straw instead of on the perches, which are quite high up, around my shoulder height), as I thought it might be easier for her. One of the others also looked like she was trying to make it difficult for her when I did put her on the perch, coming over and turning her bottom to her (there are two perches and one is slightly lower so the hens bottom was above sick chooky's head), which was why I decided to put her in the nesting box which is close to the perches anyway. I don't know if she stayed there overnight or not but tonight it looked like she was going to settle in there, with her head in the corner of course.
I would like to treat her, my partner won't let me take her to the vet (vet will cost more than to cull and buy a new bird but I can't live by that attitude, I don't want my kids learning an animal's life is easily replaced) but he might let me buy something to treat her. Would be grateful for any suggestions. I don't know if I imagined it or not but she did seem a tad more animated this afternoon although when she sat on the grass next to fence adjacent to the chook run, she still positioned herself in the corner! I am so sorry for the length of this post, I hope it has provided adequate information for anyone to assist. Thanks in advance!
PS- Please use both proper terminology and layman's terms for me to understand but also get more educated!
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Good to see other, more experienced chook owners than me, have been able to give you some practical advice. In the past we have had to build a new coop for some badly treated chooks and then added some babies under one when she went broody. She became head chook of the new flock. Hope she pulls through!
