I hope someone can help me again, please!
Back in December (we had 5 hens) one of our older ones (only 2 1/2yrs) had started laying soft-shelled eggs, then stopped laying all together, was also sleeping a lot, and finally got very sick in January (lethargic, not eating, ruffled feathers, lost lots of weight) and ended up dying. I had ordered some Corid to try Cocci treatment but it did not make it in time.
Around that time, another hen started laying soft shell eggs and also shortly after stopped laying, too. I noticed she was sleeping/napping more often during the day. When the Corid finally arrived, I treated all 4 hens for Cocci, just in case that's what it was. But I never noticed poop as described with a Cocci infection.
About 6 weeks ago a foreign dog attacked and injured this hen greatly, and to my surprise she recovered fantastically; her feathers have grown back already, her injuries are no more visible, just her tail feathers are still missing. Now she is eating like a horse when she's awake, but much of the time spends sleeping, her back hunched, and just doesn't look well. It seems like the time it took her to recover from her injury she was doing better than she is now. She does not roost either, but rather sleeps in a box at night. I learned last week only that layer feed is not what she's supposed to eat now that she's not laying, so I changed her food. But she appears to be doing even worse now. Yet she has not lost her position in the pecking order. We have a smaller breed hen that can fly over the fence (I trimmed her wings and she can still fly over) and the little one still gets put in her place by the sick hen.
I have given them all food-grade Diatomaceous earth to treat for possible parasites or worms.
What could this be? Why are not all my hens sick if its were something that spreads and it started already in the late fall/early winter? Is there a disease that spreads that causes first their eggs' shells to get thinner, then soft-shelled, and then no more eggs at all? Or is it something that spreads but just very slowly?
At this point I want to add that our alpha hen's egg shells have become very thin, too, with a chalky, gritty surface (this has started about 2 weeks ago) and I've added things like cheese, yoghurt, ground up egg shells, and dandelion greens to her diet with no improvement yet.
I am open to any tips and ideas as to what this could be and what I could do. I can't take the chickens to a vet as I live in a rural Italian town and if chickens are sick they just get their heads chopped off and you get another bird. Access to meds for them is just what I can get online, and I'm not fond of the idea of medicating all the hens and then eating their eggs myself.
I appreciate any input still!
Back in December (we had 5 hens) one of our older ones (only 2 1/2yrs) had started laying soft-shelled eggs, then stopped laying all together, was also sleeping a lot, and finally got very sick in January (lethargic, not eating, ruffled feathers, lost lots of weight) and ended up dying. I had ordered some Corid to try Cocci treatment but it did not make it in time.
Around that time, another hen started laying soft shell eggs and also shortly after stopped laying, too. I noticed she was sleeping/napping more often during the day. When the Corid finally arrived, I treated all 4 hens for Cocci, just in case that's what it was. But I never noticed poop as described with a Cocci infection.
About 6 weeks ago a foreign dog attacked and injured this hen greatly, and to my surprise she recovered fantastically; her feathers have grown back already, her injuries are no more visible, just her tail feathers are still missing. Now she is eating like a horse when she's awake, but much of the time spends sleeping, her back hunched, and just doesn't look well. It seems like the time it took her to recover from her injury she was doing better than she is now. She does not roost either, but rather sleeps in a box at night. I learned last week only that layer feed is not what she's supposed to eat now that she's not laying, so I changed her food. But she appears to be doing even worse now. Yet she has not lost her position in the pecking order. We have a smaller breed hen that can fly over the fence (I trimmed her wings and she can still fly over) and the little one still gets put in her place by the sick hen.
I have given them all food-grade Diatomaceous earth to treat for possible parasites or worms.
What could this be? Why are not all my hens sick if its were something that spreads and it started already in the late fall/early winter? Is there a disease that spreads that causes first their eggs' shells to get thinner, then soft-shelled, and then no more eggs at all? Or is it something that spreads but just very slowly?
At this point I want to add that our alpha hen's egg shells have become very thin, too, with a chalky, gritty surface (this has started about 2 weeks ago) and I've added things like cheese, yoghurt, ground up egg shells, and dandelion greens to her diet with no improvement yet.
I am open to any tips and ideas as to what this could be and what I could do. I can't take the chickens to a vet as I live in a rural Italian town and if chickens are sick they just get their heads chopped off and you get another bird. Access to meds for them is just what I can get online, and I'm not fond of the idea of medicating all the hens and then eating their eggs myself.
I appreciate any input still!
