BonnieBlue
Songster
Back in early April, one of my hens shells started getting somewhat thin, and her egg laying becamse sporadic. I could not find anything wrong, she didn't appear to have worms or mites (tho she is very hard to examine for lice/mites because she does NOT want to be handled), and no signs of worms. The hen I could handle I examine for lice/mites and didn't see anything, nor did I find evidence when examining the coop at night, using the paper towel method looking for smears after wiping down roosting bars, including around their feet. I gave her calcium supplements, and it took a while but her shells were getting better, tho not as good as the other two. By sporadic, I mean laying a day or two, then taking off a day or two, where as she had been laying 5-7 days in a row, with one day off since she started laying in mid-December. The only think I could think of was that approximately 1 week before this started, I had opened a new bag of food (Nutrena Hearty Hen), but the other two hens were still laying as normal.
Fast forward to June 9, when she didn't lay, and hasn't laid an egg since.
All three of my hens were wormed, being given a 3 day regimine on May 30-31 and June 1. One of the others had quit laying and lost weight and her vet thought worms. Turns out that one, Sassafras, had an impacted crop, not worms. She was treated at her vet and put under crate care in my office and had just started eating and pooping again when she scratched a large gash in her chest while scratching at her crop, and it ruptured into her crop on our way to the vet and she had to be put down. Sassy was removed from the flock on June 7.
I am at a loss. I keep coming back to four causes, two of which I cannot control.
1. There was a change in her food formula which does not agree with her.
2. She has lice or mites which I am not seeing and need to treat her and the one sister she has left.
3. She has a production gland problem.
4. Removing her sister changed the dynamics enough to disrupt her. They were together since day 1, and with only 3, she has lost 1 of her two sisters. Peony has always been the highest in the pecking order, her late sister was the docile one of the flock.
I know it is not an impacted crop. She is eating, and pooping, normally.
Any thoughts or ideas of what I can do or check for? I cannot cull her. One, after losing my favorite, the thought of losing this one upsets me. Greatly. Two, I am not in a position right now to raise a few more chicks, and I cannot leave her sister as an "only child"
given they are social animals and need a flock.
Edit to add: She is eating, drinking, and pooping normally. She is not lethargic. No waddling or straining. No attempt to nest, just not interested at all. I don't think her comb is pale. She scratches and shakes her head some, but not excessively. No signs of feather pulling. It has been hot here, so I give the girls an offering of cold electrolyte water in addition to their regular water. They have an a/c in the coop where they go lay in the hottest of the afternoon, and just chill (literally).
Edit again: She is just shy of 1 year old, having been hatched 28June23.
Fast forward to June 9, when she didn't lay, and hasn't laid an egg since.
All three of my hens were wormed, being given a 3 day regimine on May 30-31 and June 1. One of the others had quit laying and lost weight and her vet thought worms. Turns out that one, Sassafras, had an impacted crop, not worms. She was treated at her vet and put under crate care in my office and had just started eating and pooping again when she scratched a large gash in her chest while scratching at her crop, and it ruptured into her crop on our way to the vet and she had to be put down. Sassy was removed from the flock on June 7.
I am at a loss. I keep coming back to four causes, two of which I cannot control.
1. There was a change in her food formula which does not agree with her.
2. She has lice or mites which I am not seeing and need to treat her and the one sister she has left.
3. She has a production gland problem.
4. Removing her sister changed the dynamics enough to disrupt her. They were together since day 1, and with only 3, she has lost 1 of her two sisters. Peony has always been the highest in the pecking order, her late sister was the docile one of the flock.
I know it is not an impacted crop. She is eating, and pooping, normally.
Any thoughts or ideas of what I can do or check for? I cannot cull her. One, after losing my favorite, the thought of losing this one upsets me. Greatly. Two, I am not in a position right now to raise a few more chicks, and I cannot leave her sister as an "only child"
given they are social animals and need a flock.
Edit to add: She is eating, drinking, and pooping normally. She is not lethargic. No waddling or straining. No attempt to nest, just not interested at all. I don't think her comb is pale. She scratches and shakes her head some, but not excessively. No signs of feather pulling. It has been hot here, so I give the girls an offering of cold electrolyte water in addition to their regular water. They have an a/c in the coop where they go lay in the hottest of the afternoon, and just chill (literally).
Edit again: She is just shy of 1 year old, having been hatched 28June23.
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