Hen with Pale Shrunken Comb for 1 month!

GoldDogsMom

Songster
8 Years
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Messages
850
Reaction score
14
Points
111
Location
Indiana, PA
1) What type of bird , age and weight. possibly a white rock from TSC, 1 1/2 yrs old, normal weight


2) What is the behavior, exactly. very pale, shrunken comb

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? started almost a month ago but then she was lethargic, slept on floor, too weak to get on roost then too, now just pale otherwise acts normal

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? no

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. no

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. nothing

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. normal eating habits, layer feed, scratch in the am and fruit/veggie scraps

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? antibiotic from feed store for 5 days (don't know what), yogurt/oatmeal mixture for first week, warm soak/oiled vent in case eggbound, and massaged crop in case of impaction, neither egg bound/crop seemed to be the issue

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? treating myself

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. no pic, can take one if needed

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use coop with pine chip bedding and attached run, occasionally free ranging

Other than the pale/shrunken comb she seems normal but I don't want to stop trying for a cure in case it's something more...don't know if she's laying, I hate to seperate her and then have issues reintroducing.

Any suggestions???
 
Last edited:
Sometimes a little vitamin/electrolye mix in their water will help - I just use the mix meant for chicks and use it on the whole flock - especially with molting, etc. this time of year, it doesn't hurt to give them a boost.
 
I strongly suggest a visual down to skin inspection for creepy crawlies and a very close look at her poop for worms. I sometimes take a sticks and mush/spread out the pile to check thoroughly.
 
I was thinking about adding an electrolyte and Hi again nickie, she didn't molt then but I noticed a lot of feathers in the coop this am and some "loose" ones on her at lunchtime. And I checked them over night before last and didn't see any "bugs" I was planning to check them this evening and dust them with DE...
 
I appreciate the advice, I decided not to wait til dusk to check her for mites/lice-checked her all over, nothing...lots of loose feathers though...could this all be a sign of molting?
 
I have more experience with duck molts than chicken. U am a bit bothered that she was pale for so long before it started. I'm still researching.

So far:
No lice
Poop clean (*snort* um ok, sorry)
Actively molting
Paleness started a month ago.
 
Nickie, you got it...what puzzles me the most was how lethargic she was for the first few days. Maybe she was sick...started to recover then molting began and slowed her recovery? Everyone I've talked to around her is surprised she's still alive, local feed store guys (old man knows ALOT and his son's nickname is Birdman) said in the beginning that he didn't expect her to recover based on the initial symptoms. Still wondering about worms...
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom