I think my pullet is starving herself-HELP!

[eminator]

I have an Ameracauna pullet, about 10 or 12 weeks old, that has a messed-up foot and so it gets picked on a bit. It doesn't seem to have adjusted to the flock (it's been about 3 weeks). Anyway, I just went to check on them, and she is fluffed up a bit, and she seems cold and weak. Her crop seemed completely empty. I put her in a place of her own and she's eating, but is there anything else I can/should do to help her?

Thanks in advance

 

[Tamrajh]

I had one that did the same thing. She kept trying to get under the other chickens like a baby chick would with their mother, not sure why. She starved herself to death, there was nothing I could do as I work too much to force feed her and I couldn't get her foot problem under control.
I'm sorry, it sounds like you're going through the same thing. It's not easy and I do hope you find a resolution to your problem.

 

[Tala]

You can give her Poly Vi Sol (no iron) vitamins to help perk her back up. Just a drop in her water. You can also feed her smashed up hardboiled egg yolks - they are very good for her.

I take it that you're not sure if she's actually sick, or just malnourished....

Do you have several feeders in places that she can get to if the others are picking on her?
If you are keeping a "handicapped" chicken then you are going to have to be responsible for making adjustments for her. You need to make sure she gets food and water everday, otherwise keeping her alive to starve is only cruel. If you can't take care of her properly, please put her down humanely, don't let her starve or be picked to death by her flockmates.

 

[Tamrajh]

I should add, I didn't mean to starve her. I meant to put her down once I realized what was happening but when I got home from work that night she was gone.

 

[eminator]

I appreciate the comments. Tala, I understand that she has "special needs" and I have always made sure that she has food and water of her own in a safe spot. I would never allow her to suffer. This is the first time that she has done this, so I am not quite sure what is going on with her. I am going to check a stool sample tomorrow, but everything (at least superficially) seems normal. Except for the anorexia today.

 

[Tala]

how is her foot messed up??? Was she injured???? Just thinking maybe she has one of those paralizing diseases??

I have a one-legged chicken myself (her leg was broken) and now that she's getting around again, to help her get back into the swing of the flock thing I put ONE of her old friends in her hospital crate with her. Seems like it helps the integration if the "odd man out" has a buddy. If it's been three weeks and she still hasn't adjusted I'd definitely worry.

 

[eminator]

She hatched with a crooked foot. In fact, she hatched with the yolk sac on the outside (on her own, no artificial "assistance"), and I thought she was going to die, but she resorbed it and seemed to thrive. She has a buddy, and the buddy isn't integrating, either. They hang out together.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Good good, she has a friend

Good luck to her!!!!!!!!!