medusine
In the Brooder
- Jun 9, 2020
- 33
- 9
- 44
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) My birds are all just over 6 months old. She is a Golden-laced Wyandotte and has always been a little smaller than the others.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She had some icicles stuck to her butt feathers. She was more reluctant than the others to leave the coop and run around in the snow, but then again, none of them were wild about it.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? 1 day?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? don't think so
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. A few of them have just started laying, and I have barely started mixing in layer feed with their grower feed. Calcium deficiency is a possibility. Also possible I've been overdoing it with treats (cracked corn & mealworms) out of guilt at the crap weather and not being able to let them range as much as I'd like. Past couple of days they've been cooped up in their hen-house, rarely using the attached run due to the snow in it, and I haven't let them out to wander the yard much. I have not had a chance to optimize my coop for cold-weather-- I need to get some plastic up so I can keep the windows open for ventilation, without letting too much snow/wind in. In the meantime it's probably a bit damper than it ought to be.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. I brought her indoors and put her in the old brooder cage they used as chicks. I gave her a mix of the old grower feed (one of those mixes that has different whole grains in it) and the layer pellets I just acquired. She seems to be eating both. I think she's been drinking but not sure.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Saw a couple of normal looking poops earlier
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Just bringing her in out of the cold, & swabbing her bottom clean with warm wet paper towels once the icicles melted. There seemed to be some thick white stuff stuck in them (potentially just regular white bird poop). To my (very untrained, novice) eye, her vent didn't seem to be red or show signs of inflammation. I am keeping her in the mudroom brooder cage overnight, despite her obvious distress at being separated from the flock. She paces and pecks at the cage a bit. Guess it's good that she's feeling lively enough to be unhappy at the separation.
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? I am at a loss as to whether this is a problem or not. I'm thinking if her vent looks clean tomorrow, I should put her back with the flock. If it's oozing or something, then I will have no idea how to tell if it's gleet, coccidiosis, egg/calcium issues, other...
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. I don't
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use 4x6 coop with 6x10 run for 5 birds. Hemp bedding that I'm not cleaning as much as I ought.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. She had some icicles stuck to her butt feathers. She was more reluctant than the others to leave the coop and run around in the snow, but then again, none of them were wild about it.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? 1 day?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? don't think so
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. A few of them have just started laying, and I have barely started mixing in layer feed with their grower feed. Calcium deficiency is a possibility. Also possible I've been overdoing it with treats (cracked corn & mealworms) out of guilt at the crap weather and not being able to let them range as much as I'd like. Past couple of days they've been cooped up in their hen-house, rarely using the attached run due to the snow in it, and I haven't let them out to wander the yard much. I have not had a chance to optimize my coop for cold-weather-- I need to get some plastic up so I can keep the windows open for ventilation, without letting too much snow/wind in. In the meantime it's probably a bit damper than it ought to be.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. I brought her indoors and put her in the old brooder cage they used as chicks. I gave her a mix of the old grower feed (one of those mixes that has different whole grains in it) and the layer pellets I just acquired. She seems to be eating both. I think she's been drinking but not sure.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Saw a couple of normal looking poops earlier
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Just bringing her in out of the cold, & swabbing her bottom clean with warm wet paper towels once the icicles melted. There seemed to be some thick white stuff stuck in them (potentially just regular white bird poop). To my (very untrained, novice) eye, her vent didn't seem to be red or show signs of inflammation. I am keeping her in the mudroom brooder cage overnight, despite her obvious distress at being separated from the flock. She paces and pecks at the cage a bit. Guess it's good that she's feeling lively enough to be unhappy at the separation.
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? I am at a loss as to whether this is a problem or not. I'm thinking if her vent looks clean tomorrow, I should put her back with the flock. If it's oozing or something, then I will have no idea how to tell if it's gleet, coccidiosis, egg/calcium issues, other...
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. I don't
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use 4x6 coop with 6x10 run for 5 birds. Hemp bedding that I'm not cleaning as much as I ought.
