Hi all! I am not on here much, but my googling and searching the forums and reading in our books is not quite leading to an answer yet, so thought I would give this a try. We have a mature muscovy hen, who we call Momma. She came to us in June 2014 with 13 babies, we were told she was about a year herself, though we have no real proof other than the seller/breeder's word. She survived a large duck die-off later that summer which turned out to be from protozoal infection, so we've always felt she has a pretty strong constitution and has been healthy and happy throughout.
Middle of last week, I noticed she was off by herself a lot, something that always worries me of course. By Wednesday or Thursday I noted she wasn't coming at feeding time, so we separated her into our little tractor that we keep for just such occasions. Gave her water with BOBs probiotic liquid (as the rest of the flock was on day 2 or their 3 day dosing) and food. She drank, but would not eat.
She looked like she was starting to molt, which at first we were hoping she just was not quite taking it well and would begin eating again soon. She has not however. Her caruncle looked fairly pale in the first couple days of separation, but it hasn't gotten worse and has possible improved a bit even. Her feathers still look pretty rough, similar to a bird in molt, and her tail has been hanging really low. As the days went by, we tried all sorts of special treats outside of their normal soaked/fermented feed, including squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, all things she normally devours, but still she is not touching the food.
Once the rest of the flock was done with the BOBs dosing, I also discontinued hers as well, but put some molasses in her water, just to try to get something into her and hope it might improve her energy and bring her appetite back, and/or flush any toxins she might have had contact with that were causing her illness. No such luck. Plus, by Sunday (so about day 4 of her separation) we noticed she wasn't walking well and now she isn't putting weight on her right leg at all. We inspected her a couple times throughout and didn't notice anything with the foot or leg that alarmed us.
Yesterday I also was trying to research possible homeopathic remedies and she now has 3 different water options, hoping she will go for what her body might need (I realize not everyone looks at health and how our bodies function in this way, so I apologize if that is coming off flaky or odd): water with ACV (just switched this morning from the molasses), water with phosphorous homeopathic remedy, and a little cantaloupe bowl with some leftover seeds and flesh and some espom salts (hubby took that to her last night). I did notice her pecking around at the grass around her yesterday, but didn't want to be too hopeful that it actually meant she was eating, but who knows! Otherwise I haven't seen her eat anything. Going to try to take her some salmon and maybe a little kefir in a bit, just to try another type of treat that might entice her.
Oh one last possible detail, probably within a day or two before her initial decline, I heard a strange noise in the yard and looked up and noted that Momma had a frog (which was screaming, that was the noise, ha!), but I didn't intervene. We are in MN, I do not know if there is possibility of some harmful to eat frogs being in our area, I haven't really searched that avenue yet. It likely wouldn't explain the leg, though she has gotten riled up from our inspections and maybe got injured during that?! I don't know, I am really at a loss....
Middle of last week, I noticed she was off by herself a lot, something that always worries me of course. By Wednesday or Thursday I noted she wasn't coming at feeding time, so we separated her into our little tractor that we keep for just such occasions. Gave her water with BOBs probiotic liquid (as the rest of the flock was on day 2 or their 3 day dosing) and food. She drank, but would not eat.
She looked like she was starting to molt, which at first we were hoping she just was not quite taking it well and would begin eating again soon. She has not however. Her caruncle looked fairly pale in the first couple days of separation, but it hasn't gotten worse and has possible improved a bit even. Her feathers still look pretty rough, similar to a bird in molt, and her tail has been hanging really low. As the days went by, we tried all sorts of special treats outside of their normal soaked/fermented feed, including squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, all things she normally devours, but still she is not touching the food.
Once the rest of the flock was done with the BOBs dosing, I also discontinued hers as well, but put some molasses in her water, just to try to get something into her and hope it might improve her energy and bring her appetite back, and/or flush any toxins she might have had contact with that were causing her illness. No such luck. Plus, by Sunday (so about day 4 of her separation) we noticed she wasn't walking well and now she isn't putting weight on her right leg at all. We inspected her a couple times throughout and didn't notice anything with the foot or leg that alarmed us.
Yesterday I also was trying to research possible homeopathic remedies and she now has 3 different water options, hoping she will go for what her body might need (I realize not everyone looks at health and how our bodies function in this way, so I apologize if that is coming off flaky or odd): water with ACV (just switched this morning from the molasses), water with phosphorous homeopathic remedy, and a little cantaloupe bowl with some leftover seeds and flesh and some espom salts (hubby took that to her last night). I did notice her pecking around at the grass around her yesterday, but didn't want to be too hopeful that it actually meant she was eating, but who knows! Otherwise I haven't seen her eat anything. Going to try to take her some salmon and maybe a little kefir in a bit, just to try another type of treat that might entice her.
Oh one last possible detail, probably within a day or two before her initial decline, I heard a strange noise in the yard and looked up and noted that Momma had a frog (which was screaming, that was the noise, ha!), but I didn't intervene. We are in MN, I do not know if there is possibility of some harmful to eat frogs being in our area, I haven't really searched that avenue yet. It likely wouldn't explain the leg, though she has gotten riled up from our inspections and maybe got injured during that?! I don't know, I am really at a loss....
As it stood, that was the one she went for though.
