- Sep 11, 2017
- 190
- 63
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I've been going back and forth about this.. but I'm just gonna bite the bullet and try to get the opinions of others. My life has a tendency to go wrong all at once.
I woke up unsuspectingly to a dead bird, strange. Poor baby died of asphyxiation, I took her out and buried her right away. Then I noticed that my 4-year-old hen had missing feathers on her bum, not around her vent, just her bum. At night the skin was red and inflamed and she refused to roost so the next day I cleaned all the coops and treated for red mites. Since then, she goes in well but she still has missing feathers, I haven't seen her bum all red, though. she eats and drinks fine as well. I decided to watch her to see if she'd lay, so I pulled all the eggs. I noticed one of the eggs had pimples all over it, after doing some research I got a rough idea after I believe the same hen laid a soft-shelled egg, haven't seen this since, but I decided to watch everyone just in case. That's when I noticed everyone was started to act a little bit lethargic. I spent a good deal of time outside with them and picked out two hens to watch. One, who kept gasping but had good color, pretty lethargic, The other being a little lethargic, but that was about it. Later that night I discovered white/clear, mucus-like droppings. So, I grabbed my dewormer and dewormed them. Just today, the gasping hen seems to have gotten worse. I watched her for about 2 hours last night to see if she'd drink but she just kept eating. I'm planning on getting rid of their current rooster since I don't want them to be stressed for their molt, and he's too rough on them. I've also noticed that when I'm outside my birds will flock to me and start grooming, and usually, 2-3 will sleep on me, is that normal? Am I missing something? I've been doing research for the past 2 days and I'm still at a loss. Is there an illness or something that could explain all this?
All of my birds have access to clean water 24/7, I clean it every night, twice a day if needed. They get mini layer pellets for dinner, with corn mixed in sometimes, I've also noticed they have weaker eggshells then usual and aren't layer as much, I had been giving them durvet vitamins and electrolytes for about 3 days before I dewormed. I honestly just want the very best for my little girls, so any tips to improve their lifestyle or anyone who might have a better idea of what this could be would be greatly appreciated.
I woke up unsuspectingly to a dead bird, strange. Poor baby died of asphyxiation, I took her out and buried her right away. Then I noticed that my 4-year-old hen had missing feathers on her bum, not around her vent, just her bum. At night the skin was red and inflamed and she refused to roost so the next day I cleaned all the coops and treated for red mites. Since then, she goes in well but she still has missing feathers, I haven't seen her bum all red, though. she eats and drinks fine as well. I decided to watch her to see if she'd lay, so I pulled all the eggs. I noticed one of the eggs had pimples all over it, after doing some research I got a rough idea after I believe the same hen laid a soft-shelled egg, haven't seen this since, but I decided to watch everyone just in case. That's when I noticed everyone was started to act a little bit lethargic. I spent a good deal of time outside with them and picked out two hens to watch. One, who kept gasping but had good color, pretty lethargic, The other being a little lethargic, but that was about it. Later that night I discovered white/clear, mucus-like droppings. So, I grabbed my dewormer and dewormed them. Just today, the gasping hen seems to have gotten worse. I watched her for about 2 hours last night to see if she'd drink but she just kept eating. I'm planning on getting rid of their current rooster since I don't want them to be stressed for their molt, and he's too rough on them. I've also noticed that when I'm outside my birds will flock to me and start grooming, and usually, 2-3 will sleep on me, is that normal? Am I missing something? I've been doing research for the past 2 days and I'm still at a loss. Is there an illness or something that could explain all this?
All of my birds have access to clean water 24/7, I clean it every night, twice a day if needed. They get mini layer pellets for dinner, with corn mixed in sometimes, I've also noticed they have weaker eggshells then usual and aren't layer as much, I had been giving them durvet vitamins and electrolytes for about 3 days before I dewormed. I honestly just want the very best for my little girls, so any tips to improve their lifestyle or anyone who might have a better idea of what this could be would be greatly appreciated.
