Injured hen's health is declining

[theawesomechick]

What does "ballence" mean? Sorry, I'm still fairly new at this. Is it okay to give Penny some cheese or milk?

ETA: I want to give her the cheese for some vitamin B and riboflavin.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think they meant off balance. If you have the B complex or poultry vitamins, I would just stick to chicken feed since it is well balanced for nutrients. A little buttermilk is good for probiotics though.

 

[chickenz500]

Oh sorry I meant to say that your chicken is off balence like that it can't stand very well.

 

[theawesomechick]

I'm now seriously worried. I gave Penny some scramble egg and she ate less than a quarter of it. My chickens see scrambled egg as the best treat in the whole world (other than scratch), so this is very worrying. Her crop is far from full and I can feel a lot of her bones through her feathers. Her feed pan is hardly touched day after day. She is capable of eating, and there seems to be nothing wrong with her mouth/tongue, unless her tongue isn't supposed to be pale pink. What do I do now? She's still alert and well groomed, with no mites and no further decline in her ability to move. What's wrong here? How do I get her to eat something?

 

[chickenz500]

Oh sorry about your hen. Is she able to stand, walk, and move? Or is she just sitting?

 

[theawesomechick]

Thank you for your concern. She's standing/wobbling on her hocks or just sitting, which according to my research (and Eggcessive) is a symptom of riboflavin deficiency. I'm quite sure by now that that's Penny's problem. I force-fed her two tiny riboflavin tablets before tucking her into the coop tonight. Any tips on how to get her to eat? It doesn't seem so bad that I have to force-feed, it's just not good, either.

 

[chickenz500]

I would feed her the stuff she likes best. Most chickens love mushy wet food. It would probably be a bit easier to consume to

 

[theawesomechick]

Good news! Today we stopped wetting Penny's feed to see if she would like it dry better. After a little bit of coaxing on my part, she finished a decent amount of her pellets!

She also gulped down most of a scrambled egg. However, because of the drought here in California, the ants have been ecstatic with the new source of water closer to home, and unfortunately, that source of water happens to be Penny's waterer. Any ideas on how to keep ants out of the water?

 

[chickenz500]

I don't know if this will work, but I heard cinimon works if you sprinkle it around the waterer.

 

[theawesomechick]

Do you know if chickens mind the smell? Or are they okay with it?