Newchickenowner 2020
In the Brooder
- May 7, 2020
- 22
- 13
- 47
Hi everyone,
It's been a bit of a saga recently as I just lost one of my beloved hens to a virus and had to hospitalise the other hen, Gladys for a few days. So grateful she survived and I rushed to get the same breeder to send me 2 new hens to keep Gladys company. She's had to be on her own for a week now although I spend as much time with her outside as possible.
I've got two concerns which I would really appreciate thoughts on. She's eating and drinking ok and seems relatively active, if not a little shy and subdued. However, she has stopped laying eggs and is losing a lot of the soft, downy feathers on her stomach and near her tail - I'd say about 30 feathers today alone. I've checked her for mites and she looks clean but as a precaution, I'm also dusting her and her coop with DE. I change her coop weekly and she's fed on high quality layers pellets, a handful of corn as a treat, and water with multivitamins.
I was wondering if these two symptoms could be down to the stress of hospitalisation and being alone for the last week? I'm trying to figure out what else it could be and will take her to the vet as soon as they're open again but any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated. Just super worried this is a sign of another infection or something!
It's been a bit of a saga recently as I just lost one of my beloved hens to a virus and had to hospitalise the other hen, Gladys for a few days. So grateful she survived and I rushed to get the same breeder to send me 2 new hens to keep Gladys company. She's had to be on her own for a week now although I spend as much time with her outside as possible.
I've got two concerns which I would really appreciate thoughts on. She's eating and drinking ok and seems relatively active, if not a little shy and subdued. However, she has stopped laying eggs and is losing a lot of the soft, downy feathers on her stomach and near her tail - I'd say about 30 feathers today alone. I've checked her for mites and she looks clean but as a precaution, I'm also dusting her and her coop with DE. I change her coop weekly and she's fed on high quality layers pellets, a handful of corn as a treat, and water with multivitamins.
I was wondering if these two symptoms could be down to the stress of hospitalisation and being alone for the last week? I'm trying to figure out what else it could be and will take her to the vet as soon as they're open again but any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated. Just super worried this is a sign of another infection or something!
