Issues with advanced age chickens

[Sally PB]

Hugs for both of you. I'm sure she has had a wonderful life.

 

[azygous]

She's not dead yet. She's currently eating some boiled rice with keifer and hulled sunflower seeds. We're holding off planning the funeral just yet.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

She's not dead yet. She's currently eating some boiled rice with keifer and hulled sunflower seeds. We're holding off planning the funeral just yet.

I reacted to both of your recent posts on Lady Di with "Love", not because she is dying, but because she currently continues to experience the joys of being alive.

I have had a few questions re your experiences with older hens, & due to the thread title, this seems the perfect place to ask them .

What is the oldest age you've had a hen reach before experiencing Any health issues, minor or otherwise? I have quite a lot of hens turning age 7 this year, and many might consider that an old age for a chicken. But yet they are only half the age of Lady Di, & I know you have had many other senior citizen hens too.

Also, even though your original question on this thread concerned possible chicken dementia, what have you seen to be the most common issues with advanced age chickens?

 

[azygous]

Lady Di has a new routine. Since she no longer possesses the balance to roost, she is spending nights now inside the garage in a pet crate. In the morning, I go to the garage and greet her by name, and she responds with her croaky voice. I get her out and tube fluids and vitamins into her. Then she goes outside to the run and goes right under the heat lamp where she usually remains all morning. It takes her that long to "wake up".

Then the two Buttercups get evicted and special meals are served to Lady Di and her aging hen pal Millie. They get time to eat at their leisure before the rambunctious Buttercups are allowed back inside the safe pen.

When night comes, I carry Lady Di back to her crate in the garage.

 

[azygous]

I reacted to both of your recent posts on Lady Di with "Love", not because she is dying, but because she currently continues to experience the joys of being alive.

I have had a few questions re your experiences with older hens, & due to the thread title, this seems the perfect place to ask them .

What is the oldest age you've had a hen reach before experiencing Any health issues, minor or otherwise? I have quite a lot of hens turning age 7 this year, and many might consider that an old age for a chicken. But yet they are only half the age of Lady Di, & I know you have had many other senior citizen hens too.

Also, even though your original question on this thread concerned possible chicken dementia, what have you seen to be the most common issues with advanced age chickens?

Sorry I missed this until this minute. Generally, most of my hens reach age seven or eight without any health issues. After that, as with aging humans, minor health issues begin to crop up, but most do not affect quality of life in any big way. These include arthritis, susceptibility to infection, reproductive issues including laying problems and chronic reproductive infection. In Lady Di's case, she developed the head tumor at around age seven.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Ok thank you for your reply. So far its mostly only the red sexlinks that have succumbed to reproductive issues. Sounds like the other breeds will have the same types of concerns as they age, just a few years later in their lives. (Plus possible arthritis.)

Speaking of arthritis, want to mention this. I replied earlier in this thread that I found turmeric to be a miracle treatment for my old dog's arthritis. I have a bit more information to add. Curcumin is the active compound in tumeric that shows the greatest effect specifically on arthritis and inflamation. (But there are some conditions that other tumeric compounds are more effective for.) I had trouble finding curcumin until I went into a local health store and found this. Actually I didn't find it on my own; the sales rep recommended it to me.

Curcumin is poorly absorbed on it's own, but this brand has an ingredient to make sure the curcumin is absorbed. I pay $25-$30 for 60 softgels. I didn't try tumeric before curcumin, and since I've only used it (so far) on one arthritic individual, I can't personally say that curcumin is more effective for arthritis and inflammation than tumeric. But many studies have shown that it is, & curcurmin had a miraculous effect on my old dog's arthritis pain and limited mobility. One day I will likely try on an old arthritic chicken.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for that info. I had been treating my hen with gout with tumeric, but I didn't see that it made any difference. She's now getting only prednisone.

Right now, she's the only one with this sort of disorder. I'd love it if you or others would test the curcumin on arthritic chickens and let us know wha happens. This thread is for all chicken keepers who are experiencing age related issues with their chickens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

View attachment 2961877View attachment 2961878This should keep her from falling off her perch during the night. It's anchored at the side for stability.

The guard rails are a brilliant idea.

The only input I have about aged birds comes from a conversation I once had with a poultry nutritionist for Purina. I believe his name is Dr. Patrick Biggs. We discussed nutrition for backyard chickens and he told me Purina was considering producing a feed for older birds due to the proliferation of backyard flocks. I asked how that feed would differ. He said that older birds don't take up nutrients as well as young birds so they would enhance the nutrition and likely that would be primarily both water soluble and fat soluble vitamins.
Given that information, it may be wise to put Nutri-Drench in water occasionally or for those who use fermented feed, perhaps adding some Fertrell Poultry Nutri Balancer.

 

[BY Bob]

View attachment 2961877View attachment 2961878This should keep her from falling off her perch during the night. It's anchored at the side for stability.

Very clever!

 

[azygous]

Lady Di is dead. I euthanized her to spare her more than the one bad day she's had in her 13 1/2 years. Yesterday was bad for her. She didn't open her eyes at all, and slept most of the day under the heat lamp. Didn't eat at all. She may have been in pain, and it was time to end it.