Clrflowers
Chirping
- Feb 23, 2020
- 125
- 379
- 83
4-5 year old Silkie hen, no obvious weight change
She's been broody. Sitting on eggs kind of tag teaming with the other hen.
Symptom are that she was breathing harshly and making a hoarse sound. This started 2 days ago.
No other birds are sick. Its hot so they pant but seem to be dealing ok with water, shade, kiddy pool etc.
Other broody hen is still on eggs, has ice and ventilation and once the other hen left she relaxed on the eggs and wasn't even panting, her beek was closed and she seems totally fine.
What happened as far as possible causes was I was using cedar chips which I completely removed and replaced with mix of pine and coop clean bedding. Also when I first put the fan in I had it facing her, thought maybe hot air blowing at her irritated her. Hubby installed as exhaust fan which seems to be providing ventation without actually blowing on anyone.
She had been eating and drinking water. She's on layor feed, has oyster shell available. Snacks include watermelon apple banana lettuce (although its been a while since they've had lettuce)
Poop has been big sometimes firm, last one I saw looked like a small pile of soft serve (sorry,gross but that's what I thought. From my limited knowledge seemed normal for a broody hen. She had been active and taking breaks from her eggs going under the huge shade tree with the flock periodically.
Treatment so far, I took her out of coop, thought I might need to seperate if sick. She spent a few hours inside and seemed better, breathing was fine and noise stopped. After it got cooler I put her in coop, slept fine in normal spoT on or next to eggs (again I have 2 broody hens that took it upon themselves to share egg sitting time.
She seemed fine this morning but by 11 am or so her symptoms started the same. She has been inside in a big box with water and dish of watermelon for over 5 hours and again the harsh breathing is gone but I have not seen her eat or drink at all. She is standing up and looking around over the box top, but making idk how to describe ..weird calling noise, almost bark not her normal chatter. No sneezing, no goop in her eyes, no coughing but she was shaking her head a bit yesterday. As I'm writing this she is making kind of a wining sound and then a short not quite bark but not normal chirp
There is no wound or obvious condition to take a picture of.
Bedding in run is sand, in upper coop and nesting box is now pine and "coop clean' never used b4 but recommended by feed store when I was there to look for meds and they had none. When symptoms began she was on cedar chips, which she has tolerated fine many times in last year or so. Coop is clean. Water gets replenished with fresh often. Sorry this is so damned long but I was trying to follow the format in the "read this first" section. Plus im really worried and not sure what else to do or what meds, electrolytes I might need and how to get them. I have nothing on hand and feed store shelves skimpy at best (I know rooky mistake there) I do have electrolyte liquid for people that you add like 5 drops to a glass of water but no clue if and how much I could give her or if this is more than dehydration. Please please help!! And obviously she cannot live in my dining room, I love her dearly but... and I think she wants back on her eggs... I don't want to put her back out and do this all over tomorrow. I don't know how to check for gape worm or if that even fits. I'm in Arizona it was 106 today now a cool 98. Gets down to low 70s overnight.Did I mention she hasn't touched her water or watermelon that I in there with her... been hours, I'm thinking of using a medicine syringe to get some water in her?
She's been broody. Sitting on eggs kind of tag teaming with the other hen.
Symptom are that she was breathing harshly and making a hoarse sound. This started 2 days ago.
No other birds are sick. Its hot so they pant but seem to be dealing ok with water, shade, kiddy pool etc.
Other broody hen is still on eggs, has ice and ventilation and once the other hen left she relaxed on the eggs and wasn't even panting, her beek was closed and she seems totally fine.
What happened as far as possible causes was I was using cedar chips which I completely removed and replaced with mix of pine and coop clean bedding. Also when I first put the fan in I had it facing her, thought maybe hot air blowing at her irritated her. Hubby installed as exhaust fan which seems to be providing ventation without actually blowing on anyone.
She had been eating and drinking water. She's on layor feed, has oyster shell available. Snacks include watermelon apple banana lettuce (although its been a while since they've had lettuce)
Poop has been big sometimes firm, last one I saw looked like a small pile of soft serve (sorry,gross but that's what I thought. From my limited knowledge seemed normal for a broody hen. She had been active and taking breaks from her eggs going under the huge shade tree with the flock periodically.
Treatment so far, I took her out of coop, thought I might need to seperate if sick. She spent a few hours inside and seemed better, breathing was fine and noise stopped. After it got cooler I put her in coop, slept fine in normal spoT on or next to eggs (again I have 2 broody hens that took it upon themselves to share egg sitting time.
She seemed fine this morning but by 11 am or so her symptoms started the same. She has been inside in a big box with water and dish of watermelon for over 5 hours and again the harsh breathing is gone but I have not seen her eat or drink at all. She is standing up and looking around over the box top, but making idk how to describe ..weird calling noise, almost bark not her normal chatter. No sneezing, no goop in her eyes, no coughing but she was shaking her head a bit yesterday. As I'm writing this she is making kind of a wining sound and then a short not quite bark but not normal chirp
There is no wound or obvious condition to take a picture of.
Bedding in run is sand, in upper coop and nesting box is now pine and "coop clean' never used b4 but recommended by feed store when I was there to look for meds and they had none. When symptoms began she was on cedar chips, which she has tolerated fine many times in last year or so. Coop is clean. Water gets replenished with fresh often. Sorry this is so damned long but I was trying to follow the format in the "read this first" section. Plus im really worried and not sure what else to do or what meds, electrolytes I might need and how to get them. I have nothing on hand and feed store shelves skimpy at best (I know rooky mistake there) I do have electrolyte liquid for people that you add like 5 drops to a glass of water but no clue if and how much I could give her or if this is more than dehydration. Please please help!! And obviously she cannot live in my dining room, I love her dearly but... and I think she wants back on her eggs... I don't want to put her back out and do this all over tomorrow. I don't know how to check for gape worm or if that even fits. I'm in Arizona it was 106 today now a cool 98. Gets down to low 70s overnight.Did I mention she hasn't touched her water or watermelon that I in there with her... been hours, I'm thinking of using a medicine syringe to get some water in her?
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